A rustic Rhubarb Tart with lemon, cardamom and vanilla tucked into a flakey free-form buckwheat crust. Simple, elegant, and delicious, it is one of our favorite rhubarb recipes! Vegan-adaptable.
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. ~Alan W. Watts
Love Rhubarb? This Rhubarb Tart recipe is incredibly delicious! Also known as tarte rhubarb, we combine the tangy rhubarb with lemon, cardamom, and vanilla. These flavors are so harmonious! We add a little optional buckwheat flour to the crust to give it an earthy depth. Of course, you can also use rye, whole wheat, or just stick to all-purpose flour.
Spring has fully arrived once Rhubarb hits the markets! There is something special about having things, like fresh rhubarb, available only for a short period of time. It grounds us in the moment and activates our senses more deeply. It can create ritual and a deeper connection to daily experiences, thus nourishing our whole person! This, to me, is a kind of seasonal magic that makes life more joyful.
Health Benefits of Rhubarb
Rhubarb is classified as a vegetable that is packed with nutrients: vitamins A (especially the red variety), B, K, and C, fiber. The tangy flavor comes from tannins in the plant that are said to improve digestion and gut health, among many other touted benefits! So eat your rhubarb tart with complete pleasure! This will truly nourish you on so many levels.
Rhubarb Tart Ingredients
- Flour– all-purpose flour and optional buckwheat (or sub a little rye or whole wheat flour– or just use all-purpose flour)
- Salt and Sugar – organic cane sugar, or coconut sugar.
- Unsalted butter (or use vegan butter)
- Rhubarb – fresh rhubarb stalks, and try to find the pinkest ones possible!
- Fresh lemon juice and zest
- Cardamom and Vanilla – add lovely flavor!
How to make Rhubarb Tart (instructions)
Step 1: Make the Crust: Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter (or knives or hands that are not too warm). When butter is around the size of a pea, add in water a few tablespoons at a time until the dough just begins to come together. Chill dough at least 30 minutes.
Step 2: Make the Rhubarb filling: Toss together cut rhubarb, sugar, salt, cornstarch, lemon zest, lemon juice, cardamom, and vanilla.
Step 3: Assemble: Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/8 ” thick. Use just enough flour to keep it from sticking to the surface and the rolling pin. Trim the edges if needed. Transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper. Place on a sheet pan without a rimmed edge or you can turn the sheet pan upside down and place the dough and parchment on the underside. (You will be transferring the assembled tart to the preheated pan, having no sides helps transfer the tart way more easily.)
Step 4: Leaving roughly a 1 1/2″ border around the dough, arrange the coated pieces of rhubarb in rows, keeping them in one layer will ensure it cooks evenly. Angle the rhubarb in opposite directions in each row if you want to create a kind of chevron pattern.
Fold the dough in over the edges of the rhubarb so you have roughly a one to two-inch border, letting the corners double up as you fold. You may need to trim some of the rhubarb edges in order to shape the corners.
Scrape out the liquid remaining in the rhubarb bowl and pour it evenly over the tart.
Brush the edges with egg wash (optional) and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
STEP 5: Place the pan with the tart, in the fridge for 30 minutes or in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Step 6: Carefully remove the hot sheet pan from the oven. Grab the parchment edges and transfer the tart to the heated sheet pan. Bake on the bottom rack of the oven. Turn the oven down to 375.
Step 7: Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling in the center.
NOTE: It may look really juicy, but it will firm up just enough to create a luscious, moist filling. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes before cutting.
Chef’s Tips
- The tart dough can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to a week or frozen.
- Place a metal sheet pan in the oven while the oven preheats- baking the tart on a hot sheet pan makes the crust crispier!
- Chill the entire tart after assembling and before baking. This is important to help prevent the butter from leaking out of the crust.
- Bake the tart on the bottom rack of the oven.
- Make this vegan by using vegan butter in the crust.
Serving Suggestions and Storage
Rhubarb tart is best served on the day of preparation. It can be stored covered on the counter for up to two days, but refrigerating can make it soggy. Reheat in a 350F oven to re-crisp.
Serve Rhubarb tart with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, cardamom ice cream, or whipped cream. Or simply sprinkle it with powdered sugar.
More RhubarB recipes you’ll love
- Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler with Orange and Ginger
- Upside Down Rhubarb Cake (Gluten-free)
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp (vegan & gluten-free)
- Rhubarb Muffins
- Rhubarb Jam with Chia Seeds
- Rhubarb Shrub Recipe!
We hope you make this Rhubarb Tart, share it with friends, and revel in the rebirth and glorious beauty of Spring!
PrintRhubarb Tart Recipe
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 8
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Ingredients
Tart Crust
- 1 1/2 cups, 200 grams, all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup, 50 grams, buckwheat, rye flour or whole wheat flour (or use more all-purpose flour)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 8 ounces (or 226 grams) cold unsalted butter (2 sticks, 1 cup), cut into approximately 1/2 inch pieces
- 7–8 tablespoons cold water
Tart Filling
- 1 pound rhubarb cut into 1 1/2 inch diagonals (use the reddest pieces you can find)
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- coarse sugar to sprinkle on the edges
Instructions
- Tart Crust: Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter (or knives or hands that are not too warm!). When butter is around the size of a pea, add in water a few tablespoons at a time until the dough just begins to come together. Chill dough for 1/2 hour.
- Place a metal sheet pan in the oven and preheat the oven to 400. (You will bake the tart on the hot sheet pan. )
- Rhubarb filling: In a bowl toss together cut rhubarb, sugar, salt, cornstarch, lemon zest, lemon juice, cardamom, and vanilla.
- Assemble: Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/8 ” thick. Roughly 11×13 inches. Use just enough flour to keep it from sticking to the surface and the rolling pin. Trim the edges if needed. Transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper. Place on a sheet pan without a rimmed edge or you can turn the sheet pan upside down and place the dough and parchment on the underside. (You will be transferring the assembled tart to the preheated pan, having no sides helps transfer the tart much more easily.)
- Leave a 1 1/2″ border around the dough, and arrange the coated pieces of rhubarb in rows, keeping them in one layer will ensure it cooks evenly. Angle the rhubarb in opposite directions in each row if you want to create a kind of chevron pattern. Start arranging in the center, working out to the edges.
- Fold the dough in over the edges of the rhubarb so you have roughly a one-inch border, letting the corners double up as you fold. Brush the edges with egg wash (optional) and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Scrape out the liquid remaining in the rhubarb bowl and pour it evenly over the tart.
- Place the pan with the tart, in the fridge for 30 minutes or in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Carefully remove the hot sheet pan from the oven. Grab the parchment edges and transfer the tart to the heated sheet pan.
- Bake on the bottom rack of the oven. Turn the oven down to 375 F. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the crust is brown and the filling is bubbling in the center. It may look really juicy, but it will firm up just enough. Let sit for at least 30 minutes before cutting.
Notes
Rhubarb Tart is best enjoyed on the day of preparation. It holds up well to make a few hours ahead of serving.
EXPERT TIPS for a Crisp Bottom Crust:
Place a metal sheet pan in the oven while the oven preheats.
Chill the entire tart after assembling and before baking. This is important to help prevent the butter from leaking out of the crust.
Bake the tart on the bottom rack of the oven.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 402
- Sugar: 21.2 g
- Sodium: 297.6 mg
- Fat: 23.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 14.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 45.8 g
- Fiber: 2.3 g
- Protein: 3.9 g
- Cholesterol: 60.7 mg
I did it, but I ended up with a lot of rhubarb leftovers. Can you specify the tart’s approximate dimensions? I think mine was to small.
Thanks!
I’d say the rolled out dough, before folding, measures about 13 x 11.
You still have a problem with the butter amounts – it says 8oz /110g, which are not the same
opps! Thanks, fixed now. 🙂
No rhubarb in Reno, NV this holiday weekend, so I made it with the most beautiful, organic blackberries. Super delicious!
I wish I could post the picture for you!
Nice Kathey! Happy it worked out for you.
The butter measurement is broken; ounces, grams, sticks don’t scale correctly.
Ok, hopefully, it is fixed now… thanks for letting us know, Rob.
This turned out soooo delicious and beautiful. Amazing how crispy the pastry was. As you mentioned, best to eat the day it is made as in the morning, it was less crispy. Why not indulge when it is at it’s best anyway. I love the cardoman and vanilla flavors with the lemon ribbons. Great new rhubarb recipe!
Awesome Karen! So great to hear this worked for you.
I think it’d be really great if
1) you could mention “pour remaining liquid from rhubarb mixture onto tart” in the recipe as well. I only noticed it in the article part of the recipe briefly after I’ve started baking.
2) you could mention that when assembling rhubarb pieces onto the rolled out dough it’d be smart to start from the center of the dough-middle rows in general-then going to the sides. That way regardless of how many pieces people have we’d end up with a more or less centered rectangle of rhubarb pieces. That’s what I basically had to do after realizing that I didn’t have enough pieces for the dimension of rectangle that I was going for more than halfway through the process and it was a bit annoying. The 1 1/2in edges note is great but really an estimation because both the size of dough and the number of rhubarb pieces we have could vary.
This is really helpful Bowie! Recipe is adjusted now. 😊
I’ve been looking for ways to use up my rhubarb and this was absolute perfection.
I decreased sugar to 1/2 cup and replaced cornstarch with 2 tbsp flour. One thing I might change next time is to add a bit less cardamom, I didn’t realize what a strong flavour it is! Anyway, this was truly awesome. Thank you!
Great Masha, appreciate hearing your tweaks!
What is the weight of a stick of butterPlease?
4 ounces or 110 grams 🙂 We updated the recipe to include this.
Is there something else i can use in place of cornstarch?
I think you could use tapioca flour, though I have not tried it on this recipe. You will want to double the amount. For example 1 teaspoon of cornstarch = 2 teaspoons of tapioca flour.
Gorgeous, stunning, exquisite! I made this as written for company brunch, and it was divine. The Rhubarb really stands out in its beautiful form, not mushy or washed out in color as so many treatments are. It is a perfect balance of tart and sweet. This is the best Rhubarb recipe I have ever made… And I LOVE rhubarb.
Yay, Carol I am thrilled you enjoyed this! I totally agree, it is nice to just let the rhubarb shine!
I’m always looking for great ways to use rhubarb (because I love it so much) and this recipe speaks to me! Thank you Tonia for your creativeness! I’ll be making it soon!
Wonderful Josie, let us know how you like it!