Are you craving comfort food? Let's bake an Argentinean vegan savory carrot tart—one of the easiest and best dinner tart recipes out there!
When I was living in Argentina, I would always make a big one and freeze these tart portions to have them readily available as the main dish for quick lunches or lazy dinners. This one is a vegan version!
A savory vegetable tart is not time-consuming and is a cheap, tasty, and convenient option for a mid-day lunch. It is common to find them on fixed-priced menus.
Veggie tarts are so typical that some food delivery restaurants only make empanadas (filled pastries), pizzas, and pies. As a result, many Rotiserias survive entirely on these three menu options. Just with a slice, you have a light and convenient meal.
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💚 Why you will love it
- Nutrient-Packed: Carrots, chia seeds, and bell peppers enrich this tart with vitamins, fiber, and omega-3.
- Easy Freezing: Perfect for preparing ahead and enjoying as quick meals.
- Vegan Friendly: Exclusively plant-based, including vegan mozzarella and pie dough.
- Flavorful: Aromatic herbs and spices like thyme, rosemary, and nutmeg offer depth.
- Versatile Meal: Ideal as a main dish or a side, complementing any salad.
🧾 Ingredients
- Carrots: They provide a sweet, earthy flavor and are packed with essential nutrients like beta-carotene.
- Vegan Pie Dough Recipe (or store-bought puff pastry): This gives the tart its crisp, flaky texture and is the delicious vessel for our filling.
- White Onion: It offers a mild, aromatic base, enhancing the overall depth of flavor in the tart.
- Fresh Garlic: Essential for that pungent kick, garlic brings out the flavors of the other veggies.
- Celery: Its crisp texture and slightly peppery flavor balance out the sweetness of the other ingredients.
- Red Bell Pepper: Adds a touch of sweetness, color contrast, and a burst of vitamin C.
- Chia Seeds: A plant-based binding agent, they help in achieving the right tart consistency and offer omega-3 fatty acids.
- Vegan Mozzarella Cheese: It melts beautifully, lending the tart a creamy texture and rich taste.
- Your Choice of Herbs (thyme, rosemary, and oregano): They infuse the tart with a fragrant, earthy aroma, making each bite herbaceous and delightful.
- Olive Oil: Used for sautéing, it brings out the flavors and ensures nothing sticks, plus it's heart-healthy!
- Nutmeg (optional): Just a hint elevates the dish, adding a warm and nutty undertone.
- Oats (optional): They absorb any excess moisture, ensuring the crust remains crispy and perfectly baked.
Salt and pepper to taste.
See quantities and complete instructions in the recipe card.
Substitutions
| Original Ingredient | Suggested Substitution |
|---|---|
| Vegan Pie Dough | Gluten-Free Pie Crust |
| White Onion | Shallots or Leeks |
| Fresh Garlic | Garlic Powder (⅛ teaspoon per clove) |
| Celery | Swiss chard stems (for crunch) |
| Red Bell Pepper | Yellow or Orange Bell Pepper (for a sweeter taste) |
| Chia Seeds | Flaxseeds (ground, as a binding agent) |
| Vegan Mozzarella Cheese | Nutritional Yeast or Cashew Cheese (for a cheesy flavor) |
| Herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano) | Italian Seasoning (as a ready mix of similar herbs) |
| Nutmeg | Allspice or Cinnamon (for a warm, spicy undertone) |
| Oats | Bread Crumbs (for absorbing moisture) |
🔪 Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 ºF (200 ºC).
Step 1: Use olive oil and a bit of flour to prepare an 8” (25 cm) baking sheet. Place the tart crust on top of it; you can use parchment paper to help you manage it. Pinch with a fork and add oats.
Step 2: Make the chia egg by hydrating the chia seeds in one cup of warm water for 10 minutes.
Step 3: Prepare the filling
- Peel and shred the carrots, and continue chopping the rest of the vegetables.
- Stir fry the chopped onions and the minced garlic, then add the celery and chopped bell peppers. Stir regularly.
- Add the shredded carrots, followed by the herbs and spices, and remove them from the heat.
- Cool down the mixture, remove any excess liquid, and stir in the chia eggs and the cubed vegan mozzarella cheese.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Step 4: Assemble the tart and bake
- Sprinkle the rolled oats in the puff pastry; this will help absorb any residual moisture from the carrots mixture, ensuring your crust is cooked well and doesn’t come up soggy.
- Pour the veggie and cheese mixture into the baking pan and spread evenly. Then, fold the puff pastry inwards.
- Bake the vegetable tart in the oven for 30-40 minutes until it looks golden brown.
- Let the galette sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Note: Optionally, you can brush the tart with a mix of paprika and water to replace the egg wash, adding color and making the golden brown color stand out more. I usually don't use it.
Serve warm with a green salad with cherry tomatoes.
💡 Expert tips
Non-Stick Solution: For non-non-stick pans, lightly grease with oil and dust with flour to prevent sticking and facilitate easy tart removal.
Moisture Control: To ensure even cooking and a crisp crust, scatter oat flakes on the tart dough before adding the filling. This absorbs excess moisture from the carrots, preventing a soggy base.
Vegan Binding: Substitute traditional egg binders with "chia eggs" for a vegan-friendly version. Both chia and flax seeds are excellent for this purpose, offering a firm texture to the filling.
Zero-Waste Flavor Boost: Enhance your tart with the fiber-rich pulp from red pepper carrot juice, adding nutritional value and reducing food waste.
📖 Variations and tart recipe ideas
Tarts are free-form versions of open fruit tarts, and you can find them in various shapes and fillings.
To make a protein meal, add one 8-ounce crumbled tofu block into the mix instead of vegan cheese.
The most common tart options include veggie ones: Verdura (Spinach and chard), Butternut Squash, zucchini, yellow summer squash, Cheese and Onion, and vegan eggplant pie, but you can find endless combinations.
🥢 How to serve
This simple carrot recipe works as a main dish or a side dish when paired with a nice salad with cherry tomatoes, a spinach and arugula salad, or a vegan kale salad. That way, you have a complete meal.
❓ FAQ
We use this straightforward recipe that also works to make lentil empanadas or mushroom empanadas. If you want to make this easy dough from scratch, find it here: Vegan Empanadas Dough.
You can also use store-bought puff pastry, which will also work well. Just take it out of the fridge ten minutes before using it.
If you are going for the store-bought puff pastry option, remember that there are different kinds of puff pastry, some of them being dryer and others flakier.
If you are using frozen puff pastry, I recommend leaving it to thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
🥕 More carrot recipes
We use carrots quite often for juicing, and we love zero-waste cooking, we also use carrot tops to make carrot greens pesto. It goes perfectly with vegan tuna salads and cold pasta salads.
Sometimes, we buy way too many carrots; what do we do? Carrot and Ginger soup is another favorite that is made very quickly with minimal cooking time, and it's so yummy!
Have you heard about vegan bacon? With this easy-to-make and healthy carrot bacon recipe, you may be heading to a new treat.
If you love cooking with carrots, you will surely love our moist carrot loaf cake.
📚 More Italo-Argentinean recipes
- Pickled Eggplants (Berenjenas al Escabeche)
- Vegan Lentil Empanadas
- Spinach Ricotta Empanadas
- Vegan Empanadas (or Tart) Dough
- Vegan Eggplant Pie
⭐ If you try this recipe, let us know! 💬 Leave a comment, rate it, and don't forget to tag us @ourplantbasedworld on Instagram. Cheers!
📋 Recipe
Savory Carrot Tart
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 carrots medium
- 1 white onion medium
- 2 cloves garlic fresh
- 2 stalks celery
- 1 red bell pepper
- ⅓ cup chia seeds
- 8 ounces vegan mozzarella cheese
- ½ teaspoon thyme or rosemary, dried
- ½ teaspoon oregano dried
- Pinch nutmeg
- 1 Easy Vegan Empanadas Dough same dough used for this pie (use ½ of recipe, or 1 store-bought pastry crust
Optional:
- 2 tablespoons oats
Serve with a green salad, I suggest Rucola and cherry tomatoes.
Directions
- Preheat: Set your oven to 400ºF (200ºC) for 10 minutes.
- Prepare Chia: Soak the chia seeds in a cup of warm water for 10 minutes.
- Crust Ready: Oil an 8” pan, lay the pie crust, and pinch with a fork.
- Shred Carrots: Peel and finely shred the carrots.
- Stir-Fry Vegetables: Sauté the onion, garlic, celery, and bell pepper in a pan. Add water if needed.
- Add Carrots & Spices: Introduce the shredded carrots and season with herbs and spices.
- Cool Down: Allow the vegetable mix to cool for 5 minutes. Drain excess liquid.
- Mix In Cheese & Chia: Combine the cooled mixture with the mozzarella cubes and chia egg.
- Sprinkle Oats: Distribute the oats on the pie crust.
- Pour Mixture: Add the carrot mix into the prepared crust.
- Bake: Place the tart in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
- Rest: Allow the tart to settle for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Nutritional Disclaimer
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice. See our full Nutritional Disclosure here.
Affiliate Disclaimer
Please note that some of the links here are affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links. I recommend all of the products listed because they are companies I have found helpful and trustworthy.
As the lead content writer and recipe developer at Our Plant-Based World, he combines his passion for health and sustainability with a Plant-Based Nutrition Certification to create accessible, delicious vegan recipes. His expertise in plant-based cooking supports the blog's mission of fostering a healthier, environmentally conscious lifestyle through simple and seasonal dishes. His commitment to making vegan cooking enjoyable and inclusive for everyone shines in each recipe and article.
Dannii
What a great way to use carrots. This tart looks amazing.
Claudia Lamascolo
love all the ingredients in these delicious tart so pretty too!
Keri Bevan
We loved this dairy free carrot tart! Appreciated that it was vegan friendly too! Thank you for another great recipe.x
Kate
This is so pretty! What a gorgeous and delicious centrepiece for a vegan lunch party - love it!
Toni
This is always a huge hit at my house! One of our all-time favorites!!
Natalie
I'm saving this recipe to make for Easter. Looks amazing. Stunning! Can't wait to see my family's faces when I serve this for dinner.
Tracy
What a great idea using the oats! We loved this recipe, so savory and delicious. My whole family loved it!
Katherine
What a great way to make tasty carrots the star of the show! I love this tart.
Jacqueline Debono
I love both sweet and savoury tarts. Savoury tarts are great for light lunches or as part of a buffet or picnic. And you are right, there are so many veggies that can be used in them. This vegan carrot tart looks and sounds so good. I've never used chia seeds to replace egg but what to give it a try!
Gus
Nice! I am sure you will love this recipe! It's been a favorite around all my friends and families for years now! Chia seeds are great for binding tarts!