4.7 from 42 votes
Meat Stuffed Tomatoes Recipe
This is a French recipe known as tomate farcie. It's the perfect wholesome family dinner meal!
Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
1 hr
Servings: 8 stuffed tomatoes
Calories: 204 kcal
Course:
Main Course
Cuisine:
French
Ingredients
- 8 tomato same sized
For the Meat Stuffing
- 1.7 Ounces stale bread
- ⅓ Cup milk
- 14 Ounces ground meat *see Notes
- 1 Teaspoon oregano dried
- 1 Teaspoon thyme dried
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion chopped fine
- 2 Cloves garlic cloves chopped fine
- ½ Cup parsley fresh fresh, chopped fine
- 1 Teaspoon salt
- ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
For the Sauce
- 1 onion sliced
- ⅓ Cup tomato sauce
- ⅓ Cup water
- ⅓ Cup fresh herbs for dried herbs reduce quantity, *see Notes
- 2 small bay leaves
- olive oil drizzle
Instructions
Meat Filling:
- Prepare the meat filling first. Keep the stale bread to soak in the milk so that it gets soft.
- Then combine all the meat filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl, including the meat, soaked bread, seasoning, oil, onion, garlic. Work it with your fingers. Leave to rest until further use.
Cup of Yum
To Fill the Tomatoes:
- Now to hollow out your tomatoes, cut out the tomato base so that you have a large enough opening. Cut out the tomato fruit flesh and place the fruit flesh into the casserole dish, which you will use to oven roast your filled tomatoes so that it will be part of the sauce (we don't waste).
- Place your hollowed-out tomatoes in a row into the casserole dish and stuff with the meat stuffing. Close the stuffing with the cut-off tomato end to create a tomato hat.
For the Sauce:
- Preheat your oven to 400° Fahrenheit/ 200° Celsius.
- Add the sauce ingredients into the casserole dish around the tomatoes with meat stuffing, including the tomato sauce, water, seasoning, herbs, bay leaf. Mix the sauce ingredients a bit so that they get combined.
- Drizzle your meat-stuffed tomatoes with olive oil.
- Bake at 400° Fahrenheit/ 200° Celsius for about 30 minutes, or until the meat is cooked.
Notes
- ½
- You can use lean or 80:20 ratio fatty meat, beef, or pork or both. It's up to you. I recommend using 80:20 fatty meat and a mixture of ground beef and pork meat if you want juicy, flavor balanced meat stuffed tomatoes. See post for detailed info.
- For the sauce, you can use fresh or dried mixture of herbs. I like to use fresh herbs whenever possible. Use a combination of chopped thyme, savory, and rosemary (as seen in the post picture). If you use dried herbs, reduce the quantity to add a combination of about 1 ½ Tablespoons of dried herbs, such as thyme, savory, or rosemary. You may skip one herb if you can't get it. The perfect flavor combo is thyme, savory, and rosemary.
Nutrition Information
Calories
204kcal
(10%)
Carbohydrates
12g
(4%)
Protein
11g
(22%)
Fat
13g
(20%)
Saturated Fat
4g
(20%)
Cholesterol
36mg
(12%)
Sodium
423mg
(18%)
Potassium
545mg
(16%)
Fiber
3g
(12%)
Sugar
6g
(12%)
Vitamin A
1465IU
(29%)
Vitamin C
25.4mg
(28%)
Calcium
61mg
(6%)
Iron
2.1mg
(12%)
Nutrition Facts
Serving: 8stuffed tomatoes
Amount Per Serving
Calories 204
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 204kcal | 10% |
| Carbohydrates | 12g | 4% |
| Protein | 11g | 22% |
| Fat | 13g | 20% |
| Saturated Fat | 4g | 20% |
| Cholesterol | 36mg | 12% |
| Sodium | 423mg | 18% |
| Potassium | 545mg | 12% |
| Fiber | 3g | 12% |
| Sugar | 6g | 12% |
| Vitamin A | 1465IU | 29% |
| Vitamin C | 25.4mg | 28% |
| Calcium | 61mg | 6% |
| Iron | 2.1mg | 12% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.