I make quiche once or twice per year, and I don’t have a specific recipe that I follow – I usually google for things like portions, temperature, and cooking time.
This year, I decided to take some notes and provide a general quiche framework that will work for any kind of quiche you want.
The goal is to have 4 cups of eggs, cheese, plus other stuff (filler ingredients) that we pour in to a 9″ pie crust. Although a 9″ pie crust will hold about 5 cups, the quiche will rise during the cooking process.
One major tweak from “normal” quiche recipes: Instead of milk, I use sour cream, which has much more fat in it and also significantly improves the flavor. Because sour cream is more dense, I use bread (chopped up) so that you don’t end up with a 2″ thick egg-crete block.
Equipment:
- 9″ Pie Pan, greased, and a sheet pan to bake it on
- Mixing Bowl (I usually skip the mixing bowl, and just mix the ingredients in the 4-cup measure)
- Whisk
- Cutting board and knife as needed for bread and other “filler” ingredients
- 4 Cup measure
- Sautee pan and wooden spatula – if you use cooked ingredients, the pan and spatula are not needed
Ingredients:
- 9″ Pie Crust
- 2 to 3 slices of bread
- 8 to 12 eggs
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sour cream
- 2 Tbsp of brown mustard
- 1 cup of shredded cheese
- 1 to 2 cups of filler ingredients
- 2 Tbsp of oil or butter to sautee ingredients – if you use cooked ingredients, the oil or butter is not needed
- Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder to taste. About 1/2 teaspoon each.
Note:
- For every 4 eggs, use 1 slice of bread and about 1/4 cup of sour cream.
- If you have more filler ingredients, use fewer eggs – minimum of about 8. If you have fewer filler ingredients, you’ll need more eggs, and thus more bread and more sour cream.
- Makes at least 8 portions
- About 20 minutes prep time, and about 1 hour 30 minutes cook time, which includes 15 minutes of resting time, or about 1 hour 50 minutes total.
Preparation:
- For any raw filler ingredients, cut them in to small slices or bite-sized pieces, and sautee them in the sautee pan until tender. They don’t need to be cooked to annihilation, just cooked to the point of tender. Let them cool.
- For any ingredients that are already cooked, such as ham, bacon, or other leftover meat, cut them in to small bite-sized pieces.
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Grease the pie pan and lay out the pie crust, crimping or folding the edges as you would with any other kind of pie.
Cooking:
- Cut the crusts off the bread, and cut the bread in to small cubes.
- Add the following in to the mixing bowl, then whisk until the eggs are fluffy:
- Eggs – at least 8
- Sour cream – at least 1/2 cup
- Brown mustard
- Salt, pepper, and optionally, garlic powder and onion powder.
- Add the following in to the mixing bowl, then stir
- Bread (cubed, with crusts removed)
- Shredded Cheese (about 1 cup)
- Filler ingredients (Pre-cooked and cut in to bite-sized pieces)
- Pour all of this in to a 4 cup measure. At this point, in the mixing bowl, mix up some additional eggs if needed. If you have 3 cups of stuff, you need to add about 4 eggs. If you have 3-1/2 cups, you need to add about 2 eggs, etc…Note: Even if you think you have a lot of filler ingredients, start with 8 eggs and go from there. The egg mixture fills in the voids left between ingredients.
- At the point where you have 4 full cups of eggs + other stuff mixed and sitting in the 4-cup measure, carefully pour all of it in to the center of the pie crust.
- Place the (now-filled) pie pan on top of the sheet pan (in case it spills over), and place both in the pre-heated oven.
- Bake for 375 for up to 75 minutes. Check the center at about 50 or 60 minutes, and monitor closely until the entire thing is solid. It will rise about 1/2″ to 1″ during the baking process.
- Remove from the oven and let stand for about 15 minutes.
- Cut in to wedges and serve.
