This savory tart is filled with spinach, artichoke, feta and sour cream baked in a buttery, flaky crust. With pumpkin seeds for crunch and lemon juice for brightness, it makes a delicious simple dish for brunch, lunch, or dinner.
I love to make spinach dip and my friend, Caitlin, whips up the best spanakopita. We recently shared our respective dishes with each other, which inspired me to create this tart. I combined elements from both recipes, added a couple of things for good measure, and it turned out amazing!
The tart has a nice balance of spinach, artichoke, and cheese. Along with feta, a small amount of Parmesan provides extra cheesy yumminess. The sour cream adds creaminess and moisture. The pumpkin seeds render a subtle crunch while the addition of lemon juice, inspired by Caitlin’s spanakopita, provides brightness and elevates the dish to the next level.
To keep things simple and easy, I use store bought pie crust. If you prefer from scratch, use your own favorite recipe or this one.
Recipe highlights:
- Place pie crust onto tart pan. Cover with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or uncooked rice.
- Blind bake tart shell in 400° F on lower rack. Remove from oven.
- Reduce heat to 375° F.
- Par-cook onion and garlic in a small skillet on medium heat.
- Brush a small amount beaten egg onto bottom of tart shell.
- Combine all filling ingredients in a mixing bowl.
- Spread filling into tart shell. Lightly cover with a piece of foil. Bake on the middle rack for 30-35 minutes.
- Allow to set for 10 minutes before serving.
- Refer to recipe card below for detailed instructions and tips.
What is blind baking?
To blind bake is to entirely or partially bake the pie crust prior to adding the filling. It’s a method used for no-bake fillings. In the case of this tart, the crust is mostly baked through to prevent the bottom from getting soggy, and it finishes baking once the filling is added. The steps for blind baking are simple:
- Line the crust with parchment paper.
- Fill with dried beans or uncooked rice.
- Bake at 400° for about 12 minutes.
- Remove parchment and beans/rice and bake for about 5 minutes.
Secret tips to prevent soggy tart bottoms:
- Blind bake on the lower rack to get the tart shell close to the heat source.
- Place the tart pan on top of a preheated baking sheet to bake.
- Add a barrier between the filling and tart shell with a layer of beaten egg, applied after blind baking and just prior to adding filling.
- Be sure to squeeze spinach dry to prevent excess moisture.
Recipe substitutions:
- If you don’t have pumpkin seeds, pine nuts are an ideal substitution.
- I use 6 ounces of frozen spinach, but it could be substituted with just over 1 pound of chopped fresh, wilted, and squeezed dried spinach leaves.
- Greek yogurt can be used in place
of sour cream.
One kitchen gadget I have been using more and more is a kitchen scale. It allows me to be precise with my measurements. Although the ingredients in this tart can be eyeballed, I like to use my kitchen scale to get accurate measurements. Because this recipe requires partial packages/containers of frozen spinach, artichoke hearts, and feta, weighing them is extremely useful. I recommend having something like this relatively inexpensive scale (affiliate link) in your kitchen if you don’t already have one. (The scale I have is so old, it’s not available anymore, haha.)
Add this tart to your next brunch menu. Even though it is easy to make, keep everything stress-free, make the tart the day before and reheat the morning of. Just pop it in a preheated 350° F oven and bake 15-20 minutes, loosely covered with foil to reheat. It’s also perfect with a side of salad for a delicious lunch or dinner.
In the in wintertime, I prefer eating my veggies hot over a cold salad any day. Even though this isn’t exactly a light and healthy dish, there is so much spinach and artichoke, it is an indulgent with healthy benefits. And it’s so good that I can finish half a tart at one sitting!I know. I need to work on portion control.🙂
Recommended supplies:
(Affiliate links. The products I recommend are either what I use, are on my wish list, or come highly rated.)
- I use a kitchen scale to weigh ingredients regularly. It’s extremely useful when I’m using only a portion of a container/package.
- You will need an 8-inch tart pan for this recipe.
- Parchment paper is used for blind baking the crust.
- Use a pastry brush for applying the beaten egg to the par-baked crust.
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Spinach Artichoke and Feta Tart
Description
This savory tart is filled with spinach, artichoke, feta and sour cream baked in a buttery, flaky crust. With pumpkin seeds for crunch and lemon juice for brightness, it makes a delicious simple dish for brunch, lunch, or dinner.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Place baking rack on lower half of oven. Place a baking sheet on rack to preheat.
- Press pie crust onto 8-inch tart pan. Trim edges allowing a half inch overhang. Fold or crimp edges as desired. Allow the crust to stick up above the tart pan as it will shrink slightly during baking.
- Line pie crust with a large piece of parchment paper. Fill with dried beans or uncooked rice.
- Place tart pan on the hot baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove parchment paper and beans. Continue to bake for 5-6 minutes. Remove tart pan and baking sheet from oven.
- Reduce heat to 375° F. Move the rack to the middle of the oven.
- To prepare filling: first par-cook onion and garlic. Preheat small skillet on medium heat. Add oil and onion and a pinch of salt. Sauté onion for 2 minutes. Add garlic. Sauté for 1 to 1.5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Brush a small amount of beaten egg onto bottom of tart shell.
- Add all filling ingredients, including the rest of the egg, into a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
- Season to taste. Add more lemon juice if you desire more tang.
- Spread filling into tart shell. Loosely place a piece of foil over tart to protect top of crusts from over browning. Place tart pan and the baking sheet back into the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes on the middle rack.
- Allow to set for 10 minutes before serving.
- Makes 4 main dish servings or 6 appetizer servings.
Notes:
- Recipe can easily be doubled by doubling all ingredients. Bake in two 8-inch tart pans.
- 4 ounces of artichoke is about one 6.5 ounce jar of artichoke, drained.
- Pine nuts can substitute for pumpkin seeds.
- The 6 ounces of frozen spinach can be substituted with just over 1 pound of chopped fresh spinach leaves. Wilt and squeeze spinach dry before mixing into filling ingredients. You want about 1 cup wilted, chopped spinach.
- Greek yogurt could be used in place of sour cream.
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Everyone loves the dip so this would have to be great in a tart! I might even try in bite sized tarts. Great idea!
Bite size would be perfect, Inger! Happy New Year!!
Such a wonderful tart, Thao! Spinach and artichoke is so good together and I love the addition of the feta! Warm wishes for a wonderful New Year!
Thank you so much Kelly! Feta has been my favorite cheese to work with lately. Wishing you all the best for 2021!
Your tart sounds terrific, I like your addition of pumpkin seeds.
Thank you Karen! I love pumpkin seeds and eat it all the time.