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Home Quiches, Tart and Pie Recipes

Quiche Crust / Shortcrust pastry for pies

By:Nagi
Published:17 Apr '19Updated:10 Sep '21
106 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

A classic quiche crust and pie crust are made using homemade shortcrust pastry. It’s straightforward to make, especially if you have a food processor, and far superior to store bought in both flavour and texture!

I’ve also included directions for using store bought pastry sheets because the steps are the same for the baking part.

Homemade Quiche Crust

Homemade Salmon Quiche made with smoked salmon cooling on a rack, fresh out of the oven

Quiche crust recipe

This is my recipe for quiche crust which I’m publishing separately so it’s handy to reference for the quiche recipes I’ve shared and the many more I will inevitably share over the years!

Use this recipe if:

  • you want to make a homemade quiche crust from scratch; or

  • you have store bought shortcrust pastry – frozen or refrigerated. The steps to press the pastry into the tin and baking are the same.

If you have a store bought prepared pie shell, simply cook it per the packet directions.

Homemade Quiche Crust

Quiche crust is shortcrust pastry 

Quiche crusts are made with shortcrust pastry. The name “shortcrust” refers to the baking term “short” which means pastries that are flaky and crumble when you cut into them. They should be tender enough such that you can cut into it with little effort, and while it should be flaky, it should not disintegrate into crumbs.

And a quiche crust should hold together so a slice of quiche doesn’t fall to pieces when cutting and serving.

Close up of flaky homemade Quiche Lorraine crust

Even if you’re new to making quiche crust from scratch, I think you’ll find it quite straight forward the way I’ve broken it down plus the recipe video below!

Using a food processor, the quiche crust dough takes less than 5 minutes to make and it works 100% perfectly!

How to make quiche crust or pie crust

  • Blitz – place flour, butter and salt in a food processor and blitz until fine crumbs form

  • Add ice water while the motor is running. Why ice water? Because it stops the butter from melting. Teeny tiny bits of butter in pastry = flaky pastry!

  • Once a ball forms, take it out, pat into a disc, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour+ (up to 2 to 3 days). Reason: This makes the butter in the dough firm up again = flaky pastry

  • Roll out pastry to 3 mm / 1/8″ thick

  • Press into quiche tin or pie dish

  • Fill with pie weights and bake – Use baking beads, dry beans or rice. Anything that will weight down the pastry to stop it from puffing up and shrinking while it bakes. This is called Blind Baking.

  • Remove beads carefully – Nobody wants hot beads bouncing all over the kitchen!

  • Bake again just for 10 to 15 minutes until the base is light golden – this will really ensure your quiche crust base stays nice and crisp once filled.

How to make homemade quiche crust

Quiche Filling

Once baked, fill the quiche crust with your filling of choice – or use one of my existing Quiche recipes:

  • Quiche Lorraine

  • Salmon Quiche

  • Italian Sausage Quiche

If you want to make your own filling, use this as a guide:

  • Standard quiche tin (about 23cm / 9″ diameter, 2.5 – 3cm / 1 – 1.25″ deep) – use the cream, eggs, salt and cheese in the Quiche Lorraine recipe;

  • Deeper quiche tart tin (about 23cm / 9″ diameter, 3.5 – 4 cm / 1.5 – 1.7″ deep) – use the cream, eggs, salt and cheese the Salmon Quiche recipe

Enjoy! – Nagi x

Overhead photo of a golden Quiche Lorraine with 2 pieces cut

Watch how to make it

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Homemade Quiche Crust

Quiche Crust / Shortcrust Pastry for Pies

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 35 mins
Total: 50 mins
Baking, Mains
French
5 from 18 votes
Servings8 - 12
Tap or hover to scale
Print
  • 10
Recipe video above. This is a recipe for quiche and pie crusts, both of which are made using shortcrust pastry. This is a great, EASY classic quiche crust. Quiche crusts are just made with shortcrust pastry. Made using a food processor, very slightly adapted from this recipe by Emeril Lagasse.
Inactive chill time: 1 hour.
This is the recipe I've been using for years and years, and it has never failed me! Makes pastry for 1 x 23cm / 9" pie dish or tart tin (serves 8 - 12 people).

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups (185g / 5.6 oz) plain white flour (all purpose flour)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 100g / 7 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1cm/ 1/3" cubes
  • 3 tbsp ice cold water (+ more as required)

Instructions

  • Place flour, salt and butter in a food processor. 
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • Pulse 10 times or until it looks like breadcrumbs.
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • With the motor running on low, pour 2.5 tbsp of water into the tube feeder.
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • Turn up to high and blitz for 30 seconds or until it turns into a ball of dough. Initially it will look like breadcrumbs, then it will turn into a ball of soft dough - some random escaped bits is fine. If it doesn't look like its coming together at 20 seconds, add another 1/2 tbsp of water. Don't blitz longer than 30 seconds at most.
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • Form a disc, wrap in cling wrap. If there are escaped crumble bits, that's fine - just press them in. Refrigerate for 1 - 3 hours.
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • Preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan forced)
  • Sprinkle work surface with flour, unwrap dough and place on the flour. Sprinkle top with flour, then roll out into a 27cm/11" round.
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • Gently roll the pastry so it wraps around the rolling pin.
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • Unroll it over the quiche pan or pie dish - 23cm / 9".
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • Press the pastry into the edges of the quiche pan, patching up edges if required (if pastry doesn't quite reach top of rim).
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • Roll the rolling pin across the top to cut off the excess pastry.
  • Optional extra "safe measure" refrigeration - 15 minutes. See (Note 2).
  • Place a large piece of parchment paper over the pastry, then fill with baking beads or lots of rice or dried beans to weigh it down. (Note 3)
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from oven.
    Blind baking quiche crust
  •  Turn oven DOWN to 180C/350F (or 160C/320F fan).
  • Use excess paper to CAREFULLY remove hot beads, then return to oven for 10 minutes or until base is light golden.
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • Remove from oven and fill with chosen Quiche Filling. Quiche Lorraine, Salmon Quiche, Italian Sausage or your other filling of choice. 
    Preparation of easy homemade quiche crust
  • The pastry will not be 100% cooked, it finishes cooking with the filling. It's cooked enough so the crust will not go soggy.

Recipe Notes:

1. Optional extra refrigeration - The key characteristic of shortcrust pastry is that it's flaky and tender. In order to achieve this, the dough needs to have little bits of cold butter in it when it goes in the oven. If the butter is melted, then the pastry won't be as flaky (but still very tasty!).
So if it's warm where you are, and it takes you longer than 5 - 7 minutes to roll out the dough, press into tin and get it into the fridge, refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes or so before baking.
2. If using store bought frozen shortcrust pastry, you will need 2 sheets (standard Australian square sheets). Thaw then line the 2 sheets together so they are overlapping slightly and press down firmly to seal. Then press into the pan and start from step 10. 
3. Weights stops base from puffing up and helps reduce pastry shrinkage
4. Different measures in different countries - The measures in this recipe work with both US and metric (rest of world!) measures.
5. General - this recipe does not have egg in it (some recipes do), which makes it crisper, more flaky and more buttery, yet soft enough to cut through with a fork with barely any effort. Egg is a binder and it makes the dough tougher.
6. FILLING: If you want to make your own filling, use this as a guide:
  • Standard quiche tin (about 23cm / 9" diameter, 2.5 - 3cm / 1 - 1.25" deep) - use the cream, eggs, salt and cheese in the Quiche Lorraine recipe, then your add ins of choice
  • Deeper quiche tart tin (about 23cm / 9" diameter, 3.5 - 4 cm / 1.5 - 1.7" deep) - use the cream, eggs, salt and cheese the Salmon Quiche recipe.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 173cal (9%)Carbohydrates: 17g (6%)Protein: 2g (4%)Fat: 10g (15%)Saturated Fat: 6g (38%)Cholesterol: 26mg (9%)Sodium: 235mg (10%)Potassium: 24mg (1%)Vitamin A: 310IU (6%)Calcium: 6mg (1%)Iron: 1.1mg (6%)
Keywords: How to cook frozen shortcrust pastry, Quiche Crust, Shortcrust pastry
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @RecipeTinEats.

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106 Comments

  1. Torontogal says

    March 10, 2021 at 3:01 am

    Hello…will this pie crust fit a 9×2” deep fluted pan? If not, could you please tell me changes I would make. Thank you!

    Reply
  2. Shikha Krishna says

    March 4, 2021 at 4:33 pm

    Excellent recipe, Nagi’s recipe never fails ♥️

    Reply
  3. Lee-anne says

    March 2, 2021 at 5:30 am

    5 stars
    Did it exactly as the recipe says… Came out light and buttery.. Hmmm will save it one

    Reply
  4. Cindy says

    February 25, 2021 at 7:04 am

    Confused about the weight of flour in this recipe. 185g is about 6.5 oz., not 5.6.
    For reference, I’d love to know how much a cup of flour weighs (in oz or grams) generally in your recipes when weights aren’t listed. Thanks!

    Reply
  5. Emily says

    February 15, 2021 at 5:57 am

    5 stars
    This came together easily and beautifully in my food processor. I chilled overnight so I could bake the quiche for Valentine’s breakfast. The pastry was perfect! Light, flaky, crisp! Not overly buttery, which is good since the quiche filling so rich. I blind baked the first time as instructed (I don’t have pie weights, and I don’t like wasting beans, so I used a bag of decorative river pebbles, ha! They worked like a charm). Then when removing the paper, I brushed with a little egg wash before baking the second time, to really seal the pastry (saw it on GBBO). Don’t know if it was necessary, but no soggy bottom! Saving this as a go to short crust pastry recipe!

    Reply
  6. Althea says

    January 12, 2021 at 4:34 am

    Hi Nagi. Should I grease the tray before adding the dough?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 12, 2021 at 11:52 am

      Hi Althea, no need to grease 🙂 N x

      Reply
  7. Maggie says

    January 11, 2021 at 8:53 pm

    Can i substitute olive oil for the butter. If so, how much. Thanks!

    Reply
  8. Anna says

    December 22, 2020 at 5:41 pm

    I absolutely love LOVE love your recipes…..

    Reply
  9. Sam says

    December 21, 2020 at 9:45 am

    Nagi, I am excited to try this. I have it in the oven now. Filled it with broccoli and gruyere My question: can you use this crust for sweet goods? Like a pie, etc?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      December 21, 2020 at 1:20 pm

      Hi Sam, use this one instead 🙂 https://www.recipetineats.com/pie-crust-recipe/ N x

      Reply
  10. Nina says

    December 10, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    How do you freeze the quiche Cooked or uncooked?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      December 10, 2020 at 4:53 pm

      I freeze it cooked Nina! N x

      Reply
  11. Esther says

    November 30, 2020 at 1:15 pm

    Lovely pastry Nagi, used it for meat pies. Next time would like to use 50/50 butter/lard instead of all butter. Do you see any issue there? Thanks!

    Reply
  12. Ian Thomson says

    November 8, 2020 at 3:54 pm

    5 stars
    Thank you so much! I made my first Quiche and people were amazed at the crust! Easy, and great every time!!

    Reply
  13. Tamara says

    October 4, 2020 at 12:45 am

    Hi Nagi! I’m wondering if this can be made in a stand mixer since I don’t have a food processor? Thank you and I’m excited to pair this with your Aussie Meat Pie recipe tomorrow.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      October 6, 2020 at 10:50 am

      Hi Tamara, not really as you want the blades to cut the butter into the flour (not beat it) as this is what yields a crumbly, short pastry. You can always do it by hand! N x

      Reply
      • Belinda Wong says

        February 7, 2021 at 9:19 pm

        5 stars
        I made this in the stand mixer and it was perfect. Used the whisk attachment to make the fine breadcrumbs part, mixed in the cold water with a spoon to get it to come together and then dough attachment for the final part until it forms a ball.

        Reply
  14. ALYCE says

    September 17, 2020 at 10:38 am

    How do you blind bake mini-quiche? Is it necessary?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      September 17, 2020 at 8:10 pm

      Hi Alyce, you do it the same way as a full size quiche (just in smaller form) – and yes it’s necessary to cook the base first otherwise it will become soggy 🙂 N x

      Reply
  15. Pat Adler says

    August 24, 2020 at 11:32 pm

    Hi. Ive joined some time ago but never received my free ckbks. Maybe I did something wrong.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      August 25, 2020 at 11:27 am

      Hi Pat, sorry they got lost along the way – send me an e-mail and I’ll reply with the e-cookbooks. N x

      Reply
  16. Kazz says

    August 21, 2020 at 11:00 am

    5 stars
    Hi Nagi Made this recently and it was amazing. One question. After the initial blind bake with the baking beads, my pastry developed a large air bubble. I pushed it down several times during the second part of the blind bake but wondered why it happened. Do you think increasing the time of first blind bake might help?

    Reply
  17. Emma says

    August 18, 2020 at 5:55 pm

    Hi Nagi, if you want to freeze a batch of pie cases can you blind bake and freeze or do you need to cook them fully before freezing?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      August 19, 2020 at 10:20 am

      Hi Emma, I imagine you can do that! You can then simply thaw and use as needed. N x

      Reply
  18. AE says

    August 7, 2020 at 11:39 pm

    This recipe looks really similar to pate brisse (French readers, please excuse the lack of accents!), which is two parts flour for one part butter, plus the cold water and salt 🙂

    I understand the main reason for cooling the dough is to let the gluten stabilise. If you try to roll it straight from the food processor, it keeps shrinking back, but not after refrigerating which I know because I usually roll it straight away, and cool it in the quiche tin because I’m short of time.

    Also, I find Australian flour is super thirsty compared with flour from my home country (the main difference being flour here has 10 g protein / 100 g and over there it’s only 3 or 4 g).

    Sorry, got excited with the data!!

    The truth is, I love your recipes and I know they’ll never fail me, which is why I kicked myself earlier today, for not using your recipe I know, and trying someone else’s just because it made two cake layers… Sweet
    or savoury, you *always* deliver!!

    Reply
  19. Melanie says

    June 11, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    hi nagi, you are my go to recipe chef, luv the site. a question re making pastry in a food processor, can i use the metal blade?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 12, 2020 at 5:11 pm

      Yep – I do all the time Melanie! N x

      Reply
      • Liz says

        July 19, 2020 at 4:50 am

        can the cooked pie crust be frozen until it is needed later?

        Reply
  20. Helen says

    May 30, 2020 at 11:54 am

    Hi Nagi, have always been keen to try making this especially now that Coles & WoOlies have been out of stock for a few weeks now.

    Could I use this same recipe to make pie bases in muffin tins (looking to make your delicious party pies)? If so, will I still need to blind bake?

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 1, 2020 at 4:28 pm

      Hi Helen, great idea and yes you’d need to blind bake – enjoy! N x

      Reply
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