Less fussy to make than a classic quiche, this crustless quiche is a celebration of warmer days. It embraces ripe summer vegetables: zucchini, eggplant and cherry tomatoes, all encased in a rich egg custard with melty Swiss cheese and fresh herbs. This is a perfect gluten-free brunch, lunch, or dinner that you can easily prepare ahead as well!
What is a crustless quiche?
A crustless quiche is a take on a classic French quiche, without – you guessed it – a crust! It simply consists of a classic quiche filling (eggs, milk, cream and cheese), poured over par-baked vegetables and baked in the oven. The texture is soft and satisfying, without the carbs and richness of a buttery crust.
There are no difficult techniques or skills involved in this recipe. And if you have already made a quiche before, this recipe will likely feel like a breeze – since you don’t need to make a pie crust.
My go-to ratio for making a quiche filling is 10 eggs for 1 to 2 cups of liquid. The liquid can be just milk or a mix of milk and cream, for added richness. For this quiche, I tested that 8 eggs for 1 ½ cup milk and cream gives just the right texture. It is firm enough to be satisfying and soft enough to match the texture of the tender vegetables. That said, a quiche is very forgiving, so you can adjust the quantity of liquid if you would like. For instance, use only 1 cup milk if you are aiming for a firmer quiche that you can eat by hand once sliced.
Common Questions
When do you serve a quiche?
In France, a quiche in France is served as a quick lunch or dinner, often alongside a salad or a soup. Quiches can be enjoyed warm or cool, which makes them a year-round staple in a French kitchen. A quiche is also a perfect recipe for brunch!
How long will a crustless quiche last?
This crustless quiche will last for about 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. This is a great make ahead recipe for hosting: prepare it the night before, store it in the fridge and simply re-heat it for about 5-10 minutes at 350F (180C) before serving.
How to store a crustless quiche
After making (and enjoying) this quiche – if you have any leftovers – you can store it in the refrigerator or in the freezer.
- In the refrigerator: store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat the quiche in a microwave or in the oven for about 5-10 minutes at 350°F (180°C).
- In the freezer: store it in a (freezer-friendly) airtight container and place it in the freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat, let the quiche thaw in the fridge before heating it through in the oven.
Cooking notes :
- The amount of filling in this recipe is just right for a low-sided 9-inch (22.9cm) tart pan or pie dish. Do not fill the pan/dish to the rim, as the filling will puff up as it bakes and deflate slightly as it cools down.
- For best results, I suggest you use the listed vegetables (zucchini, eggplant, and cherry tomatoes) and their quantities. However, since a quiche is quite forgiving, you can opt for different vegetables if you would like, such as bell peppers.
- A key to this recipe is to make sure the vegetables are well cooked until most of their excess moisture is gone. This ensures the quiche won’t become too liquidy.
- For making a quiche, Gruyère is my go-to cheese. This hard, Swiss-made cheese is subtly salty with delicious nutty notes. It also melts very well and creates a great quiche texture. In France, Gruyère is affordable and widely available. It often comes pre-grated, sold in individual pouches. In the US/Canada, Gruyère is a bit more costly than your average block of cheese, but well worth it to use in this recipe. As a more affordable option, you can opt for white or orange cheddar or grated mozzarella.
I hope you’ll love this Crustless Quiche with Summer Vegetables as much as I do! This recipe is enough for 8 to 10 people, served alongside a salad or a soup. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment.
You may also like:
- Spinach and Cheese Quiche
- Chicken and Mushroom Pie (Tourte)
- Classic French Quiche Lorraine
- Classic French-style Potato Salad
- Vegetable Tian from Provence
- Sweet Pea Ham Quiche
- Ham Cheese Olive Bread
14 comments
Hi Audrey,
I made your Crustless Quiche with Summer Vegetables last night, and my husband and I loved it!
It was absolutely delicious! I will definitely make it again and again! We love your Classic French Apple Cake too! Actually, we have enjoyed all your recipes that I have made.
Thanks so much, Dee! Not much better than a recipe that everyone enjoys! Hope you’ll continue to enjoy the recipes here on the blog.
Loved this quiche! The combo of the eggplant, zucchini, onions and tomatoes is spot-on. Made it exactly as written, but would suggest one small thing: blot the cooked veggies with a paper towel while they are in the pie plate and before adding the egg mixture to get out even more excess moisture. I thought mine were dried enough in the skillet (as you warned), but mine still added a tad too much moisture. I’ll be doing that next time I make this, which will be soon as it is so delicious!
Thank you so much for the review, Deb. And great advice as well! Each veggie is different, and some will hold more moisture than others… So if you do see some excess moisture, blotting them is a great tip, to ensure a perfect bake. Cheers!
Hi Audrey, just made your lentil salad, and it’s terrific! I want to make this quiche but am not an eggplant fan— do you have any recommendations for substitutions? I’m thinking maybe mushrooms or just more zucchini? Thanks!
Thanks, Dave! Appreciate it very much.
To answer your question, you can defintely make some substitutions, but with just a little caution. Adding bell peppers to this dish is very nice (red, yellow or orange), but if you’re going to add mushrooms or double up on the zucchini, I’d maybe sautee them quickly first, and then allow them to drain AND cool, before adding them to the quiche.
Mushrooms and zucchini can carry a good amount of water and you don’t want your quiche to be “wet”.
Hope this helps!
I used a 9″ pie pan and all the ingredients would not fit in the pan. I have a lot of the milk mixture left over.
Hello, Karen and thanks for reaching out. As someone who has actually had this happen, I suspect I know what the issue might be. I suspect one of two things (since both happened to me while testing this dish) – 1) my baking dish that I thought was 9in was actually 8in. The 2nd one, and the one I suspect it likely is, is the volume of the vegetables.
As it’s impossible to know how big your veggies are (recipe says medium, but medium is different to every person and every veggie), what ends up happening is if the veggies are too copious, it takes up too much space in the dish and leaves less room for the egg mixture. I hope the dish still turned out, but if you remake this again in the future, try to keep a keen eye on using a touch fewer veggies (or even cut back an egg or two if you prefer) if you use the same dish.
Hope this helps!
Made this for a Ladies Brunch and it was delicious and came out perfectly. I subbed out the eggplant for 2 handfuls of spinach added raw on top of the other cooked vegetables before adding the eggs. Beautiful way to showcase summer vegetables, and healthy too.
Much appreciated, Bernita. So glad you enjoyed it and love the improvisation! Use what you have and what’s fresh!
This looks delicious and beautiful so I plan to make it for my husband’s birthday brunch. He is partial to crust. Do I need to make any adjustments if I cook this in a crust? Thank you~
Hello Marylou, great question. While I haven’t made this exact recipe using a crust, one thing I typically do different between this recipe and my “normal” quiches, is I cook a crusted quiche at 350 for 45-55min, whereas this crustless one gets cooked at 375 for 40-45min.
That’s the first thing I’d likely do is lower the temperature to 350 and bake a little longer. Here’s a link to my Quiche Lorraine for you to have a look.
Best of luck!
Bonjour,
Instead of receiving your news letter ! Je voudrais savoir si je peux acheter votre livre de recettes directement par courrier ?
Je ne voudrais pas l’acheter par amazone !
Ou perhaps Barnes and nobles.
Merci
Micheline
Hello, Micheline. I unfortunatelt don’t sell the book direct (I have one sole copy in my home) but my book is in fact available at Barnes & Noble, at this link here.
It’s available as a hardcover as well as an e-book. Thank you for the support and happy reading 🙂