About This Recipe
I have been making this fabulous appetizer recipe for Bacon Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes for decades. I first found it in a cookbook about 30 years ago and changed it to make it my own. The only secret to this recipe, besides making sure you use really good cherry tomatoes in season, is to use all full fat ingredients. Low fat or diet stuff or artificial anything has no place in this recipe.
The secret ingredient in this recipe is the same one in My Mom’s Potato Salad (yes, that’s the official name of that recipe): Miracle Whip.
Don’t scoff. Miracle Whip adds a great tart sweetness that echoes the sweetness of the tomatoes. In fact, in Ann Hodgman’s book “Beat This!” she challenged anyone to come up with a better potato salad recipe than hers. In her next book, “Beat That!” she acknowledged that yes, adding Miracle Whip to potato salad makes it so much better. Plus bacon, but that’s another story.
So there.
While this recipe is best in summer when cherry tomatoes are in season, one of the nice things about cherry tomatoes is that you can find pretty good ones year round. But if the only ones in the market are woolly, forget it. Make something else.
At any rate, you have to try this recipe once before you die. It’s that good.
Why this recipe for Bacon Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes works:
- The combination of salty cheese, salty and crisp bacon, sweet tomatoes, tangy mayonnaise, and sweet and tangy salad dressing is just the best thing ever. That’s not very scientific, but there you are. Actually it IS scientific. Contrasting flavors amplify each other.
- The recipe is better if you can make it a few hours ahead of time so the flavors can meld and blend.
- The little tomatoes have to be set on curly parsley, otherwise they roll around and make a mess. Some recipes for stuffed cherry tomatoes tell you to slice a little bit off the bottom so they stand upright. Well, that works – but the tomatoes also lose a bit of their juice that way, which detracts from the recipe. So use the parsley.
Steps
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1
Done
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Rinse and dry the tomatoes. Cut off the very top and discard. Using a small melon baller or spoon, scoop out the tomato's insides and discard. Put the tomatoes upside down on paper towels to drain. |
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2
Done
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In a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, bacon, and cheese and mix. |
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3
Done
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Line a serving platter with curly parsley (with most of the stems cut off) and start filling the tomatoes with the bacon mixture. If there's any bacon mixture left, eat it, for Pete's sake. |
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4
Done
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Cover and chill the stuffed cherry tomatoes for a few hours before serving. Store leftovers (there won't be any) in the fridge for up to 2 days. |
