Puff Pastry Tomato Tart
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This Puff Pastry Tomato Tart combines a crispy, flaky crust with savory baked tomatoes and Boursin cheese. With only 6 ingredients and about 15 minutes of prep time, you can make a dish that tastes like summer on the French Riviera!
If you’ve got ripe, juicy tomatoes, this tart is an absolute summer must-make recipe. It makes a lovely summer lunch, especially when paired with a simple arugula salad or other greens.
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Why Make This Recipe
I’ve been making a version of this recipe since I spent two weeks at a cooking class in Provence, many years ago. Simplicity is the key. If you’re a tomato lover like I am, you want only enough cheese to complement and not dominate the tomato flavor. My version uses Boursin as a bed for the tomatoes, and also as a garnish on top—just enough to enhance the ripe tomato without overwhelming it.
🥗 Ingredients
- Puff Pastry: This recipe works very well with one sheet of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets, which you can find easily at the grocery store. If you prioritize flavor over ease of use, try using Dufour Puff Pastry—you can also find this in the freezer section, but it is an all-butter puff pastry dough that is harder to find in many stores. Just note that you will have to spend more time rolling it out, because it is thicker than the Pepperidge Farm sheets, and your tart will be much larger. So you’ll need to increase the amount of the fresh tomatoes and Boursin too.
- Boursin Cheese: Feel free to use goat cheese instead—just note that you need something soft enough to spread on the pastry dough. Ricotta cheese is another good substitute, though it won’t give you as strong a flavor as the Boursin or goat cheese.
- Tomatoes: Ripe summer tomatoes make all the difference in this dish, and heirloom tomatoes can be particularly lovely. Try alternating yellow tomatoes with red tomatoes. Or, try cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes.
- Basil: Chopped or slivered fresh basil leaves are best, but feel free to use dried basil or dried oregano if you don’t have fresh basil on hand. Fresh herbs like thyme or oregano would also be good substitutes.
- Olive Oil: You can leave this off, but I do enjoy the little extra richness it adds to the dish.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Thaw 1 sheet of puff pastry dough in refrigerator. Remove a package of Boursin cheese from the refrigerator to soften.
Slice 2-3 large ripe tomatoes in ¼-inch thick slices. Arrange tomato slices in a strainer, sprinkling each layer with kosher salt. You’ll need about ¾ teaspoon salt total. Let slices drain for 20 minutes in strainer. You can also strain tomato slices on a cooling rack placed over a large baking sheet. Pat tomatoes dry with paper towels.
On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out puff pastry sheet to ⅛ inch thick (about 10 x 12 inches). Place on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan. Use a pastry cutter wheel or a small sharp knife to score a ¾-inch border around the sides of the dough without cutting all the way through the dough. Use a fork to prick the puff pastry dough inside of the border.
Soften 3 ½ ounces of Boursin (about ⅔ of the package) in the microwave for 15 seconds on power level 5, if it is not soft enough to spread easily. Spread middle section of puff pastry with a thin layer of Boursin. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon chopped basil.
Layer tomato slices on top, overlapping them slightly. Chill sheet pan in freezer for 20 minutes, while preheating oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil. Sprinkle with black pepper (if desired).
Make an egg wash by mixing one egg yolk with a tablespoon of water and a pinch of salt. Use a small pastry brush to brush egg wash just on the border of the puff pastry dough.
Bake for 10 minutes, then crumble remaining Boursin cheese around the top of the tart. Bake an additional 20-25 minutes, until flaky and golden brown. Make sure the bottom of the tart is browned before you remove it from the oven.
Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with more chopped fresh basil.
Storage Tips
Wrap up uneaten pieces of tart in aluminum foil and store in the refrigerator. Or put into an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, using the oven or an air fryer is best for making sure the crust becomes crisp again.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Tomato Tart
You can definitely make this tart a few hours in advance and serve it at room temperature. I wouldn’t recommend making it more than a few hours in advance though. You can reheat it in the oven or an air fryer, but any amount of time in the refrigerator will cause the crust to become a bit soggier as the tomato soaks in. Puff pastry recipes are always best the day you make them.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
The biggest danger with this tomato puff pastry tart is that the puff pastry crust gets too soggy. First, remove as much liquid as you can from the tomato slices—press them firmly with a paper towel. Make sure not to stack your tomato slices directly on top of each other. You want to have more or less a single layer with a little bit of overlap. Also, make sure to check that the bottom of the crust is browned, before you take it out of the oven.
The other important thing to watch out for is the temperature of your puff pastry dough. Warm dough means the pastry is harder to work with. It also means the warm butter will not give you the flaky layers that make this dish so special. So put your dough back in the refrigerator if it feels too soft at any point in the recipe. Try to work quickly, without rushing. And don’t skip the step of putting the tart in the freezer before baking. That will ensure that the cold butter hits the warm heat of the oven and steams into gorgeously flaky pastry.
If you don’t have a pastry cutter wheel, a pizza wheel can be used for both cutting the lines into the pastry dough and slicing the tart into squares to serve.
Want to make individual tomato puff pastry tarts instead of one large one? Just roll out the dough to ⅛-inch thick, and cut the dough into several rectangles (the size you’d like to serve for each person). Then use the same process to make the border. Prick the inside of each rectangle before spreading with Boursin and topping with tomato. Chill, egg wash, and bake as directed.
Want to add even more flavor? I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to tomato tart. But you could also add a layer of pesto under the cheese and/or some caramelized onions. Or if you do like things cheesier, try baking it with a layer of gruyère cheese or parmesan cheese on top. And once the tart is baked (and cooled a little), you could add some dollops of soft mozzarella cheese or burrata, along with more fresh basil.
Now that your tart is ready, serving it with a simple green salad, like an arugula salad, makes a delicious light lunch. It would also be lovely with this Cucumber Carrot Salad. If you want to make a fully France-inspired lunch, try serving it with a Frisée Salad, topped with poached eggs. This tomato tart also makes a beautiful starter to a summer dinner party. Try pairing with this truffle-infused Chicken Pâté and these citrus-infused Marinated Olives!
Other Tomato Recipes
If you love tomatoes as much as I do (and I really really love them), you might want to check out some of my other favorite tomato recipes, perfect for tomato season. Start with this Roasted Tomato Pesto, then try one of these:
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📖 Recipe
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Puff Pastry Tomato Tart
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough (8.65 ounces)
- 1 5.3-ounce package Boursin cheese divided
- 2-3 large ripe tomatoes (around 1.5 pounds)
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil divided
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 egg yolk
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Thaw 1 sheet of puff pastry dough in refrigerator.
- Remove Boursin cheese from the refrigerator to soften.
- Slice tomatoes in ¼-inch thick slices.
- Arrange tomato slices in a strainer, sprinkling each layer with kosher salt. You’ll need about ¾ teaspoon salt total. Let slices drain for 20 minutes in strainer. Pat tomatoes dry with paper towels.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out puff pastry dough to ⅛ inch thick (about 10 x 12 inches), and place on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan.
- Use a pastry cutter or paring knife to score a ¾-inch border around the sides of the dough without cutting all the way through the dough. Use a fork to prick the puff pastry dough inside of the border.
- Soften 3 ½ ounces of Boursin (about ⅔ of the package) in the microwave for 15 seconds on power level 5, if it is not soft enough to spread easily.
- Spread middle section of puff pastry with a thin layer of Boursin.
- Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon chopped basil.
- Layer tomato slices on top, overlapping them slightly.
- Chill sheet pan in freezer for 20 minutes, while preheating oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
- Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil. Sprinkle with pepper (if desired).
- Make an egg wash by mixing one egg yolk with a tablespoon of water and a pinch of salt. Use a small pastry brush to brush egg wash just on the exposed border of the puff pastry dough.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then crumble remaining Boursin cheese around the top of the tart.
- Bake an additional 20-25 minutes, until crust is flaky and golden brown. Make sure the bottom of the tart is browned before you remove it from the oven.
- Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with more chopped fresh basil.
Notes
Wrap up uneaten pieces of tart in aluminum foil and store in the refrigerator. Or put into an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, using the oven or an air fryer is best for making sure the crust becomes crisp again. Expert Tips:
The biggest danger with this tomato puff pastry tart is that the puff pastry crust gets too soggy. First, remove as much liquid as you can from the tomato slices—you can press them firmly with a paper towel. Make sure not to stack your tomato slices directly on top of each other so that you have more or less a single layer with a little bit of overlap. Also, make sure to check that the bottom of the crust is browned, before you take it out of the oven. The other important thing to watch out for is the temperature of your puff pastry dough. Warm dough means the pastry is harder to work with, and it also means the warm butter will not give you the flaky layers that make this dish so special. So put your dough back in the refrigerator if it feels too soft at any point in the recipe. Try to work quickly, without rushing. And don’t skip the step of putting the tart in the freezer before baking. That will ensure that the cold butter hits the warm heat of the oven and steams into gorgeously flaky pastry.
Nutrition
📖 Recipe
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Vanilla Bean Cuisine.
Puff Pastry Tomato Tart
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough (8.65 ounces)
- 1 5.3-ounce package Boursin cheese divided
- 2-3 large ripe tomatoes (around 1.5 pounds)
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil divided
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 egg yolk
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Thaw 1 sheet of puff pastry dough in refrigerator.
- Remove Boursin cheese from the refrigerator to soften.
- Slice tomatoes in ¼-inch thick slices.
- Arrange tomato slices in a strainer, sprinkling each layer with kosher salt. You’ll need about ¾ teaspoon salt total. Let slices drain for 20 minutes in strainer. Pat tomatoes dry with paper towels.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out puff pastry dough to ⅛ inch thick (about 10 x 12 inches), and place on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan.
- Use a pastry cutter or paring knife to score a ¾-inch border around the sides of the dough without cutting all the way through the dough. Use a fork to prick the puff pastry dough inside of the border.
- Soften 3 ½ ounces of Boursin (about ⅔ of the package) in the microwave for 15 seconds on power level 5, if it is not soft enough to spread easily.
- Spread middle section of puff pastry with a thin layer of Boursin.
- Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon chopped basil.
- Layer tomato slices on top, overlapping them slightly.
- Chill sheet pan in freezer for 20 minutes, while preheating oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
- Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil. Sprinkle with pepper (if desired).
- Make an egg wash by mixing one egg yolk with a tablespoon of water and a pinch of salt. Use a small pastry brush to brush egg wash just on the exposed border of the puff pastry dough.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then crumble remaining Boursin cheese around the top of the tart.
- Bake an additional 20-25 minutes, until crust is flaky and golden brown. Make sure the bottom of the tart is browned before you remove it from the oven.
- Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with more chopped fresh basil.
Notes
Wrap up uneaten pieces of tart in aluminum foil and store in the refrigerator. Or put into an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, using the oven or an air fryer is best for making sure the crust becomes crisp again. Expert Tips:
The biggest danger with this tomato puff pastry tart is that the puff pastry crust gets too soggy. First, remove as much liquid as you can from the tomato slices—you can press them firmly with a paper towel. Make sure not to stack your tomato slices directly on top of each other so that you have more or less a single layer with a little bit of overlap. Also, make sure to check that the bottom of the crust is browned, before you take it out of the oven. The other important thing to watch out for is the temperature of your puff pastry dough. Warm dough means the pastry is harder to work with, and it also means the warm butter will not give you the flaky layers that make this dish so special. So put your dough back in the refrigerator if it feels too soft at any point in the recipe. Try to work quickly, without rushing. And don’t skip the step of putting the tart in the freezer before baking. That will ensure that the cold butter hits the warm heat of the oven and steams into gorgeously flaky pastry.
Nutrition
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More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
This was the best tomato tart I have ever made. My family raved about it. Thank you for sharing! I will be making it many more times.
I'm so glad you loved this! Really appreciate you commenting.
One of my favorite things to eat in the summer!