Tarte Tatin

For a more foolproof tarte Tatin, soak your apples in hot water and decrease the pH of your filling.

By

Genevieve Yam

Senior Editor

After graduating from the International Culinary Center, Genevieve cooked at Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Per Se. Prior to joining Serious Eats, she was an editor at Epicurious. She grew up between Toronto and Hong Kong and is a graduate of the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She currently lives in New York with her husband and two cats.

Published November 06, 2025

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

In This Recipe

Why It Works

• Using apple cider vinegar and a tart variety of apples lowers the pH of the filling and prevents apples from blowing out during the cooking process.
• Pouring hot water on the apples and allowing them to stand for 10 minutes stabilizes the pectin so that the apples soften slightly, but still retain their form while cooking.
• Salt can weaken pectin and soften cell walls. Garnishing the dessert with flaky salt at the end—as opposed to seasoning the apples while cooking—helps the apples maintain their structure.

When I first moved to New York, I, like many newcomers and tourists, flocked to Buvette, a trendy little French spot in the West Village serving tiny portions of croque monsieurs and coq au vin. The food was good, if a little overpriced, but the one thing that kept me going back was their tarte Tatin. Each slice arrived at the table draped in a cloak of crème fraiche, with tender, caramelized apples glistening atop crisp pastry. It became a routine: On my days off, I often found myself sitting at their bar with a book, a cup of coffee, and a slice of tarte Tatin.

The dessert hails from the town of Lamotte-Beuvron in the Sologne region in north-central France, and is rumored to have been popularized at the Hôtel Tatin run by sisters Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin. According to Friends of the Tarte Tatin, a website “created to share the secrets of the famous tarte,” the dessert was created sometime around 1880 and reportedly “had a solid following” by the time the Tatin sisters opened their hotel in 1894.

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Some say Stéphanie Tatin dropped her apple tart on the floor, picked it up, and decided to bake it anyway. Others, like food writer Felicity Cloake, suggest Stéphanie may have either baked the tart upside down or without its pastry base. “Neither sounds very likely to me,” Cloake writes for the National Geographic, “but nevertheless it’s claimed she decided to make the best of a bad job and serve it anyway.”

The sisters are often credited with the invention of tarte Tatin, but Both Cloake and writer Stephen Harris note that upside-down fruit tarts were a specialty of the Sologne region long before the sisters debuted the tarte Tatin. “It was called tarte Solognote, and may have been similar to a cobbler with the crust cooked on top of the apples,” Harris notes in The Telegraph. Similarly, in 1985, cookbook author Patricia Wells suggested in The New York Times that the tarte Tatin was known as the tarte renversée (upside-down tart) before the Tatin sisters popularized and renamed it.

There are many creation stories for tarte Tatin, none of which are particularly well-documented, but no matter which is true, the tart is now a staple at French restaurants and cafes worldwide (some better than others, as a recent subpar slice I ate in Paris reminded me). As nice as my old routine of gobbling up a piece of the tarte at Buvette was, tarte Tatin is also something you can make at home—and frankly, with some of the techniques I’m about to explain below, your chances of a great result will probably be better than mine were in Paris.

The Key Techniques for the Best Tarte Tatin

Tarte Tatin can be a tricky dessert to make: You have to nail the caramel and perfectly cook the apples without burning either, and when it’s baked and cooled, you have to invert the whole thing onto a plate. Once it’s in the oven, there’s no easy way of telling what’s happening under the pastry: Are your apples beautiful and glistening or have they exploded into applesauce? It’s a nuanced culinary dance that requires a fine-tuned sense of… just about everything.

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Roll, Then Chill, Your Pastry

Before doing anything with the apples or the caramel, you first want to prep the pastry by rolling it out, then keeping it in the fridge until you’re ready to set it on the apples in the pan. Not only is it good to get this task out of the way before the other steps become distractions, but allowing the pastry to rest while you prepare the caramel and apples helps the gluten relax, minimizing the chances of it shrinking while it bakes. (And if it does shrink, not to worry—it will still be delicious!)

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Keeping the buttery pastry cold will help the dough hold its structure while it bakes, and also result in a puffier pastry. As the crust bakes, the butter melts and creates little pockets of steam within the dough, causing it to puff up into crisp, flaky layers. When you’re ready to cover the apples, remove the pastry from the fridge, set it over the apples in the pan, and gently tuck it around the edges of the apples, moving quickly to avoid burning yourself. Pressing down gently on the pastry ensures the apples are in even layers before it all goes into the oven.

Cool Your Tarte Tatin Before Inverting

For a syrupy caramel that just glazes the apples, you’ll need to give it time to cool and set, which takes about an hour or two. Your pan should still be warm to the touch, but not so hot that you can’t hold it without oven mitts. To invert your tarte Tatin, place a large plate or your serving platter over the top of the pan, then flip quickly and confidently.

Your tart should slide right out onto the plate, and if some of your apples have moved in the process, just rearrange them using an offset spatula. Even if the original tarte Tatin wasn’t the result of a goofy kitchen accident, we can still learn from the story. Sometimes things go a little wonky, but they’re usually fixable (and delicious) as long as you’re willing to roll with it.

Keep Screen Awake

1 (14-ounce; 397 g) package thawed puff pastry

3 quarts (2.8 liters) boiling water

8 medium-large Pink Lady or Granny Smith apples (about 3 pounds; 1.3 kg)

3 teaspoons (15 ml) apple cider vinegar, divided

1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar

8 tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter, cubed

1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract

Flaky sea salt, for garnish

Crème fraiche or whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and place a rimmed baking sheet on it (this is to catch any drips when the tarte Tatin bakes). Preheat oven to 400ºF (205ºC). On a well-floured work surface, roll 1 sheet of thawed puff pastry into a circle roughly 11-inches in diameter. Using a fork or a docking tool, prick the dough all over to dock, then place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment, loosely cover with plastic, and refrigerate while you prepare the tarte Tatin filling.

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez 1.

Peel, core, and quarter the apples. Place in a large bowl and toss with 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, then pour boiling water over the prepared apples. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer apples to a rimmed baking sheet lined with a cooling rack and let stand until cool, about 10 minutes. Pat dry with paper towels if needed.

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez 1.

In a 10-inch stainless-steel or nonstick skillet (see note) set over medium heat, melt 1/2 cup granulated sugar until it begins to melt and caramelize. Add the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar and stir, using a clean, dry silicone spatula, until all the sugar dissolves and becomes an amber color, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk in butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, and cook, whisking constantly, until the caramel bubbles, thickens slightly, and turns a butterscotch color, about 3 minutes. (The caramel will spit and look like it wants to seize, but keep going—the sugars will melt and loosen up as it continues to cook.)

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez 1.

Remove from heat and, using tongs and working one apple quarter at a time, add apple quarters, turning each piece to coat all over in the caramel and arranging them rounded side down to build a ring around the circumference of the skillet. Once the first ring is complete, repeat with additional apple quarters, dipping them into the caramel in the center and forming a second ring, also rounded side down, directly on top of the first, but positioned to fill the spaces between the apples in the first ring.

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez 1.

When the second ring is complete, dip remaining apple quarters into the caramel in the center, turning to coat, then fill in the center hole with 2 layers of apple quarters, all rounded side down (it is possible you will have a couple apple quarters left over that won’t fit). Gently press down with a silicone spatula to ensure all the apples on the bottom layer come into contact with the caramel.

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez 1.

Return the pan to medium heat; bring caramel to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook until the caramel has darkened slightly and is bubbling around the edges and the apples on the bottom are just beginning to become tender but still retain their shape, about 5 minutes.

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez 1.

Top the apples with the prepared dough, tucking the edges down around the fruit. Gently press down on the pastry to flatten the apples underneath as much as possible. Transfer skillet to the oven and bake until the pastry is golden and the apples are bubbling around the sides, 20 to 25 minutes.

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez 1.

Remove from the oven and cool until pan is still slightly warm but cool enough to touch, 1 to 2 hours (don’t let the pan fully cool, as that could cause the caramel to thicken such that the tarte Tatin won’t release when flipped). Cover the pan with a large dinner plate or platter, then carefully and quickly flip. Remove the pan. Garnish with flaky salt. Serve with a dollop of crème fraiche or whipped cream, if desired.

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Notes

I do not recommend using a cast-iron skillet—its color will make it difficult for you to gauge how dark your caramel is.

If using a non-stick skillet, I recommend using a silicone whisk to prevent scratching your pan.

Special Equipment

2 rimmed baking sheets, cooling rack, 10-inch stainless-steel or non-stick skillet (you could also use a 10-inch stainless-steel-lined copper skillet)

Make-Ahead and Storage

The apples can be prepared and left to dry on the cooling rack for up to 3 hours.

The tarte Tatin is best served the day it’s made; the longer it sits, the soggier the pastry will get.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
555	Calories
31g	Fat
66g	Carbs
4g	Protein

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Nutrition Facts Servings: 6 to 8 Amount per serving Calories 555 % Daily Value* 31g 40% Saturated Fat 10g 49% 30mg 10% 216mg 9% 66g 24% Dietary Fiber 5g 16% Total Sugars 38g 4g Vitamin C 0mg 0% Calcium 26mg 2% Iron 2mg 8% Potassium 198mg 4% *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)