The mother of all quiches…. A homemade Quiche Lorraine is one of those things reserved for special occasions that puts store bought to shame. Surprise yourself with how easy it is to make a homemade quiche crust – or make life easy using frozen pastry or a pre prepared pie crust.
Quiche Lorraine
I can’t remember when I made my first quiche, but I can tell you for sure that it was a Quiche Lorraine. Because just as Pork Carnitas are the King of Taco Carts, Quiche Lorraine is surely the Queen of all savoury tarts.
Bacon. Surely it’s the bacon. I mean, how could a Zucchini Quiche possibly ever compete? 😉
Did you know…
This is not a REAL Quiche Lorraine. This is Quiche Lorraine as it is known outside of France. 🙂
As with many traditional dishes, once it leaves the country of origin, it tends to evolve. The filling for traditional Quiche Lorraine, very strictly speaking, is made only with bacon, eggs and cream/creme fraiche. If you add anything else to it, the French say it ain’t a Quiche Lorraine anymore! 😂
So basically, I break the rules and the French may be cursing me. But this is the Quiche Lorraine flavour that will be familiar to those who live outside of France, that I have always known and loved.
The onion adds more savoury flavour. I can’t help adding garlic to that – because when I sauté onion in butter, I add garlic like I’m on auto pilot.
As for adding cheese… I truly cannot image quiche without cheese. I have never had quiche without cheese!
Quiche crust
The pastry for quiche is a simple shortcrust pastry that is buttery and crumbly, crispy yet soft enough to cut your fork through without the needing to jack hammer it.
If you are lacking in time, use a pre-prepared pie crust or frozen shortcrust pastry.
But if you do have the time, it is truly worth making the effort to make your own pastry. Homemade quiche pastry is buttery and flaky in a way that store bought never will be.
And the thing is – it’s so darn easy using a food processor. The dough comes together in mere minutes – flour, butter, salt, water, blitz = ball of soft dough ready for baking.
Get the recipe for a easy homemade Quiche Crust.
It’s really hard to capture how buttery and flaky the homemade shortcrust pastry is in a photo, but here’s my attempt. 🙂 The pastry is crispy yet soft enough for the fork to cut through with barely any effort. Just as shortcrust pastry should be!
So here is my Quiche Lorraine recipe. There have been minor improvements since I first published it, streamlining the steps and explaining them more clearly. Most notably, the addition of a recipe video which I hope shows how simply the homemade quiche crust is to make, and how beautifully custardy the filling is!
Happy weekend everyone! A great one for a brunch? With……QUICHE?? 😉 Oh…and I believe Mother’s Day is around the corner… 🤔 – Nagi x
MORE GREAT BRUNCH RECIPES
- Frittata
- Spanish Tortilla (egg and potato omelette)
- Bill Grangers’ Corn Fritters
- Zucchini Fritters and Broccoli Fritters
- Hash Brown Crust Quiche Lorraine
TRY THESE ON THE SIDE
- Roast Pumpkin, Spinach and Feta Salad
- Kale and Quinoa Salad – pictured below, keeps well for days and days!
- Apple Salad with Candied Walnuts and Cranberries – make this when you’re wanting to impress
- Any fresh garden salad or steamed vegetables with French Vinaigrette, Italian or Balsamic Dressing
The Quiche Extended Family
- Quiche Lorraine – the French mother, with the buttery flaky crust
- Salmon Quiche – the elegant aunt. Made with smoked salmon, save this one for special occasions
- Italian Sausage Quiche – the cheeky Italian uncle
- Hash Brown Crust Quiche Lorraine – the flashy cousin with a hash brown crust
- Frittata with Bacon – the father, made the traditional way (stove then oven)
- Baked Vegetable Frittata – the uncle,made the easy way (pour and bake!)
- Frittata Egg Muffins – the healthy sister
- Spanish Tortilla (Omelette) – the Spanish potato-loving aunt
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Quiche Lorraine
Ingredients
Quiche Crust - choose one:
- 1 homemade quiche crust (shortcrust pastry)
- 2 sheets shortcrust , thawed
- 1 prepared pie shell , fridge or frozen
Bacon Filling:
- 1 tbsp / 15g butter
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped (~1/2 cup)
- 200 g / 6.5 oz bacon, cut into small strips (1.5 x 0.5cm / 2/3" x 1/5")
Egg Mixture
- 4 eggs (~55- 65g / 2 oz each)
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) heavy cream (thickened cream) (Note 1)
- Pinch of salt & pepper
Cheese:
- 1 1/4 cups (125g) grated gruyere cheese (or tasty, cheddar, monterey jack)
Garnish (optional):
- 50g / 2 oz bacon, chopped and cooked until golden
Instructions
Quiche Crust:
- Frozen shortcrust pastry or homemade quiche crust - prepare and bake the crust per Quiche Crust recipe (23cm / 9" quiche tin).
- Prepared pie shell - bake per packet directions.
Bacon Filling:
- Preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan / convection).
- Melt butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic and bacon. Cook until bacon is light golden.
- Transfer to a paper towel lined bowl and leave to cool.
Egg Mixture:
- Place ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
Assembling and Baking:
- Place quiche tin with cooked quiche crust on tray. Scatter cooled Bacon Filling evenly across base of cooked quiche crust.
- Scatter cheese evenly across top.
- Carefully pour Egg mixture over the top. Push some of the cheese/bacon below the surface.
- Bake for 35 - 40 minutes until the top is golden. The centre should still jiggly.
- Garnish with Extra Bacon, if using. Rest for 10 minutes before removing from the pan to cut and serve.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published August 2016, updated with new photos, slightly better filling and most importantly, a recipe video!
LIFE OF DOZER
Giving me those “pity” eyes….no Quiche for Dozer!
I’ve made the quiche and pastry once and it was delicious. I’m now making the crust to use with a different recipe. Both times I’ve made it I’ve had to add extra water and pulse for about 40 seconds. I see you’ve said it works with US (Canada uses the same so maybe it should say North American😉) or metric measures. That would be 60 ml vs 37.5 of water which is a significant difference. Maybe putting it in mls would help even if it mixes Imperial and metric? Love your recipes!
Oops that should have said 50 ml vs 37.5.
Hi Wendy, US cups are slightly less than what we use here so yes the recipe does work for all measures ☺️
Hi Nagi,
This is a wonderful receipe. It is the first yummy quiche I have ever made – I had all but given up and this was my last attempt.
It is super yummy and easy.
I love that you aim to bake from the cupboard (no J.Oliver orchard/extreme veg patch required!)
I have also made your Honey Garlic Chicken (my boys smashed it), pulled pork in the slow cooker( husband loved that one)
Am going to try Choc crema pie next…a fav dessert of mine.
Thank you for sharing your receipes and taking the time to teach.
Made this and it is the BEST! Love everything you do, you are the Awesome at what you do. Thank you for helping so many of us find our cooking side.
Hi Nagi,
I was going to try this recipe, but i was wondering if i could add asparagus to it?
Hi Jasmine! You absolutely can but because asparagus has water inside, the water leeches a bit during the bake time. It’s not a deal killer, but it does leave a small ring of imperfect custard around the asparagus, especially on the surface. But it looks amazing! Let me upload a photo of one I made so you can see 🙂 N x
Here’s the photo! I love how it looks. I also put asparagus in the quiche too – that’s where you get a tiny bit of splitting around the asparagus because of the water coming out. But it’s really not a big deal! https://www.recipetineats.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Aspargus-Quiche.jpg