Light, crispy, delicious Mini Caprese Tarts are an incredibly delicious appetizer or light snack. These crispy little bites have the perfect flavor combo of fresh tomatoes, creamy mozzarella cheese, and crisp, buttery pastry.
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Caprese Tarts Recipe
Easy peasy Caprese! These little, fluffy pillows of cheesy puff pastry make for a great appetizer or party snack. They come together quickly and only need a handful of ingredients.
Topped with fresh basil, they are utterly addictive, so make a big batch!
Why You’ll Love Mini Caprese Tarts
- Super Speedy: Only 30 minutes from pantry to table, with only a few ingredients needed.
- Easy: Uses packaged puff pastry for extra ease. Just cut, layer, and bake!
- Plan ahead: These are the perfect snack to prep ahead of time.
Ingredients in This Recipe
- Puff pastry dough – This frozen dough takes all the work out of fancy pastries.
- Tomatoes – Roma tomatoes work great and are the perfect size.
- Mozzarella cheese– Go for fresh and whole milk if possible.
How to Make Mini Caprese Tarts
You can jump to the recipe card for full ingredients & instructions!
- Roll out the dough, cut in circles, and place on a baking sheet.
- Lightly score the dough with a knife, making a circle about a half inch inside the edge of the dough.
- Top each circle with tomato, a drizzle of vinegar, basil and mozzarella. Bake and enjoy!
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What is Caprese?
Caprese salad is a classic salad consisting of mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes, originating in Capri, Italy.
You really can’t go wrong with creamy whole milk mozzarella and juicy fresh tomatoes. It’s like pizza, only a little fancier!
I added a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar for a little zing, fresh basil leaves, and buttery puff pastry.
The end result is a simple yet incredibly flavorful tart everyone is sure to love! When you pull these out of the oven, you’ll impress everyone. Nobody needs to know how easy they are to make!
Cooking with Mozzarella
Mozzarella can contain a lot of liquid so to prevent the pastry from becoming soggy when the tarts bake, it’s best to dry the mozzarella using kitchen paper.
You just need to pat it dry gently to get rid of any excess moisture.
What is Puff Pastry?
Do you love croissants? Puff pastry is what makes all those paper-thin layers so crispy and buttery. It’s layers of ultra-thin dough, with butter in between the layers.
It’s a lot of work to make puff pastry, but you can buy it frozen and ready to use. The paper thin layers are called phyllo dough, and you can also buy that frozen, and do the layering and buttering by yourself.
Save some time, though, and buy a box of frozen puff pastry dough. You’ll find dozens of way to make good use of it–starting with Caprese Mini Tarts!
Can I Prep These Mini Tarts Ahead of Time?
You can easily get these Caprese Mini Tarts ready in advance. They keep well at room temperature for a few hours but can also be made 1-2 days ahead of time and stored in the fridge (in an airtight container).
Serve them at room temperature or reheated in the oven for 5-10 minutes.
Storing mini tarts
The Caprese Mini Tarts will store well in the fridge for 2-3 days, although the pastry may turn a little soggy the longer they are left.. They’re definitely at their best fresh from the oven!
Leftovers can also be frozen in suitable containers.
More Fun Appetizers to Try
- Creamy Garlic Mushrooms
- Homemade Baked Mozzarella Sticks
- Easy Soft Pretzel Bites
- Enchilada Cups
- Crispy Baked Buffalo Wings
- Garlic Parmesan Pasta Chips
If you make this recipe be sure to upload a photo in the comment section below or leave a rating. Enjoy! You can also jump to recipe.
Mini Caprese Tarts
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Ingredients
- 17 ounce package puff pastry dough
- 5-6 Roma tomatoes sliced into 18 thin slices
- 6 ounces fresh whole milk mozzarella cubed into 1-inch blocks
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar for drizzling
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or coat with nonstick spray.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.
- Using the top of a wine glass (or a biscuit cutter), cut out 9 circles per sheet of puff pastry.
- Place the dough circles on the prepared baking sheet.
- Using a paring knife, score an inner circle into each puff pastry, about 1/4 of an inch in. Use the tip of the knife to prick the center of each circle 2-3 times.
- Add a slice of tomato on each circle and then drizzle 3 or 4 drops of balsamic vinegar onto each tomato slice.
- Top each tomato slice with some chopped basil.
- Add a cube of mozzarella cheese to each tart.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until puff pastry is fully cooked and golden brown.
- Remove from the oven to a tray and serve.
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Becky’s tips
- Make sure to buy puff pastry for this recipe.
- Roma tomatoes work best for this recipe but you can use any fresh tomatoes you like.
- Whole-milk mozzarella has the best flavor.
- Don’t be tempted to use dried basil; it won’t give the same fresh flavor.
Nutrition Information
Hi, I just have a question. Forgive me if I missed it but where in recipe is the 6 ounces of milk used? Thank you
Nevermind…. I figured it out. Brain cramp.
I was wondering if you could prep these ahead of time do they do well being frozen?
I want to make some savory finger food that I can freeze …Nothing that needs hard to buy ingredients please!
I’m wanting to make these as an appetizer at a party in hosting this weekend. Do you think I can assemble everything and freeze them the night before, and then throw them in the oven just before the party?
These look awesome! Has anyone tried them cool or at room temperature? i plan to take them to a CSA pot luck.
Hey Susan! I did eat them cold. I liked them better hot, but I still loved them cold. If going somewhere with an oven you could have them baked and just warm them up real quick when you get there! Thanks for stopping by :)
No recipe!
Hi Evelyn, this is a contributing post I wrote for mycookingspot.com. you can find the recipe at http://mycookingspot.com/mini-caprese-tarts/. thanks for stopping by!
I love caprese too, yet I never thought about heating it to melt the cheese. Definitely going to have to pick up some puff pastry once my tomatoes are ripe this summer and give it a try.
awesome!! let me know how you like them :)
Woweeee…. I am adding this to my book. :)
These look so delicious!
These look delicious!!! I love working with puff pastry as well when making appetizers.