Loaded Avocado BLT Sandwich with Cheese and Garden Tomatoes

This fully loaded Avocado BLT Sandwich with crispy oven-baked bacon, ripe garden tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and cucumber slices is a Wisconsin-style sandwich night the whole family loves! Go way beyond the bacon, lettuce and tomato with extra veggies and a slice of cheese for a seriously hearty sandwich night!  A classic summer dinner and the best use for garden tomatoes at their peak!

Loaded Avocado BLT Sandwiches with Cheese are one of my favorite sandwiches, and a great way to use garden tomatoes and add extra veggies.  Back home in Wisconsin, they always come with cheese!

I was working at the Hilton Hotel in Minnesota years back and got an order for a BLT.  I made it and sent it out.  A few minutes later the server comes back to me and says "I didn't order cheese on this."  So I say to him, "Um, you didn't say no cheese."

We go back and forth awhile until I realize "Toto, I don't think we're in Wisconsin anymore."  It never dawned on me not to put cheese on it!  And that's how you'll get it if you're eating at our house. 

These BLT's are loaded with cheese and avocado, which adds a delicious healthy creaminess.  We wait until we have those ripe and juicy tomatoes from the garden, cucumbers too!

If you love Sandwich Night, try these Garden BLT's with Pesto Aioli and Italian Subs with Giardiniera.

Ingredients

I've always thought that the classic Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato was never enough!  Avocado and cheese make great additions, while cucumbers can be added for a crisp freshness and extra nutrition. We like our BLT's fully loaded, the more additions, the better!

• Bacon - Try cooking your bacon on a sheet pan in the oven instead of a frying pan, game changer! You can also buy bacon when it's on sale and freeze it raw so you can make BLT's any time. You can also freeze extra cooked bacon.

• Lettuce - Use any type of lettuce or salad greens you like!

• Tomato - The big juicy slicer tomatoes from the garden or the farmer's market are what BLT's are all about! Wait for those perfectly ripe summer tomatoes.

• Bread - You can use any kind of bread you like and choose to toast it or not. Homemade Dutch Oven Bread for BLT's is amazing!

• Avocado - Avocado makes BLT's into a seriously substantial sandwich! Make sure your avocado is ripe and add as much or as little as you like.

• Cheese - To me, the best cheese for BLT's is sliced cheddar or white cheddar. You could also use Muenster, Provolone or really any cheese you like. I would not use American, not my favorite and it's best when melted.

• Cucumber - Add extra nutrition and a bit of extra freshness with sliced cucumbers. Red onion slices are also a great veggie addition.

• Mayonnaise - A personal preference, I love just the basic mayo on BLT's.

See recipe card below for full quantitites.

Instructions

Step 1 - Cook the Bacon in the Oven.  I always cook bacon on a sheet tray in the oven at 400° convection bake for about 20 minutes. This method is less messy and more efficient than cooking it in a frying pan. 

You can usually fit the whole package of bacon on a large sheet pan.  It cooks evenly and without any work from you.

Check on it after 15 minutes and flip it with tongs. Ovens can have hot spots, so some strips may be done a few minutes before the rest. 

I like to remove pieces to a plate as they are done without a paper towel, a little extra bacon grease is not a bad thing!

Step 2 - Prepare your other ingredients. Make sure your avocado is ripe, with black skin not green, and soft when pressed. To ripen an avocado, leave it on the counter instead of in the fridge for a day or two.

Cut your avocados in half lengthwise around the pit and twist open. Hit the pit gently with your knife (be careful). When the knife is stuck in the pit, twist to remove it and discard. 

Make slices the long way in the avocado flesh with a knife and scoop out with a spoon onto the sandwiches.

Step 3 - Assemble the BLT's. Decide whether to toast your bread, and pile it with sliced avocado, lettuce, tomato, bacon, cucumber, cheese and spread with mayo. Slice is half and serve.

Recipe Tips

• Cook Bacon in the Oven - This is how I always cook bacon! You can cook more at a time than in a frying pan, it's less messy and cooks evenly without your constant attention.

• The rendered bacon fat on the sheet pan can even be strained into a jar and kept in the fridge.  I use it to fry eggs!

• Ripe Avocado - Make sure your avocado is ripe or it is nearly impossible to eat! It should have black skin and be soft when pressed. I like to buy a lot of green unripe avocados at a time, keep them all in the fridge, and just put one out to ripen on the counter for a day or two as needed.

• Don't Refrigerate Tomatoes - Leave tomatoes on the counter with your onions, potatoes and bananas! They will have the best texture and flavor when stored at room temperature.

• Storage - Leftover Loaded Avocado BLT's can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge and eaten the next day. If you store the ingredients separately, they will last a couple days. You can give the bacon a quick microwave to warm it.

• Freezer Tips - Leftover cooked bacon can also be chopped and frozen. This is why I always cook the whole package. Frozen cooked bacon is great for throwing in omelets, or using on Loaded Baked Potatoes or in Potato Corn Chowder. You can also freeze whole packages of raw bacon so sandwich night is always on hand!

What to Serve with BLT's

Avocado BLT's make a great dinner with a few simple side dishes ideas.

• Soup and Sandwich Night - Make it a soup and sandwich night with Creamy Asparagus Soup, Zucchini Corn Chowder, or Roasted Tomato Basil Soup.

• Summer Salad - Round out the meal with fresh hearty salads like this Green Bean Salad, Tomato Feta White Bean Salad, and Broccoli Salad

• A Quick Side Dish - Add Charred Corn on the Cob, Parmesan Kale Chips, or Green Beans and Carrots with Butter!

• Chips and Salsa - Serve it simply with chips and Peach Corn Salsa or Mango Corn Salsa!