Pizza at Home - Alabama Fried Green Tomatoes with White BBQ Sauce Pizza

Now that we are traveling to different states again, it's time once again to continue our pizza series of making pizzas based on the states we're visiting! Today we're in Alabama! When I think of Alabama food, my mind goes right to Fried Green Tomatoes. Can we turn that into a pizza? Yes we can! 

I was a little worried about finding green tomatoes at the grocery store. When I was researching this, most sites were warning that you could only find these at farmers markets and other local gardens. But during our shopping trip while we were here, Theresa found them at Publix! Perfect!

I prepped everything I would need for my batter. There's flour to dredge the tomato slice in, an egg wash to get the crunchy breading to stick, and then the breading which consists of corn meal, panko crumbs, salt, pepper, paprika, and onion powder. 

I used a mandolin to get perfectly even slices. I, uh, think I might have gotten too many tomatoes. That's way more than will fit on a pizza. 

Ian asked if green tomatoes were just unripe regular tomatoes. That's exactly what they are buddy! Sometimes there's just too many tomatoes on a vine and you want to prune some to give what's left a better chance of developing. You can still eat these though, they just have a little bit of a different taste compared to a ripe tomato. 

The tomato slices have been salt and peppered. All my breading ingredients are mixed together. 

Time to coat them! First a round in the flour, then a dunk in the egg wash, and finally a coating of corn meal and panko. 

These are already looking fantastic. 

Using my thermometer, I kept an eye on the temperature of the oil. When it reached 375F these slices were ready to go in. 

I cooked them on one side for 2 minutes, then flipped them over and cooked them for another 2 minutes. 

I know what we can do with extra slices of Fried Green Tomatoes. Eat them! The darker ones I left in for the full 4 minutes. The lighter ones came out after only 3 since they'll be getting a little more heat when they get cooked on the pizza. 

How do they taste? Well the crunchy breading is fantastic. Unripe tomatoes are just a little sour. 

So I've got the main star of the pizza figured out, but I can't just put fried green tomato slices on a pizza and call it an Alabama pizza. I've got to take it a little further. So you've heard of regular BBQ sauce that is typically tomato based. You've probably even heard of North Carolina BBQ sauce which is vinegar based. But have you heard of White BBQ Sauce? In 1925, in Northern Alabama, Big Bob Gibson invented his white bbq sauce, people have been loving it ever since!

I didn't have any in the grocery stores near me, but luckily people have made copycat recipes. This white BBQ sauce is primarily mayonnaise based, with lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, horseradish, black and cayenne pepper, sugar, and salt. 

The result is a tangy but spicy bbq sauce!

After rolling out my thin crust pizza dough as flat at I could, I added a thin layer of this white bbq sauce. 

Top that with a little bit of mozzarella cheese. 

And then my fried green tomato slices. 

For a little color, I diced a few of my extra tomato slices and sprinkled them onto the pizza too then tossed it into a 480F oven for 8 minutes. 

I pulled the pizza out just a little early to add some pre-cooked bacon to it. Since it's pre-cooked, it doesn't need to spend as much time in the oven. I don't want it to get too crunchy. 

Once it came out of the oven, I gave it a nice drizzle of that white BBQ sauce. 

This looks even better than I expected!

Of course we can't go without a Therizza pizza too. 

Theresa added all the toppings for this one, and I have to say it looks very well done. 

And what's the verdict on the Fried Green Tomato pizza with White BBQ Sauce? 

Amazing! The slightly sour tomatoes go well with the tangy creaminess of the white bbq sauce. And I like the little bit of heat that the sauce gives it too. I'm glad I was able to leave the tomato slices whole. The crunchy breading worked really well, and because the tomatoes weren't "tough" it was easy to bite through. 

We'll see if any of my southern family members ask for this pizza the next time we get together!