Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart with Thyme
Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart with Thyme has a flaky, buttery crust, onions cooked until practically melted, tangy goat cheese, and fresh thyme. It’s a lovely French-inspired dish for a spring brunch or as part of a light supper when paired with a soup or salad.
I’m an onion lover, to begin with, but when Vidalia onion season hits, I’m really over the moon! This special onion is named for Vidalia, Georgia, and is only grown in 20 Georgia counties. It’s the sweetest, most well-known variety of sweet onions and is available from April through August. Vidalias are perfect for making these Roasted Onions!
In fact, this onion is so special I actually went to the trouble of making a crust from scratch for this Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart with Thyme!
Oh, yes. I’ve previously admitted that I don’t care about making my own crust. It’s not that I can’t, I don’t like a floury mess in my kitchen or in my clients’ kitchens. Because of that, I often rely on refrigerated purchased pie crusts.
However, this crust is super easy with no floury mess because it doesn’t need to be rolled out.
How to make a tart crust:
- Combine all-purpose flour, a bit of salt, and lots of cold butter in a food processor or blender.
- Process until the combination is nice and crumbly.
- Then add ice water until the flour and butter combination holds together like this little bit that I squeezed together. You don’t want it to come to a ball in the food processor; make sure it will hold together when you place it in the tart pan.
- Then, empty it into an 11-inch tart pan, press the dough together, and up the sides of the tart pan.
- Give it a good chill in the freezer to firm it back up.
- Place a piece of parchment paper over the crust and fill it with pie weights or dried beans, lentils, rice, etc., that have gone out of date to weigh it down.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly golden with no raw appearance.
- Let cool while you caramelize the onions (or do it simultaneously).
How to caramelize onions:
- Peel, halve, and slice the onions. Place in a large skillet with butter and a neutral oil such as canola or vegetable.
- Heat the onions with the butter and oil over medium-high heat.
- Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 30 minutes or so, stirring every 5 minutes until they are softening up.
- Uncover and continue cooking over low heat, stirring often until they are beautifully and deeply golden in color.
- Drain any excess fat before placing it in the prepared tart pan with garlic, goat cheese, and chopped fresh thyme.
- Whisk together eggs and cream or half-and-half, pour over the onion and goat cheese combination, and bake!
Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart with Thyme is perfect for a spring brunch or light supper!
Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart with Thyme is perfect for a spring brunch or light supper!
Lovely, lovely! Check out that beautiful, flaky, buttery crust.
For more lovely tart recipes, be sure to try my:
- Roasted Cherry Tomato Tart with Herbed Ricotta
- Asparagus, Prosciutto and Fontina Tortino
- Butternut Squash, Leek and Gruyere Tart
- Tomato Ricotta Tart
- Spring Green, Leek and Gruyere Tart
- Puff Pastry Vegetable Tart
Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart with Thyme
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Equipment
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter - 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons, cold and cut into small pieces
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons ice water - or more as necessary
- Cooking spray
Filling
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 large sweet yellow onions - halved and thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic - minced
- 4 ounces crumbled goat cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half - or half-and-half
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Crust
- Combine the flour, butter, sugar and salt in a food processor. Pulse until crumbly. Alternately, combine in a bowl and cut the flour mixture into the butter with a pastry blender until crumbly. Add the water and continue to mix until the dough clings together.
- Spray an 11-inch tart pan with cooking spray. Press the dough evenly into the tart pan and up the sides.
- With a fork, prick the bottom of the dough in several places. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a piece of parchment paper over the crust and fill with pie weights or old beans, rice or lentils.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until crust is lightly baked through. Let cool.
Filling
- Melt butter with oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet or saute pan. Add the onion, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and watching so onions don't burn.
- Remove the cover and continue cooking another 20-30 minutes or as needed until onions are very soft and golden. Add the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Drain off any excess fat/liquid and let cool. Stir in goat cheese and thyme.
- Place onion and cheese mixture in prepared crust and spread evenly.
- Whisk eggs and cream (or half-and-half) together in a small bowl. Add salt and black pepper. Pour over onions.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center is firm to the touch and tart is lightly golden.
Recipe Notes
- Leftovers reheat beautifully! Reheat at 350 degrees in the oven or toaster oven for 15-20 minutes.
- Wrap well or place in airtight containers.
- Can be frozen for 1-2 months.
- Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat in the oven or toaster oven for 15-20 minutes.
Nutrition
These are estimated values generated from a nutritional database using unbranded products. Please do your own research with the products you’re using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
A keeper!! Thank you!!
Love that!! Thanks so much, Rym! Glad you enjoyed!
This was absolutely delicious! I made it for a baby shower and refrigerated it overnight, cut it into 16 slices in the morning and reheated it. So good, just so good!! Definitely will keep it on my list.
Hi, Bridget, Thanks so very much!! Glad you enjoyed!
Can I use a pie crust and a pie pan as I don’t own a tart pan…
Hi, Carolyn, Thanks so much for your question. Yes, you can. Follow the same blind-baking instructions. You may need more filling but if you follow the 1 egg to 1/2 cup cream/half-and-half ratio, you’ll be fine. Thanks again and hope you enjoy!
Can you make this a day in advance and heat it up before serving?
Hi, Kelly, Thanks so much for your question. Yes, you can and it reheats fine but it won’t be quite the same. If you heat it whole, it’s going to take about as long as if you just baked it. I would suggest cutting it into wedges to reheat. Thanks again and hope that helps!
I made this yesterday. I didn’t follow your pastry part, as I have one that I use (gluten-free) that is my failsafe.. I also added some balsamic vinegar at the end of the caramelisation process. We had it for lunch today, and it was a beautiful and easy meal, so worth the work yesterday. Looking forward to lunch again tomorrow!
Thanks so much, Stacy and so glad you enjoyed! I often like a touch of something acidic with caramelized onions like a splash of white wine, but love the idea of the balsamic vinegar. Thanks again!
I’m lactose intolerant so I used oat milk instead. The first time it was a bit watery (should have expected that!) but still delicious! The second time I made it with 5 eggs and only a couple tablespoons of oat milk and it turned out a much better consistency! I also messed up and bought red onions but was not mad about the end product at all! Thanks for sharing!
Hi, Alisa, Thanks so very much and so glad you enjoyed! Thanks also for sharing your tip for using an alternative milk. I’m sure people will appreciate it! Thanks again!
I loved this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much, Cat! Glad you enjoyed and hope you’ll try some of my other quiche and tart recipes.
I make a smilar tart like this one. It’s one of my favorite dishes ever! Next time I’ll try to caramalize the onions a bit longer, I never get the golden color. I use eggs, milk and sometimes greek yogurt for the filling. Happy to see this recipe here.
Thanks, Elena! Yes, onions take a long time to get truly caramelized but the effort is worth it! I love the idea of a little Greek yogurt, too! Thanks again!