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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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Maureen Schessler says
I have made this several times and it is perfect every time!
Martha says
Thanks Maureen!
Rebecca says
Can you add mushrooms also?
Martha says
Sure. I’d cook them separately before adding to them to the quiche custard so most of the mushroom liquid is cooked off ahead of baking the quiche.
Roy says
Seriously, why aren’t you making this right now? You should be. So should I, and in fact I will be making this quite regularly from this moment forward. I think I’ll add some crispy bacon next time too, because when you are this close to Heaven why not go all the way?
Martha says
Thanks Roy! So glad you enjoyed the quiche!