These tomato and corn pastry bites are a fast and easy appetizer. Perfect for your next party or as an anytime snack! So simple to make and so delicious. Vegetarian.
It doesn't get much easier than this simple appetizer. This bite is like a mini tomato corn galette and only needs 4 ingredients; frozen puff pastry, cherry tomatoes, corn, and fresh basil. Ready in 30 minutes! Impress your friends at the next super bowl party, holiday get-together, or company dinner.
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Basic Order of Operations
- Prepare puff pastry. Thaw frozen puff pastry dough in fridge. Once thawed, unroll puff pastry and use a rolling pin to roll out to 10 x 9 inch rectangle. Cut pastry into 12 equal squares and place on a lined baking sheet. Brush with olive oil.
- Add toppings. Place 3-4 halved cherry tomatoes, fresh corn kernels (canned and frozen corn also works), and chopped fresh basil in the middle of each pastry square. Leave a small border of pastry around the toppings.
- Bake.
- Enjoy!
What tomatoes to use?
The water content in tomatoes, especially larger tomatoes than cherry tomatoes, can vary quite a bit. Tomatoes with higher water content release quite a bit of liquid as they cook and result in a soggy pastry bottom, which no one wants! We used halved cherry tomatoes for this recipe and they work great.
Larger tomatoes also work if we just add these few extra steps to remove some of the water from the tomatoes.
- Dice the tomato.
- Sprinkle the tomato pieces with a pinch of kosher salt.
- Place the salted tomato pieces in a strainer for 10-15 minutes. The water will release and drain out.
- When ready to assemble the pastry bites, give the tomatoes a gentle stir (to release any remaining liquid) and assemble as directed.
Puff pastry vs. pie dough
Puff pastry and pie dough are made with flour, fat (like butter), water, and salt. The process for each is very different which is why they don't bake up the same.
Pie dough mixes the flour and fat together until they are well mixed. A good pie dough will still be flaky and crisp, just not have thin, puffy layers.
Puff pastry is made by rolling together many layers of alternating dough and fat. As the pastry bakes, the water in the layers of butter becomes steam creating thin, puffy, flaky layers. Puff Pastry is flaky yet sturdy, crispy yet light.
For these tomato and corn pastry appetizers, we like using the versatile and easy-to-use puff pastry. We usually use the Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets. They are consistent, good, and readily available in the freezer section at most grocery stores.
We like the puff pastry a little thinner for these corn and tomato pastry bites. These appetizers can be made as large or small as you want. Leave the puff pastry sheet whole and make a large corn and tomato tart. Adjust the amount of toppings to fit the size of the pastry square. Bake time may also need to be adjusted depending on the size, be sure to bake until the pastry is a golden brown.
- Using a full puff pastry sheet makes a great dish similar to a tomato corn galette. Bake until a pastry is golden brown. Cut into pieces to serve.
- A larger pastry square makes a great sit-down, plated appetizer.
- Smaller sized pastry squares are great for a single bite appetizer. If making very small squares, use your finger to indent the middle of each square a bit before adding the toppings. This will help the fillings stay on the square as the pastry puffs around the edges.
Equipment We Used
We use a nonstick silicone baking mat to line our sheet pans. We love using a baking mat because it is reusable. Just wash, dry and use again! No silicone baking mat? Use parchment paper instead.
A pizza wheel works great to cut the puff pastry. No pizza wheel? Use a sharp knife instead.
Our Favorite Riffs
Add some goat cheese, feta cheese, or white cheddar to the pastry before baking. We like adding this first, before the tomatoes, but it can also be added after the corn. Add some crispy bacon or pancetta, or cooked chicken. Before serving, drizzle with some pesto or balsamic reduction.
Make Ahead Tips
These are great made ahead of time. Prepare the pastry bites up to the baking step. Loosely cover the sheet pan and refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove from the fridge and place in a preheated 400º F oven. Bake as directed and serve immediately.
While we like these served warm, they are equally delicious at room temperature.
Saving Leftovers
The FDA recommends discarding any perishable food that has been out at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
If within the FDA recommendations, these will store overnight in the fridge. Refresh them in a 400º F oven until warm. Saving much longer than overnight will lead to soggy puff pastry.
Other Favorite Puff Pastry Recipes
Some Common FAQ's
Yes. Puff pastry has the unique quality of puffing when it bakes, partly due to the many layers in the dough. The topping in the middle acts like a weight and holds that part of the pastry down so you end up with an almost bowl like, flaky, pastry. Pie dough does not have these many layers so you won't get the same puffed visual in the final bite. Pie (or galette dough) will look different but be equally delicious.
Yes. An air fryer, while not exactly the same as a convection oven, works similar to one. Place these pastry bites on your air fryer pan and bake until they are golden brown.
📖 Recipe
Tomato and Corn Pastry
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 24 pieces
Description
These tomato and corn pastry bites are a fast and easy appetizer. Ready in 30 minutes! A delicious quick snack or party appetizer. Vegetarian.
Ingredients
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 6 ounce corn kernels
- ¼ cup basil, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º F .
- Place 1 sheet of puff pastry on a cutting board. Use a rolling pin to roll out the puff pastry until you have a 10 x 9 square. This is very little rolling!
- Cut the puff pastry into 2 ½ x 3 inch rectangles. Do this by cutting the puff pastry on the short side into three strips and on the long side into four strips. This will give you 12 small squares. Repeat with other puff pastry sheet.
- Place puff pastry rectangles on lined baking sheet and brush each with olive oil.
- Place 3-4 halved cherry tomatoes into the middle of each piece of puff pastry.
- Top the tomato halves with corn kernels. Divide tomatoes and corn evenly among all pieces.
- Top with chopped basil.
- Place sheet pan in a preheated 400º F oven and bake for 22-25 minutes until puff pastry is cooked all the way through and golden brown.
- Remove and serve hot.
Notes
Substitutions and Additions. Add some goat, feta, or white cheddar to the pastry before baking. Add crispy bacon, pancetta, or shredded chicken. Drizzle with pesto or balsamic reduction before serving.
Size. Make these as large or small as you want. Larger sizes are perfect for a sit-down, plated appetizer. Smaller sizes are great for a single bite appetizer. If making smaller, make an indentation in the middle with your finger or a spoon before adding fillings. This will help the toppings stay on the pastry and not be dislodged as the pastry puffs up. Baking time may need to be adjusted if changing the sizes.
Bake in an air fryer. While an air fryer is not exactly the same as a convection oven, it basically works the same. Place the puff pastry bites on your air fryer pan and bake according to your units directions. The time will likely be shortened if using an air fryer. Remove them when the pastry is golden brown.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
- Calories: 127
- Sugar: 0.9 g
- Sodium: 53.3 mg
- Fat: 8.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 11.1 g
- Protein: 1.9 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Mike says
I think I need more oven space to make more of these at a time because they barely lasted 10 minutes once I took them out! Light and perfect crispy snack, the corn really stood out and everyone wanted more.
Rhonda says
So glad everyone loved them.