Extra-Crispy BLT
- Total Time
- 35 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 1pound thin-cut bacon, halved crosswise
- 8(¼-inch-thick) slices of large, ripe tomatoes (such as beefsteak, from about 2 12-ounce tomatoes)
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 1small head iceberg lettuce
- 8slices airy white bread (such as sandwich bread, pain de mie or milk bread)
- Mayonnaise and/or Dijon mustard
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with foil, including up the sides. Arrange the bacon in a single layer on the lined sheet pan, overlapping pieces slightly, if necessary, to fit them all on the pan. Transfer to the oven and cook, without flipping, until deep golden brown and curling in spots, 15 to 25 minutes. (You can put the bacon in as the oven heats up; it will help the fat render.) Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. (You can fold and curl the pieces onto the plate; this will add more texture to the final sandwich.)
- Step 2
Meanwhile, season the tomatoes with salt and pepper. Cut four ¼-inch-thick slabs of the iceberg lettuce crosswise. (Make a wedge salad with the rest.) Toast the bread in the toaster or directly on an empty rack in the oven, flipping halfway through.
- Step 3
Spread one side of the toasted bread with mayonnaise and/or mustard. Add 2 slices of tomato to half the bread slices. Top with one slab of lettuce, then add the bacon. It will be tricky to lay the bacon flat, and that’s good. Arrange them irregularly, so there are pockets of air between the slices.
- Step 4
Top with the remaining slices of bread. Press down slightly, cut in half and eat right away.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Nana
OK, I'm going to stick up for the much-maligned iceberg lettuce. Nothing beats it for the juicy crunch. And despite reports to the contrary, it does have flavor. The other leafy lettuces are great too and have their applications, but iceberg remains the best. Thanks. I feel better now. Been keeping that in a long time....
kmj
OR, use a tasty white bread (such as your homemade sourdough or TJ's Canadian White Bread) and ALWAYS put the tomatoes next to the mayonnaise that has been smeared liberally on the still-warm toasted bread. Seriously, it's YOUR sandwich. I like mine as just described, because I want the tomato/mayonnaise combination to soak into the crusty sourdough bread. Ali's offering a strategy that works to make the sandwich have plenty of crunch. Yours is yours...
sue bastian
Never put the tomatoes next to the bread!
Libby
Nothing better that a wonderful BLT!!
Rebecca
I'm with you on not using iceberg (I grow all kinds of wonderful leaf lettuce), but Hellman's mayo is the way I roll, never Miracle Whip.
Jenn
My daughter and I substitute avocado for the tomato. She isn't a big tomato fan. A good substitute for the contrast between the bacon and tomato.
Ruth
The tomatoes have to be next to the mayonnaise. So they’ll have to be next to the bread.
Charles
I can appreciate the avocado (I refer to the sandwich as a BLAT), but without the T, all you have left is a BLA :)
Zelda
Peope, people, people! It’s Duke’s Mayonnaise all the way!
Charles
I just cook mine in the microwave between stacks of paper towels. 3-5 minutes and you get nice crispy, brown bacon slices with all the rendered fat soaked into the paper towels for easy disposal.
Y, Jane Belt
I make a PBLT , ( peanut butter, bacon , lettuce and tomato) Peanut butter on one piece of toast and mayo on the other. A real meal for summer or any time
kitchen novice
before i do anything else, i put my slices of tomato on a plate and add some balsamic vinegar and let that sit while i prep everything else. also agree with note about using better lettuce than iceberg. i also sometimes use horseradish sauce instead of mayo. i like my BLT to have maximum flavor.
Hollis
To take a BLT to the next level, add avocado. BLAT is where it's at. Sorry Mom, I know I just stranded a preposition.
Shari
BLTs demand iceberg for the crunchy factor and Hellman’s Mayo (gotta be Hellman’s). Dijon mustard? What?? Balsamic on the maters? Oh no! Love the ‘slabs’ of iceberg. Hint: a work-around for flavorless grocery-store tomatoes? Use almost-always-available, decent cherry tomatoes. Cut ‘em up, squish out the seeds and liquid, mix with your Hellman’s, salt and pepper. Voila!
Jane
MINI BLT's We make mini BLT's using a thinly sliced, fresh French baguette, with a slather of mayo on both pieces of bread, a large slice of garden tomato with salt and pepper, a piece of crisped bacon (broken in half or crumbled), topped with of fresh salad greens, and another slice of bread. A couple of these mini sandwiches are a quick summer lunch and are more manageable to eat.
Danvillerose
Yes to tomato next to the bread/mayo! And don’t forget the avocado, mashed into the other slice! Seriously summer.
Mike, Peoria, AZ
We love a BLT, but we do it our way. - Hormel, fully cooked, heat and serve, in a black carton, 10 slices per carton, 5 slices laid out on waxed paper in 2 layers, 3-4 slices per sandwich, 15 seconds in the microwave, Best of all pre-cooked bacons, even so-called super premium brands. - Sprouts, not lettuce. Sprouts are full of nutrition, flavor, crunch, and easily last a week in the fridge. Lettuce wilts quickly, has zero nutrition and slides off the bread.
jmack
once or twice during the summer
jmack
Once or twice during the summer, when tomatoes are at their peak, I make BLTs. These were extraordinarily delicious! I’ll be using the oven technique from here on in. After this it will be a slice of turkey on T’giving and a little lamb on Easter. This rates right up there with the holiday dinners
Jck
Yes to extra crispy bacon; sourdough toast; tomatoes in the middle; sorry-arugula, not lettuce, for the zing; and 1/2 mayo, 1/2 maple bacon aioli for the condiments. In the summer, I sub spicy radish micro greens (zing AND crunch) from the farmer’s market for arugula. Yum!
Brian T.
Must be a garden tomato, coarsely cracked pepper and real smokehouse bacon such as Nueske’s, and if you don’t have time to make aioli, kick the mayo up a notch by stirring in a little tarragon or champagne vinegar and pop it into the fridge to let the flavors meld while you prepare the other ingredients. And a BLT demands a sturdy white bread.
Tish
Dry the tomato slices by patting both sides with paper towel. I usually lay them on the paper towel and fold over to pat the top. It takes a lot of the water out, so your sandwich won’t get soggy. Other than *always* toasting the bread for a BLT, these are the only improvements I can offer from this recipe!
simon
I made a little garlic paste and mixed it in with the mayo before slathering it on the bread. Delicious.
Michelemental
If you love the taste of bacon (and who doesn't), don't waste the bacon fat. Mop it up with the bread slices and then out it under the broiler to toast and proceed to make the best BLT you've ever had.
Elle
We like a mashed avocado with a dash of sriracha on one side and mayo on the other. It’s a BLAT. Yum.
Karen C
Iceberg lettuce definitely for this sandwich. A BLT is not a BLT without crunch and leaf lettuces just don't do it. Put aside the nutrient content for this sandwich, for sure. And... Duke's, all the way.
joan
i've always liked BLTs but felt there was a little something missing… What was a game changer for me was adding some jalapeño salsa on top of the mayo. mrs. Renfro's green salsa is The one for me. It's full of the flavor of a jalapeño without too much heat. I also like to substitute arugula for regular lettuce
Laura
One of the best breads for BLTs is Italian bread. Had one last night with generic white loaf from WF and it just didn’t work as well. Sad sandwich eater…
Suz
Made this wonderful sandwich last night, just as written except didn't toast the bread, and have to say iceberg sliced to 1/2 inch thickness was truly "da bomb." Nothing beats the crunch of iceberg. The most satisfying BLT ever. I could eat a cup of mayonnaise all by itself, but do recommend putting it on this sandwich instead. It is heavenly. Thanks, Ali, for adjusting my old method.
m
correction: To me the weakest part of a BLT is the toast. I give it that extra crunch by lightly brushing bacon grease on one side of each piece of bread before toasting. The bacon grease side goes on the outside.
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