This vegan puff pastry tart is the perfect option for a quick, flavourful lunch with a vegan pesto base, topped with thinly sliced vine tomatoes and baked to perfection to give a golden oregano and poppy seed crust.
It looks so special and taste so good, you'd never guess that it's meat-, egg-, and dairy-free!
The recipe starts with store-bought puff pastry. Lots of standard puff pastry brands you'll find in the chilled section are accidentally vegan as they use vegetable fat instead of butter. Just be sure to check the label.
Next, you'll whizz up your own vegan pesto by throwing toasted pine nuts, vegan cheese, olive oil, basil and garlic into a blender. Just blitz to a paste and spread onto your sheet of puff pastry. Easy!
Of course, if you don’t want to make your own vegan pesto, Sacla does a great vegan basil pesto as well as a vegan tomato pesto, both of which would work wonderfully in this recipe.
To complete your tart, you'll layer thinly sliced vine tomatoes on top, bring up the sides of the pastry case and season with oregano, poppy seeds, salt, pepper and a dash of olive oil.
After that, your tart will need just 25 minutes in the oven to become a stunning meal you'll want to serve again and again!
Here's my recipe for vegan puff pastry tart, complete with plenty of step-by-step photos to help you along the way.
Ingredients
- 320 g (11 oz) ready-rolled puff pastry vegan
For the pesto
- 45 g (¼ cup) pine nuts
- 50 g (2½ cups) fresh basil
- 2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 30 g (⅓ cup) vegan hard cheese finely grated
- 65 ml (4 tbsp + 1 tsp) olive oil
To top the tart
- 3 large (3) vine ripened tomatoes thinly sliced
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp soya milk
- 1 tsp poppy seeds
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp pine nuts
Instructions
Take the pastry out of the fridge 10 minutes before you start, unroll it flat and then place back in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan assisted, 400F).
Make the pesto
Warm a pan over a medium heat and add the pine nuts.
Toast for a couple of minutes until golden. Keep an eye on them and keep shaking/stirring as they can easily burn.
Remove the pine nuts from the pan and allow to cool.
Transfer the toasted pine nuts to a small blender bowl and add the garlic, basil, vegan cheese, olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Pulse until you have a pesto. I like to keep it coarse, but you can break it down as much as you like.
Construct the tart
Roll the pastry out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper.
Prick all over with a fork, leaving a border of about 2-2.5cm (1 inch).
Spoon the pesto on top.
Spread to the edges.
Lay the tomatoes on top of the pastry in four rows, leaving the border clear.
Fold in the corners of the pastry.
Now fold the sides in.
Drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil.
Brush the pastry edges with soya milk, then scatter with poppy seeds and oregano.
Scatter the untoasted pine nuts over the tomatoes.
Slide the tart and paper onto an oven tray.
Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.
Transfer to a clean board.
Cut into eighths and serve.
It's wonderful served with peppery rocket and a drizzle of balsamic glaze.
So simple! What do you think of this vegan tart? Don't forget to let me know how you get on!
Print this vegan puff pastry tart recipe
Vegan Puff Pastry Tart Recipe
Ingredients
- 320 g (11 oz) ready-rolled puff pastry vegan
For the pesto
- 45 g (¼ cup) pine nuts
- 50 g (2½ cups) fresh basil
- 2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 30 g (⅓ cup) vegan hard cheese finely grated
- 65 ml (4 tbsp + 1 tsp) olive oil
To top the tart
- 3 large (3) vine ripened tomatoes thinly sliced
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp soya milk
- 1 tsp poppy seeds
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp pine nuts
Instructions
- Take the pastry out of the fridge 10 minutes before you start, unroll it flat and then place back in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan assisted, 400F).
Make the pesto
- Warm a pan over a medium heat and add the pine nuts. Toast for a couple of minutes until golden. Keep an eye on them and keep shaking/stirring as they can easily burn.
- Remove the pine nuts from the pan and allow to cool.
- Transfer the toasted pine nuts to a small blender bowl and add the garlic, basil, vegan cheese, olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Pulse until you have a pesto. I like to keep it coarse, but you can break it down as much as you like.
Construct the tart
- Roll the pastry out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Prick all over with a fork, leaving a border of about 2-2.5cm (1 inch).
- Spoon the pesto on top and spread to the edges.
- Lay the tomatoes on top of the pastry in four rows, leaving the border clear.
- Fold in the corners of the pastry, then fold the sides in.
- Drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil.
- Brush the pastry edges with soya milk, then scatter with poppy seeds and oregano.
- Season the whole tart with salt and pepper.
- Scatter the untoasted pine nuts over the tomatoes.
- Slide the tart and paper onto an oven tray.
- Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.
- Transfer to a clean board and cut into eighths and serve.
- It's wonderful served with peppery rocket and a drizzle of balsamic glaze.
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Ruth says
I've made this several times now (I always cheat with bought pesto and pre-rolled pastry). It's just delicious. Thinking of making a couple next time we have a party as it's sure to go down well with everyone.
Emily Leary says
I'm so pleased!
Joanne says
This recipe was soooooo good. I didn't do the poppy seeds around the edges and it was still amazing! Highly recommended. I also did one with thin zucchini slices and it was also very good.