Guacamole Stuffed Tomatoes
Stuffed tomatoes with a kick make tasty appetizers.
Skip the cream cheese filling and use zesty guacamole as an irresistable stuffing for fresh tomatoes.
Stuffed tomatoes are always a hit at parties. Usually the filling is made from a mixture of cream cheese and herbs, sometimes with salmon or crab added in. Don't feel confined by tradition though - tomatoes can hold a multitude of different savory fillings!
For bite-sized appetizers, use plump cherry tomatoes if you can find them. Grape tomatoes seem to be becoming more popular, but I find that they're often too small to hold a filling well. Small Roma tomatoes can work as well, cut in half widthwise and trimmed down if necessary.
To prepare your tomatoes for stuffing, cut a slice off the stem end of the tomato and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and pulp. Lightly salt the inside of the scooped tomatoes and let them sit upside down on paper towels for a while to drain some of the watery juice. This will make them less messy to eat, and ensure that your filling doesn't get watered down.
When filling your tomatoes, use a piping bag for something decorative or just spoon the filling in if it doesn't have to be fancy. You can garnish your filled tomatoes with fresh herbs, grated lemon or lime zest, or a sprinkle of dried herbs.
Instead of the usual cream cheese filling, here's a recipe for guacamole-filled tomatoes that make truly memorable appetizers. The guacamole recipe is very basic - feel free to substitute your favorite recipe, or you could even used purchase guacamole to speed up preparation.
Guacamole Tomatoes
- 30-40 cherry tomatoes or 8-10 Roma tomatoes, prepared as above
- 3 avocados, peeled and mashed
- 1/2 cup tomato, diced
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons onion, diced
- 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
- salt and black pepper to taste
In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine avocado, diced tomato, garlic, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and jalapeno. Mix well and season with salt and pepper to taste, if desired.
Fill prepared tomatoes with guacamole mixture and place on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve chilled, garnished with extra chopped cilantro leave or curls of lime rind if desired.
Makes 30-40 appetizers using cherry tomatoes, or 16-20 appetizers using Roma tomatoes.
You can adjust the amount of garlic and jalapeno if you'd like. I don't recommend leaving out the jalapeno all together, but you can reduce it to half a pepper if you're not a fan of that much heat.
