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Whenever family or friends spend the night at our house, and we need a delicious breakfast to serve our guests the next morning, this delicious Spinach and Cheddar Quiche is often on the menu!
This spinach and cheddar quiche is the perfect blend of eggs, light cream, spinach, sautéed onion and sharp cheddar cheese, and it’s so popular with our guests, it has become one of my ‘signature’ breakfast dishes over the years. Our guests have come to expect this quiche (and are disappointed if we don’t serve it) and our oldest daughter, Courtney, craves it when she hasn’t had this spinach and cheddar quiche in a while!
Usually served along with our popular salami and cheddar quiche, this recipe uses the same basic quiche custard base recipe from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. We use frozen, chopped spinach that has been defrosted and well-drained. You must be sure to get all of the liquid out of the spinach before baking, otherwise the quiche will turn out too soggy. (Simply drain the spinach very well, then wrap it in several layers of paper towel and squeeze it – you’ll be surprised at how much more water will come out of the spinach!)
If you’re serving this spinach and cheddar quiche for guests in the morning like we do, much of the prep can be done the night before. Partially bake the crust and let it cool unfilled overnight. You can also defrost and drain the spinach, and sauté the onions in advance. Then mix the custard together in the morning, assemble, and bake. Your guests will love having this spinach and cheddar quiche served warm out of the oven for breakfast!
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Spinach and Cheddar Quiche
Note: Begin defrosting the spinach for this recipe several hours (or even the day before if thawing in the refrigerator) before you are planning to bake this quiche so the spinach has time to drain well.
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 stick cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 4–5 tablespoons ice water
For the filling
- 1 10–ounce box frozen chopped spinach
- 1/2 cup onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cups extra sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups light cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch cayenne pepper
Instructions
To prepare the crust
- In the bowl of a food processor, mix flour, sugar and salt to combine. Add cold butter and pulse until butter is pea sized.
- Add 3 tablespoons of ice water and pulse to combine. Add 1 to 2 additional tablespoons of ice water one tablespoon at a time (pulsing after each addition) as needed just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix.
- Form the dough into a flat oval and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
- When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Roll out the chilled dough to fit a deep dish pie plate and crimp the edges. (See How to Blind Bake a Pie Crust in our How-To’s section.)
- Partially bake the pie crust for 8-9 minutes, making sure you weigh the bottom of the crust down with pie weights or dried beans so that it does not puff up as you bake it. Allow to cool slightly.
To prepare the filling
- Defrost the spinach and drain well. You can let it sit overnight to defrost in the refrigerator or you can defrost it in the microwave. Either way, it is important to get all of the water out of the spinach. After it has drained, wrap the spinach in a few layers of paper towel and squeeze to remove the last remaining moisture.
- After partially baking your pie crust, reduce the oven to 425 degrees.
- Place the onion in a small pan and sauté with the butter until the onions are soft and translucent. Cool slightly.
- Sprinkle the drained spinach and sautéed onion evenly into the bottom of the partially-baked pie crust. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top of the spinach and onions.
- In a bowl, beat the eggs. Add cream, salt, nutmeg and cayenne pepper and whisk to fully combine the custard mixture. Pour or ladle the custard over the spinach and cheese.
- Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Lower the oven heat to 350 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes more, or until a knife inserted into the center of the quiche comes out clean.
- Let cool until the quiche sets up a bit (about 30 minutes) and serve in wedges.
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This recipe is such a keeper. I would give it 10 stars if I could. I make this for friends who are having babies as it can be frozen and re-heated and everyone is so impressed that I made quiche at home. It’s not even hard! Love it. I’ve made it with 1/2 egg whites along with the whole eggs before and with a mix of whole milk and 2% to lighten the calorie load. So good. Thank you!!!
Wow Kristen – Thank you! So glad you are enjoying the recipe – as well as the recipients of your thoughtful meal!
is table cream the same as light cream?
christi
Hi Christi – Yes table cream and light cream are the same.
I have made this quiche half a dozen times and it ALWAYS comes out perfectly. Thank you so much for the excellent recipe.
You’re very welcome Jacquie! So glad you enjoy the recipe as much as we do!
Hi Mercy – Yes of course, you can use a homemade pie crust/dough for this recipe. Enjoy!
it’s in the oven right now, added extra egg, ham pieces,little moz, h’mmm sure smells good !!!!!
Hope you enjoy the quiche as much as we do Stephen!
I was considering adding some herbed feta – if I swap 1/2 cup of feta in place of 1/2 cup of cheddar would that overpower the dish, or would that work?
Hi Mo – I think it would be OK for the amount of spinach and custard in the filling. But also keep in mind that feta is a softer consistency than cheddar so the texture of your quiche might be a little softer.
Hi Nancy – Yes – you could partially bake the crust and prep all of the filling ahead of time. I would suggest assembling it right before baking. If the custard sits in the crust overnight uncooked, I think it will get soggy. Also – the bake time will likely be longer if the custard is chilled so just plan for that as well. Enjoy!
I’ve been looking for a quiche recipe with a homemade crust for a while and this is the closest I’ve been able to find.
This looks amazing! I was thinking of using swiss or gruyere instead of cheddar and taking out the nutmeg.
Thanks Erin! (But try it first with the nutmeg – it adds a great subtle flavor!) 🙂
I’m wondering, if I use goat cheese, should I add another melting cheese like mozzarella? Or do you think the goat cheese ply would be fine? Can’t wait to try it!
Hi Clarissa – it would work although the quiche will have a different softer texture than the original version with cheddar.
Excited to try this tonight. Thanks for the recipe!
Hope you like the recipe Amber!