Stuffed and Baked Tomatoes

Pre-Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

I love any type of stuffed veggie. Potatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, you name it. I've never made stuffed tomatoes before, but I knew that if I used the right type of tomato, the end results would be fantastic! So, I found big, firm, and fat beefsteak tomatoes from Trader Joe's and used those in today's recipe! Beefsteak tomatoes hold their shape really well and there's a lot of room for the stuffing to nest inside of them.

Cored Beefsteak Tomatoes

Typically, stuffed veggies are stuffed with rice, but I wanted to keep this dish on the healthy side, especially since it's Ramadan! So instead of rice, I used a chicken breast from Midamar Halal. I love adding and using chicken to as many dishes as I can, and knowing that Midamar's products are not only delicious, but also halal, I did not hesitate to replace rice with chicken.

Stuffing Mixture

Make sure you cut the chicken breast into very small cubes! This ensures that each tomato gets enough chicken and all the stuffing ingredients are the same size as well.

Make sure you keep the insides and tops of the tomato! I will be posting a soup recipe utilizing them- we don't waste any food in Baked by Laila's kitchen! 😌

If you make any of my dishes, let me know! I'd love to hear how it went.

Baked and Stuffed Tomatoes

STUFFED AND BAKED TOMATOES
Yields: 4-6 servings

INGREDIENTS:
- 6 beefsteak tomatoes
- 1 small or medium sized chicken breast, cut into small cubes
- 1 onion, diced
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup of olive oil
- 1 cup of chopped parsley
- 1/4 cup of chopped mint
- 1 cup of feta cheese
- salt
- pepper
- onion powder
- garlic powder

TO MAKE:
1. Cut the tops off of the tomatoes. To ensure they stand upright, trim off parts of the bottom so that they stand upright, if necessary.
2. Spoon out the insides of the tomatoes, scraping out as many seeds as you can and as much of the inside core as you can as well. Save the insides and the tops/bottoms of the tomatoes! 
3. Sprinkle the insides of each tomato with a little salt, then place them upside on some paper towels for about 20 minutes. The salt helps extract extra moisture from the inside of the tomatoes!
4. In the meantime, in a saucepan over medium heat, cook down the chopped onion for about 6 minutes, then add the garlic. Cook the garlic until fragrant.
5. Add the chicken to the onion and garlic mix. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder, and toss to combine.
6. Cook the chicken until it is no longer pink and slightly browned. 
7. Turn off the heat, then add in the olive oil, parsley, mint, and feta. Mix everything together. Season with extra seasonings if desired.
8. Brush some olive oil on the bottom and sides of your baking dish. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 
9. Spoon the mixture into each tomato. I used about 1.5 tablespoons into each tomato and just kept stuffing until I used up the whole mixture!
10. Brush a little extra olive oil on the sides of the tomatoes, and then bake the tomatoes for 35-45 minutes- just until the stuffing is hot and bubbly and the sides of the tomatoes have softened.
11. Serve warm and enjoy!