Say Goodbye to Watery Stuffed Tomatoes with This Time-Tested Grandma’s Trick!

Time and again, your stuffed tomatoes end up swimming in juice. It’s not the first time you’ve faced this issue: during cooking, tomatoes release so much liquid that the dish becomes soggy, with the stuffing spilling over. You might have thought you took every necessary precaution: salting, blanching… Yet, these methods don’t seem to cut it. Don’t hang up your apron just yet: there’s a simple and effective technique to prevent this overflow. Culinary critic Emmanuelle Jary shares this helpful tip!

On her YouTube channel C’est meilleur quand c’est bon, the critic, usually seen dining out, steps behind the stove herself. “Today, I’m making stuffed tomatoes!”, declares Emmanuelle Jary. And not just any tomatoes: her grandmother Suzanne’s recipe. “I like to say they’re the best in the world,” she says with a smile. For her recipe, she selects large, ripe, juicy tomatoes. She cuts off the tops, scoops out the flesh, blends it, and uses it to enrich her stuffing. “It makes it really creamy,” she emphasizes. Creamy, yet firm: the tomatoes hold up perfectly, and the stuffing isn’t watery. Her secret? A little trick passed down from her grandmother.

After hollowing out the tomatoes, she doesn’t rush to stuff them. She starts by placing a simple ingredient at the bottom of each one: “My trick is to line the bottom with a couple of pinches of uncooked rice. The tomato juice will cook it!”, she explains. The rice not only absorbs the juice during cooking, preventing the dish from turning into a soup, but it also adds a delightful touch to the meal. Soaked in the cooking juices of the meat, it adds texture and concentrates the flavors. “It’s like the little chocolate tip at the bottom when you eat an ice cream cone. It’s delicious!”, she describes. Essentially, it’s the best part!

Next time you’re baking stuffed tomatoes, remember this simple step before adding the stuffing. Just a couple of pinches of raw rice are enough to soak up the excess juice and maintain the integrity of the dish. This easy-to-implement grandmother’s trick might just make all the difference when it’s time to serve.