In France and Belgium, I used to make lemon tarts like everyone else. Passion fruit was a rare find there. Then I moved to Singapore, where it was everywhere, and my tart went tropical. This passion fruit tart keeps the crisp French sweet pastry and silky, tangy filling of my lemon tart. I just swapped the lemon for passion fruit.
I’ve kept making it in the US, where passion fruit is easy to find: much of the world’s supply is grown in South America. Not sure where to look? The next section covers fresh fruit and pulp, often labeled maracuyá (which makes this a maracuyá tart, too).
The finishing touch comes from my friend Anne, who got it from Suzanne (cooking is all about sharing!): heat the pulp with sugar to make a thin glaze that gives the seeds their shine. Below, you’ll also find my tips for the sweet pastry and for spreading the work over two days.
Published on October 7, 2026
PREP TIME
30 minutes
COOK TIME
30 minutes
DIFFICULTY
Easy
BEST ENJOYED
The day it’s assembled
Allow about 4 hours in total, mostly for chilling the dough and letting the tart set.
Ripe fresh passion fruit makes a delicious tart. You’ll need about 10 passion fruits for the filling, depending on their size, plus one more for the glaze. Scoop out the pulp and strain it through a fine-mesh sieve to collect the juice. Save the extra fruit, seeds and all, for the glaze.
If fresh passion fruit is hard to find or pricey, pulp or purée is a good alternative. If you’re not sure where to look, passion fruit pulp (often labeled pulpa de maracuyá) is sold in the frozen section, and sometimes in the refrigerated aisle, at Latin American grocery stores and many supermarkets. Goya and Frupack are two brands you may come across. Check whether the pulp is sweetened and whether it contains seeds. If it has seeds, strain the portion for the filling and keep some unstrained pulp for the glaze.
Whichever you pick, choose a product made with just fruit and, at most, a little sugar. Avoid juice drinks and nectars.
Pastry chefs also use fruit purées such as Ravifruit and Ponthier, sold refrigerated or frozen by specialty baking suppliers. Some contain about 90% fruit and 10% sugar, so check the label before adjusting the sugar in the recipe. Ravifruit also makes a pasteurized version that can be ordered online.
A seedless purée works well for the filling. For the shiny seeds on top, you’ll still need one fresh passion fruit.
Passion fruit is also known as maracujá in Portuguese and maracuyá in Spanish.
My tips for making the sweet pastry crust
Use softened butter and a room-temperature egg
This French sweet pastry, called pâte sucrée, starts by creaming butter and sugar. The butter should be soft enough to blend easily with the sugar, but it shouldn’t be melted.
I like salted butter in pastry. If you use it, skip the pinch of salt. With unsalted butter, keep the pinch.
Take the egg out of the fridge ahead of time, too. A very cold egg will firm up the butter as you mix it in.
The recipe calls for 30 g of egg (2 tablespoons). A large US egg usually weighs about 50 g without the shell: beat it with a fork, then weigh out the amount you need.
Mix gently once the flour goes in
After adding the flour, mix just until the dough comes together, and no longer: overworked dough shrinks during baking.
Flatten the dough into a disk before wrapping it in plastic wrap. It will chill more evenly and be easier to roll out.
The dough should be firm, but not hard
For rolling, aim for dough that’s firm without being so hard that it cracks under the rolling pin.
If it’s very stiff straight from the fridge, let it soften for a few minutes. The first few passes of the rolling pin will tell you whether it needs a little more time or is ready to roll.
If it becomes sticky or difficult to lift from the counter, put it back in the fridge. I made this tart often in Singapore. In that heat, the dough needed a few extra trips to the fridge, but the fruit was worth it!
Chill the shaped crust before baking
Once you’ve lined the tart pan or ring, chill the dough again. This rest helps keep the crust from shrinking and the edges from losing their shape.
As you line the pan, avoid stretching the dough up the sides. Gently ease it into the corners, then trim the excess.
Bake the shell until golden, and let it cool before removing it from the pan and adding the filling.
The passion fruit filling
Start by mixing the sugar and cornstarch together to help prevent lumps. Add the egg yolks and strained passion fruit juice or seedless purée.
Heat gently, stirring continuously and making sure the whisk reaches the bottom and corners of the saucepan. Once the mixture starts to bubble and thickens, cook for one more minute, still stirring.
Remove from the heat, then stir in the butter until smooth. Pour it into the cooled tart shell and smooth the top with a spatula.
La cuisine est encore plus belle lorsqu’elle se partage
A variation with a thin chocolate layer
A friend who loves passion fruit (and chocolate!) makes this tart with a thin layer of dark or milk chocolate beneath the filling. Skip white chocolate in this version.
She pours melted chocolate into the baked, cooled tart shell and spreads it thin. Then she chills the shell until the chocolate sets before adding the lukewarm passion fruit filling. A tempting pairing if you like chocolate with the tartness of passion fruit.
The trick to glossy passion fruit seeds
Those shiny black seeds owe a lot to my friend Anne. She passed along a tip from Suzanne of Kitch’n Coach, who also lived in Singapore: heat passion fruit pulp with sugar.
For this recipe, I make a thin glaze using the pulp and seeds of one fruit. A few seconds of boiling is enough to thicken the mixture slightly.
You can remove some of the seeds if there are more than you’d like on the tart. Spread the lukewarm glaze over the cooled filling. If the glaze has thickened while sitting, gently warm it until it flows again, then let it cool to lukewarm before spreading it. Thank you, Anne and Suzanne!
How to plan ahead
You can spread this passion fruit tart recipe over two days, although you don’t have to.
The day before: make the sweet pastry dough and refrigerate it. You can also bake the tart shell that day or wait to bake it until the next day. If you bake it ahead, let it cool completely, then store it in an airtight container away from moisture.
The day you’re serving it: bake the shell if needed and let it cool. Make the filling, pour it into the shell, and chill the tart. Add the glaze, then let the tart set for at least 2 hours before serving.
If you’re making everything in one day, start early enough to give the dough time to rest and the tart time to set.
Passion Fruit Tart Recipe
A passion fruit tart with a crisp French sweet pastry crust, a silky, tangy filling, and a thin glaze dotted with shiny seeds. For a 9-inch tart pan.
6
servings30
minutes30
minutesPour garder la recette visible pendant que je cuisine
Ingredients
- For the sweet pastry crust:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons beaten egg
1 pinch of salt (skip it if your butter is salted)
Optional: finely grated zest of 1 lime
- For the passion fruit filling:
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons strained fresh passion fruit juice, or scant 1 cup good-quality passion fruit purée
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, or ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon if using a purée with about 10% sugar
3 large egg yolks
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
5 1/2 tablespoons butter
- For the passion fruit glaze:
1 passion fruit (pulp and seeds)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Make the sweet pastry crust:
- Place the softened butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until smooth and creamy.
- Add the beaten egg and mix until combined.
- Add the flour, salt, and optional lime zest. Mix just until the dough comes together.
- Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten it into a disk. If you can see small pockets of flour or pieces of butter, gently press them into the dough through the plastic wrap.
- Wrap the dough and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
- Unwrap the dough and roll it out to about ⅛ to 3/16 inch thick (3 to 5 mm). If it’s too hard and begins to crack, let it soften briefly before continuing.
- Line the tart pan (ideally one with a removable bottom) with the dough, gently easing it into the corners without stretching it. If you’re using a ring, set it on a parchment-lined baking sheet or a silicone mat first. If the dough becomes too soft, refrigerate it before continuing.
- Trim the excess dough level with the rim using the back of a knife blade.
- Refrigerate the lined pan for at least another 20 minutes (or longer) to help prevent the crust from shrinking during baking. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork. It doesn’t need to look perfect, since the passion fruit filling will cover it. Unless you’re a perfectionist, of course!
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden. Let the shell cool completely before carefully removing it from the pan or ring. If an edge sticks, gently loosen it with the tip of a thin knife.
- Make the passion fruit filling:
- In a saucepan, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch to break up any lumps.
- Add the egg yolks and the passion fruit juice or purée, (everything except the butter). Whisk until combined.
- Cook over low heat, stirring continuously and reaching into the corners of the saucepan.
- Once the mixture starts to bubble and thickens, continue cooking for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. The filling will be noticeably thicker.
- Add the butter and stir until smooth.
- Pour the filling into the cooled tart shell. Smooth the surface with an offset spatula and refrigerate the tart.
- Make the passion fruit glaze:
- Place the sugar and passion fruit pulp, including the seeds, in a small saucepan. Heat while stirring.
- Bring to a boil and cook for a few seconds, just until the mixture thickens slightly. Remove from the heat.
- Remove some of the seeds if you’d prefer fewer on the tart.
- Let the glaze cool to lukewarm.
- If the glaze has thickened too much to spread, warm it gently just until fluid and let it cool to lukewarm again. Spread it over the cooled filling, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until the filling is firm enough to slice.
- Et voilà, your tart is ready!
Minute Papillote Tip
- Enjoy this tart the day it’s assembled, when the filling is at its freshest and the crust is still crisp.
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Frequently Asked Questions
A bit of both. The filling is made like pastry cream, with cornstarch and egg yolks, and it’s cooked for one minute after it starts to boil. But passion fruit juice replaces the milk, and butter is stirred in off the heat, so the texture lands between pastry cream and lemon curd. In French pastry, this type of filling is called a crémeux. If you’ve been searching for a passion fruit curd tart, this is it.
Look for fruit that feels heavy for its size and has wrinkled skin. Those are the ripest and most flavorful. If the skin is still smooth, leave the fruit at room temperature for a few days to ripen further.
Yes. Thaw it in the fridge, then strain it for the filling. If the pulp is sweetened, reduce the sugar in the filling as you would for a sweetened purée. Keep a little unstrained pulp for the glaze.
Yes, they’re edible and slightly crunchy. They’re the reason the glaze looks so good on top of the tart.
Most often, the mixture didn’t cook long enough. It must bubble, then cook for one more minute while you whisk constantly. Check your measurements for the cornstarch, too.
Yes, covered in the fridge for up to 24 hours, but the crust will lose some of its crispness. It’s at its best the day it’s assembled.
If you love passion fruit
Two more desserts with the tangy flavor of passion fruit. Both are still in French for now, so it’s a good excuse to practice (Google Translate can lend a hand!). English versions are coming soon.
Passion Fruit Mousse (in French)
A light, airy mousse made with heavy cream and no eggs. A refreshing way to finish a meal.
Mango and Passion Fruit Curd with Coconut Whipped Cream (in French)
Smooth mango and passion fruit curd topped with soft coconut whipped cream, served in individual dessert glasses.
More fruit tarts to try
Two more recipes for those who enjoy a little tartness in their desserts. These are also in French for now, with English versions coming soon: consider it a little language workout.
Rhubarb Tart Inspired by Philippe Conticini (in French)
A simplified version of a French chef’s dessert, with tender, tangy rhubarb taking center stage.
Rustic Strawberry Rhubarb Tart (in French)
A summer tart with fragrant strawberries to balance the rhubarb’s tartness. Simple to make and generously filled with fruit.
