Avoid Soggy BLTs With One Quick Prep Step

BLTs are one of America's favorite sandwiches. According to a 2019 survey by YouGov, 69% of respondents enjoy them. They do, however, have one pretty serious flaw. No matter what kind of tomato you use (even a fancy-schmancy heirloom one), the juices are bound to leak out and make the bread all mushy. Ick. One workaround is to use plenty of lettuce as a barrier between the tomatoes and the bread, while another is to give up entirely on the sandwich concept and make a BLT salad instead. We're all about options, though, so we'd like to propose yet another idea: de-juice those tomatoes with some salt.

Slice the tomato then lay the slices out on some paper towels. Sprinkle them with salt (add some pepper, too, if you like), then allow them to sit while osmosis pulls the moisture right out. If you still want your tomatoes to be fairly juicy, you only need to let them sit for a few minutes. But the longer they sit, the dryer they'll become and the less soggy your sandwich will be.

If these words have you clutching your pearls, calm down! Yes, quite a few people hate raw tomatoes and some of us would just as soon have a BL, hold the T. We're not discussing anything as radical as taking the tomatoes out of the sandwich here, though, just sharing less-messy ways of retaining some tomato taste without using the vegetable itself. Not only will these work if salting doesn't dry the tomatoes as much as you'd like, but keep them in mind if you're out of fresh tomatoes or the ones in your produce bin have gone bad. The quick and dirty way to tomato-fy your sandwich would be to add ketchup to the mayonnaise typically used as a condiment. Bacon, lettuce, and fry sauce? Sure, we'd try it. Salsa or pico de gallo would also be tasty. Although, in that case, we might leave out the mayo. Another idea would be to make a pizza BLT by topping your sandwich with marinara and mozzarella, but hold off on adding the lettuce until after the cheese has melted.

For something more upscale, you could spread the sandwich with sun-dried tomato aioli or replace the bread with sun-dried tomato focaccia. Even home-grown, fresh tomatoes can be bland, but sun-dried tomatoes are plenty flavorful and also have a nice chewy texture. As long as you don't ladle the oil-packed kind directly over the bacon and lettuce without draining, they shouldn't sog up your sandwich, either.