This mushroom tart is an amazing quick snack and perfect for entertaining. It‘s quick to make and packed with flavor. It‘s made with puff pastry, sautéed mushrooms seasoned with garlic, balsamic, and thyme, sweet shallots, and flavorful Gruyere cheese. If you love mushrooms and cheese, you‘ve got to try it!
You can also make this recipe in form of a bruschetta – see this recipe for mushroom bruschetta.
Ingredients
(Recipe card with full ingredient list is at the bottom of the post.)
Here‘s what you need to make this amazing mushroom tart:
- Puff pastry – all-butter puff pastry tastes best so choose that if you can find it
- Mushrooms – any kind will work here, I used half button mushrooms and half chanterelle mushrooms, cremini (baby bella) mushrooms or fresh porcini mushrooms would also be great
- Shallots – you can also use onions
- Thyme – fresh or dried, you could also use French or Italian herbs
- Garlic – use only fresh garlic
- Balsamic vinegar – enhances the flavor of mushrooms, adds some acidity that cuts through the richness of mushrooms and cheese, if you don‘t have it on hand, you can omit it or add 1/2 Tbsp of soy sauce instead
- Egg – to brush the edges of puff pastry – they will be nicely golden, if you don‘t have any eggs you can use heavy cream or milk to brush the edges of the tart
- Cheese – it‘s important to use a flavorful cheese like Gruyere cheese, Appenzeller cheese (or other Alpine-style full-bodied cheese), sharp aged cheddar would also work. Here you can find more recipes using Gruyere cheese.
Step by step instructions
STEP 1: Slice the shallots, mushrooms, chop the garlic. Don‘t slice the mushrooms too thinly, you want them still crunchy after being cooked.
STEP 2: First cook the onions with butter and thyme until soft, then add the garlic. Transfer the onions to a plate.
We will cook mushrooms over high heat so there is a risk that the onions could burn.
STEP 3: Cook the mushrooms with oil over high heat for a minute without stirring. As soon as you stir the mushrooms they will release liquid and they won‘t brown. Then you need to cook the mushrooms with balsamic vinegar until all the liquid has evaporated. Too much liquid in the mushrooms would cause the puff pastry to be soggy.
STEP 4: Add the onions with garlic back to the pan and stir until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Take the pan off the heat and transfer the mushrooms to a plate, let them cool slightly.
Don‘t put hot mushrooms on puff pastry – it will start to melt and become sticky, and won‘t be as puffy as it should be after being baked.
STEP 5: Take the puff pastry out of the fridge (take it out only if you have all your ingredients ready, warm puff pastry is sticky and hard to work with).
If your puff pastry is square when you buy it, roll it out slightly into a rectangular shape.
Score the puff pastry around the edges leaving a 1-inch (2,5 cm) border. You don‘t want to cut the pastry all the way through, just score it with a pairing knife, this will help to puff up the border of the tart. Prick the dough several times with a fork – it will help to release steam from underneath the pastry and the dough won‘t puff up under the mushrooms.
STEP 6: Sprinkle the dough with shredded on the large holes of a box grater cheese.
STEP 7: Spread sautéed mushrooms with onions on top of the cheese.
Bake the tart at 375°F or 190°C for about 20-25 minutes. It‘s ready when it‘s nicely puffed and golden.
Cut into squares and enjoy!
Serving suggestions
I like to serve this tart as an appetizer with a side of some salad greens and tomatoes. It‘s quite rich so you want to serve it with something light and crunchy. A crisp dry white wine would also be a lovely addition.
Make them differently: You could also cut the dough into small squares or circles and make small individual tartlets.
Storage
This mushroom tart tastes best freshly made (especially slightly warm) or 1-2 hours after baking. After this time it won‘t be crunchy anymore and the pastry will become a bit soggy. It‘s still very tasty, though! You can reheat it in a microwave or in an oven until warm.
This tart can also be frozen. Wrap each serving in plastic foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in an 350°F (180°C) oven until thawed and warm.
How to make it in advance: Prepare your mushroom filling, shred the cheese, and store them in the fridge for up to 3 days. Assemble and bake the tart right before serving.
Top tips on how to work with puff pastry
- This tart is really easy to make, you can use the pastry with the parchment paper attached and don‘t really have to work with it but it‘s still important to keep the pastry cool, in the fridge, while you‘re preparing all the other ingredients. It will be sticky when warm.
- All-butter puff pastry is more sticky than regular puff pastry made with shortening or palm fat (but it‘s so much tastier!).
- If using frozen puff pastry it‘s better to thaw it in the fridge overnight instead of quickly thawing it on the counter – it can be prone to breaking.
More savory puff pastry recipes
- Asparagus in puff pastry with ham and cheese
- Puff pastry pizza bites
- Cheese sun-dried tomato and olive puff pastry pinwheels
- Puff pastry onion tart with pear and blue cheese
- Puff pastry strudel with vegetables and cheese
- Puff pastry cheese straws
Here you can find all my puff pastry appetizers.
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Mushroom Tart
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 shallots or 1 medium onion
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 14 oz (400g) mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 1/4 cups (125g) shredded Gruyere cheese
- 1 sheet puff pastry about 9-10 ounce (270g)
- 1 egg for brushing the edges
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Instructions
Cook the mushrooms:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F / 190°C / Gas Mark 5, no fan (if you have a convection oven reduce the temperature by about 20° or follow the manufacturer's instructions).
- Cut the button mushrooms into 1/4-1/3 inch (5-7mm) slices. Chanterelle mushrooms: leave small mushrooms whole, cut medium mushrooms into 2 parts, and large mushrooms into 3-4 parts. Don’t cut the mushroom too thinly.14 oz (400g) mushrooms
- Cut the shallot into slices, finely chop the garlic.2 shallots, 3 cloves garlic
- Heat butter in a large frying pan over medium-low heat. When hot add the onions and thyme, cook for a couple of minutes, until the onion is soft. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring.1 tablespoon butter, 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- Transfer the onions with garlic to a plate.
- Add oil to the pan and increase the heat to the highest setting. Add mushrooms in an even layer, starting with button mushrooms (chanterelle mushrooms should be on top of button mushrooms). Cook without stirring for 1-2 minutes then add the vinegar and cook, stirring, for about 4-8 minutes (depending on how powerful your stovetop is) until the mushrooms have reduced their volume in half and all the liquid is evaporated. Don’t stir the mushrooms for about a minute when almost all liquid is evaporated, letting the mushrooms brown a little.1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- Add the onions with garlic back to the pan, stir with the mushrooms. Season the mushrooms and onions with salt and pepper. Transfer to a plate and leave to cool slightly.
Assemble and bake the tart:
- Take the puff pastry out of the fridge. If your puff pastry is square when you buy it, roll it out slightly into a rectangular shape. With the tip of a sharp knife, score through the top layers of the puff pastry by running the knife along all four sides of the dough (leaving about 1-inch / 2.5 cm border). Do not cut all the way through the dough. Transfer the pastry, along with the parchment paper that comes with it to a baking sheet. Prick the dough (but not the borders) with a fork.1 sheet puff pastry
- Sprinkle the cheese in an even layer over the dough.1 1/4 cups (125g) shredded Gruyere cheese
- Top with cooled mushrooms and onions.
- Brush the edges of the tart with beaten egg. Prick the dough with a fork a couple times more (or it will puff up in the oven), not the edges, just the center of the tart.
- Bake the tart for about 20-25 minutes or until golden.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Ingredient notes:
- Puff pastry – all-butter puff pastry tastes best so choose that if you can find it
- Mushrooms – any kind will work here, I used half button mushrooms and half chanterelle mushrooms, cremini (baby bella) mushrooms or fresh porcini mushrooms would also be great
- Shallots – you can also use onions
- Thyme – fresh or dried, you could also use French or Italian herbs
- Balsamic vinegar – if you don‘t have it on hand, you can omit it or add 1/2 Tbsp of soy sauce instead
- Egg – you can use heavy cream or milk to brush the edges of the tart
- Cheese – it‘s important to use a flavorful cheese like Gruyere cheese, Appenzeller cheese (or other Alpine-style full-bodied cheese), sharp aged cheddar would also work
- Serving suggestion: I like to serve this tart as an appetizer with a side of some salad greens and tomatoes. It‘s quite rich so you want to serve it with something light and crunchy. A crisp dry white wine would also be a lovely addition.
- You could also cut the dough into small squares or circles and make small individual tartlets.
- Storage: This mushroom tart tastes best freshly made (especially slightly warm) or 1-2 hours after baking. After this time it won‘t be crunchy anymore and the pastry will become a bit soggy. It‘s still very tasty, though! You can reheat it in a microwave or in an oven until warm.
- It’s important to take the puff pastry out of the fridge when you have all the other ingredients ready. It will be sticky when warm.
- Calories = 1 serving (1/6 of the recipe). This is only an estimate!
44 Comments
Diane Rodriguez
21 March 2025 at 07:04It was delicious! I also put some freshly grated Pecorino Romano on the top.