This fluffy, creamy broccoli bacon quiche is loaded with tender-crisp broccoli florets, crispy bacon, and gooey cheddar cheese. It’s the perfect easy brunch dish or light dinner that you can make with simple fridge and pantry ingredients!
Easy Broccoli Cheddar and Bacon Quiche
If you’ve never made one, a quiche (pronounced “keesh”) is a classic French tart made from a savory egg custard filled with meats and veggies and baked inside a buttery pie crust. Quiche Florentine is a classic example. This recipe, on the other hand, takes a fluffy broccoli cheddar quiche and invites bacon to the party. The flavors are rich and smoky, with an explosion of yumminess in every bite. Feel free to extend the invite to more ingredients of your choosing. Quiches are amazingly versatile!
Why You’ll Love This Broccoli Bacon Quiche Recipe
- Easy ingredients. You don’t need anything fancy to make a homemade quiche. Mostly eggs, milk, cheese, and your favorite add-ins. You’ll be amazed that something so simple can pack in so much flavor!
- Flaky crust. You’ll find a lot of recipes out there for crustless quiche, but my family’s recipe just wouldn’t be the same without it. The tender and flaky crust bakes up all golden and buttery. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
- Versatile. Once you’ve mastered a basic quiche recipe, feel free to change up the add-ins. Not a fan of broccoli? Skip it or replace it with bell peppers or mushrooms. No bacon? Use crumbled breakfast sausage instead. The possibilities are endless. I include some of my favorite variations later in the post.
- Make-ahead. This broccoli bacon quiche is a great dish to prepare the night before a big family brunch or you can make it ahead for easy lunches. Even with the crust, the quiche stores well and tastes delicious the following day.
Ingredient Notes
These are the important ingredients you’ll need to make this cheesy broccoli bacon quiche. Scroll down to the recipe card for a printable list of the ingredients with amounts.
- Pie Crust – You’ll need to prepare a 9″ flaky pie crust, either homemade or store-bought. I use this easy pie crust recipe. I also have a gluten-free version if you’re making a gluten-free quiche.
- Bacon – Cooked crumbled bacon.
- Cheese – For this recipe, I like freshly shredded cheddar cheese (if using pre-shredded cheese, I love the Tillamook Farmstyle cut because it’s nice and thick). Other great cheeses to use in quiche are feta, Gruyere, Swiss cheese, and goat cheese.
- Broccoli – You can use fresh or frozen broccoli florets. You’ll want to steam or blanch the broccoli first so that it’s tender, see below.
- Onions – Red onions, yellow onions, or shallots, diced and sautéed for added flavor.
- Flour – You might be thinking, “Why add flour to quiche?” but I promise it serves a purpose! The flour helps absorb some of the moisture and stabilizes the egg filling.
- Heavy Cream – The combination of heavy cream and milk in the filling makes the eggs ultra-fluffy. Both the cream and milk can be substituted with half-and-half if needed.
- Eggs – Our star ingredient. You’ll need 4 whole eggs, lightly beaten before you start.
Should I Cook Vegetables Before Putting Them in Quiche?
Yes, you’ll want to cook the vegetables that you’ll add to your quiche. Since veggies like broccoli and onions take longer to cook than eggs, pre-cooking is important so that you don’t end up with raw, undercooked vegetables inside the quiche filling. You can cook your vegetables by steaming, blanching, or sauteeing before you add them to the custard.
How to Make Broccoli Bacon Quiche
This hearty quiche recipe is really simple. Once you prepare the crust, all you do is add the filling and bake! Follow the steps below, and scroll to the recipe card for printable instructions.
- Cook the bacon. Like your vegetables, you’ll want to cook the bacon before adding it to the quiche. Use your preferred method to get the bacon to your desired crispiness. Afterward, chop up the bacon and set it aside.
- Cook the vegetables. Sauté the diced red onions on the stovetop. At the same time, steam the broccoli until it’s fork-tender. Make sure to drain off any excess moisture from the cooked vegetables once they’ve cooled.
- Blind bake the pie crust. Follow the directions to prepare and par-bake (blind bake) your pie crust. This is an important step that keeps the crust from becoming soggy after the filling is added. See the recipe card and check out my tutorial on how to blind bake a pie crust for tips.
- Make the egg filling. Start by whisking together a little milk with the flour to create a slurry. Then, add the rest of the milk along with heavy cream and eggs. Season to taste.
- Fill the pie crust. Now, you’ll want to layer the bacon, cooked vegetables, and shredded cheese into the prepared pie crust. Pour the egg mixture over top.
- Bake. Finally, you’ll bake the quiche at 350°F for 30-35 minutes, until the center of the quiche is cooked through.
Tips for Success
Crafting the perfect quiche isn’t hard to do. Just take note of these easy tips.
- Prepare the crust in advance. Your flaky pie crust can be made ahead of time. This cuts down on prep time by a lot!
- Finely chop the vegetables. I recommend chopping any add-ins up fine enough to distribute the ingredients evenly throughout the quiche.
- Don’t skip the blind bake. Partially baking the crust is a super important step in this recipe. It prevents your crust from getting soggy or coming out undercooked.
- Avoid spills. To make it easier to move your filled quiche to and from the oven, place the pie plate with the par-baked pie crust on a baking sheet before you fill it.
- Avoid an overcooked crust. If needed, use a pie shield to prevent the edges of the crust from browning too quickly. If you don’t have a pie shield, cover the quiche with a tented piece of foil instead.
Variation Ideas
Whether you want to add something extra to your quiche or re-imagine the recipe entirely, these are some easy ways to do it.
- More veggies. Chopped bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, and spinach all taste great in a quiche. If you’re using frozen spinach, sauté it and drain the excess liquid. There’s no need to cook fresh spinach, but I do recommend giving it a rough chop.
- Vegetarian. Making a vegetarian quiche is as easy as substituting the bacon for any of the above vegetables, or another add-in of your choice! Just be sure to chop everything up into small pieces.
- Meatlover’s quiche. Go ahead and load in the protein! Cubed ham is a popular option. You can also bulk up this recipe with chopped sausage, shredded chicken, or chorizo.
- Change up the cheese. Broccoli and cheddar are a classic combination but feel free to use any cheese you’d like. You can also use a combination of different cheeses for an extra-cheesy quiche.
What to Serve With Quiche
Quiche is delicious as a brunch dish served with a fresh watermelon feta salad, and it also makes a tasty light dinner. Serve it with a side of roasted veggies, like crispy roasted potatoes or asparagus. Spicy cornbread muffins with jalapeños and chorizo are nice with a slice of savory broccoli bacon quiche, as are these fluffy dinner rolls.
Are Quiches Served Warm or Cold?
The beauty of quiche recipes is that you can enjoy quiche while it’s still a little warm, at room temperature, or cold from the fridge. This makes them very make-ahead friendly, and perfect for all seasons!
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
- Refrigerate. Store any leftover broccoli cheddar quiche covered airtight for 3-4 days in the fridge. Make sure that the quiche is cooled completely before storing so that condensation doesn’t build up inside the container.
- Reheat. Individual servings can be warmed up in the microwave, but larger portions should be reheated in the oven. Bake leftover quiche at 350°F until it’s heated through. I recommend using a pie crust shield or a piece of foil to prevent the edges of the crust from over-browning on the reheat.
Can I Freeze Quiche?
Definitely! First, pre-freeze the cooled quiche on a baking tray. Once it’s frozen solid, wrap the quiche in heavy-duty foil and place it in a resealable freezer bag with all the air squeezed out. Frozen quiche lasts for up to 2 months. Reheat the quiche directly from frozen, adding an extra 10-20 minutes to the bake time.
More Easy Brunch Recipes
PrintBroccoli Bacon Quiche
- Prep Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 8
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: French
Description
This fluffy, creamy broccoli bacon quiche is loaded with tender-crisp veggies, crispy bacon, and gooey cheddar cheese. It’s the perfect easy brunch dish or light dinner!
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch Pie crust, partially baked
- 5 slices cooked bacon
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup diced broccoli
- ¼ cup diced red onions, sauté for added flavor [or shallots]
- 1 tablespoon flour
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 4 large eggs, beaten
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the filling: Cook 5 pieces of bacon either on the stovetop or in the oven until desired crispness. Finely chop and set aside. Sauté the red onions the stovetop until desired. Chop additional vegetables and shred the cheese.
- Partially bake the crust: Prepare a pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate. Preheat the oven to 375°F. To partially bake, place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom and then add pie weights or dried beans or rice. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside the weight and parchment paper. Poke the bottom of the pie crust with a fork several times. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
- Combine the liquid ingredients: In a small dish, take 2 tablespoons of the milk and whisk together with the flour until the flour is dissolved. Add additional milk if needed. Them combine the slurry with the rest of the milk, heavy cream and beaten eggs. Whisk to combine and add salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Add the filling: Layer the meat, vegetables and cheese in the prepared pie crust and then pour the liquid over top.
- Bake: Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes until the center of the quiche is cooked through. Use a pie crust shield to prevent the edges from browning too quickly.
I made the gluten free crust version and it was delicious! Even my 2 year old loved it which says a lot.
That’s wonderful!! I am so happy to hear that, thank you Brooke!
So so good!! Thanks for sharing.
Yeah! Thank you so much Sue, I am so glad to hear this!
I very often make a quiche to use up my leftover ham but have never mixed flour into the milk & cream but I’ll definitely give it a go the next time I make a quiche.
Thanks Yvonne!