Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

This is a recipe for a broccoli Cheddar quiche that’s about as perfect as perfect can be. I only made 1 quiche, so I halved the recipe. I also made my own pie crust. It’s so easy to make a pie crust that I rarely use store-bought crusts. However, this quiche is so delicious that I don’t think a store-bought crust would detract in any way. Not counting the time to make, chill, and roll out my own pie crust, the hands-on time for prep was about 20 minutes, and the baking time was a total of 35 minutes (15 minutes for blind-baking and 20 minutes to bake the assembled quiche). 9 ounces broccoli florets was the perfect amount for 1 quiche. I used heavy cream rather than buttermilk because that was what I had on hand. 1 quiche will serve 4 or 5 very nicely.

This is a basic quiche recipe that can be tweaked and customized. The result of very little effort was enough quiche to feed several people and a pretty killer combination of broccoli and Cheddar, if you ask me. I found it came together very quickly, especially because I used frozen pie crusts. I used buttermilk, as I already had some in the fridge. When pre-baking my pie shell, I kept it in the oven for 10-minute intervals, as I was worried the crust would brown too much during the final bake. As for the final bake, it took 35 minutes before the filling was set and didn't jiggle upon moving. As a light breakfast or lunch with a salad, I think you could get 6 servings out of each quiche. Both reheated and room-temp were delicious!

This simple recipe is a bit more complicated than it seems, but it produces a decent quiche without too much fuss. Because the pie crusts have to cool after blind baking and the vegetables have to cool before being added to the egg mixture, there are several stop and start points in the the recipe. I weighed and chopped the vegetables while the oven was preheating and shredded the cheese while the crusts were blind-baking, but I still had gaps in time when I was waiting for things to cool so I could proceed. Even so, the crust was still a little warm when the liquid filling was poured into it. The combination of broccoli and Cheddar made a good base. My head of broccoli had already been somewhat trimmed at the store. It was 10 1/2 ounces before I trimmed and prepped the florets and 7 1/2 ounces afterwards. The quiches could've used a bit more broccoli, but it wasn't an inadequate amount. I used Kirkland sharp Cheddar for the yellow Cheddar and Cabot 3-year-aged for the white. I used full-fat buttermilk. Next time I might sauté some mushrooms to add to the vegetable mixture. I’d probably halve the recipe if making it again unless it was for a party, as 2 quiches is way more than the two of us can eat in a reasonable time. Fortunately, my husband needed to bring a dish to a picnic a couple of days after I made these, so we had a spare quiche for him to take. We’ve eaten pieces both hot and at room temperature, and they tasted fine without reheating.

This was an easy recipe that delivered tasty results. I made this for a party, and everyone who had a slice loved it. Use a nice, flavorful Cheddar, as the cheese makes all the difference in this dish! The dish was perfect on its own, but I'd certainly add ham or bacon next time if I had either on hand. (I mean, if you had bacon, why wouldn't you?) I thought it seemed to take quite a while to get the the onions to be translucent and the broccoli tender (19 minutes), and I started to worry that the onions had browned too much by the time I was done. But the final result was just fine. When the vegetables were finally tender, I was in a bit of a hurry to finish the dish so that I could take it to a party. To speed the cooling, I transferred the vegetables to a bowl and popped it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I prepped the egg mixture using half-and-half for the dairy. Once I popped the quiche in the oven, I needed to bake it 25 minutes to get the center to set. I served the quiche at room temperature and cut each into 8 slices, which was a nice serving size for the party where other foods were being served. For a meal at home, 6 slices might be better accompanied by a green salad. This dish is definitely best served the day it's made. The crust was not as crisp the next day. I started with a store-bought crust but couldn't find my favorite manufacturer's brand because it was sold out (there was quite a run on pie crust in my neck of the woods this week!), so I bought the store-brand pie crust. I have to say that I wouldn't use the store-brand crust again. It just didn't make as nice a crust as the leading manufacturer's brand.

I've made a lot of quiche recipes because we like quiche, so I might be a bit biased, but it's hard to make a bad quiche. What I liked about this broccoli Cheddar recipe is I have always used whole milk or half-and-half or sometimes skim milk if I'm feeling like we need a healthier version, but I have never used buttermilk. I was pleasantly surprised. It didn't taste sour or bitter. This is a great option for a healthier quiche. I would likely not make this exact recipe again—it's not that there's anything wrong with the recipe, I just find broccoli to be less interesting than other additions—but I will use buttermilk in quiche again.