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!
Video Tutorial: How to Make Homemade Quiche
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!!
What to Serve with Quiche
Here’s what I serve with quiche. It’s usually 1 or more of the following:
- Fruit Salad, Bacon, or Breakfast Sausage
- Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
- Nutella-Stuffed Muffins
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Blueberry Muffins or Banana Muffins
- Strawberry Bacon Salad
- New York-Style Crumb Cake
- A Dutch baby piled high with all your favorite sweet toppings
For even more inspiration, see 18+ of my favorite Easter brunch recipes—which includes this quiche, of course!
Print
Quiche Recipe
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: serves 8
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
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.
Ingredients
- 1 unbaked Flaky Pie Crust (what I used) or All Butter Pie Crust*
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk*
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream or heavy whipping cream*
- 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper*
- 1 cup (4 ounces / 90g) shredded or crumbled cheese such as feta, cheddar, goat cheese, or gruyere
- up to 2 cups add-ins (see recipe note)
- optional toppings for serving: extra cheese, chopped herbs, hollandaise sauce, & freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prepare pie crust: I like to make sure my pie dough is prepared before I begin the quiche. Make pie dough the night before because it needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before rolling out and blind baking (next step).
- Roll out the chilled pie dough: On a floured work surface, roll out one of the disks of chilled dough (use the 2nd pie crust for another recipe). Turn the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls until you have a circle 12 inches in diameter. Carefully place the dough into a 9-inch pie dish. Tuck it in with your fingers, making sure it is completely smooth. To make a lovely edge, I do not trim excess dough around the edges. Instead, fold the excess dough back over the edge and use your hands to mold the edge into a rim around the pie. Crimp the edges with a fork or use your fingers to flute the edges. Chill the pie crust in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 5 days. Cover the pie crust with plastic wrap if chilling for longer than 30 minutes.
- While the crust is chilling, preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Partially blind bake: Line the chilled pie crust with parchment paper. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Make sure the weights are evenly distributed around the pie dish. Bake until the edges of the crust are starting to brown, about 15-16 minutes. Remove pie from the oven and carefully lift the parchment paper (with the weights) out of the pie. Prick holes all around the bottom crust with a fork. Return the pie crust to the oven. Bake until the bottom crust is just beginning to brown, about 7-8 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. (Crust can still be warm when you pour in the filling. You can partially pre-bake the crust up to 3 days ahead of time. Cover cooled crust tightly and refrigerate until ready to fill.)
- Reduce oven temperature to 350°F (177°C).
- In a large bowl with a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs, whole milk, heavy cream, salt, and pepper together on high speed until completely combined, about 1 minute. Whisk in add-ins and then pour into crust.
- Bake the quiche until the center is just about set, about 45-55 minutes. Don’t over-bake. Use a pie crust shield to prevent the pie crust edges from over-browning. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Top with optional toppings before slicing and serving, if desired. Or you can cool the quiche completely before serving—it’s fantastic at room temperature!
- This quiche makes great leftovers! Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The pie dough can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can pre-bake the crust ahead of time too. See end of step 2. To freeze, cool baked quiche completely, then cover tightly with a couple sheets of aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter, then bake at 350°F (177°C) for 20-25 minutes.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Pie Dish | Rolling Pin | Pie Weights | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Whisk | Pie Crust Shield
- Pie Crust: Both linked pie crust recipes make 2 crusts. You only need 1 crust for this pie, so freeze the 2nd half for another use.
- Mini Quiche: Here is my mini quiche recipe and instructions.
- Whole Milk & Heavy Cream: Use this combination for best taste. If desired, use 1 cup of half-and-half instead.
- Cheese: Some favorites include feta cheese, goat cheese, cheddar cheese, white cheddar cheese, Swiss cheese, and gruyere.
- Add-Ins: Add up to 2 cups add-ins including vegetables and meat/seafood. Most quiche add-ins should be pre-cooked and can still be warm when mixing into the egg filling. Pat dry prior to mixing in. See blog post for more information.
- Added Salt: Reduce or leave out salt if your add-ins and cheese are particularly salty. For example, in the 3 recipes listed in the next note, I don’t even add salt!
- Quiche Recipes: Leave out added salt, then whisk in these ingredients in step 4. 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, and dash of hot sauce. Bacon, White Cheddar, & Scallion: 6-8 cooked and crumbled bacon slices, 1 cup white cheddar cheese, and 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), and 1 cup crumbled feta cheese.
Reader Comments and Reviews
This recipe looks fine but what irritates me is the fact that at the beginning it said you can make a “crustless quiche” as I’ll have you know thats called a fritatta.
I have made the All Butter Crust recipe and would like to make Mini Quiches. For best results should I Partially blind bake? I see that you do in you do in your Quiche Recipe but not in your Mini Quiche recipe.
Hi Kym! No need to bind bake for the mini quiches.
Delicious! Flaky crust! I used more eggs and less cream and milk.
I’m bringing to a brunch already baked. No oven there. Will those be good served room temperature? I feel like microwaving to warm it up would ruin it.
Hi Barb, absolutely — it’s fantastic at room temperature!
My family loves this quiche recipe. I used Sally’s baking crust as well (with butter and shortening). The crust tasted great and it was so easy to make. Thanks for this!
this is the best “recipe” I have used it often, changing up my add ins, every time. This morning I sauteed onion, mushrooms, red pepper zucchini. I sprinkled them with a pinch of curry powder and then added salt, garlic. I added cubed ham and Alpine cheese blend along with some fresh italian herbs. Past quiche favorites have been bacon and green chili (I live in Colorado. Everyone loves their hatch green chilis here!). But no matter what I ingredients I have or add, I always refer back to this post. Thanks so much!
This is a fantastic recipe. I’ve made it many times and my husband is always happy to see it on the menu. We are dairy free so I substitute all the milk and cream with one can of coconut milk and I use vegan “cheese” and the recipe works beautifully.
Many of the quiche recipes I reviewed were for a crustless quiche and I wanted a nice flaky crust for mine. I liked that this recipe provided ratios so that I can customize my ingredients based on what I have on hand. This will be my go-to recipe due to its simplicity and the flavor came out amazing!!
My favorite part of the recipe was the footnotes that didn’t actually have footnotes. I love blank annotations.
Made it for lunch yesterday….. everyone loved it. Perfect lunch for 6 people with a green salad. I didn’t have half and half or cream, I used 1cup of 2% milk instead. I added a tsp of Dijon mustard and 2tbsp mayo.
I have used this quiche recipe several times now. Quiche is a family favorite bc I can keep it in the fridge for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I usually toss in ingredients based on what I’ve got in the fridge – this time I added sun dried tomatoes (I sautéed them for a few minutes with garlic). I don’t think I’ll ever make another quiche without adding the sun dried tomatoes – it really escalated the flavor. Thank you!
Will this be good made two days ahead and kept in the refrigerator, then reheated?
Hi RT, the quiche is good for up to 4 days in the refrigerator, so that should work just fine. Or for make ahead and freezing instructions, see recipe Notes for more details. Enjoy!
Yummy! Thank you! First quiche I made myself and turned out delicious. I used the spinach, feta and bacon (instead of ham) version it was delicious.
This is my go to recipe for quiche, because it is based on the “golden mean” or a ratio of eggs to milk/cream, cheese and different fillings, providing a canvas to safely play. I had to use a store bought pie crust for a last minute brunch item, used pancetta, sweet Walla Walla onion, both sauted, chives and a combo of Tillamook cheddar cheese and gruyere. A late summer quiche lorraine. Sublime.
Did you precook your store bought pie crust like the recipe did from the from scratch? I think I need to go store bought too!
This is the BEST quiche recipe ! It is perfectly balanced; not eggy or dense, but creamy and silky. The greatest challenge for me is always pie crust, even when using a ready made crust :). I struggle with fitting the crust into the pan, much less making creative edges! It was frustrating to pick beans (the weights) out of the cooked crust, so I line the top of the crust with parchment paper then place the weights on top. Thanks so much for this excellent recipe!
Violette
I have made four of these quiches, and every one was fabulous. The only difficulty was not having a specific salt measurement as you don’t really want to taste raw quiche. I checked another recipe which used 3/4 tsp and put about 1/2 tsp of salt in mine in case my cheese was too salty. However, I had different kinds of cheese in each one and they were all great. Everyone at a party I took them to loved them. The first one I pulled the pie crust out of the fridge (after being there overnight) while I was making the quiche and that was too long. It only takes about 15 min for it to be pliable and not start becoming warm (my house is at 72 degrees). The lukewarm crust shrunk a lot. The additional ones that were cold were better. Nice and flaky, delicate crust.
I have tried several quiche recipes but the texture never turns out right until I made this one. Everyone loved it and my husband asked me to make it again.
That’s the best compliment!
What are the nutritional information?
We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
What fun making making quiche ahead of time! My ex-Marine husband loves quiche!! Can i mix just the eggs and cream and refrigerate the mixture overnight to make quiche the next day? I have also already prepared the other ingredients and refrigerated them for tomorrow.
Yes, absolutely!
This wasn’t too hard and really good! I don’t like cheese, so I used spinach, ham, onion, and green bell pepper. Will make this again.
Sally has the best recipes! I substituted almond milk, used parm cheese, sausage, and sweet peppers. It came out great! This is a no fail recipe for sure
I have made this quiche several times and have been very pleased with each result. It is so versatile, and I have made it for brunch, mealtime and for others during a time of illness and loss of a loved one.
Excellent recipe!
I made this tonight for church potluck and it was a huge hit. I made it with ground beef and cheese, and it was so delicious! I didn’t have while milk or heavy cream, so I made it with 1% but I’m hoping to try it with heavy cream next time and I bet it will taste so much better!
How should I cook this with a frozen pie crust?
Hi Savannah, you can thaw your pie crust overnight in the refrigerator and then once thawed, follow the recipe as if you had a fresh pie crust.
I am making these quiches for a camping trip (vacuum sealing in separate pouches) freezing then reheating in boiling water over camp fire. Will my crust be soggy? Should I go with crust less quiches?
Hi Wanda, we have not tried reheating quiche that way so we can’t say for sure. To be safe, you might want to go the crustless quiche route instead!
I use frozen hash browns for the crust. Sooooo good! Just thaw out the bag (a bag will make two pie crust.) Squeeze them dry with a towel. Add three Tbs melted butter, salt & pepper. Spread them out into a pie plate. Bake at 425 until brown and delicious ~15 min. Then move to your recipe.
Very good idea that I’m going to try
I’ve never made a whole quiche before, but the stars were aligned. My mother-in-law made her famous pie crusts of which I froze, and used here. It’s crawfish season here on the Gulf Coast, so I thought, WHY NOT?
I used mild spiced/boiled crawfish tails and andouille, fresh baby spinach layered, roasted artechoke hearts, gruyere and some additional fresh herbs. Used NO salt. Used Half and Half because that’s what I had.
It was so creamy and decadent! And easy, because I have a mother-in-law that likes to make pie crust for her daughters-in law, LOL.
My success came from your very specific tips and advice.
Thanks! I will make it again and again, no matter the filling ingredients.
That combination sounds amazing!
Wow, this recipe is so wonderful – I just made it with silverbeet and zucchini and the texture and taste is just perfect. I used Jamie Oliver’s avocado pastry as the crust because I had some in the freezer.
I’ve always struggled with quiche but now I have this recipe I’ll be making them much more often!
Why does my crust shrink when I blind bake the crust
This is delicious! My first quiche and it turned out great.
But I think you forgot to include the cheese in the directions about what ingredients to whisk. I couldn’t find any mention of what to do with it so I guessed.
Hi Lisa, So glad your first quiche turned out great! We whisk the other ingredients together and then whisk the cheese in with any other add-ins.
I have made the ham, feta and spinach recipe for several people. It is by far one of the most requested dishes I make. Super yummy.
Hi there! I made this for Easter Sunday brunch and it was a HUGE hit! Can this recipe be made crustless?
Hi Kathy, you can skip the crust. Bake time will be a little shorter. We also have a crustless veggie quiche recipe too if you’re interested!
If I wanted to use broccoli, should I steam or sauté first before adding to custard mix?
Hi Kathy, yes we recommend steaming//sautéing broccoli for this quiche. Enjoy!