My 1-Ingredient Upgrade for the Best BLT of Your Life (It’s Probably in Your Fridge!)

Every summer, there are a few foods I absolutely have to eat because I’m a tomato snob (there, I said it) and refuse to eat these foods during any other time of the year. Tomato toast, Caprese salad, bruschetta, and a BLT top this list. It’s not that I don’t like these foods enough to consider them during, say, spring, but they are infinitely better when using the best ripe summer tomatoes you can find. So I get my fill during July and August and then eagerly await the next year’s crop. 

This isn’t an easy feat with the BLT. To me, a good BLT is one of the most simple food pleasures. But what separates a good BLT from a lackluster one are those tomatoes. I’ve been served too many tasteless, pale tomatoes in my life that ruin the whole BLT experience to know it’s best to wait for the flavorful, juicy ones. 

So in August 2021 I showed up at a local spot outside of Portland called Sugarpine Drive-In, and their sandwich special that day was a BLT. At that moment I realized I had yet to experience one that summer and put in my order. When I went to take my first bite, I was surprised to see cucumber layered underneath the tomato. Cucumber on a BLT? I had added avocado, both mashed and sliced, on a BLT before but never a cucumber. Not only was this the most life-changing BLT I’ve ever experienced, but it also has convinced me that a BLT must have cucumber — no exceptions.

The key here is to make sure the cucumber is very thin. On that life-changing BLT, the cucumber was peeled, and then sliced lengthwise into strips. I find this works best with a Y-shaped peeler, but a knife will do. When sliced thinly like this, the cucumber is purely there as a supporting actor, providing its signature crunch and freshness, while it lets the real star of the show — the summer tomato — do its thing.