The classic quiche Lorraine gets a low-carb upgrade with this crustless quiche recipe! Thanks to bold flavors from Gruyère cheese and bacon, you won’t even miss the crust in this Crustless Quiche Lorraine. With a golden brown top and a creamy, custardy center, this healthy quiche is perfect for breakfast, brunch or dinner.
How to Make Crustless Quiche
Without having to make (or pre-bake a crust) the total prep time for making crustless quiche is under 15 minutes.
Ingredients Needed
- Eggs: make sure you are using eggs labeled and sold as “large” eggs. This ensures you will yield enough custard to fill the pie plate.
- Cheese: for this recipe we use a combination of Gruyére cheese and Parmesan cheese. Feel free to substitute with any cheese you prefer or turn our Broccoli Cheddar Quiche into a crustless dish!
- Bacon: not surprisingly, bacon adds loads of savoriness and a touch of smokiness. You can substitute with diced ham, though bacon is classic for a quiche Lorraine. If you’ve got leftover strips of bacon, make some Candied Bacon to serve alongside the quiche!
- Onion: thin slices of sautéed onion add flavor, texture and a touch of sweetness. We like white onions in this recipe, but yellow also works.
- Spices: kosher salt, nutmeg and a dash of cayenne are the only spices needed for this recipe. Nutmeg pairs wonderfully with any egg custard recipe and cayenne just adds a bit of heat.
Directions
- Cook the bacon until crisp; transfer to a plate. Reserve two teaspoons of the drippings; discard the rest.
- Cook the onion in reserved drippings.
- Whisk together the custard by whisking the eggs until they’re light in color and bubbly. Add the the milk and spices and whisk to combine.
- Add the cooked bacon, onion, and cheeses into the custard.
- Pour the custard mixture into a greased pie plate.
- Bake quiche until edges are set and center jiggles slightly.
Flavor Variations
- Instead of bacon you can use diced ham steak, turkey, or cooked sausage.
- Instead of Gruyère and Parmesan, you can use Cheddar, fontina, Manchego, Jack, feta, etc.
- Instead of whole milk you can use half-and-half or a combination of milk and cream for a more decadent quiche.
- For a healthier option, instead of cooking the onions in bacon drippings, you can use olive oil.
- Add cooked spinach, cooked kale, peas or small broccoli florets.
- Turn our Broccoli Cheddar Quiche into a crustless quiche!
- Turn your favorite lox bagel into a crustless quiche by mixing in smoked salmon, chives, capers and feta cheese.
Test Kitchen Tip
Since this quiche doesn’t feature a crust, it’s important to thoroughly coat the baking dish with nonstick spray. This will keep the quiche from sticking to the dish.
Serving
You can serve quiche either warm or at room temperature. We like to keep it simple and serve this crustless quiche with a simple butter lettuce side salad or citrus salad. Our Baked French Toast and Whole-Wheat Muffins are also a great choice. And if you’re looking to go full-on brunch mode, make our Healthy-ish Cinnamon Rolls and serve it all with our Blood Orange Ginger Mimosas.
Breakfast
Baked French Toast
30-Minute Meal
Butter Lettuce Salad with Veggies & Dill Ranch
Healthy Baking
Healthy Whole-Wheat Muffins
Side Salad
Savory Citrus Salad with Peanuts
Make Ahead Instructions
You can make this crustless quiche lorraine up to 1 day ahead of time. We recommend you don’t make it any more than 1 day ahead of time as it will start to weep and become slightly tough/rubbery.
Store the baked quiche wrapped tightly in foil in the refrigerator until ready to reheat and serve.
How to Reheat Leftovers
Wrapped tightly in foil or stored in an airtight container, leftovers will last up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
The best way to reheat crustless quiche (this works for regular quiche as well) is to place the quiche, still in the pie plate or on an oven-proof plate, in the oven. Turn the oven to 325ºFand let the quiche warm up in the oven as it preheats. Let the quiche continue to warm through once the oven is preheated for about 5 minutes more.
Enjoy leftovers as a quick lunch with a side salad and kaiser rolls or Japanese Milk Buns.
Difference Between Crustless Quiche and Frittata?
Crustless quiche is somewhat reminiscent of a frittata, but instead of starting the cooking process on the stove, everything is cooked in the oven. Because of that, frittatas are generally cooked in a nonstick skillet while crustless quiches are baked in a deep dish pie plate. And finally, crustless quiche is a bit more decadent with a higher fat content (thanks to cream or half-and-half and cheese) than most frittata recipes.
FAQs
There are really just two ingredients that distinguish quiche Lorraine from any ol’ regular quiche; bacon and Gruyère cheese
While we don’t recommend it, yes, you can freeze slices of crustless quiche. Wrap slices individually in plastic wrap then place in a zipper-lock freezer bag or airtight container for up to 3 months. Let the slices thaw overnight in the refrigerator before gently reheating. You will likely need to soak up excess moisture that has been released through the freezing and thawing process.
There could be a few reasons for this. First, if you used a low-fat milk such as 2% or skim, this is likely the culprit. It’s important to use whole milk, half-and-half or cream. Alternatively, your oven may run hot which likely cooked the eggs too fast and didn’t allow moisture to evaporate off before the eggs were set.
You’ll know this broccoli cheese quiche is done when the edges of the custard should be set and the center should still be slightly jiggly—this is important! In order to achieve that delicious, creamy center you want to avoid overcooking the custard. You can also use an instant-read thermometer to check the doneness—quiche is done cooking when the internal temperature reaches 165ºF.
If you’re looking to make a dense quiche resemblant of your favorite brunch cafe offering, try replacing the milk with cream and double the amount of cheese. Instead of whisking the eggs until foamy, just whisk them with the cream until combined (avoid incorporating air).
Crustless Quiche Recipe
Description
Ingredients
- 8 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 1 cup thinly sliced white onion
- 8 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Pinch grated fresh nutmeg
- 1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese (4 ounces)
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan (2 ounces)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350ºF (176ºC) with rack set in middle position. Coat a 9-inch deep dish pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crispy; 8–10 minutes. Using a spoon, transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. Discard all but 1 tablespoon bacon drippings.
- Return reserved tablespoon drippings to now empty skillet (or use olive oil). Add onion and cook over medium heat until softened and starting to brown, 5–7 minutes; let cool slightly.
- For custard, vigorously whisk eggs in a large bowl until light in color and bubbly, about 1 minute. Whisk in milk, salt, cayenne and nutmeg until thoroughly combined.
- Stir in bacon, onion and cheeses.
- Pour custard into prepared pie plate.
- Bake quiche until edges are set and center is slightly jiggly, 50–55 minutes.
- Let quiche cool at least 1 hour; serve.
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Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Hi! I made this today, except I left out the onions and added spinach, but it is SO GOOD and was so simple to make. I could probably eat the whole thing by myself in one sitting. I might actually do that.
Hey Megan!
Great idea to add spinach—this definitely would benefit from some added greens! 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
How many slices? The nutritional information is for one slice but the recipe tells you the yield is 19 inch pie.
Hi Mary, great question! 8 slices per quiche, I will update the recipe to reflect that!
Very good quiche. Next time, I will use the half and half instead of the milk. Instead of cutting the bacon before cooking, I cooked it and then crumbled the bacon.
Hi Audrey, I’m so glad you enjoyed the quiche! Thanks for the insights!