Quiche Lorraine

A Quiche Lorraine is a tender, buttery crust that holds bacon, onions and cheese encased in the most delicate egg custard. The custard is rich and creamy but doesn’t feel heavy. You can use other fillings too, instead of bacon and onions, such as sausage, ham, mushrooms, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, etc.

This Quiche Lorraine has become the ultimate breakfast/brunch epitome of perfection in our family. Every other morning we are in a rush or not together as a whole family, so that why Saturday mornings have become a time for us to wake up slowly and we make it a breakfast to make up for all the other days of the week. It is a feast, with both savory and sweet treats, and we love every minute of it.

The tender, buttery and flaky crust holds bacon, onions and cheese encased in the most delicate egg custard. The custard is so rich and creamy but doesn’t feel heavy or greasy at all. You can use other fillings too, instead of bacon and onions, such as sausage, ham, mushrooms, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, etc.

Not only is this Quiche Lorraine so good you will be talking about it the rest of the day, you can do so much of it in advance and not have much to do on Saturday, but still enjoy a complete feast.

Ingredients:

• pie crust
  • You will need 1 single pie crust. Recipe for Homemade Pie Dough (the recipe makes a double crust, you will only need one of them for the quiche.
• bacon
• onion
• grated cheese
  • I prefer using cheeses that melt well, like Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Colby Jack, etc. Mozzarella can also be used, but it’s often more stringy and doesn’t melt as well.
• eggs (I use large eggs)
• milk
  • I use whole milk for this recipe.
• heavy cream
  • the heavy cream adds a richness and creaminess that you won’t have if you use only milk.
• I recommend using a deep dish pie plate for this recipe, since it will hold more filling. If you use a regular pie plate, you may need to use less custard and it will take less time to bake the quiche.

What Is a Quiche Lorraine?

It is a savory pie, with a single bottom crust and a rich and creamy egg custard filling. Traditionally, Quiche Lorraine is made with bacon, onions, cheese and eggs, but you can also use so many other filling variations – sausage, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, etc.

How To Make Quiche Lorraine

1. Roll out the pie dough.
   • Bring the cold pie crust to room temperature for 5-10 minutes before rolling it out.
   • On a floured surface, roll the pie crust and place it into a pie plate. (If you’re using a deep dish pie, roll out the pie dough into a 12 – 14 inch circle and if you’re using a regular size pie plate, roll out the dough into a 10-12 inch circle. Crimp the edges of the pie to make a pretty edge all the way around. Use a fork to make perforations all over the bottom of the pie crust.
2. Place the pie shell in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
   • Chilling the rolled out pie dough before baking does two things: prevents the pie dough from shrinking and slumping while baking, as well as keeping the pie crust from getting brown too quickly. In this recipe, it’s extra important, because we’re using a large amount of custard, so it needs a long time to cook through.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
   • Cover the entire pie with parchment paper or aluminum foil and distribute pie weights or dry beans into the center of the pie.
   • Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Take it out of the oven and remove the parchment paper with the weights.
4. While the pie crust is chilling and then baking, prepare the filling.
5. Cook the bacon and onion.
   • You can cook the bacon in the oven or on the stovetop over medium heat until crisp and golden brown. Use some of the bacon grease to cook the onion, seasoning with salt and pepper, until tender and cooked through. (You can thinly slice the onion or finely chop it.)
6. Distribute the bacon, onions and grated cheese on the bottom of the partially baked pie crust.
   • If you want the quiche to have a lot of bacon, onions and cheese throughout the entire egg mixture, you can certainly add more. (As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, you can use other things instead of bacon and onions: sausage, ham, chicken, mushrooms, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, etc.)
7. Now, make the egg custard.
   • In a large bowl, whisk the eggs together until combined. Add the milk, heavy cream, salt and ground black pepper and mix to combine.
8. Pour the egg custard over the bacon, onion and cheese.
9. Finally, bake the quiche.
   • Return the quiche to the preheated oven (375 F) and bake for 30 minutes.
   • Then, reduce the heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and continue baking for another 25-30 minutes.
   • Turn off the oven and if the quiche is still a bit jiggly in the middle, let it stand in the oven for another 10 minutes or so. The oven is still hot, even though it’s turned off and the quiche will continue cooking through gently. The center of the quiche should be set.
10. Let the quiche cool for about 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Preparing the Quiche in Advance

1. Make the pie dough in advance. Store in the refrigerator up to 3 days or in the freezer from 3-6 months.
2. You can also roll out the pie dough, crimp the edges in advance and store it in the freezer up to a month in advance. Make sure the pie plate with the dough is sealed very well, so the crust doesn’t absorbs any odors.
3. You can cook the bacon and onions in advance and store them in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the quiche.
4. The entire quiche can be made in advance, baked and then stored in the refrigerator and then reheated 5-7 days.
5. A completely prepared and baked quiche can also be frozen and then reheated. Wrap tightly and freeze up to 3 months.

Reheating Quiche

You can reheat the quiche in the microwave, air fryer/convection oven or in a regular oven until warmed all the way through.

If reheating in the oven, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. While the oven is preheating, take the quiche out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Heat in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until warmed all the way through.

When reheating in an air fryer/convection oven, I like to slice the quiche into serving pieces so it warms through faster and then reheat at 350 for 7-10 minutes, depending on the size of slice of quiche.

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