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
Spanish Tortilla (egg and potato omelette)
CRUSTLESS Quiche – custardy, golden and fabulous (plus super speedy & low carb)
TRY THESE ON THE SIDE
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 love this recipe but every time without fail the cream/egg mixture leak through the tin and onto the tray when I’m pouring it in. My quiche tin looks exactly like yours so I don’t know what I’m doing wrong
Hi Lucy, is it leaking through the pastry??
I think so but also the pastry shrinks down massively after I’ve blind baked it so the cream mixture goes straight over the top
You seriously nail every recipe! After moving house more times than I can count, I have lost a lot of my favourite recipes along the way. Every single recipes of yours I have tried is so close to what I remember. Thank you!! Definitely my go to source always! X
That’s great to hear Melanie!! N x
Absolutely delicious! Best quiche I’ve ever had and easy to make. I did cheat and use store bought puff pastry just because I was short on time but I’m sure Nagi’s shortcrust would be better 🙂 definitely give this a go you’ll love it! xx
This quiche was SO good, I made it twice in two days!
I took it over to my friend’s place, and her two little fussy eaters had THREE servings each!! One of them even added, “I wish my mum would make something yummy like this” and I couldn’t help but laugh (sorry to my friend) and thought “ahhh…. Nagi’s done it again!” 🙂
I made this tonight to be eaten tomorrow. To make it vegetarian, I fried up the onion and garlic then added some shredded baby spinach to wilt down. I used one sheet only of shortcrust pastry and made the egg filling as directed. It was so lovely and golden on top that I had to try a tiny slice. It was soooo rich! I think it would go a long way. Very tasty. Perhaps an apple, spinach and walnut salad with it would be yummy!
Yum! Sounds divine Naomi!
Made this today. Very nice
Thanks so much Maureen!
So yummy!
Thanks Amy!
Your recipe is great as always, Nagi! But I seem to get some spillage when I pour the egg mixture in to the pastry. I used 2 sheets of pre-made shortcrust pastry but the mixture still seeps through. Do you think I should put thicker layers of bacon and cheese mixture underneath? Thanks in advance x
Hi Kiki that doesn’t sound right at all! Is it seeping through the pastry or is it overflowing? – N x
It is seeping through the pastry, thanks
It’s Nagi week once again in my house. Last night I made my first pastry and my first quiche. Oh man yum. You make me king of yum in my home…Bernard King with hair or Manu without the authentic accent, or even Clarance from my local Chinese shop, just depends what cuisine journey you take me on. And you make it easy, ingredient list that are short, easily bought if not in pantry already and not wanky, can I say that?…unlike like so many pretentious cooks, chefs or wannabes out there. Keep doing what you are doing because you are the best at it…and you are an Aussie and I get your sense of humour. Many thanks.
Wahoo that’s great Risky!!!
Hi Nagi,
Any suggestions on how to make this into mini versions?
Hi Jasmine, you could always make these in mini pans, id just split the mixture and pastry between smaller tart tins and bake for 15 minutes or until just set – N x
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!
Hi Wendy, US cups are slightly less than what we use here so yes the recipe does work for all measures ☺️
Oops that should have said 50 ml vs 37.5.
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?
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://discountspot.info/tachyon/2018/12/Aspargus-Quiche.jpg%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
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
My second time making this and several things went wrong. I pricked the crust and used the beans to weigh it down but after I removed them it still bubbled up in a few places. Maybe needs more pricking next time. I then managed to drop the crust on the floor when I was on my way to put it back in the oven🙁. Using the 10 second rule I scooped it up using the removable piece from a larger quiche pan, put it back together and put the ingredients in. On the +ve side, the crust was easier to roll this time. I added nutmeg to the egg rather than s&p because I like nutmeg with cheese (Swiss or Parmesan or cheddar). Always an adventure in my kitchen😂. It baked up well with minimum filling leakage and tasted delicious as usual! Your recipes are amazing! I managed to get fresh barberries (no dried available) so next recipe will be the Persian lamb shanks etc.
I LOVE HEARING THAT!!!! PS Though more like a 20 second rule around here… 🤦🏻♀️.. N x
My second time making this and several things went wrong. I pricked the crust and used the beans to weigh it down but after I removed them it still bubbled up in a few places. Maybe needs more pricking next time. I then managed to drop the crust on the floor when I was on my way to put it back in the oven🙁. Using the 10 second rule I scooped it up using the removable piece from a larger quiche pan, put it back together and put the ingredients in. Hoping it bakes up OK and is edible! On the +ve side, the crust was easier to roll this time. I added nutmeg to the egg rather than s&p because I like nutmeg with cheese (Swiss or Parmesan or cheddar). Always an adventure in my kitchen😂.
Hi Nagi,
I was hoping to use up some spinach when making this, do you think I’d need to adjust amounts of other ingredients or the cook time? Hope this isn’t a silly question! x
Not silly at all! Pan fry it to wilt then scatter into the crust with the bacon 🙂
(Super late reply!) Thanks so much Nagi!
I’ve made your Quiche Lorraine recipe 3 or 4 times now, including with short crust and hash brown crust, and it’s always a delicious success. I’m so appreciative of your thorough instructions, recipe notes, photos and videos because they make a world of difference to someone like me who is quite new to cooking, and has been somewhat afraid of it. It has such a positive effect on my life because gaining confidence in these skills extends to so many areas, including being able to cook for other people which is a great way to show appreciation for them. Thank you so much for everything you do. x
Nagi, going to try your quiche, don’t I have to prick the base of the pastry with a fork before I cook it?
Hi Nagi.
I have just finished making your quiche with the homemade pastry shell.
I even ventured into Harris Scarf this morning to buy a new quiche dish with a removable bottom.
I was so happy with how my pastry fitted perfectly into the dish.
After the first 20 minutes of baking, it had shrunk all around the sides. I still baked it for the next 15 minutes before adding the filling.
I poured it carefully into the pastry shell, but I have probably lost a third of the filling into the bottom of the oven.
I don’t really understand what happened to my pastry. I was so disappointed, but I think that it will still be eatable for dinner tonight. I hope so as I put a lot of effort into this meal.
Your recipes are wonderful Nagi, but I completely stuffed up this meal.
Do you have any thoughts on how to stop the pastry from shrinking?
Hi Julie, I’m sorry to hear that I wish I had been there to trouble shoot! Did you use pie weights? This helps stops the pastry from shrinking because the weights essentially weight down the pastry to stop it from shrinking, if that makes sense 🙂 There will always be a bit of shrinkage, but there shouldn’t be that much. N x
Thanks Nagi for your reply.
I didn’t have Pie weights, but I used rice to weigh it down.
Maybe rice isn’t heavy enough.
Next trip to Wagga, I will buy some pastry weights.
The actual flavour of the quiche was delicious.
I always think that pastry is pretty hard, but I will persevere.
Kind regards
Thanks for an easy, foolproof recipe for the most divine quiche. Do you make smoked salmon and goat cheese quiche? I suppose that we simply sub out the bacon etc. and cook it in the same way. Imagine the flavour.