TOMATOES AND DUMPLINGS
Tomatoes and dumplings is an easy dish to prepare and goes great as a side dish to any meal. My family loves this recipe.
Table of contents
❤️WE LOVE THIS OLD-FASHIONED RECIPE
We love dishes that take us straight back to our grandmother’s kitchen and this is definitely one of those. It’s easy to make and the perfect comfort food. If you love dumplings, give this one a try! Chicken and Dumplings are one of our favorites too.
🍴KEY INGREDIENTS
Diced tomatoes – You are going to need 2 cups and you can use fresh tomatoes. You will need the juice too, so you wont drain them.
Bacon and Bacon Drippings – Always a hit and makes any dish better!
Sugar – this will help the acid in the tomatoes
Dumpling Ingredients:
Self-Rising Flour – if you don’t have any you can make your own. Learn how!
Shortening – We use crisco and it’s what we prefer.
SWAPS
You can use fresh tomatoes in this dish and you could use stewed tomatoes. You don’t have to use the bacon drippings but we do think it makes the dish better.
By leaving out the bacon you will have a vegetarian dish.
🍽️HOW TO MAKE
This dish is easy to make and only a few ingredients so give it a try. It’s not going to take you a long time to make and it’s wonderful comfort food.
PREPARATIONS
Go ahead and try your bacon, drain and set aside. Next get all the stuff ready to make your dumplings and start water boiling on the stove.
COOKING STEPS
Step 1
Combine tomatoes, bacon drippings, water, salt, garlic powder, pepper and sugar in a pot on top of the stove. Bring to a boil, turn down to medium and cover.
Step 2 – Making the Dumplings
Cut shortening into flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add enough boiling water slowly stirring with a spoon until flour holds together and you can make into dumplings about the size of a walnut. I just pull off a piece of the dough and roll it into a ball with my hands.
Step 3
Remove the top from pot with tomatoes and drop dumplings a few at a time into boiling tomatoes putting the top back on each time. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes until dumplings are cooked.
Step 4
I usually get about 12 dumplings when I make them. Once cooked you can sprinkle with parsley and add crumbled bacon pieces to the dish.
⭐TIP
Many people have different ways of making dumplings. We actually put together a post just for this. Learn “How to Make Dumplings”
This will show you how to make drop dumplings like these and also flat dumplings that many others prefer.
RECIPE VARIATIONS
If you love dumplings, definitely check out this Ham and Dumplings recipe. It’s a wonderful way to use leftover ham and enjoy a great recipe. If you love desserts, you will want to try our Amish Caramel Dumplings. This a very popular recipe
SERVE THIS WITH
This dish can be served as a main dish or a side. If you serve it as a main dish, just add a side salad. If you make this a side dish, you can serve this with any meat dish, like our Mississippi Pot Roast, Roasted Apricot Chicken, or Salmon Patties.
❓FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Yes you can use lard.
Yes, you can make it without the bacon.
Yes, you can be creative with this dish and use the spices you enjoy.
STORING AND REHEATING
I store in a Tupperware container in the fridge and just reheat in the microwave. You can reheat on low on the stove too.
💕MORE POPULAR RECIPES
SERVING SIZE
This dish makes about 6 servings, and you can easily double it. This dish is made with very simple ingredients and a simple recipe you can double.
Tomatoes and Dumplings
Ingredients
- 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes or enough fresh tomatoes peeled and mashed to make 2 cups. Do not drain canned tomatoes and use the juice with the fresh ones
- 2 to 3 slices bacon cooked
- 1 tablespoon bacon drippings
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon white granulated sugar
Dumplings Ingredients:
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 1 tablespoon shortening I use Crisco
- Boiling water
Instructions
Directions:
- Fry the bacon, drain and set aside. Combine tomatoes, bacon drippings, water, salt, garlic powder, pepper and sugar in a pot on top of the stove. Bring to a boil, turn down to medium and cover.
Dumplings Directions:
- Cut shortening into flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add enough boiling water slowly stirring with a spoon until flour holds together and you can make into dumplings about the size of a walnut. I just pull off a piece of the dough and roll it into a ball with my hands. Remove top from pot with tomatoes and drop dumplings a few at a time into boiling tomatoes putting top back on each time. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes until dumplings are cooked. I usually get about 12 dumplings when I make them. Once cooked you can sprinkle with parsley and add crumbled bacon pieces to the dish. Makes about 6 servings
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I have looked a long time for this recipe and can’t wait to make a pot. I can’t remember from my childhood what it was served with. Any suggestions?
WE love it with these green beans: https://thesouthernladycooks.com/best-green-beans/
Porkchops and okra
This sounds and looks wonderful. I think I will put some parmesean cheese on the table. To me this sounds like some parmesean would be wonderful for anyone who is a rabid cheese lover (like me) to add at the table.
This is the closest recipe I have seen to the way my mom made her tomato pudding. She also made tomato gravy when I was growing up. I make both of them sometimes but I am the only one now that eats it. Still love both.
Add some onions and green pepper, Italian seasoning and sprinkle a little grated cheese on it! This was how Daddy made it .He would have it when we had his pepper steak to make it go farther!
My Mother used to make this for us, well, mostly for herself, since she loved it so much, and it’s pretty cheap to make, and we had very little money then. The only difference was she used stewed tomatoes and no garlic. I can’t wait to make this again, even if I’m the only one that eats it! Thanks for the recipe!!!!
I have been looking for this recipe for years! I couldn’t believe it when I received it in your newsletter. My grandmother made this dish and we all loved it. I made it last weekend for my family and it was a hit! THANK YOU!
Brings back great memories of my favorite dish. I’ll have to make it now I have the recipe again.
This was so good! My family loved it! All your recipes are wonderful and I just love your magazine!
Omigosh, I used to love this dish. I have thought about it several times over the years but didn’t have the recipe. Thank you so much for sharing. I can’t wait to make it.
This is an old fashioned dish, I haven’t seen this for years! My grandmother used to add some shredded cheddar cheese to the dumplings. We loved it as kids!