This is a perfect base quiche recipe and it’s all baked in a super flaky homemade pie crust. Use a combination of milk and heavy cream for the richest, creamiest filling and add your favorites such as bacon, feta cheese, ham, white cheddar cheese, crab meat, or spinach. You can also try my mini quiche recipe in a mini muffin pan, too!
Often over-looked and underrated, quiche is a cornerstone brunch recipe. But don’t limit this dish to brunch! Quiche is fantastic for lunch, dinner, Easter supper, baby showers, bridal showers, potlucks, tea parties, and so much more. It’s my go-to food when I need a quick recipe that’s delicious, crowd-pleasing, and adaptable to what I have in the refrigerator.
This easy quiche recipe is simple, versatile, and consistently good.
What is Quiche?
Quiche is a savory egg custard baked in a flaky pie crust shell. Though you can certainly make a crustless quiche, too! The base of quiche filling are milk, cream, and eggs. The add-ins vary and can include meats, seafood, cheese, spices, and vegetables. One of the more popular quiche recipes is Quiche Lorraine, which combines bacon and cheese. Today I’m showing you how to make the perfect quiche with any add-ins you choose!
The Texture of a Perfect Quiche
Quiche is egg pie. But “egg pie” doesn’t sound particularly appealing, does it? Let’s talk about the texture of a perfect quiche, the kind I’m teaching you how to make. Perfect quiche is creamy and soft with textural contrast from ham, crispy bacon, or sautéed vegetables. Each forkful is undeniably rich, but has a light and delicate mouthfeel. Think of the main ingredient being milk/cream, not eggs.
Quiche is not a frittata with crust. Frittata recipes (and their mini counterparts—breakfast egg muffins) use more eggs and less milk, so they are sturdy and solid, while quiche is moist and melts in your mouth.
Overview: How to Make Quiche
So now that we properly defined quiche and its texture, let’s dive into a perfect quiche recipe. I love quiche, so I’m REALLY excited about this!
- Blind Bake Your Pie Crust – I teach you in my how to blind bake pie crust tutorial, but scroll further down for a quick review.
- Prepare Add-Ins – This includes cooking meats and vegetables, shredding cheese, etc.
- Combine Eggs & Milk/Cream – Beat together, then whisk in the add-ins.
- Bake – Pour filling into crust and bake until just about set, at least 45 minutes.
Let it cool a bit, then slice and serve. To freeze, cool baked quiche completely, then cover tightly with a couple sheets of aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months.
Quiche Recipe Ingredients
This quiche recipe requires:
- Pie Crust – Don’t skimp on flavor and texture—make homemade pie crust. My favorite pie crust recipe is straightforward and you can make it ahead of time and freeze. One of my best baking tips is to always have pie dough in the freezer!
- Heavy Cream and Milk – For the best tasting quiche, use a combination of whole milk and heavy cream. (Or simply use half-and-half.) Using just heavy cream produces an overly thick filling. Whole milk is great, but a combo of heavy cream and milk is better.
- Eggs – Use 4 eggs per 1 cup of milk. Some quiche recipes throw in an extra egg yolk or two, but I don’t find it necessary with the ratio of ingredients in my recipe.
- Salt and Pepper – I don’t add salt to the filling if I’m using a salty add-in, such as cheese or ham. However, if you are making a plain quiche I recommend both.
Add-Ins
Most quiche add-ins should be pre-cooked and can still be warm when mixing into the egg filling. I recommend patting them dry before using because excess moisture will create a soupy quiche. Spinach, kale, bell pepper, and tomatoes can be fresh, but you can definitely sauté them first if desired. Some of my favorite quiche add-ins:
- Goat cheese
- Cooked cubed ham
- Bacon
- Caramelized onions
- Sautéed mushrooms
- Sautéed chopped asparagus
- Chopped fresh parsley
Stick to 1/2 – 1 cup cheese and up to 2 cups vegetables and/or meat add-ins. (Fresh spinach packs down, so you can go heavy on it.)
Partially Blind Bake the Pie Crust
Pie recipes call for a raw pie crust, a fully baked pie crust, or a partially baked pie crust. For example, apple pie bakes the filling and crust at the same time. Coconut cream pie has a no-bake filling, so it requires a fully baked pie crust shell. Quiche, on the other hand, can bake in a raw pie crust but it will likely taste soggy. So let’s partially pre-bake it, also known as a blind bake pie crust.
- Make pie dough ahead of time, then refrigerate or freeze until you’re ready to make the pie. Pie crust must chill for at least 2 hours before rolling out.
- Roll it out, then fit into your 9-inch pie dish. Crimp or flute the edges.
- Chill the shaped pie crust for at least 30 minutes. This prevents shrinking. Remember that pie dough must be cold.
- Fill with pie weights. As the pie dough bakes, its fat will melt. The melting fat causes the pie crust to shrink down the sides of the pie dish. To prevent the pie dough from completely losing its shape, weigh it down with pie weights. Carefully line the pie dough with parchment paper first, then pour in pie weights or even dry beans. (Note: 2 packs of these pie weights is needed!)
- Bake until the edges are lightly brown, about 15 minutes.
- Remove pie weights, then prick the crust with a fork.
- Bake crust for about 8 more minutes.
- Fill with quiche filling, then bake the quiche.
Pie crust edges usually begin over-browning, so a pie crust shield is helpful. I always recommend a pie shield with any/every pie recipe.
Quiche Recipes:
Now that you’re fully prepped with all this quiche info, let’s bake! Here are 3 new quiche recipes for you and each are pictured above. Follow the quiche baking instructions in the recipe below. Leave out the added 1/4 teaspoon salt. Whisk these add-ins into the egg/cream mixture in step 4. After baking the quiche, top with a sprinkle of fresh parmesan cheese or any cheese used in the filling. Feel free to add a small handful of fresh herbs such as chopped parsley, dill, or basil. I served each of these with homemade hollandaise sauce and definitely didn’t regret it. 🙂
- Crab, Old Bay, & Gruyere: 1 and 1/2 cups fresh jumbo lump crabmeat (it’s sold as “fresh” but it is always pre-cooked), 1 cup shredded gruyere cheese, 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning, dash of hot sauce.
- Bacon, White Cheddar, & Scallion: 6-8 cooked and crumbled bacon slices, 1 cup white cheddar cheese, 3 Tablespoons chopped scallion.
- Ham, Spinach, & Feta: 1 cup cooked and cubed ham, 3 cups chopped fresh spinach (sauté for a few minutes with a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat), 1 cup crumbled feta cheese.
I have these favorite quiche recipes too:
- Spinach Cheese Quiche – simple & classic!
- Goat Cheese Spinach Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche
- Mini Quiche
Which flavor combinations will you try? I’d love to hear some new ideas because I bake quiche on the regular. Love having one in the freezer. Have fun customizing your own!!
