Quiche Lorraine is the perfect centerpiece for brunch. It can be made the night before and has the best combination of flavors and ingredients!
Next to game day food, brunch is my favorite food group. Bakes that are made up of bread soaked with eggs and cream, Bloody Marys, Mimosas, and amazing quiches like this make up the best spreads.
Most of my brunch recipes can be made the night before, and this classic Quiche Lorraine recipe is no exception. Serve it warm or cold, and enjoy every single flavorful bite. This is bound to be requested at all of your family holidays.
Key Ingredients for Quiche Lorraine
- Pie Crust: Whether you make it from scratch or buy it, you will need a pie crust. I strongly suggest making it from scratch because it enhances the overall flavor. Additionally, you can make the crust weeks in advance and store it, well wrapped, in your freezer, pulling it out the day before you make this.
- Bacon: One of the signature flavors of Quiche Lorraine is the bacon. Cook it before tossing it in there, and enjoy how the smoky flavor permeates the dish.
- Eggs: You will need five large eggs for this recipe.
- Swiss Cheese: Another signature flavor of this quiche recipe, is this perfect melty cheese. See some of my other suggestions towards the bottom of the post for other cheeses you could use.
- Heavy Cream: I always use a mixture of heavy cream and milk in quiche recipes. The combination makes it rich without making it overwhelming.
How to Make Quiche Lorraine
This is a brief overview of how to make this delicious brunch recipe. For the full recipe with all of the measurements, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Make and Chill Pie Crust
You can, of course, buy a store-bought crust, but I love my fool proof easy pie crust recipe. It’s perfectly flakey. It is helpful to make the crust the day before you are making your quiche since it needs an hour in the refrigerator before rolling. After you roll out the pie crust, you will want to wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Make the Bacon
A key part of this recipe is the delicious bacon. It is helpful to make it while waiting for the crust to chill.
Pre-Bake Pie Crust
After chilling the crust, you will need to line it with aluminum foil or parchment paper and fill that with something heavy to hold it in place while baking. I like to use these pie weights, but coins and dry beans work as well.
Make the Quiche Filling
Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, seasonings, cheese, and bacon.
Bake the Quiche
Pour the filling into the warm pie curst and bake. Allow it to cool for an hour before slicing.
Tips and Trick
- Follow my tutorial for fool proof pie crust. It is genuinely my favorite pie crust recipe ever, and with the step by step photos you will find success with every time.
- Use pie weights when you pre-bake the crust. As mentioned above we need to pre-bake the crust because it takes more time than the filling. Weight the crust down with pie weights or with dry beans so it doesn’t bubble up or fall down on the sides of the pan during the baking.
- Use a pie shield. Once your crust has turned a nice golden brown (even if this is during pre-baking), it can be helpful to add a pie shield so that it doesn’t brown too much during the rest of baking.
- Swap the cheese. We are using Swiss cheese here, but if that isn’t your thing, substitute it with a different cheese that melts well. My suggestions are gruyere, smoked gouda, or fontina.
- Serve warm or cold. This quiche needs to be made in advanced and allowed to cool before slicing, but it can be reheated easily if you’d like to serve it warm. That said, it is also delicious cold.
Reheating Quiche
This recipe does need to sit for an hour before slicing. This ensures that all of the filling stays put and you get the nice clean slices you see here. This also makes it a great recipes to make the night before.
Quiche can be served warm or at room temperature. Both ways are delicious. If you would like to reheat your quiche, you will need to bake it, covered, at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Storing and Freezing
Leftover quiche can be stored in the refrigerator for three to four days. As with every recipe, use your best discretion when it comes to eating leftovers.
This quiche also freezes really well. I suggest slicing leftovers before freezing them so that you can pull out just what you want to eat. Store the frozen slices in an air tight container for up to three months. When you are ready to eat them, thaw them in the refrigerator overnight.
What to Serve with Quiche Lorraine
Quiche Lorraine is served at more than just brunch! It makes a great lunch or dinner recipe, so I’m giving you a range of options to serve with it.
If you make this Quiche Lorraine recipe or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
Quiche Lorraine
Ingredients
- pie crust (store bought or homemade, see note)
- 6 slices of thick cut bacon diced, cooked, and drained
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup milk I used 1%, but you could use skim as well
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (if using table salt, cut the amount in half)
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup Swiss cheese (read here about other cheese options – gruyere)
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Roll out the pie crust and put in a 10 inch pie pan, wrap with saran wrap and put in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- While the pie crust is chilling, cook the bacon.6 slices of thick cut bacon
- Take out the pie crust, take off the plastic wrap. Line the pie crust with two sheets of aluminum foil. On top of the aluminum foil, place pie weights or loose coins.  Bake the pie crust for 25 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
- While the pie crust is cooking, prepare the filling. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, milk, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper until there are no streaks of eggs left. Stir in the cheeses and cooked bacon.5 large eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 cup heavy cream, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1 cup Swiss cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 6 slices of thick cut bacon
- Remove the foil and loose change from the pie crust. While it is still warm, pour the filling into the pie crust, until it is just full (you might have a little filling left). Place on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the quiche comes out clean. The center will be set but soft.
- Let the quiche set for at least an hour before slicing.
Recipe Video
Notes
Rose says
Hi Lisa ,For Store bought crust ,how many inches and does it need pre baking.
Fantastic question. I just updated the post, but you should just buy a standard store bought crust, and do not pre-bake it.
Carol says
Can I use a deep dish pie crust?
I haven’t tested this recipe in a deep dish pie crust. It for sure can be done, but the baking times would be altered. It will be closer to an hour.
Cindy says
Could I substitute 2 C half n half for the milk and cream?
Yes! That will work!