Name: Southern Stewed Okra and Tomatoes
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: Cooking spray; 1 ½ teaspoons bacon drippings (or butter or margarine); 1 large onion (chopped); 29 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juice; 1 pound whole fresh or frozen okra; ½ cup water (optional); Salt and pepper

5 from 7 votes

A classic Southern side dish

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

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Okra and Tomatoes - two Southern classics even more delicious when paired. The perfect side dish for almost any traditional southern meal. https://www.lanascooking.com/okra-and-tomatoes/

Southern Stewed Okra and Tomatoes – two Southern classics even more delicious when paired. The perfect side dish for almost any traditional southern meal.

Okra! It’s one of those vegetables where you find very little middle ground. It seems that people either love it or they don’t. I, of course, fall into the “love it” category. I like it every single way I’ve ever had it. Fried, boiled, in gumbo, in soup, and of course the classic dish of okra and tomatoes.

BeeBop on the other hand falls into the “don’t” category. Just not his thing. That’s okay. We don’t judge. I try to tell him what he’s missing, but that just falls on deaf ears.

Southern Stewed Okra and Tomatoes is a quick side dish that goes with so many entrees. And the frozen okra is always just as good as fresh. Cooking okra with something slightly acidic like tomatoes, cuts out nearly all of the slime factor, too.

So, next time you’re at the grocery store, grab a bag of frozen okra and give this comfort food side dish a try.

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How to Make Southern Stewed Okra and Tomatoes

Skillet with pan spray and bacon drippings added.

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and place over medium high heat. Add bacon drippings to the pan.

Now, let me just stop right here and say a little something about bacon drippings. Or, as we say in the South, bacon grease.

There is nothing whatsoever wrong with using a little bit of bacon grease once in a while. Look at that little piddly bit of bacon grease in the picture up there. That’s no more than a teaspoon. But what a lot of flavor that little teaspoon of grease will add to this dish!

And fat is fat is fat, you know. It all has the exact same calorie count. Butter, margarine, canola oil, bacon grease, schmaltz, whatever. Although I’m not saying anything about the cholesterol. After all, I’m a cook, not a nurse :-)

Add the chopped onion and sauté until the onion just begins to brown.

Diced tomatoes added to the skillet with onions.

Add the diced tomatoes with their juice. Cook until tomatoes are soft and the liquid has nearly evaporated (about 10 minutes).

Adding okra to cooked onions and tomatoes in a skillet.

Add okra and water. Cover and cook until the okra is tender and cooked through (about 15 minutes). Check often and add small amount of additional water if needed during cooking.

And I promise you that there is not the slightest amount of gooey slime in the final dish. Cross my heart.

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