This Homemade Rhubarb Tarte Tatin recipe is a rustic twist on a classic French recipe, using fresh local rhubarb in place of the more traditional apple.
The images and post were last updated in 2022
Growing rhubarb in the garden
Rhubarb season here in southern England runs from around April to June.
It’s a perennial plant, meaning it will grow back year after year with very little effort on the gardeners part.
It can be quite bolshy, taking up quite a lot of garden real estate. But as soon as the season is over, the plant all but disappears again, building up the energy for next year. So there’s plenty of opportunity to grow other seasonal plants all around it.
A quick note: the leaves of the rhubarb plant are poisonous to humans (and dogs and cats). If you decide to grow it, please make sure it’s out of the reach of young hands.
How to make a rhubarb tarte tatin
Traditionally, a tarte tatin would be made with apples.
However, when you have a rhubarb plant or two in your garden it makes sense to find as many delicious ways to use it as you can!
And a tarte tatin, with its syrupy, caramel-ish topping is the perfect way of sweetening the naturally sour flavour of rhubarb.
Here’s a step by step tutorial showing you how to make this really easy version. (If it’s your first visit here, the full recipe, including metric & US measurements can be found below the photo tutorial).
1/ pick and prep your rhubarb
Pick (or buy!) your rhubarb stalks.
Don’t cut the base of the stem, just give it a gentle tug and it’ll come away from the plant easily.
Rhubarb stems come in all lengths and thicknesses.
The ones that I picked today were about one inch thick and the longest one was about 14 inches long.
This is how many stalks I needed to get the 300g needed for this recipe.
Cut the leaves off and ideally put them into a compost bin.
When you get the stalks back to the kitchen, remove any tatty or slimy bits.
Rinse under cold water and give a gentle scrub.
Dice into about one inch lengths.
2/ prep the tart filling
I’m lucky enough to have been sent this traditional tarte tatin tin from the good folk at Samuel Groves.
They have two different sizes, and this is the smaller one which is ideal for this recipe. It’s perfectly shaped to make an authentic French style tarte tatin.
However, you can also use a deep pie dish.
Ideally it will measure about 8 inches (20cm) wide, and about 2 inches (5cm) deep.
Place the sugar, dried ginger and butter into the dish.
Put the pie tin into the oven whilst it preheats so that the butter melts.
When ready, it should look like this…
3/ layer your tarte tatin
Whilst the butter/sugar combo is still hot, carefully tip in the rhubarb pieces.
Push them around the pan until they are in an even layer.
Then take your sheet of puff pastry and place it loosely over the top of the pan.
I cut about 1/3 off my sheet of ready rolled puff pastry, using a piece that measured about 10 inches by 10 inches.
You need it to be bigger than the top of your pan.
Fold, nudge and push the pastry down into the edges of the pan.
I’ve never found a neat and tidy way of doing this, so just have fun with it!
4/ bake your tarte tatin
Pop your dish back into the oven.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the juices can be seen bubbling up the sides.
5/ plate up your rhubarb tarte tatin
Whilst the tart is still really hot, place a plate over the top of the pie dish. Make sure the plate is at least one inch bigger than the top of the pan.
Using oven gloves, firmly grasp each side of the pie dish/plate, and very carefully flip it all over.
Place onto the counter.
Use a knife to lift up the edge of the upturned pie dish.
With the other hand still in an oven glove, remove the tart tin.
If the tart hasn’t fully released from the pan, you can slide the knife around the stuck pastry to nudge it free.
6/ serve your homemade tarte tatin!
You can serve this with ice cream, cream or even Greek yogurt.
Although honestly, I prefer my tart just as is.
It’s the perfect blend of sweet and tart, crisp and juicy and the dried ginger gives you a wonderful warmth to end on. I feel like anything else is a little bit unnecessary!
I can hand-on-heart say this is my absolute favourite thing to do with rhubarb.
And this is the recipe you need to make if your significant other doesn’t like rhubarb. This tarte tatin is guaranteed to turn them (it did with mine!)
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
As always, please feel free to tag me any pics you share of this, or any of my recipes online. I try to share all that I see, you can find me pretty much everywhere as @hedgecomber.
Jane x
- 100 g brown sugar
- 25 g butter
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 300 g rhubarb - trimmed and washed
- 260 g puff pastry - I used about 2/3 of a 375g ready rolled pack of pastry.
Turn on the oven to 180/350/gas 4.
Pour the brown sugar into the bottom of the tart tin. Sprinkle evenly with the ground ginger, and cut the butter into a few knobs, dotting it around in the sugar.
Place the tart tin into the oven as it warms so that the butter melts.
Chop the rhubarb into 1 inch long pieces.
When the butter has melted, removed the tin form the oven and carefully place the rhubarb into the tin.
Cut the pastry to be an inch or so bigger that the tin.
I kept my pastry square rather than cutting it into a circle shape. But if you were looking for a more elegant tarte, you could cut it around the shape of the tin.
Lay the pastry down over the rhubarb, pushing the edges down the sides of the tin.
Pierce the pastry in the centre for the steam to escape, and bake for 35-40 minutes.
When ready, the pastry will be golden brown and the syrup bubbling up the sides.
Carefully remove the tin from the oven.
Place a plate upside down over the To of the tart.
Using oven gloves, and being extremely careful not to splash yourself with the caramel, flip the tin and plate over.
The tarte tatin should now be st proudly on the plate, with the caremekise rhubarb proudly sat on top.
Serve hot or cold, ideally with ice cream.
Huge thanks to Samuel Groves for sending me this pan to try. This post is not sponsored.
Bridget says
That sounds yummie! Bought some Rhubarb today so I can make this tomorrow.
Jane Sarchet says
Hope you enjoy it Bridget, the flavours are really lovely.
Janie x
Fiona Egglestone says
Wonderful recipe. It’s so easy but looks really impressive! I made this last night (sadly I don’t have access to home grown rhubarb, but nevermind…) and it went down a treat. Delicious!
Jane Sarchet says
Fantastic! I’m so glad you enjoyed it Fiona!
Janie x
Tanya @ Lovely Greens says
Thanks, I’ve been looking for some different rhubarb recipes and this looks easy and delish!