Fresh Tomato Tart
by Sommer Collier — last updated on May 15, 2025 
This vibrant Tomato Tart with fresh tomatoes, a creamy cheese base, and buttery crust is a great way to enjoy your summer tomatoes in a savory pie!
Tomato Tart Recipe (AKA Tomato Pie)
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
I learned to make traditional tomato pies shortly after moving to the South. The comforting combination of freshly-baked garden produce, molten cheese, and pastry crust is hard to beat.
This updated fresh tomato tart is truly beautiful inside and out, with astounding southern comfort and wilted tomatoes covering the top! Not only is this tomato tart knockout-gorgeous, but it’s also easy to make, even with a buttery made-from-scratch crust.
If you’re in a hurry, you can use a refrigerated roll-out pie crust instead. Yet I do recommend using the tart crust recipe below if you have the time.
The cheese filling under the tomatoes is a luxurious, southern blend of creamy mayonnaise, cheese, and herbs. We are using provolone cheese for its delicate flavor and amazing melting properties. However, you can use any cheese you like that shreds easily and melts smoothly.
Ingredients You Need
For the Tart Crust:
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Butter, diced
- Egg
- Salt
For the Tomato Pie Filling:
- Grape or cherry tomatoes, rinsed and dried
- Sharp provolone cheese, grated (sub fontina or white cheddar)
- Fresh basil leaves
- Mayonnaise
- Green onions, chopped
- Black pepper
How to Make A Tomato Tart
Find the full Tomato Tart recipe with ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, and a video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Protein Pointer – If you are looking for ways to add extra protein to all your meals, you can add 1/2 cup drained cottage cheese to the filling.
Servings Suggestions
This savory tart is the perfect center piece to any summer meal. Consider serving it as the main dish of a vegetarian meal with Couscous Salad (with Pickled Vegetables) or Farro Salad with Kale and Artichokes, Creamy Deviled Egg Pasta Salad, Pickled Watermelon Rind, and Mandarin Orange Salad.
Or serve this tart as a side dish, with Grilled Blackened Chicken, Bavette Steak (Flap Meat Steak), Pork Chops with Pork Chop Seasoning, Broccoli Salad with Bacon, Cool and Creamy Grape Salad, and Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe with Dill.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, keep the grape tomatoes whole and bake the tart as directed in the recipe below.
Sure you can! Fresh thyme leaves, fresh parsley, or rosemary are all good options.
Layer the crust while raw and bake the tart all together. If you are concerned about the bottom baking through, you can place the fresh tomato tart on the lowest rack so the bottom of the crust is closer to the heat source.
You can store this in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-4 days. Or you can wrap the tart dish with plastic wrap for overnight storage at room temperature.
I would suggest making this dish with homemade pie crusts. However, you can use a puff pastry sheet or a premade pie crust, rolled and cut to fit the pan. Bake according to the recipe below.
Other Great Side Dish Recipes
Tomato Tart Recipe with Basil
Video
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 2 teaspoons
- 6 tablespoons butter diced
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Filling:
- 2 pints grape or cherry tomatoes rinsed and dried
- 1 1/2 cups sharp provolone grated (or fontina)
- 1/2 cup basil leaves divided
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup chopped green onions
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- For the Crust: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a food processor, combine the flour, cornstarch , butter, and salt. Pulse the mixture until it forms very tiny bits. Add one egg and pulse until a dough forms. This dough is rather tough, but it does come together nicely.
- Gather the dough into a ball. Then press the dough in to the 9-inch tart pan, covering every bit. (You can roll the dough out to a 12-inch circle if you want.) Crimp the edges, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Roughly chop 1/4 cup of the basil leaves. Stack and roll the remaining basil leaves and cut them into thin ribbons. Save the ribbons for the end. Mix the cheese, mayo, chopped basil, green onions and pepper in a bowl. Spread the mixture over the bottom of the tart shell.
- Top with grape tomatoes and press them down. Bake for 35 minutes, until the crust edges are golden-brown and the cheese is bubbling up.
- Cool for 10 minutes, then sprinkle with 1/4 cup sliced basil ribbons. Serve warm.
Looking forward to trying this out !
If you use cherry tomatoes instead of grap do you cut them in half or bake it longer?
Hi Kate,
No, I would still keep them whole and bake for the same amount of time. :)
Its fantastic sharing and i like it.
I had a million cherry tomatoes to use up from my parents garden, so I decided to give this a try. My entire family was skeptical, except me….I thought it was gorgeous! My 12 year old son was already negotiating with me, but to my great surprise, every single one of us loved it. My daughter said it tasted like something from a fancy restaurant and claimed that she would get all the leftovers. Not only beautiful, but delicious!
My one question….did you bake the crust before filling it or did you fill it raw?
Hi Laurie,
I’m so glad you liked it!! I fill it raw and bake it all together. Did yours not bake all the way through on the bottom? If that is the case, you might want to place it on the lower rack so the bottom of the crust is closer to the heat source.
What a great recipe! Looks like such a great snack!
I made this tart last evening. We are harvesting lots of grape tomatoes at this time This was perfect to make The recipe turned out wonderful and delicious I used Fontina cheese as I couldn’t find the sharp provolone. Can’t wait to make this for company and hear all the ahh’s Thanks for this one!
being a mother is the hardest and the most emotional job out there and it looks like you are doing a great job. Lovely tart with all those delicious tomatoes. Thank you xoxo
Thanks Beverley on both accounts! XOXO
Just made your wonderful tart and the family loved it! I used a mixture of ricotta and mozzarella. It was wonderful!
My daughter is 15 months and I am already stressing. How to be protective yet let her live her own experiences to learn and grow. This tart looks beautiful. I love the season of abundant fresh tomatoes. Eye candy is good with food but taste always wins for me. Some of my favorite recipes are not so pretty. It is a true find when they are both pretty and delicious.
Let me tell you what….it sickens me too. I have worked very hard from the time my girls were little to talk more about character, never to mention their body in a negative way. My oldest daughter went through quite an awkward chubby phase, but now she is 5’11” , slim, with an athletic build. My oldest is naturally confident, my younger daughter is not so helping her get past the superficialness of our society has been more challenging. I would say for sure, as a mom the first rule is that we be very careful how we talk about ourselves. Don’t spend too much time worrying, talking, preparing. We shouldn’t ever put ourselves down, because our kids see us as a mirror whether consciously or subconsciously….they think thats what I’m going to look like, be like when I get older. So as adults we need to strive to have a psychologically healthy view of ourselves. One friend of my daughters from early on was so obsessed with her body working out “getting abs” , well it took only a couple conversations with her mom to realize how low the moms confidence level was, and how much time and effort she put into her outer appearance, to this day it makes me sad, because this woman cannot get past her looks and see if she only worked a bit on her insides it would shine through to her outsides!! Side note on the daughter, she is also very obsessed with outer appearances, my daughter is still friends with her it has been interesting see how are different parenting has shaped these two girls. Not that I have done everything right and she wrong….just different.
I could talk about this for hours Sommer!! want to have coffee?? LOL
Heres the clincher, we send them to school and rt away there are little girls who are already making statements about looks, body types, and what kids are wearing. It doesn’t start in High School, by then kids are already pigeoned holed into groups. I thought it was hard when we were young, now all this media, has pushed it over the top!! Hang in there, you are a naturally beautiful, confident woman and that is what your girl with mirror. Don’t stop praying. pray pray pray, pray more, worry less!!
Sheila, thanks so much for sharing. I have friends that obsess over their appearance as well, and I can see how it effects their girls. I try to be aware of that, even on my insecure days. My daughter doesn’t miss anything!! And of course lots of prayer going on over here! XOXO
I love your use of whole tomatoes in this recipe. Although heirloom tomatoes are beautiful they are only tomatoes. They can be just as mealy, unripe or rotten inside as any other tomato.
I know there are parents that worry that their children will too much emphasis on these things. I think that the only children that fall into this are the children whose parents turn a blind eye to it. Children may go through phases but ultimately come full circle and end up with the values that their parents instilled upon them.
So I would say don't worry too much about it. Society's influence won't often go deeper than the influence of a parent that cares. If you are smart enough to teach your children then you should certainly have faith that your children are smart enough to learn.
Cheers!
They are both simply stunning!