Tomatoes Provencal (Tomates à la Provençale)

Tomatoes Provencal are the perfect summer side dish! Ripe tomatoes stuffed with herby, savory Provencal breadcrumb topping, then baked until crispy.

There’s nothing I love more than seeing the first summer tomatoes arrive at the farmers’ markets. They are a staple in my regular summer salads, and of course an essential part of a delicious summer BLT. But one of my favorite things to do with perfectly ripe tomatoes is make these France-inspired Tomatoes Provencal.

Jump to:

• Why Make This Recipe
• 🥗 Ingredients
• 🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
• 🧐 Recipe FAQs for Tomatoes Provencal
• 👩‍🍳 Expert Tips
• Other Tomato Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• More About Molly
• Comments

Why Make This Recipe

• Perfect Summer Side Dish: These Herbes de Provence-crusted tomatoes pair beautifully with everything from a simply roasted fish or steak to chicken or burgers thrown on the grill.
• French Flavor: Provencal Tomatoes have a crumb topping inspired by Provencal cuisine, with a mix of herbs and garlic. So flavorful!
• Great for a Crowd: Easy to double the recipe for a crowd. You can prep in advance, then bake just before you are ready to serve. An upgrade to basic roasted tomatoes!

🥗 Ingredients

• Tomatoes: Choosing ripe, local, farm-grown tomatoes will give you the best flavor for this dish. Use large beefsteak tomatoes for this dish if you can, though you could also try with yellow or green zebra tomatoes.
• Shallot: Feel free to leave this out, or replace with some minced red onion. 
• Breadcrumbs: Fresh, coarsely ground breadcrumbs are so much better than dried in this dish! Those larger pieces have more crags and crannies that soak up the oil and then toast up in the oven, adding great flavor to your dish.
• Parsley: You can substitute fresh herbs like thyme or chives or even rosemary. Parsley is more mild than most other herbs, so if you use something else, you may want to dial back the amount a little. Or use a combination of other herbs together.
• Herbes de Provence: I love this spice, which is a combination of dried herbs traditionally used in Provençal cuisine. Blends often include rosemary, thyme, oregano, savory, marjoram, and sometimes lavender. Feel free to replace with one or more of the herbs that are usually included in the spice blend.
• Parmesan Cheese: Some Tomatoes Provencal recipes do not include parmesan cheese at all, so you can leave this ingredient out if you want. Leaving out the parmesan cheese, or replacing with a vegan parmesan-type cheese will give you a vegan version of this recipe (as long as you choose breadcrumbs made from bread that does not include eggs). 

🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions

First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Celsius. Then core 4 large tomatoes, and slice in half horizontally. Standing over a sink, use your fingers to remove the seeds from the tomatoes. Then place tomato halves skin-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet or baking dish.

If your tomatoes are at all pointy on the end, slice off the point so that the tomatoes are stable. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt and pepper.

Now, finely chop two garlic cloves and one small shallot. You should end up with about 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic and 2 tablespoons of finely chopped shallots.

In a large bowl, stir together 1 ½ cups of fresh breadcrumbs, garlic, shallots, ¼ cup of chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon of herbes de provence, 3 tablespoons of parmesan cheese, ½ teaspoon of kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, and 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

When mixture is well incorporated, use your fingers to scoop out breadcrumbs and press onto each tomato half, filling the holes left by the removed seeds.

Bake for 20 minutes, until topping is golden brown but tomatoes have not lost their shape. Then serve!

🧐 Recipe FAQs for Tomatoes Provencal

👩‍🍳 Expert Tips

To make fresh breadcrumbs, put 3-4 slices of bread into a food processor and process until crumbs are just a bit chunky. Those little chunks of bigger breadcrumbs become super tasty when baked.

Bread that is slightly stale is the best to use since it’s easier to blend. This is also a great solution for a leftover half baguette! 

It can be tedious to remove the seeds from your tomatoes, but that's an important step in this French stuffed tomatoes recipe. The reason is that those seeds, while flavorful, have a ton of moisture.

You want the filling to crisp up in the oven, and for the tomatoes to keep their shape. That won't happen if there's too much liquid in the tomatoes.

For many years, I have sworn that uncut tomatoes should never ever be kept in the refrigerator. And I stand by that guideline, though with one caveat learned from a Serious Eats article: if your tomatoes are at their peak of ripeness, refrigeration is the way to go.

The reason is that the optimal temperature to store tomatoes is 55 degrees Fahrenheit—which is a tough temperature to maintain in a house: colder than room temperature but not as cold as the refrigerator. 

So if you purchase or pull from from your garden a tomato that is not quite ripe, then by all means, leave it out at room temperature. It will continue to ripen. However, if you have perfectly ripe tomatoes, the fridge might be the best place for them as they will also continue to ripen on the counter (and eventually, rot).

If you’re not going to eat them in 1-2 days, you can keep them at their perfect stage of ripeness by putting them in the refrigerator. That said, always take them out about a half hour before you want to eat them so that they can come back to room temperature.

Other Tomato Recipes

Are you looking for other recipes to show off summer tomatoes? Try my Burrata with Tomatoes or my Caprese Tortellini. Or, try one of these favorites:

If you try this Tomato Provencal recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.

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