If you like BLT sandwiches, you will LOVE this 4 ingredient Bacon Tomato Dip! Serve it at a party with tortilla or corn chip scoops. Take it to your tailgating party, backyard bbq gathering, game night, Christmas party, bridal shower... You get the idea! You can even spread it between two pieces of bread and slap on a piece of lettuce and you'll have an over the top BLT sammich!
My friends on the Keto diet will love Bacon Tomato Dip scooped up with with chunks of Romaine lettuce or cucumber.
Although we live in a global market society where we can buy tomatoes all year 'round, nothing beats a garden-grown, vine ripe tomato.
My garden is producing more tomatoes right now than I get keep up with so we've made this dip twice this week already! If you don't have a garden, check out the local farmers market or even the smaller grocery stores will sell local produce.
I've never taken this dip to a party and come back with any left in the dish. 'Just sayin' if you want a recipe that everyone will beg you to bring to the next gathering, you need Bacon Tomato Dip in your life!
Shortcuts:
- Cut up bacon before cooking it so it cooks faster and evenly.
- Squeeze halved tomato to remove juice and seeds
- Roma tomatoes have less pulp and juice to avoid seeding tomatoes.
- I've had some readers tell me they make this with Hormel pouch of real crumbled bacon pieces (not bacon-flavored Baco's) and pre-cooked sliced bacon, crisped in the microwave for an even faster option.
What do I need to make Bacon Tomato Dip?
Ingredients for Bacon Tomato Dip:
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2 to 3 medium size fresh tomatoes
- 6 ounces of bacon (6 slices)
- Since fresh basil is a perfect pairing with tomatoes, I sometimes stir in a little for a flavor punch.
How do I make Bacon Tomato Dip?
Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the detailed, printable recipe. Pictures below will help guide you as you read the recipe.
Here's my tip to cook bacon quickly and avoid messy hands by crumbling cooked bacon. Cut a 12 oz package of bacon in half crosswise.
Slice the bacon crosswise into 1/4-inch strips. This creates the perfect "crumbled bacon size" when cooked. Make sure the bacon is very cold. It slices much better this way.
Start cooking the bacon in a cold skillet. Turn the heat to medium. Technically, bacon is rendered, not fried so don't be tempted to turn the heat up. You'll get bacon that is unevenly cooked-crisp on the edges and limp in the middle.
Stir the bacon occasionally to break it up. You don't have to break it all up at once. It loosens up as it heats up.
Cook the bacon pieces, stirring occasionally, until it is browned and crisp. It is so much easier to just stir these pieces around than to have to carefully babysit slices of bacon and flip them. The smaller pieces don't curl up like slices of bacon either!
Tip: To protect your wooden cabinets from any bacon grease that may pop up, place a sheet pan between the skillet and the cabinets. It's easier to remember to wash the sheet pan than the cabinet!
Drain the cooked bacon on paper towels and let it cool.
Be sure to wash your cutting board before chopping tomatoes if you are using the same one to cut the bacon.
To prevent watery Bacon Tomato Dip, cut the tomatoes in half crosswise, then gently squeeze the pulp, juice, and seeds into a small bowl. Chop the seeded tomato.
Roma tomatoes have less juicy pulp so those are good to use if you want to skip the step of seeding the tomatoes. In the winter, they are the better tomatoes to use because they are less "mealy" than winter tomatoes.
It seemed like a shame to throw out all that summer tomato juice so I made a quick homemade Tomato Vinaigrette.
Homemade Tomato Vinaigrette: To 1/2 cup tomato juice and pulp, I added 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (tomato juice is already acidic), 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1/8 teaspoon salt and a sprinkling of chopped fresh basil. Yum! It was even better the next day.
Combine the bacon, chopped tomato, mayo, and sour cream in a bowl and stir gently. You can add a pinch of salt and pepper at this point if you like. It's pretty salty already from the mayo, sour cream and bacon so taste it first.
I do like to sprinkle a little freshly ground black pepper on the top. I guess that's because I like pepper on my Southern-style Tomato and Mayonnaise Sandwich. My favorite way to serve this is with those giant Frito Lay corn chip scoops. There's just something about that salty corn flavor mixed with the tomato and bacon. But these Non GMO, Gluten-Free yellow tortilla chips I found at Aldi pack quite a bit of corn flavor and really hold up to this chunky dip.
Other party recipes you may like:
Parmesan Artichoke Chicken Salad
Bacon-Wrapped Cheesy Tater Tots
Pimiento Cheese with Roasted Peppers
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Bacon Tomato Dip
Equipment
- skillet
Ingredients
- 6 ounces uncooked bacon about 6 slices
- 3 medium tomatoes equal 2 cups chopped
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sour cream
Instructions
- If you start with a 12 ounce package of bacon, cut it in half crosswise so you have 6 ounces of bacon or just remove 6 slices of bacon. Keep the bacon stacked together and slice the bacon crosswise into 1/2-inch thick pieces. No need to separate the pieces yet.
- Place the bacon in a cold skillet and turn the heat to medium. Cook the bacon, stirring occasionally to break up the bacon about 6 minutes or until the bacon is browned and crisp. The bacon separates easily as it warms up in the skillet.
- Drain the bacon on paper towels and let cool.
- While bacon cooks (don't forget to stir occasionally), slice the tomatoes in half crosswise/horizontally. Gently squeeze the tomato pulp and seeds into a small bowl. (Save this to make a fresh tomato vinaigrette-see my tip on the post). Chop the tomatoes and place in a medium size bowl.
- Add the cooked bacon, mayonnaise, and sour cream and stir until combined. At this point, you can add a little salt and pepper if you like but it's pretty salty already. Serve with corn chip scoops or tortilla chips.
Have to say this tomato bacon dip is AWESOME 👏🏼👏🏼 - I normally don’t eat maters😉
Thank you for sharing! Bacon makes everything better! 😉
I bet it would be good with corn cut off the cob added to it, too!
That does sound delicious! I'll have to try that!