How to Make Quiche When You Need an Epic Breakfast
We'd never turn down an egg bake (aka egg casserole), but for a brunch recipe that always impresses, nothing tops a breakfast quiche. The savory pie with an egg-based custard-like filling is more elevated than a casserole, thanks to the flaky crust and pie plate presentation. After the crust, the key to truly great quiche is a creamy filling that holds a cut edge. The secret to that perfect filling is finding the right ratio of milk to eggs—too much milk, and the custard won't set properly; too little, and it turns tough during baking. Use our Test Kitchen-approved tips to learn how to make quiche expertly.
Jason Donnelly
Prepare the Quiche Crust
With pie crust for quiche, as with any pie, you have options. You can prepare a crust from scratch (we suggest our Pastry for Single-Crust Pie), use a refrigerated unbaked pie crust ($4, Target), or even a frozen pre-made pie crust ($3, Target). This is how to prep your quiche crust using the homemade or refrigerated option. And yes, as you'll see, you should always prebake quiche crust to avoid a gummy pastry.
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Roll out your homemade or purchased refrigerated dough into a 12-inch circle. Carefully fold pastry circle into fourths. Place folded pastry into a 9-inch pie plate ($56, Crate & Barrel). Unfold pastry and ease it into the pie plate, being careful not to stretch pastry. Trim to ½ inch beyond the edge of the pie plate. Fold under extra pastry and crimp edge as desired.
Line the unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. The foil weighs down the crust, which prevents it from bubbling up or blistering. This technique, known as blind-baking, creates a stronger crust that can better hold a moist filling, such as the egg mixture in quiche.
Bake 8 minutes on a baking sheet. This helps keep the crust crispier when you add the filling. Remove the foil. Bake 5 to 6 minutes more or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven.
Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. The pastry shell should still be hot when the filling is added. Do not partially bake the pastry shell ahead of time.
Scott Little
Prepare the Quiche Filling
This is the step of making a quiche where the most customizing happens. Depending on your chosen quiche filling, you can make the filling while you prebake the quiche crust or make the filling first so it's ready to add to the hot pastry shell.
Related: Our Best Quiche Recipes
For a classic Quiche Lorraine which requires skillet-cooking bacon, sautéing onion for several minutes, whisking together your milk-and-egg mixture, and, if using block cheese, shredding cheese to toss with flour; you may want to have at least some of the filling started before your pastry enters the oven. If your filling is quicker to pull together, like in this Spinach and Mushroom Quiche, you can likely do it all while you prebake the quiche crust.
Jason Donnelly
Bake the Quiche
You should have already decreased the oven temperature to 325°F when you removed the pastry from the oven so it's ready to finish your quiche.
Carefully pour egg mixture into the hot prebaked quiche crust. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until the edges are puffed and a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. If the pastry edge is getting brown before the filling is done, cut out a circle of foil just large enough to cover the pastry edge and place atop the pastry edge to prevent over-browning.
Transfer the quiche to a wire rack. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. This helps the custard filling to firm up and hold a cut edge.
To serve, cut into wedges and garnish as desired.
With your masterful quiche as the centerpiece, you just need to figure out the rest of your brunch menu. Pick your favorite brunch cocktail or coffee drinks and brunch breads to complete the feast.
