this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2025
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I like tomatoes and hot food but I don't like to add much fat to my food, be it oil or butter. I won't use lard.

Am I going to ruin the sliced tomatoes by grilling them on a pan just with salt and pepper?

I'm talking about 4 to 6 regular tomatoes per serving, half an inch thick slices.

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[โ€“] communism@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 hours ago

It sounds like you may want to get an air fryer. I've not tried pan frying tomatoes without oil but I don't think frying pans are designed for oil-less cooking. You could also go for stuff that's more like a soup or stew or curry if you want hot food with not too much (or no) oil.

[โ€“] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 10 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

As an aside, a thin coating of vegetable oil in the pan is going to be a pretty negligible day intake.

[โ€“] EvilBit@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago

There are a lot of tools available to aerosolize or spritz oil too.

[โ€“] juliebean@lemmy.zip 4 points 19 hours ago

only one way to find out! but i would expect it might stick to the pan real bad.

[โ€“] spongebue@lemmy.world 6 points 22 hours ago

Try it and see - cooking is meant to be a learning experience!

That said, a little fat used just right (even distribution helps - mix it up in a bowl beforehand) can go a long way. Tomatoes are plenty healthy, and a little oil won't ruin that any more than a little dressing won't ruin a salad's healthiness.

The best dishes have a good balance of fat, salt, acid and heat. If you're cooking a bunch of tomatoes, I'd use a small amount of olive oil, salt or soy sauce, maybe a small dash of balsamic if you want an extra dimension of acid (the tomato supplies its own too), and garlic powder (or skip the salt and use garlic salt) for a little heat.

[โ€“] janus2@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 day ago

never tried this myself, but most likely they'll just steam themselves and not get much of a Maillard reaction going unless you get the pan RIPPING hot (and then good luck unsticking them...)

honestly I would try chucking them in the toaster oven on some parchment paper, on the broil setting to get a light char

I'll grill (on a charcoal grill) golf ball sized tomatoes whole with no problem. Without oil, the peel will do some serious sticking, but the tomato flesh will be fine.

[โ€“] IWW4@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I grill vegetables often. Put a cast iron pan in you grill that way you get all the smoke and related flavors but you can easily manage the cooking.

I have never grilled sliced tomatoes but I have grill grape tomatoes and they are tasty.

[โ€“] memfree@piefed.social 3 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Tomato acidity can do a number on you cast iron's patina.

[โ€“] kn33@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

It does a number on my stomach. I had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. I knew what I was doing. I'm feeling it, though.

[โ€“] Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Well what kind of pan are you going to use? And do people really cook tomatoes in lard wtf lol

Are you a bot?

[โ€“] janus2@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 day ago

am from Pennsylvania. people absolutely cook tomatoes in lard here, because they cook everything in lard here

People desire to put things where you wouldn't expect them a lot. I grew up in southeast US and when my grandparents would visit (vegetarian their whole life cause Hindu) would visit it was a nightmare to go out because even things like collard greens would have pork added. Lard is/was a common thing to fry with as well. We all know McDs made fries in beef tallow originally, the switch to vegetable oil in 1990 was nice for them.

[โ€“] Ephera@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

So far, I've also always added a splash of olive oil, but I cannot imagine it ruining the tomatoes when you don't, since they mostly just cook in a pan. They have too much moisture to really grill (unless you leave them for far too long).

[โ€“] bstix@feddit.dk 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I cut them in half instead of slicing. They'll keep together easier that way.

Oven baked is also an easy way to heat tomatoes.

[โ€“] _edge@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

You can absolutely fry tomatoes, half, sliced, or whole, without fat. And tomatoes have enough water not to stick or burn. (You may want to watch and adjust the temperature)

You may argue that's booling or steaming, not grilling, but the outcome will be fine.

[โ€“] Xanthrax@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Do you like the taste of burnt tomatoes? Go for it, it you like a char. I'd bread the tomatoes and fry them.

[โ€“] Sina@beehaw.org 1 points 1 day ago

I think salt and pepper grilling is way worse than just ala natural.

[โ€“] Mothra@mander.xyz 1 points 1 day ago

You'll probably break them, and even if you don't they will taste a bit like tomato sauce. High risk of getting them stuck to the pan.

[โ€“] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

maybe, depends on the pan and depends on the temperature depends on the ripeness of the tomatos.

i'm assuming you are not using green tomatos or cherry tomatos or some other brand.

note: i do not like tomatos at all. they give me unbelievable heartburn/acid reflux/non-spicy firebreathing/reverse montezuma's or something equally awful.

now that you know that, i'll also mention i've cooked a lot.

i suggest trying parchment paper (look for non stick kind but it might be okay otherwise) and an oven. if they aren't too squishy, they shouldn't stick and you can avoid the oil.

another alternative, which takes much, much longer, is using a food dehydrator. (warning: never put oil, or anything similar to oil, in a food dehydrator. it turns it into a house incinerator.) just put the tomatos in the dehydrator, turn it on, wait.

this also is how to turn jalepenos into chipotles. also poblanos into anchos. probably a bunch of other things change names when dried out too, those are the two i remember.

[โ€“] Damage@feddit.it 0 points 1 day ago

Lol @ all the fryiers here. Grilled tomatoes are regularly cooked on charcoal grills, do you think they somehow add oil there?

Slices can be grilled in a grill pan, but they easily break down when you try to pick them up. A ceramic non-stick can help there. The easiest way is to cut them in half and grill them on their skin, you should choose a thicker-skinned variant of tomato too.