Some tomato dishes aren’t just better with bread—they demand it. This collection of 31 recipes shows exactly what happens when juicy meets bold in ways that would ruin a napkin but elevate your entire meal. These aren’t side salads pretending to be entrees; they’re full-on flavor situations that turn crusty bread into a necessity. Plates are optional, but something to mop up with is absolutely not.
Horiatiki Salad
If you think salads can’t make a mess, you haven’t met Horiatiki Salad. It brings enough juicy tomato chaos to turn any surface into cleanup territory. Bread doesn’t just belong here—it’s mandatory. You’ll want every last bit off your plate, and the only way to do that is to mop it up. It’s crisp, bold, and nowhere near dainty.
Get the Recipe: Horiatiki Salad
BLT Pasta Salad – With Bacon!
You might think this is just another pasta salad, but BLT Pasta Salad – With Bacon! proves otherwise pretty fast. It’s saucy in a way that turns bowls into puddles and bread into tools. The bacon pulls you in, but the tomatoes make it a full-contact experience. It’s not neat, and that’s why it works. Skip the plate and go straight to the crust.
Get the Recipe: BLT Pasta Salad – With Bacon!
The Backyard Table
Get it NOW and level up your outdoor dining! The Backyard Table - Recipes for Summer Cookouts features 34 of Chef Jenn's BEST recipes for outdoor eating and entertaining.
You'll get ad-free recipes like:
- Grilled Corn Guacamole
- Grilled French Onion Burgers
- Deviled Egg Pasta Salad
- Blueberry Grunt
- and so many more!
Every recipe is created, tested and loved by Chef Jenn and her family - there's no AI here!
Get it now, at a special introductory price of $7.99. That's over 50 pages of foodie love at your fingertips!
Buy Now!Shipwreck Casserole
There’s no clean way to eat Shipwreck Casserole, and that’s what makes it great. It’s messy, layered, and full of sauce that doesn’t stay put. This one turns your fork into a half-measure and your bread into the real MVP. By the time you reach the bottom, you’ll be wiping the dish clean—on purpose. It’s all guts, no gloss.
Get the Recipe: Shipwreck Casserole
Summery Caponata
Summery Caponata shows up ready to spill over, soak through, and make you regret not grabbing more bread. It’s packed, punchy, and totally uninterested in staying tidy. Every spoonful runs wild, and your plate turns into a staging area for tomato overload. Bread isn’t a side—it’s a rescue tool. Prepare to chase every last bit across your cutting board.
Get the Recipe: Summery Caponata
Old Fashioned Tomato Soup
This isn’t the kind of soup that sits still. Old Fashioned Tomato Soup comes in hot, loud, and ready to spill over the edge. It clings to your spoon, your bowl, and definitely your bread. Dunking isn’t optional—it’s how you finish what the spoon couldn’t. Grab the crustiest piece you’ve got and get to work.
Get the Recipe: Old Fashioned Tomato Soup
Texas BLT
This is the kind of meal that makes bread feel like a main character. Texas BLT brings so much bold flavor and messy structure, utensils don’t even make sense here. Each bite comes with a side of juice that finds its way onto your hands, plate, or shirt—whichever’s closer. It’s a full-flavor situation that eats more like a sandwich gone wild than a structured dish. Bread is required, and you’re going to need extra.
Get the Recipe: Texas BLT
Pork Chops with Tomato & Green Onion Relish
There’s no way to stay clean when Pork Chops with Tomato & Green Onion Relish is involved. It’s got just enough sauce to flood your plate and make a napkin feel like wishful thinking. The kind of dish that turns your bread into a shovel by the second bite. You’ll start neat, but by the end, it’s all hands and crusts. No complaints—just full sleeves.
Get the Recipe: Pork Chops with Tomato & Green Onion Relish
Pasta with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce
What starts off looking like a polite bowl of pasta turns into a situation. Pasta with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce doesn’t just coat—it pours, pools, and dares you to waste any of it. Bread becomes the backup plan, then the plan. You’ll chase every streak across your bowl like it owes you money. It’s not just pasta, it’s an event.
Get the Recipe: Pasta with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce
Fasolakia Lathera
This one comes in hot, full of flavor and absolutely zero concern for your table manners. Fasolakia Lathera doesn’t stay put, it spreads. Everything it touches turns into something worth scooping. You’ll go in with a fork, sure—but stay for the bread-and-drip cleanup session at the end. Plates are optional, but something to soak it all up is not.
Get the Recipe: Fasolakia Lathera
Tomato Bruschetta Board
Tomato Bruschetta Board doesn’t wait to be served—it practically jumps onto your bread. It’s messy in the best way, with enough tomato-loaded flavor to keep you coming back for more. The board goes from organized to chaotic in about five minutes, and no one’s mad about it. Just keep the bread flowing and expect your hands to be involved. You won’t miss the utensils.
Get the Recipe: Tomato Bruschetta Board
Southern Tomato Pie
You can try to slice Southern Tomato Pie neatly, but it’s not built for that kind of control. Each piece comes out soaking, steaming, and barely holding it together. Bread isn’t optional here—it’s the only way to keep up. It spills, it drips, and it’s better because of it. Don’t wear white and don’t show up without a backup loaf.
Get the Recipe: Southern Tomato Pie
A Southern Classic Tomato Pie
A Southern Classic Tomato Pie comes out looking innocent until the first slice. Then everything slides, drips, and makes a complete mess—in the best way possible. The crust might try to hold the line, but tomato doesn’t care about borders. Get some bread to handle the leftovers and the leaks. It’s chaos, but delicious.
Get the Recipe: A Southern Classic Tomato Pie
Easy Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
If this soup had a warning label, it would just say “bring bread.” Easy Red Pepper and Tomato Soup is smooth but wild—it refuses to stay on the spoon. Every bite carries more than you expect, and none of it’s going back in the bowl. You’ll need something to catch what escapes. Bread handles it better than anything else.
Get the Recipe: Easy Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
Tomato Bruschetta
There’s no way to eat Tomato Bruschetta without a full hand and a solid plan. It slides around like it owns the place, and you’re just there to keep up. Every bite sends something down your wrist. That’s where the bread steps in—catching the good stuff before it hits the table. Messy? Absolutely.
Get the Recipe: Tomato Bruschetta
Baked Feta Pasta
The sauce doesn’t stay where it’s supposed to in Baked Feta Pasta. It stretches, coats, and clings to everything it touches. Bread isn’t just welcome, it’s required. You’ll be mopping the dish like you’re getting paid for it. This one’s not tidy, but that’s what makes it better.
Get the Recipe: Baked Feta Pasta
Smoked Tomato Soup with Mascarpone
A little rich, a little smoky, and definitely not shy, Smoked Tomato Soup with Mascarpone is built for full coverage. It slides across your bowl like it’s daring you to keep up. One dip of bread turns into two, then five, then none left. This one leaves behind nothing but the trail of sauce on your fingers. You’re going to need more carbs.
Get the Recipe: Smoked Tomato Soup with Mascarpone
Baked Spanish Rice
There’s no room for neatness when Baked Spanish Rice hits the table. It’s layered, bold, and absolutely spills over with every scoop. You’ll start with a spoon and end with your hands and a rapidly disappearing loaf of bread. Don’t even pretend it’s going to stay on your plate. You’ll be chasing tomato flavor wherever it lands.
Get the Recipe: Baked Spanish Rice
Pasta e Fagioli Soup
Don’t be fooled by the name—Pasta e Fagioli Soup is more action than elegance. Every spoonful drags a trail of sauce, broth, and hearty extras across the bowl. Bread doesn’t just help, it keeps the chaos under control. You’ll tear off a piece just to keep eating without dripping on the floor. It’s loud, filling, and totally worth the mess.
Get the Recipe: Pasta e Fagioli Soup
Grilled Bruschetta Chicken
You’ll need both hands and a lot of napkins for Grilled Bruschetta Chicken. It’s juicy in every direction and so loaded with tomato flavor it practically pours itself. Bread isn’t a garnish here—it’s gear. Without it, you’re just watching the good stuff slip away. Use it wisely, and keep it close.
Get the Recipe: Grilled Bruschetta Chicken
Old-Fashioned Panzanella Salad
This is a salad that forgot how to be clean. Old-Fashioned Panzanella Salad makes bread do double duty—soak up the mess and hold it together. Each forkful tries to fall apart before it hits your mouth. You’ll need more than a bite, you’ll need a strategy. And maybe a second loaf.
Get the Recipe: Old-Fashioned Panzanella Salad
Pico de Gallo
Pico de Gallo doesn’t just top your food, it takes over the plate. One scoop and suddenly everything’s dripping. Bread ends up doing more work than whatever it was supposed to be paired with. You’ll be chasing tomato chunks like they owe you rent. It’s not tidy, but it is worth it.
Get the Recipe: Pico de Gallo
Smoked Tomato Salsa
There’s nothing restrained about Smoked Tomato Salsa. It floods the bowl, the table, and anything within reach. Chips are outmatched fast, so bread steps in like a pro. You’ll be wiping surfaces and licking your fingers before it’s over. Might as well plan for seconds.
Get the Recipe: Smoked Tomato Salsa
Mediterranean Couscous Salad with Smoked Tomatoes
Every forkful of Mediterranean Couscous Salad with Smoked Tomatoes feels like a balancing act. The tomatoes don’t want to stay put, and the couscous makes it harder. That’s where the bread saves the day—catching what spills and keeping the rest from running off. You’ll start neat, but end full and a little sauced. No shame in that.
Get the Recipe: Mediterranean Couscous Salad with Smoked Tomatoes
Mediterranean Chicken Bake
Mediterranean Chicken Bake isn’t fancy—it’s messy, bold, and all over the place in the best way. The tomatoes soak through everything, including your bread. If you’re not using it to scoop, hold, and wipe, you’re missing half the meal. This dish is built to share, but you’ll want it all. Bring bread and block out time.
Get the Recipe: Mediterranean Chicken Bake
Smoked Tomatoes
Smoked Tomatoes bring the kind of flavor that leaks into everything nearby. They don’t sit politely on your plate—they take over. If you’re not chasing their juice with something absorbent, you’re wasting half the dish. Bread becomes the clean-up crew. One bite and your plate turns into a scene.
Get the Recipe: Smoked Tomatoes
White Bean Salad
White Bean Salad looks innocent, but the tomato flavor brings a lot more heat than expected. It’s not delicate—it’s splashy and full of things that don’t stay put. Every forkful needs backup from something solid. You’ll be dragging bread through the leftovers before the second bite. No clean eating here.
Get the Recipe: White Bean Salad
Slow Cooker Porcupine Meatballs
Nothing stays in place when Slow Cooker Porcupine Meatballs show up. They’re falling apart, leaking sauce, and turning bread into more of a tool than a side. You’ll need both hands and maybe a towel. By the end, the only clean thing will be the plate. And even that took some effort.
Get the Recipe: Slow Cooker Porcupine Meatballs
Ricotta Meatballs with Tomato Sauce
Soft meatballs and bold tomato sauce don’t exactly behave. Ricotta Meatballs with Tomato Sauce break the rules and make a mess that needs to be handled with bread, not forks. Every bite tries to escape. You’ll be chasing the last streaks of sauce like it’s a sport. That’s where the bread earns its keep.
Get the Recipe: Ricotta Meatballs with Tomato Sauce
Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala
Don’t expect this one to stay on your spoon. Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala coats everything in a thick tomato base that won’t sit still. You’ll want bread for scooping, wiping, and maybe just holding it in your hand. No one’s judging if you ditch the silverware entirely. In fact, it might help.
Get the Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala
Mediterranean Salmon
The tomatoes in Mediterranean Salmon don’t take a backseat—they run the show. Every bite leaves behind something that begs for bread. You’ll be tempted to spoon it up, but that won’t do it justice. This is hands-on eating with all the best parts leaking out the sides. Don’t bother with anything fancy.
Get the Recipe: Mediterranean Salmon
Easy Mexican Rice
Easy Mexican Rice doesn’t sit politely on your plate—it spreads. It’s rich, saucy, and built to soak into anything it touches. Bread isn’t just an option, it’s your best bet for cleanup. You’ll chase the leftovers across your plate like it’s a mission. Worth every napkin.
Get the Recipe: Easy Mexican Rice