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Quiche Lorraine Recipe

Name: Quiche Lorraine Recipe
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 175g plain flour; 85g cubed butter; 2–3 tbsp cold water; Or use 1 sheet ready-made shortcrust pastry; 4 large eggs; 125g bacon, cut into strips; 90g finely chopped onion; 100ml pouring cream; 100ml milk; 160g grated cheese (Cheddar, Gruyère or your favourite); 1/8 tsp salt; 1/8 tsp pepper; Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

A cheesy French classic with crisp shortcrust, smoky bacon, and a silky egg-and-cream custard.

french tart bacon brunch savoury eggs cheese short crust pastry baking

Print Recipe

Quiche Lorraine is a classic French savoury tart made with eggs, cream, and bacon, originally from the Lorraine region. The addition of cheese came later and is sometimes considered non-traditional. But I'm using cheese in my recipe as it tastes great and is used in most ready made varieties. I’ve chosen mature cheddar cheese, but you can use any cheese you like. Quite often cheeses such as Gruyère are used.

In this recipe, we’ll pre-bake the pie crust to ensure a crisp base and avoid sogginess. To keep the pastry flat during baking, we’ll use weights. If you don’t have pie weights, uncooked rice works perfectly. Just scrunch up a piece of baking paper to make it flexible, place it over the pastry, and pour the rice on top to hold down the pie base while baking.

I prefer to make my own shortcrust pastry as it tastes better and has a nicer texture, but if you are short on time you can use ready-made pastry from the supermarket.

How To Roll Out Pastry Evenly

When making your own pastry getting it rolled out to the right thickness can be tricky. To get the pastry rolled out nice and evenly I use special spacers on my rolling pin. With this recipe I'm using 3mm thick spacers which gives the perfect thickness. You can buy these spacers to fit your existing rolling pin or you can buy one made especially with different size spacers.

Freshly baked Quiche Lorraine in a crisp homemade shortcrust pastry case

Homemade Quiche Lorraine with a golden cheese, bacon and egg filling

👨‍🍳 Skip the pastry making bit if you are using ready made pastry and go straight to 'Making Quiche Lorraine'.

Prep

40 mins

Cook

40 mins

Serves

Serves 8

Ingredients

For the pastry

175g plain flour
85g cubed butter
2–3 tbsp cold water
Or use 1 sheet ready-made shortcrust pastry

For the filling

4 large eggs
125g bacon, cut into strips
90g finely chopped onion
100ml pouring cream
100ml milk
160g grated cheese (Cheddar, Gruyère or your favourite)
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Method

How To Make Shortcrust Pasty
01
Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and add the cubes of butter.
02
Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs with no large lumps of butter remaining. Try to work quickly to avoid the dough becoming greasy.
03
Using a table knife, stir in just enough cold water to bind the dough. Start with 1–2 tablespoons and add more only if needed. (Shorter pastry has a better texture but may be a bit crumbly to work with.)
04
Gently knead the pastry on a clean surface until it just comes together. Handle it as little as possible, just enough to form a smooth dough.
05
Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before using.
Making Quiche Lorraine
06
Fry the bacon until crispy. Remove and set aside leaving the fat residue in the pan.
07
Fry the onion in the remaining bacon fat until soft. Set aside and discard any leftover fat.
08
Add the eggs to a bowl and whisk.
09
Add the cream, milk, and grated cheese to the eggs and stir.
10
Stir in the cooked bacon and onion.
11
Season with salt and pepper.
12
Grate a little fresh nutmeg into the mixture and stir.
13
Grease a 9 inch (23cm) quiche dish with butter
14
Roll out the pastry to 3mm thickness and place it over the dish. (I use a rolling pin with 3mm spacers for even thickness.)
15
Carefully push the pastry into the quiche dish and mold into the dish.
16
Pierce the base with a fork to allow air to escape during baking.
17
Line the base with baking paper and fill with pie weights or uncooked rice to keep it flat.
18
Bake the pastry in a preheated oven at 180℃ for 30 minutes.
19
Remove the weights and paper, then reduce the oven to 160℃.
20
Pour the egg mixture into the pre-baked base and bake for 35–40 minutes, or until set.
21
Remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving.