Layers of fluffy eggs, tender veggies, and melted cheese make this vegetable quiche a great crowd-pleasing dish for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner. Store-bought pie crust cuts the recipe time in half without sacrificing a buttery, flaky crust.
If you’ve ever included a vegetarian quiche as part of a brunch spread, then you know how quickly these wonderfully savory dishes disappear from the table. A good vegetable quiche literally has layer upon layer of flavor and just needs a simple salad on the side to become a complete meal.
This version is made with tender sweet potatoes with caramelized edges, onions, and spinach. Combine that with a rich filling of eggs, cream, milk, and two cheeses (trust me on the two cheeses…they take this dish from good to great). You’ve got a meal that’s perfect for an indulgent breakfast, an elevated brunch or lunch, or an easy vegetarian dinner.
If you’re looking for a salad to serve on the side, a fresh kale salad, crispy apple salad, or shredded Brussels sprouts would be great additions.
How to Make It
- Bake the sweet potatoes and onion until tender, at 400°F for 18 to 22 minutes.
- Pre-bake the pie crust (this will help it to hold up to the fillings).
- When the sweet potatoes and pie crust are done, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.
- Defrost the spinach, removing as much moisture as possible.
- Whisk the eggs, milk, heavy cream, salt, and black pepper.
- Fill the pie crust with the spinach, followed by Gruyere cheese, then the sweet potatoes and onions.
- Pour the egg filling over the vegetables, add goat cheese on top, and bake the quiche for 50 to 60 minutes.
- Allow the quiche to cool for 15 minutes before slicing and serving. Cooling the quiche will help the eggs set and make slicing a breeze.
Ingredients
- Store-bought Pie Crust - A light and flaky crust is easy to achieve when you use a store-bought pie crust. Because baking times and instructions for these crusts vary, and some also need to be defrosted before using, it’s a good idea to check the pie package before you get started. One more tip: purchase a crust that comes in an aluminum pie plate for easy prep and clean-up.
- Sweet potatoes, Onion, Olive oil, Kosher Salt - Roasting lightly salted chunks of tender sweet potato before adding them to the quiche makes them super tender in the finished dish.
- Frozen Spinach - Ultra healthy spinach adds a boost of iron to this vegetarian quiche. If you have fresh spinach that you would like to use up, you can easily cook that down as well, and integrate it into the recipe. Whether you use fresh or frozen spinach, roughly chopping this leafy green will allow you to cut through the big fluffy quiche with ease.
- Eggs, Milk, Heavy Cream, Black Pepper, Kosher Salt - The eggy cream filling is what gives quiche its distinct richness. The combination of milk and heavy cream brings an added fluffiness to the eggs.
- Gruyere cheese - Gruyere is known as one of the best melting cheeses on the market. When you taste the way this Alpine cheese works with the medley of veggies and creamy eggs, you’ll understand why your guests are asking for seconds.
- Goat cheese - Adding tangy goat cheese on top of the quiche seems a little extra, but trust me. The nutty Gruyere cheese and the tanginess of goat cheese make this dish really special. Don’t skimp on the cheese here.
Cooking Veggies Ahead
One of the most asked questions we get about quiche is whether or not you should cook the veggies before putting them in the quiche? The answer is yes. You want any vegetables you add to be cooked to tender before being added to the dish. This ensures they’ll be perfectly tender and have all of their flavor developed before being combined with the custard.
Sweet potatoes will need about 20 minutes to roast. The spinach should be cooked first (if you buy it frozen it’s been blanched ahead of time) and as much liquid removed as possible so that it doesn’t release moisture into the quiche as it cooks.
Variations
- Mix and Match Veggies - Vegetable quiches are so fun to make because the ingredient combinations are endless. You can add sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes, bell peppers, asparagus, and more. You might also try using kale in place of spinach. As noted above, just make sure everything has been cooked until tender before you add it.
- Try Different Cheeses - Swap Gruyere cheese for cheddar cheese or fontina. Shave fresh parmesan on the top of the quiche rather than crumbled goat cheese. There are no wrong answers when it comes to cheese.
- Add protein - If you don’t need or want this dish to be vegetarian, add in cooked sausage or bacon.
FAQs
Yes. In almost all cases, it’s a good idea to bake the crust on its own for a brief time (about 10 minutes) to ensure the crust stays crisp when you add the filling.
No one wants to cut into their veggie quiche and find a soggy middle. Pre-cooking the crust on its own before adding the filling helps ensure that the crust stays crisp as it bakes. Double-checking that you squeezed out all of the excess moisture from the spinach will also keep the inside of the quiche light, airy, and delicious.
Quiche will last for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. It can be easily reheated in the microwave or on a sheet pan in a 350°F oven for about 10 minutes.
The consistency of quiche makes it super easy to freeze. Cook the quiche according to the instructions and then allow it to cool completely. You can freeze a whole quiche by tightly wrapping it in plastic wrap, and storing it in the freezer for 3 months.
To freeze individual slices, cut the quiche into even pieces, and arrange those pieces on a baking sheet. Quiche slices are a little delicate, so place the entire tray in the freezer for 6-8 hours, and once the pieces are mostly frozen, wrap them in plastic, place them in ziplock bags, and then return them to the freezer.
Reheating frozen quiche is easy. Place the whole quiche in the fridge the night before so that it fully defrosts. When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 350°F and cook, covered, for 40 minutes.
Favorite Tools
More Easy and Healthy Breakfast Ideas
- Muffin Pan Baked Eggs
- Mango Chia Breakfast Bowls
- Blackberry Smoothie
- Spaghetti Squash Egg Nests
- Baked Blueberry Oatmeal
Vegetable Quiche with Spinach and Sweet Potatoes Recipe
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Pie Plate
- Cutting Board
- Half Sheet Pan
Ingredients
- 1 store-bought pie crust (see note)
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into ½-inch cubes (about 3 cups)
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed (see note)
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese (about 4 ounces)
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 ounces goat cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Combine the sweet potatoes, onion, olive oil, and ½ teaspoon salt. Spread out on a rimmed sheet pan and bake, stirring halfway through cooking, until the sweet potatoes are tender, 18 to 22 minutes.
- While the sweet potatoes roast, bake the pie crust until firm, 8 to 10 minutes. Set it aside to cool.
- When the sweet potatoes and pie crust are done, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.
- Wrap the defrosted spinach in a clean dry dish towel or several layers of paper towels and squeeze to remove as much moisture as possible.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until even and frothy. Whisk in the milk, heavy cream, ½ teaspoon salt, and black pepper until evenly combined.
- Fill the pie crust with the spinach, then the gruyere cheese, then the sweet potatoes and onions.
- Pour the egg filling over the vegetables. Crumble the goat cheese on top.
- Bake the quiche just until the center is set, 50 to 60 minutes (see note).
- Allow the quiche to cool for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving (it will slice more easily if cooled a bit first).
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