Caramelized Tomato Tarte Tatin Recipe (2024)

I've made a bunch of variations of this - basil and garlic instead of onions and olives, pie crust instead of puff pastry, individual versions for a dinner party, etc. all excellent. I mostly use roma tomatoes, since they aren't as wet.If you think it's going to be really too wet, sprinkle a handful of instant/quick couscous over the top before you put the pastry on top. They'll soak up some of the water and you'll never notice them otherwise.

This is a delicious recipe, which I've made several times, perfect for a block party or end of summer gathering. I salt the tomatoes lightly, then drain them on a paper towel for an hour before adding them.

Made this last two nights. Used only 1 large red onion (2+ cups/9 oz) thinly sliced. Roasted cherry tomatoes in toaster oven 5 min at 400 degrees until first popped. Then pierced remainder of tomatoes to let moisture out. Used only 2 T sugar and 1T balsamic vinegar. Used my 80 year old 10" cast iron pan. Pie crust is fine but puff-pastry is glorious. Easy flip and magnificent presentation. Is now a home staple. Ciao

Patricia Welles also has a somewhat similar recipe in "The French Kitchen Cookbook" for individual tomato tart tatins. She roasts her tomatoes first which concentrates the flavor and also reduces their moisture. I did this with very small, but not cherry tomatoes and had no moisture issues.
I used a combination of red and yellow onions and leeks which is what I had on hand and the results were excellent.

Delicious! I am glad I read the helpful notes. I roasted the tomatoes for 30 min ahead of baking and reduced the juices from the tomatoes. I reduced the sugar to the caramel by half, added a sprinkle of couscous before adding the pastry to the top and added dijon mustard to the pastry (underside that cooked with the tomatoes, onions and olives). I drained it before flipping. My friends could not get enough of it. It turned out perfect.

Spread mustard on pastry first - delicious

Many complaints about this being too wet. It is pretty sloppy at the bottom of that pan before you flip it. The best thing I've found is to drain with a pan lid or plate pressed to the pastry and tip the fluid out of the pan. But don't throw that liquid out. After the tarte is flipped and on a presentation plate reduce the liquid drained from it and serve as a glaze on top of the tarte.

Magnificent. A keeper. Tastes as good as it looks. Yes to pre-roasting the tomatoes and mustard on the puff pastry.

I loved this and found it very easy once I had followed some of the modifications others suggested: namely, roasting the tomatoes beforehand to let out some of the juice and adding dollops of creamy goat cheese. I served it covered in fresh chopped basil. This is a very good recipe for entertaining. I served it as the veg with sliced steaks and chimichurri sauce.

I used green stuffed olives instead of Kalamata, and fresh basil instead of thyme. I skipped the caramel step entirely. I just added the vinegar directly to the onions while cooking them, and didn't need any water. Delicious!

A picture perfect, well received Tomato Tart. The suggestion to add some couscous as a thickener was brilliant and worked really well. I knew it was there, but everyone was surprised when I asked them. My engineer husband, taught me to tilt the pie plate by putting a wooden spoon under one edge it to allow any juices to drain away from the bottom crust. That also works like a charm and did not disturb the tomatoes. I did reduce the sugar to 2T and uses 1/2T red wine vinegar-it was right for us

I roasted tomatoes and onions one day ahead and set everything up the night before, no sugar, just balsamic syrup.
Added olives and baked with pastry crust, not drippy at all, tasted fantastic.

Far too sweet for my taste. And, as others have pointed out, it's very watery. I also think it could be improved with the addition of a soft cheese between the onions and pastry, or maybe even a few beaten eggs poured on. I doubt I'll make this one again.

If this ended up "too sweet" for you the caramel must have been made with too much sugar or too little vinegar. . There's nothing else sweet in it. If it's "too wet" at the flip point ( it will leach a lot of water from the tomatoes ) use a pan lid slightly smaller than the pan you cooked it in to press the pastry top then give it a slight tip and drain it. I propped mine up and drained it for about 15 minutes and it flipped nicely with little fluid remaining.

Delicious! Made it twice already and it turned out great. I followed the recipe except for the amount of onion and the vinegar. Used one big onion and 4-5 tablespoons of vinegar. Really good! Fun and super easy to make.

Looks really nice but vinegar is too powerful.

The first time I made this it was very wet and too sweet for my taste. Next round I oven roasted tomatoes to lose some of the moisture and added a bit of cheese on top of the onions. This is a keeper!

Unfortunately, this was an awful mess. Used cherry tomatoes from our gardens, and the result was sickly sweet. Also, the tomatoes gave off so much juice that the puff pastry was a soggy mess. Hugely disappointing.

This ended up being awful for us. There was way too much water which made the puff pastry a soggy mess. And it was so sweet it was inedible. I used cherry tomatoes from our garden, which are probably just sweeter than what you find in the grocery store.

OMG this is incredible! I used zucchini instead of the onion because that's what I had on hand. (don't need to add the water if you use zucchini) I pre roasted the tomatoes as suggested and the mustard on the puff pastry–also a great idea. I used TJ's cracked olive salad instead of the chopped olives (strained some of the oil out). I probably over roasted the tomatoes and used too big of a pan, all of this to say you can't mess this up. 5/5 LOVE

WAYYYY too sweet! A sad waste of the last of my lovely tomatoes from the garden.

This wasn’t hard to make. I roasted the tomatoes to let some juices escape. The consistency was just right, not soggy. But I cut the sugar in half and gave it a touch more vinegar and still found it to be too sweet. My tomatoes were quite sweet as well. Next time I’ll try it with the dijon mustard treatment from the below comments and cut out the sugar altogether.

While my husband and I enjoyed it, it was too sweet for our likings. I didn't have enough red onions so I subbed in a yellow one, nor did it have puff pastry, but I did have a round pizza crust in the fridge. Goat cheese, dijon mustard or basalmic vinegar would be an addition to counter the sweetness, or I could just back off the amount of sugar.

I was unclear what one sheet of puff pastry is and the recipe didn’t clarify. I’ve never worked with puff pastry before.

I have been making this for a few years. The flipping over part can be tricky. Last night I tried something different. I formed my puffed pastry into a rectangle and used a pastry brush to cover the pastry with the sugar/water/vinegar mixture. Topped with olives, tomatoes and caramelized onion leaving a small border that I folded over. Baked in the oven set to convection at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Just as delicious and no mess trying to flip the tart over.

A dish that is fun to make and tastes delicious! I roasted the tomatoes for 20 minutes at 425 and had no extra juices in the final product. I think I would add a little more olives next time. I was worried when I put it in the oven but it turned out beautiful.

Made as written. The Flavors are wonderful, but as noted by others it was very very soggy. Next time I'll follow suggestion to roast and drain tomatoes first.

So good! I made some changes the second time I cooked it. I roasted the tomatoes ahead of time as suggested by other commenters. I added half a tin of oil-packed anchovies, chopped, to the onion mixture halfway through cooking. I added 2.5 oz Roquefort blue cheese to the pie as I filled it. Took out the olives - didn’t taste them the first time I cooked it. Absolutely obsessed with it now, will be making it every summer when my garden gifts me with cherry tomatoes!

Amazing flavor. I roasted the tomatoes for 10 minutes but not even sure if that was necessary. Followed someone’s recommendation for using 6 oz of onions and 2 Tbsp of sugar. Also grainy mustard. Delicious.