Easy Veggie Quiche

The best vegetarian easy veggie quiche recipe using milk, loads of vegetables and pre-made crust for a quick, healthy breakfast. Its absolutely loaded with vegetables like spinach, peppers, and mushrooms and has so much flavor!

Veggie quiches are one of those breakfast foods that make it look like you went all out and spent a lot of time and effort, when in reality they can be easy and stress free.

With this vegetarian quiche recipe, you can have the meal prepped and ready to go in the oven in under 15 minutes. This makes it a perfect brunch for vegetarian (or meat eating!) guests, holidays, a potluck, or just to eat and horde to yourself since it reheats so well.

If you’re looking for a low carb quiche recipe, try this crustless quiche, these mini egg muffins, or these eggs baked in ramekins. Or for something sweet but still healthy try this strawberry banana steel cut oat bake. Check out my breakfast recipes archive for more delicious ideas!

Why you should make this veggie quiche

This tried and true recipe is just as delicious as it is healthy without all of the extra hassle! Here are some highlights on what makes this vegetable quiche great:

• 12 grams of protein for each under 300 calorie serving
• Reheats and freezes well making it perfect for meal prep or making head of time
• So versatile you can sub with other veggies or cheese you need to use up easily
• Appears fancy so great for entertaining at a brunch or breakfast get together
• It travels well so you can bring it to a friend’s place
• Crust doesn’t need to be par-baked making it faster than a standard quiche
• Easy as can be since there’s no meat to cook, the veggies cook fast and the crust is store bought

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need and a few notes on what to use:

• avocado oil – this is my favorite oil to cook with due to it’s high smoke point but you can use whatever you prefer. If using olive oil, keep the pan’s heat below the smoke point.
• onion – either red or yellow will do
• red pepper – I slice mine in strips and then chop the slices in half to make them smaller and easier to eat.
• minced garlic – jarred pre-minced garlic is fine here
• mushrooms – I just use crimini but shiitake would be great too
• spinach – if spinach pieces are large, chop a few times to break up
• refrigerated or frozen pie crust – this is what makes it so easy! I use refrigerated if I want to use my own pan but the frozen ones come in disposable pie tins and typically turn out crispier on the bottom.
• whole milk – I use whole milk and recommend that but 2% will work ok. Whatever you do, DO NOT use non-fat or your quiche will be a watery mess.
• eggs – I prefer large eggs with dark yellow yolks but just get the best ones you can afford. Pasture raised is better than cage free but egg labeling is notoriously tricky. Often times the same eggs are labeled differently and listed at different prices under different brand names so be mindful of this, experiment and find your favorite.
• nutmeg – just a sprinkle of ground nutmeg for that hint of extra flavor.
• grated cheese – I prefer either a sharp cheddar cheese or gruyere but use your favorite here.

How to make a vegetarian quiche

It takes a fair amount of time to bake, but the hands-on time is truly minimal. The steps below show how simple it is to assemble.

First you start by sautéing the veggies in three stages over medium-high heat in a large skillet:

4. Then you prepare the quiche filling by whisking the eggs, milk and seasonings together.
   
5. Place the vegetables in the prepared pie crust that has been pressed into a pie dish.
   
6. Sprinkle cheese on top.
   
7. Pour the filling over the vegetables and cheese.
   
8. Place the quiche in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.
   
9. Remove from the oven once the quiche is baked and golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
   

What pie crust to use

While a homemade pie crust is delightful, my love affair for quiches really started when I discovered refrigerated pie crusts. I started out using the Pillsbury brand refrigerated ones that you roll out but, as with homemade crust, I found they bottom can be kind of gummy without par-baking (blind baking) the crust with pie weights. I now prefer frozen pie crust since it gets crispier on the bottom.

That being said, you can’t transfer the frozen pie crust to another pan so it won’t have that same homemade presentation. You can put the crust and it’s tin into another pie serving pan though to make it look a little more presentable.

I also usually use one of these pie shields to keep the top crust from getting overly browned. It isn’t entirely necessary for quiches since they aren’t in the oven as long as pies and you can always pull the quiche out and tent foil strips around the edges if you notice the top crust is browning too fast.

Substitutions

There are many substitution options and here are a few notes on substitutions for the main ingredients:

• Cheese swapping is simple and as long as you use a good cheese it will work. Freshly grated melts best but pre-grated will work in pinch too. I love using either a sharp cheddar or gruyere but any cheese is welcome here. I’ve even done feta and goat cheese which was a nice change of pace.
• Vegetables can be swapped out for whatever you have on hand or according to your preference. Just make sure to cook them down and keep an eye on the moisture content.
• Gluten free is simple using a gluten free crust or even going crustless. If you choose crustless be sure to grease your pie tin very well or use a silicone baking mold.
• Garlic – you can use 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder in exchange for minced garlic.
• Nutmeg – just leave it out if you don’t have it.
• Milk – I recommend using whole milk but you can replace with 2% or cream, whipping cream or heavy cream. I have tried with oat milk as well to reduce the overall amount of dairy in the recipe and it wasn’t perfect but worked decently.

Different Variations

There are more vegetarian quiche combinations than I could possibly list but here are a few to get your ideas churning:

• Caramelized onion, mushroom and gruyere – add a splash of balsamic during the last minute of caramelizing those onions for extra flavor.
• Goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs – just make sure to get most of the juice out of the tomatoes to keep them from making the quiche watery.
• Broccoli cheddar – this one is great for kids! I’ve got a recipe for mini crustless broccoli cheddar quiches here if that’s more your style.
• Mediterranean with feta, kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, red onion and fresh basil and maybe some spinach.
• Asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh herbs and either goat cheese or feta.

Really the possibilities are endless and it’s fun to play around with quiche ingredients. Just make sure not to add too many veggies or the overall egg to filling ratio will be off.

Can I make the quiche ahead of time?

All of the quiche filling steps can be done ahead and the vegetables, cheese and egg / milk mixture can be refrigerated together in a sealed container for up to 48 hours. When ready to use, just pour into a pie crust and bake.

Freezing and Reheating

Freezing Unbaked Quiche

The best way is to freeze the crust and filling separately. Prep all of the filling (veggies + milk and egg mixture) and then put it into a bag or freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.

To use it, let the filling defrost in the fridge overnight or place the container of filling into a pan of water to defrost faster. Then pour the filling into the pie crust and bake as you would normally. I double or triple the filling often and keep a few bags in the freezer alongside frozen store bought crusts for easy quiche making in the future.

Freezing Leftovers

Quiche leftovers can be frozen as individual servings as well in tightly sealing containers for 1-2 months. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight or on the defrost setting on your microwave. The crust will not be crisp but it will still be tasty!

Reheating

This vegetarian quiche reheats well either in it’s entirety or as leftovers. Leftover quiche slices can be heated individually in the microwave for quick weekday breakfasts The crust won’t be quite as crisp, but the flavor is all still there.

To reheat a full quiche that you’ve already fully baked, let it warm in a pre-heated 350° (175° C) oven until the center is warm. You can check by inserting an instant read thermometer into the center and it will read 165° F (73° C). For a cold quiche, this will take 30-35 minutes. It will heat much faster if the quiche is already room temperature. You may want to use pie shields or wrap foil around the edges of the pan to keep the crust from burning.

Why is my quiche watery or soggy?

There are a few things that can lead to a soggy quiche. First, not cooking all of the water off of the vegetables. Sautéing instead of steaming helps with this but you need to make sure the mushrooms release all of their water and you can squeeze out any excess with a kitchen towel if the spinach releases water at the end.

Another culprit is over baking. Quiches are finicky and need to be baked until the center has just set. They will start releasing water when over baked.

I recommend using a frozen crust but if you’re using a homemade crust, it truly is best to par-bake it. For store-bought refrigerated crusts make sure your crust is still very cold before you bake.

More breakfast and brunch recipes

If you want other breakfast or brunch recipes you can always peruse our catalog of breakfast recipes or here are some of my breakfast and brunch favorites:

• oat flour waffles
• chorizo sweet potato hash
• almond flour pancakes
• whole wheat yogurt pancakes

(Recipe originally published January 31, 2014, but pictures and post text were updated May 20, 2019 and again on September 13, 2022. Recipe was also updated to use less liquid to easily fit into a 9″ pie pan)