This broccoli Cheddar quiche is made with eggs, cheese, milk, and, yes, broccoli—everything you’d expect—and yet tastes so superior to every other iteration of this classic quiche that we’ve experienced.
This quiche relies on that inspired pairing of broccoli and Cheddar cheese. It’s made with everything you’d expect—milk, eggs, cheese, and, yes, those wee green trees—and yet it tastes so superior to every other iteration of this classic quiche that we’ve ever experienced. You could even add bacon, ham, sausage, a smidgen of smoked or salty cheese, or other veggies. Although honestly? We wouldn’t change a thing. Originally published September 27, 2015.–Renee Schettler Rossi
Broccoli Cheddar Quiche
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small head broccoli (8 to 16 oz), trimmed and cut into small florets
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 single-crust pie crusts (regular or deep dish), in their pans
- 12 large eggs
- 1/4 cup whole milk, half-and-half, heavy cream, or buttermilk (either low-fat or full-fat)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Handful finely chopped fresh herbs, crumbled bacon, diced ham, sautéed mushrooms, or whatever else you'd like (optional)
- 1 heaping cup freshly shredded yellow sharp Cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup freshly shredded white Cheddar cheese
Directions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C).
- 2. While the oven heats, in a medium sauté pan, heat the oil and sauté the broccoli for 10 minutes. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool. (If you add the warm veggies to raw eggs, they’ll scramble. So don’t be tempted to rush things.)
- 3. While the veggies cook, bake the pie crusts, uncovered, until lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack.
- 4. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and whole milk, half-and-half, heavy cream, or buttermilk with salt and pepper to taste until a slight froth forms at the top. Add the cooled onions and broccoli and the cheeses and gently incorporate them into the eggs. If desired, stir in fresh herbs or meat or whatever you please.
- 5. Evenly distribute the mixture in the prebaked pie crusts and bake until the quiche no longer jiggles when nudged, 20 to 35 minutes, depending on the size and depth of your pie crusts. Let the quiche rest for a few minutes prior to slicing each into 6 to 8 wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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I love quiche, too, but I’m a girl. I remember when quiche became popular. I still have a quiche cookbook from the ’70s that I occasionally will look through. I forgot about making it, though, and with fall just moving into the midwest it’s the perfect evening meal with tomato soup. Thanks for reminding me. I’ll have to make some this week. Yours looks delicious!
Vicki, what a lovely note to find waiting for us. Yes, quiche is rather under appreciated and definitely worth having again some night soon. Enjoy yours this week and kindly let us know if you happen to try this one!
I recently heard a guy on tv say he didn’t eat quiche & I thought, “Do you eat omelets? Do you eat pie? It’s the same thing!” I’m not a cooked broccoli or cabbage fan (it’s an odor thing), but love quiche. This recipe looks great – maybe I’ll try it with zucchini.
Dottie, let me know what you think!
So how much does 1 heaping cup freshly shredded yellow sharp Cheddar cheese weigh? I realize that accuracy isn’t terribly important here, but gosh, it’s so much less messy to just grate cheese into a bowl on a scale than to grate it and stuff into a measuring cup.
Sara, thanks for the reminder. I added the weight to the ingredients list.
I have been trying to make meals using what I already have in the house, and, not wanting to leave the house today because of the rain, I thought, I can make a quiche! I have all of the ingredients! But when I found the recipe I wanted for broccoli and cheese, I realized, I DON’T HAVE 12 EGGS! 12 eggs?
After closer reading I realized that was for 2 quiches. I only needed one quiche, it’s just the two of us, but I only had 3 eggs. I decided to try it anyway, thinking, as long as the eggs can bind all of this together I should be ok. This recipe served as a good guideline for me. I’ve made plenty of quiches in my day, but haven’t made one in a long time, so I really needed a recipe to follow. Here’s what I did do: I used a Mrs. Smith premade 9” deep dish flaky pie crust. I already had some broccoli that I had steamed, I sautéed fresh mushrooms, onion and garlic in some butter, then stirred in some chopped rosemary ham, the broccoli, and shredded cheddar cheese. To the eggs, I added heavy cream and a little milk, salt and pepper. After cooking the pie crust I added the filling to it and then evenly poured in the egg and cream mixture. Cooking times were perfect as directed in the recipe.
I served this for dinner tonight with a green salad and it was very tasty! I was surprised at how good the store-bought pie crust tasted, and how perfectly everything was cooked. I CAN make a quiche with only 3 eggs! If I had 4, I would have used 4, but I don’t think 6 is necessary unless I use one of my larger pie plates. The nice thing about quiche is that you don’t have to be too exact about your measurements. I can’t wait to try one of the other quiches on this site, like butternut squash!
Lorna, another winner for you! And I’m glad the recipe worked with half the eggs!