This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
Breakfast Quiche is a flavorful breakfast made with creamy filling baked in a buttery, flaky pie crust. Bacon, spinach, garlic, sharp cheddar along with milk, cream, and eggs make for an incredibly flavorful filling! Serve this quiche up for a holiday brunch and prepare to watch it fly off plates.
I WISH I could transfer the smell of this quiche baking through your screen! The flavors are incredible, the smell is incredible, and the presentation is incredible! Let’s agree to make this for all future brunches and breakfasts-for-dinner. Okay? Deal.
Why you’ll love this Easy Quiche Recipe:
- Incredibly Flavorful Filling – Smoky bacon, fresh spinach, garlic, and cheese lend TONS of flavor to our quiche filling! Eggs and milk provide the perfect creamy base.
- All-Butter Pie Crust – An all-butter pie crust is the perfect flaky vehicle for our filling.
- Perfect Holiday Brunch – Breakfast quiche is easy enough to make for a holiday brunch, but still impressive enough to serve for breakfast around Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Ingredient Overview:
As always, the full recipe with measurements & directions can be found at the bottom of this post.
- Butter – I always use salted buter for the best flavor, but feel free to use unsalted butter if you prefer.
- All-purpose flour – Spoon your flour into the measuring cup, then level it with a flat utensil for best results, or use a scale. Scooping the measuring cup directly into your flour will lead to too much flour, and a potentially dry bake.
- Eggs – Use large eggs for the egg mixture.
- Heavy Cream – Using half heavy cream and half milk keeps this quiche a little on the lighter side, while still being rich and creamy. You can also use all whole milk or half and half in place of the heavy cream.
- Milk – Use any type of milk you like. See note above about swapping heavy cream for milk.
- Bacon – Use your favorite bacon. It does need to be cooked before it goes into the filling.
- Spinach – Fresh spinach adds a little veggie power!
- Cheese – Use your favorite cheese. I’ve used a mix of sharp cheddar cheese and monterrey jack, but you could use a mix of any of the following: gouda, swiss, gruyere, mozzarella, cheddar, etc.
Ingredient Substitutions:
- Gluten-free – I have not dabbled in gluten-free pie crust, but here’s a gluten-free pie crust recipe with 1K 5-star reviews!
- Dairy-free – Use your favorite dairy-free milk to make this recipe dairy-free.
- Vegetarian – Omit the bacon and add something like sautéed mushrooms to make this recipe vegetarian but still keep it filling! You could also use a vegan meat alternative that you like.
- Fillings – See more filling suggestions in the recipe variations section at the bottom of this post. This is a great way to use up leftover veggies in your fridge!
- Crust – You can use a frozen pie crust to make this more of an easy breakfast quiche recipe, but most bakers agree that nothing compares to homemade pie crust!
How to Make this Breakfast Quiche:
Step 1: Make the Crust. Whisk together flour, salt, and sugar. Then, cut in cold cubed butter with a pastry cutter. Stir in cold water until the dough starts to form, then gently form it into a ball.
Form into a disc and wrap well in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge or freezer.
Step 2: Roll the Crust. Once the dough is chilled, we’ll gently roll it out, turning as we go, to avoid it cracking and sticking to the counter. Gently roll the pie crust around your rolling pin and transfer it into a 9-inch pie plate.
Next, trim the edges, but leave about a half inch of overhang – you’ll need that if you want to crimp the edges. See the next photo for crimping technique
Step 3: Par-Bake the Crust. Don’t panic. This is not as scary as it sounds! Crumple a piece of parchment paper and then fit it into your pie dish, on top of the dough, leaving enough overhang to cover the edges. (Do NOT use aluminum foil for this – ever! It prevents the crust from baking properly.)
Pour in sugar (this acts as your pie weights). Bake for 15-17 minutes. Remove parchment and bake for 2-4 more minutes until the bottom and sides are set and matte. This important step gives our crust a head start so it bakes up nice and crisp with all that wet filling on top. No soggy bottoms here!
Step 4: Mix the Filling. Whisk together the eggs and milk, then add the seasonings, cooked bacon, shredded cheese, and spinach.
Step 5: Pour filling into Crust. Pour the filling into your par-baked crust.
Step 6: Bake the Breakfast Quiche. Bake as directed in the recipe card below for best results! The filling should appear just set, and the crust will be golden brown. I did use foil as a pie shield in the photo below, but I honestly probably didn’t need it – the crust could’ve gotten deeper brown without burning.
And, that’s why the center browned more than the edges, haha!
Serving + Storing:
If this is the main dish, you’ll want to serve bigger slices, and it will serve 6-8 people. If you’re making this for a potluck-type brunch where there will be lots of other food, you can get away with smaller slices for more servings!
Expert Success Tips:
- Oven Thermometer – An oven thermometer will tell you if your oven is actually running at the temperature you set it to. Your oven may not be accurate. Accurate oven temperature is crucial for most bakes, so I leave an oven thermometer in at all times to keep an eye on my oven’s calibration.
- Kitchen Scale – A food scale is the best way to make sure your flour is at the proper weight, since amounts will vary SO widely based on how you measure it, as well as the measuring cup you use, as they are not standardized.
- Pie Dish – A metal pie plate is the absolute best option for pie. Glass pie dishes often fail me and cause the dough to slide down while baking. Most bakers agree that metal or even ceramic is superior to glass for baking! Promise me you’ll never use a glass pie dish again! (Unless it’s for a no-bake pie hah.)
FAQs:
Yes! You can serve it after it’s cooled for about 15 minutes, but is still warm, or you can serve it once cooled to room temperature. You can also let it cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate overnight before serving the next day, if you prefer a cold quiche.
If you want to halve it, I recommend making my mini quiches instead (muffin tin recipe!) as I’m guessing most people don’t own a 6-inch or mini pie pan. If you wanted to double this, I *think* you could do it in a 9×13 pan with double the pie dough but I have not tested it.
Yes! This gives the crust a head start so that it bakes up properly once all that wet quiche filling is on top of it in the oven. Don’t skip this!
Par baking is partially baking your pie dough to give the base a head start before adding your filling and baking the rest of the way. Blind baking is completely baking an empty pie shell so you can later add a cold-set filling, like for a coconut cream or french silk pie.
Yes, but you may have more filling than will fit. If you have extra once you’ve filed the crust in your tart pan, bake it in a well greased muffin tin for some mini quiches on the side.
Recipe Variations:
- Fillings – Have fun with the fillings! You can use whatever combination you like. I do recommend sticking to the quantities I used so that you don’t overload the quiche with too many fillings to too few eggs. Use up to 2 cups of add-ins total, not counting the cheese.
- Cheese – Use your favorite cheese or a mix of two! Try goat cheese, feta, swiss, gouda, cheddar, gruyere, monterey jack, or any mix of these.
- Meat – Swap (cooked!) breakfast sausage or cubed cooked ham for bacon, or use sauteed mushrooms for a vegetarian option.
- Veggies – Use diced sauteed bell peppers, roasted red peppers, chopped sauteed asparagus, or sauteed shallots or green onions with or in place of the spinach. Remember to stick to about 2 cups total!
- Quiche Lorraine – Make a classic quiche lorraine by using just bacon and ham as your fillings. Or put a twist on it and include spinach or another veggie!
- Crustless Quiche Recipe – Pour the filling into a well greased pie dish and bake at 350 for 30-36 minutes, until set.
Special Tools:
- Rolling Pin – Obviously essential! I recommend a simple wooden one with handles.
- Pastry Cutter – This makes cutting the butter into the flour a complete breeze! I never make pie without this tool. If you only use one tool in your pie making, let this be it.
- Pastry Brush – This is how you’ll brush on your egg wash, which is how you achieve that nice, deep, golden brown crust!
More Breakfast Recipes to Love:
- Fluffy Zucchini Bread Pancakes
- Restaurant Level Stuffed French Toast
- Mini Quiche Cups
- Raspberry Lemon Coffee Cake
- Strawberries & Cream Scones
- Pumpkin Streusel Muffins
- Gluten-Free Maple Granola
Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment & star rating!
Click the little stars in the header of the recipe card below to leave a comment & star rating, letting me know how you liked the recipe. I take all feedback seriously, & leaving a rating helps my small business immensely!
Perfect Breakfast Quiche
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled, 195 grams
- 1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp cold salted butter, cubed, 9 tbsp, or 127 grams
- 4-5 tbsp ice cold water
For the Quiche Filling:
- 5 large eggs
- 1/2 cup milk, I used 2%
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, You can also use milk here or half and half!
- 1/4 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- pinch of black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups fresh spinach, torn, tear it up so it's in smaller pieces
- 1 1/3 cups shredded cheese, I used a mix of sharp cheddar and Monterrey Jack, but have fun with it!
- 6-8 slices cooked bacon, roughly chopped into bite-size pieces
Instructions
- Make the Pie Dough: Ingredients and directions can be found here – the linked post has quantities for two crusts worth, so be sure to use the measurements above in this post for just one crust. Note that you will need a deeper than standard 9-inch pie plate for this recipe, preferably metal or ceramic – not glass.Once the crust is made, slightly flatten the ball of dough into a thick disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours but ideally overnight. Do not go straight to the freezer – it needs to hydrate and rest in the fridge first.Tip: Pie dough can be frozen for 1-2 months before using (after the initial overnight chill). Thaw in the fridge overnight.
- Roll the Pie Dough: Once the crust has chilled, slowly and gently roll it out on a floured surface. Be gentle, and turn the dough consistently to avoid it cracking or sticking to the counter. Flip the pie plate upside down over the dough to make sure it's big enough – you should have 2 inches of extra dough all the way around. Don't roll the crust thinner than 1/8".Gently roll the crust around your rolling pin (or fold it into quarters gently) and transfer to metal 9-inch pie dish. Gently press into the pan so there are no gaps between the dough and the pan. Trim excess dough, leaving 1/2 inch all the way around to crimp the edges. Use the thumb and pointer finger on one hand to make a pincer and come at the pie dough from the outside edge with that, while using your opposite hand's pointer finger to poke the space in the dough that rests between the pincer. Repeat all the way around (see photos in post above). Place this in the freezer for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 425℉.
- Blind Bake the Crust: Use a fork to prick holes all over the bottom of the frozen pie dough (prevents it puffing up). Use dry beans, rice, or even granulated sugar in a pinch as pie weights. Take the pie crust out of the freezer and gently press in two pieces of crumbled parchment paper, one going in each direction so the edges are mostly covered. Pour in the pie weights, making sure that they come all the way up to the crimped edges of your crust – this will prevent those edges from slipping down into the pie dish. Don't skimp here! Place the pie plate on a baking sheet and bake for 15-19 minutes, or until the crimps are lightly browned. Meanwhile, beat an egg in a small bowl – this will be your egg wash in a moment. Remove the pan from the oven, and gently lift out the parchment with the pie weights (have a bowl ready to set it in to keep your counter clean). Brush the edges of the crust with egg wash at this point, if desired (gives a nice shine – I always do this). Return the pan with the pie to the oven and bake for 2-4 more minutes, until the bottom and sides appear set and matte (they shouldn't be shiny). Set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 400℉
- Make the filling: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, heavy cream, garlic, salt, pepper, spinach, cheese, and cooked, chopped pieces of bacon.
- Bake: Make sure your oven is set to 400℉. Pour the filling into your prepared crust and evenly spread it around so the fillings aren't in a big clump with the liquid. You can cover the edges of the crust with foil to prevent burning, but don't be afraid to let the crust get deeply golden brown (darker than in these photos). Bake the quiche for 40-44 minutes, checking the crust for browning at about 25-30 minutes in. If it's getting pretty brown, you can use pieces of foil as a shield around the crust – don't cover up the center of the quiche though. The quiche is done when the filling is set (doesn't jiggle when you move the pie dish) and the top is slightly browned.
- Serve + Store: Allow to cool for 15-30 minutes before slicing. Store leftovers, covered, in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can also let it cool down to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate before serving if you like a cold quiche.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post contains affiliate links. This in no way affects the cost of the item. It simply allows us to earn a small fee if you purchase an item using the link provided. Thanks for supporting Blue Bowl!
Great!
Thanks so much, Sally!
Can this be made night before?
Hi Lynda! I haven’t tried that specifically with this recipe, but from a little digging online, it sounds like you can bake it a day ahead and then warm it for serving. Here’s what I’d recommend – bake the quiche a day ahead, let it cool at room temp, then cover it well with foil and keep it in the fridge. Then, warm it in the oven the morning you plan to serve it. Try 325 degrees F, covered with the foil so the top doesn’t over brown, for about 15 minutes, until warmed through. Let me know how it goes, and happy baking!
Ugg. Spinach : a cup and a half is 12 ounces. A bag of spinach is 10 ounces. I put in the whole bag- I think the author means a handful of spinach. I don’t knw what I made, but it’s all spinach, no egg. (I did add 2 more eggs and 1/2 c of cream, but it’s not enough.) I also woke up at 0500 in the AM to prepare this receipt- back to pancakes!
Hi Flora! I’m sorry to hear you had trouble with this recipe. I don’t mean a handful – I’ve used 1 and 1/2 cups every time I’ve made this and have never had any issues, nor have any of the other dozens of people who have successfully made this recipe. I don’t pack my spinach in – I measure it fairly loosely, and I’ve never used more than a whole bag. Maybe that’s where the issue came in. I will add a note about that to the recipe.