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This Quiche with Gruyère has the silkiest and smoothest texture. It’s baked in a homemade pie crust and uses the perfect ratio of rich heavy cream, milk, cheeses and fresh herbs. Make this the day before a brunch celebration for ease!
I am no stranger to a brunch celebration. A lover of breakfast foods, I adore making everything from overnight cinnamon rolls, the best lemon ricotta pancakes and blueberry coffee cake.
It’s taken me YEARS to like quiche. And the place that changed my mind was Cellar Door Provisions in Chicago, Illinois. It was unlike any other I had tasted before. It was creamy, silky smooth, almost custard-like and utterly delicious.
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make this Quiche with Gruyère
- Eggs. We can’t have a quiche without eggs.
- Gruyère Cheese. This is considered a Swiss cheese. It’s not the meltiest but has the most delicious flavor.
- Heavy Cream. This gives the quiche a delicious, custard-like texture.
- Shallot. My allium of choice. I love their delicate flavor. It doesn’t overpower this quiche.
- Herbs. I’m using fresh dill and Italian parsley. Both are minced up and added to the filling.
- Pie Crust. You can use a homemade pie crust or store-bought. No shame in the store-bought game!
For the rest of the ingredients, please refer to the recipe index card below!
How to Make This Quiche with Gruyère
- Par bake your crust. I like to do this ensure that it’s cooked throughout. Add the pie crust to the springform pan; feel free to let it have overhang (no biggie). Spray a piece of foil or parchment with cooking spray. Place it in the center of the pie crust and add in pie weights or dried beans or rice. And bake the crust for 12 minutes. Remove the weights and foil (be careful, they’ll be hot). Bake it again for an additional 12 minutes. Let it cool slightly while you prepare your filling.
- Blend up your filling. Add about half of the heavy cream (just eyeball this), whole milk, eggs and shallot. Blend it until the shallot is minced. Add it to a large bowl (ideally with a spout so it’s easy to pour). Then mix in the remaining heavy cream, Italian parsley, dill, cheese, salt, crushed red pepper and black pepper. Whisk it up until totally combined.
- Bake the quiche. Turn the heat down to 325F. Pour the filling into the par-baked pie crust. Transfer to the oven to bake for 1 hour and 15-30 minutes. We want the center to be wiggly and puffed up. Transfer to the counter to cool for about 4 hours before cutting into it.
- To serve. Serve the quiche with a handful of micro greens for some added freshness.
Tips and Tricks
- Make Ahead. This quiche is great to make the day before. You can leave it out at room temperature (cover lightly with a kitchen towel) OR you can transfer it to the fridge (also lightly cover with a kitchen towel). I like it to come to room temperature to serve it.
- Additions You Can Add. I think this quiche would be great with adding sautéed spinach, bits of cooked bacon, or a different blend of cheeses. I think Pepper Jack, Monterey Jack or anything shredded and melty would be good.
- Use a store-bought pie crust. If you’re looking for a short-cut, feel free to use store-bought pie crust. You’ll need two pie crusts for this recipe. Just be sure to combine them so you have one big pie crust.
Recipe FAQs
Can I use another pan besides a springform pan?
Yes! This calls for a springform pan, but feel free to use this recipe and make two (9-inch) quiches using a nine-inch pie plate/tin.
What else can I put on the top besides microgreens?
You can keep it simple and add nothing! But I think a handful of arugula that’s tossed in a bit of olive oil, squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt would be nice and fresh.
What to Serve with This Quiche with Gruyère
Summer
Iced Matcha Latte
Breakfast
Easy Banana Bread
Desserts
Apple Cheese Danish
Breakfast
Pumpkin Pancakes
Quiche with Gruyére
This Quiche with Gruyère has the silkiest and smoothest texture. It's baked in a homemade pie crust and uses the perfect ratio of rich heavy cream, milk, cheeses and fresh herbs. Make this the day before a brunch celebration for ease!
Equipment
- 1 (9-inch) springform pan (see Notes section for alternative pans)
Ingredients
- 1 homemade double pie crust or store-bought double pie crust, (rolled out into one very large pie crust)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups whole milk, (2% would work too)
- 6 large eggs
- 1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1/3 cup minced fresh Italian parsley
- 1/4 cup minced fresh dill
- 4 ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded
- 2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/2 cup micro greens, optional
Instructions
To Par Bake the Crust:
- Remove the pie crust from the fridge. Heavily flour your rolling pin and work surface and roll the double pie crust out into a 17-inch circle. Roll the pie crust around your rolling pin and lay it over a 10-cup/9-inch spring form pan.
- Make sure it's flat on the bottom and flush to the sides of the spring form pan. You may need to overlap some of the parts of the pie crust since it the sides go straight up rather than fan out (like a traditional pie tin). One thing you need to be sure of is that the pie crust goes over the edge of the spring form pan by at least 2 inches. Don't bother trimming the edges (see photo), we'll do that later!)
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray a sheet of foil or parchment with cooking spray and place it inside the pie crust and fill it with pie weights (or dried beans or dried rice). Transfer the pan to a baking sheet and transfer the entire thing to the oven to bake for about 12 minutes. At the 12-minute mark, gently remove the sheet of foil with the pie weights and place it back in the oven to bake for an additional 12 minutes.
To Make the Filling:
- Meanwhile, in a blender, add about half (you can eyeball this) of the heavy cream, whole milk, eggs and shallot. Blend until the shallot is completely broken up and combined. Add the mixture to a very large bowl (ideally with a spout for easy pouring) and add the remaining heavy cream, minced Italian parsley, dill, cheese, kosher salt, crushed red pepper and black pepper. Mix until totally combined.
- When the pie crust is done par-baking, remove it from the oven and decrease the heat to 325 degrees F. Pour the filling into the pie crust and return it to the oven when the temperature has decreased.
- Cook for 1 hour and 15-30 minutes, until the center has puffed slightly and is still wiggly. Allow to cool completely about 4 to 6 hours, ideally overnight, before slicing. Using a serrated knife, slice the pie crust edges off, making it nice and even. Remove it from the spring form pan carefully and slice it up and enjoy. Top each slice for microgreens, if you like.
Notes
Tips and Tricks:
- Please note that the homemade pie crust that I link to, tells you to divide the dough in half. Don’t do this. Keep it in one solid pie crust. You’re going to use the entire thing to roll out one very large pie crust.
- In the blog post, I recommend buying store-bought pie crust just to save some time. If you do this, you’ll want to buy two and you’ll want to roll them into one another so you have enough pie crust.
- If you don’t have a springform pan, you can use a 9-inch pie plate. This recipe will make two quiches using that 9-inch pie plate.
Nutrition
Calories: 235kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 23g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 43mg | Potassium: 4mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 32IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 6mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this Recipe? Please Rate & comment below!
*This blog post was originally posted on December 21st, 2015. It’s been re-posted with updated content and writing.
Cellar door recipe for comparison
https://www.instagram.com/p/ChSweRuPPKa/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
I tried making this… but, I didn’t listen very well. I don’t have a springform pan and decided I would use a pie pan, which doesn’t fit the whole recipe. I’m going to buy a proper pan to make this.
I too am not a huge fan of quiche, but when I tried a custardy, silky quiche like this one at a cute bakery in Boulder, CO called Shamane’s, I was immediately obsessed.
So anyway. Basically… I ended up with a wet quiche, I probably overcooked it because I was cooking a lot less mass. Maybe you could suggest some other ways to tell if it’s done? Temp when inserted with cooking thermometer? Is it ok to use half and half for the whole recipe instead of combining the two types of milk? Are you supposed to cool the crust after blind baking? So many questions. Do you suggest keeping the fillings minimal? Or should it be fine when baked correctly if there’s substantial filling in there?
Thanks for the great recipe! I can’t wait to do it properly when I get a pan!
This yields two very full premade crust so keep that in mind or half it for 1 pie crust.
I also would cut the milk down by a cup because I had too much for a premade pie crust. Had to go buy another one so I didn’t waste the left over filling.
it is silky, I will tweek it a bit as I go,
the flavor is amazing. It is a lot of heavy whipping cream, that is for sure!
Wow!! I thought it was my lack of chef’’s skills that has yielded me spongy, watery, unremarkable results with every quiche recipe I have tried in over 40 years of cooking. They always turned out to be more of a breakfast casserole than what I had hoped for, and not very good ones at that. Today, your recipe changed my experience completely! Thank you for giving me, and others, the opportunity to bake and serve high-end, restaurant-quality quiche during a time when we are staying home, instead of dining out. For me, having celiac disease actually means I never get to eat quiche unless I bake it myself, either crustless, which is sad, or in a gluten-free crust, which sometimes is sadder yet. But, I have good memories of what quiche was like before my diagnosis, I found your recipe, I’ve recently found decent gluten-free pie crusts to buy and I am close to being able to make a good gluten-free crust myself. I look forward to perfecting that skill in the near future so I can bake this fantastic quiche in a springform pan and enjoy it as pictured. 5+ stars from someone who is seldom inspired to write a review!
wow love hearing this! thanks so much!
I can’t tell you how long I’ve been looking for a Cellar Door Provisions-style recipe and BOOM, here you are. Gonna get some cream and try this. Your pictures make me SO excited. Thanks for making the exact recipe I was looking for.
Ahh amazing. I love Cellar Door 🙂
Just made this. Although it tasted just fine, I found the cook time to be quite off. After the 1 hr 15 min cook time stated the center was still very liquidy. I added another 15 min to the oven time but it was still a bit too liquidy, I believe. I would have left it in even longer but I had somewhere to be so I let it cool and we cut into it the next morning. It firmed up a little but much too soft. We cut out the center and just ate the little bit next to the crust since that was cooked enough. Disappointing that it did not turn out with the amount of time it takes to make.
This looks amazing!
Do you have a brand of pie weights that you really love? I’ve put off buying some for forever but after a major pie crust debacle at Christmas and getting a quiche pan as a present, I’m ready to break down and get some! Not sure if brand matters but since you bake so many pies thought I’d ask. 🙂 Thanks!
I actually broke down and bought pie weights bc the rice I kept using was really burnt and a lot of times I don’t have rice in the house because I’ll eat all of it! I had a gift certificate to Sur La Table and I bought them (they were $10–not too bad) and I don’t regret it because I use them regularly and they work great. Here’s a link:
http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-150623/Ceramic+Pie+Weights
Amazing post and photos.
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WHUT. I looooove quiche but I’m generally too lazy to make the crust so I always just make a frittata, instead. HEH. I love this recipe and the fact that your contribution to #pieitforward was something silky-ass and SAVORY. HELLLLLLLZ YEAH. <3
I’ve been wanting one of those pie boxes FOREVER! So perfect for transporting (and pie is not easy to transport). Also, v. into how deep dish this quiche is.