These vegan fried green tomato sandwiches are piled high with crispy fried green tomatoes, juicy ripe tomatoes, fresh greens, and a generous slather of creamy dairy-free pimento cheese. They're a ridiculously delicious way to use up unripe tomatoes, and perfect for a summer dinner!
While poking around the internet for fun and delicious ways to use my vegan fried green tomatoes, I discovered something: fried green tomatoes and pimento cheese are apparently a thing. I found recipes all over the internet pairing them up. It sounded amazing and totally veganizable, so I decided to go for it… in sandwich form!
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Spreadable cheeses are always great for veganizing — all you really need to do is blend up some cashews and season them just right. If you’ve tried my cashew cream cheese, cashew queso, or vegan ricotta cheese, you know what I mean. My vegan pimento cheese is similar to the cream cheese, but with garlic, nutritional yeast, hot sauce, and of course, plenty of pimentos for that classic flavor.
Paired with fried green tomatoes (already incredibly delicious on their own), this pimento cheese makes what might just be the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten. We’re talking layers of crispy breading, juicy tomatoes, crunchy greens, and tangy cheese, all tucked between slices of crusty bread. OMG.
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Raw cashews. These are the base for our vegan pimento cheese. Make sure they're raw and not roasted. You'll be soaking them in water to soften them up, then blending them.
- Pimentos. These are sold in jars at the store, usually near the pickles and olives.
- Hot sauce. Stick with a relatively mild, vinegar based hot sauce. I like Cholula for this recipe, but Frank's, Valentina, and Crystal are also great choices.
- Nutritional yeast flakes. Look for these in the natural foods section of the grocery store. If you don't see them there, try a place like Whole Foods.
- Garlic.
- Non-dairy milk. Use something unflavored and unsweetened. Aside from that limitation, pretty much any variety is fine. Read my guide to dairy-free milk if you're not sure what to go with.
- Salt.
- Sandwich bread. Use good bread! Sourdough is my favorite for this recipe, but a nice multigrain would also work great.
- Vegan fried green tomatoes. Find my vegan fried green tomato recipe here.
- Ripe tomatoes. These add a nice contrast to the tangy flavor and crispy texture of the fried green tomatoes.
- Lettuce. The recipe suggests green or red leaf, but feel free to use your favorite.
How They're Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Load the blender. You can also use a food processor. Place all of the pimento cheese ingredients into the pitcher or bowl: cashews, pimentos, hot sauce, nutritional yeast, garlic, non-dairy milk, and salt.
Step 2: Blend. Run the machine and blend the ingredients until they're smooth. Stop to scrape down the sides of the pitcher or bowl, and add a splash more of milk if needed.
Tip: This recipe works best if you make the fried green tomatoes right after making the cheese. This way they'll be hot and crispy when you're ready to make the sandwiches.
Step 3: Assemble the sandwiches. Stuff your bread with lettuce, tomatoes, and fried green tomatoes, and slather with pimento cashew cheese. They're ready. Dig in!
Variations
- Vegan BLT style. Add a few slices of tempeh bacon, tofu bacon, or a sprinkle of coconut bacon.
- Make it a wrap. Stuff the fillings into a warm tortilla or wrap instead of between bread slices.
- Delicious additions. Try dill pickle slices, olives, roasted red peppers, avocado slices, or sprouts!
Frequently Asked Questions
If you've got a fully assembled sandwich, it will keep in a sealed bag in the refrigerator for a day or two. If possible, though, store the components separately. The cashew cheese will keep for about five days in an airtight container in the fridge, or up to three months in the freezer. The vegan fried green tomatoes will keep for about three days in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, just place them under a broiler until they crisp back up.
Not very. If you stick with a milder brand of hot sauce like Cholula (stay away from hotter varieties like Tabasco), it will have just a slight kick.
The cashew cheese adds a lot of fat and calories, so keeping that to a minimum will help. You can also use fewer fried green tomatoes, or, when you're making them stick with larger tomatoes and slice them thicker. Bigger slices = less breading and surface area to suck up oil during frying. That said, they are fried green tomato sandwiches, so they'll be on the indulgent side no matter what!
More Vegan Sandwich Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Fried Green Tomato Sandwiches with Pimento Cashew Cheese
Ingredients
For the Pimento Cashew Cheese
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water 4-8 hours, rinsed and drained
- 1 (4 ounce/113 gram) jar pimentos, drained
- 2 tablespoons vinegar-based hot sauce (like Cholula)
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon non-dairy milk, or more, as needed
- ½ teaspoon salt, or more to taste
For the Sandwiches
- 8 slices good sandwich bread (sourdough works great!), optionally toasted
- 1 batch vegan fried green tomatoes
- 2 small red ripe tomatoes, sliced
- Green or red leaf lettuce, or greens of choice
Instructions
- To make the cashew pimento cheese, place all of the ingredients into a high-powered blender or the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade.
- Blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the pitcher or bowl as needed. You can thin the mixture with additional milk if needed, but avoid adding too much, or the mixture will become runny.
- Slather the bread slices with the pimento cheese, then layer half of them with fried green tomatoes, ripe tomatoes, and lettuce. Top with the remaining bread slices, cheese-side down, and serve immediately.
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Oh man these look good. I hope I get some green tomatoes from my CSA to try these out. I love the Khyber Pass, I am remember them having a vegan fried green tomato sandwich which was to die for!
Oh really?! I'll have to check them out next time I'm in the city. Just googled their menu and they've got a bunch of things I want to try!
That looks AMAZING!!! What a wonderful way to use the green tomatoes. The sauce looks especially mouthwatering.
Thanks so much Sandra!! We were putting the cheese sauce on everything - it was delicious!
OMG!! I NEED to try this! And by me... I mean my husband will have to try this. I can't cook for my life :D BUTTTTT that's why I love him LOL! He does the cooking, I do the eating :DD. Thanks for the share.
I hope you both enjoy it!!
SOOOO delicious and creative! thanks for sharing
Thanks so much Asley!!
Thanks for wonderful recipe! I can't wait to try it! My friend just gave me a bunch of green tomatoes.
Enjoy!!