Want a Better BLT? Start Here

It’s golden hour week here, where we’re celebrating the summer season with recipes worth lingering over. And honestly? No sandwich feels more summer than a BLT.

Every year brings out a new craving for me. Last summer, after a spring trip to Europe, I couldn’t stop recreating simple baguette sandwiches: ham and cheese tucked into crusty bread or a panini with soft cheese and arugula. But this year? It’s been classic all the way. I’ve found myself ordering BLTs—a sandwich I don’t usually reach for. Bonus: they happen to pair perfectly with barbecue or jalapeño chips (a highly elite combo, if you ask me).

As our Test Kitchen’s own Noah put it: “Making a BLT in the summer is like a choose-your-own-adventure game.” Everyone takes a different path, and each choice—bread, mayo, bacon, tomato—changes the whole sandwich.

In our quest for the ultimate version, we revisited a deep dive from our archives that asked the age-old question: What makes the best BLT? Back in 2016, during a full-on tomato-thon, our editors landed on this lineup:

But of course, the comments rolled in—everyone has their own way.

“Like all sandwiches, a B-I-G part of the success is the bread quality,” one person noted. Agreed. Another suggested Publix White Mountain bread, which I can’t vouch for personally—but as a Pub Sub fan, I trust the recommendation.

There’s also the avocado camp: “As a native Californian, I am all for including avocado as the secret ingredient that makes a good BLT great.” Last year, our own Test Kitchen team made an avocado-and-corn BLT that pretty much sealed the deal on that argument.

Then there’s J. Kenji López-Alt’s take: don’t overthink the bread. Focus on ripe, in-season tomatoes (season them with salt and pepper!) and toast your bread in the rendered bacon fat for extra flavor.

This year, Noah’s ideal BLT has been:

Simple, classic, and completely summer.

Watch how Noah makes it here. So, what’s your BLT move—team avocado, fancy bread, or just the ripest tomato you can find?