This easy no pastry quiche has a rich and satisfying flavor and a silky smooth texture without the bother of a crust. Make with sausage, broccoli, and cheese, or customize the filling to your liking. You'll have a gluten-free dish that's hearty enough for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner!
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[December, 2022: I've reworked the recipe and updated this post with all new pictures. Enjoy!]
Why this recipe works
- This quiche features a silky, smooth, easy to make custard
- The fillings are entirely customizable with whatever meat, vegetables, and cheese you have on hand.
- Naturally gluten-free, and you can make it dairy-free based on your preferences
The holiday season has officially begun, and with that comes entertaining family and friends. Though it's easy to serve cookies, brownies, candy, and fudge, sometimes you need a savory dish that feeds a crowd, regardless of the meal.
Enter quiche, that versatile concoction of eggs, cream, cheese, and fillings.
Now I'll be the first to admit that I think of quiche as another form of pie. A savory quiche tart is really quiche baked inside a pie shell. But if I don't want to fuss with making pie crust, making a crustless quiche recipe is a great option.
The texture of this no pastry quiche really is silky smooth, with lots of chewy fillings to add heft. I don't miss the crust at all - it just allows me to savor the fillings all the more.
And because it can be made ahead, this easy quiche recipe shines as a main course for breakfast and brunch, especially when you're busy with guests. Serve for dinner with a side salad and a sourdough dinner roll and you've really got a nice light meal.
You can make crustless pies with ingredients you may not expect, like with this creamy and tangy Crustless Rhubarb Pie. Get creative with your fillings!
You can, of course, use this quiche recipe with a pie crust for a deep-dish quiche (yes, you still want those layers if you can get them). The filling should be the star, not the crust.
Fully customizable with a rich and satisfying flavor, this easy recipe for crustless broccoli quiche checks all the right boxes!
Recipe Ingredients
You'll need the following ingredients to make this crustless broccoli quiche recipe with sausage:
Ingredient Notes
There is so much flexibility when it comes to a crustless quiche recipe. The essential custard ingredients you need are eggs and milk.
Heavy cream and milk: You can use a combination of milk and heavy cream to suit your taste. The more heavy cream you use, the richer the custard will be.
Cheese: For this crustless broccoli quiche, I used some shredded Gruyère cheese that I had leftover from making French Onion Soup,
Naturally gluten-free, you can make a dairy-free quiche by using whatever non-dairy substitutes for the milk and cheese.
Filling: This no pastry quiche recipe uses fully-cooked chicken breakfast sausage, broccoli, bell peppers, and red onion, but you can use whatever ingredients you have on hand. Quiche is a great clean-out-the-refrigerator type of dish. Use up any leftover meats, vegetables, and cheeses you have around. Just make sure the meat (if you choose to use any) and vegetables are cooked through before pouring the custard on them. For a vegetarian quiche, skip the meat or use your favorite meat alternative.
See the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to make crustless quiche
Step 1: Cook the filling ingredients
Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli, red onions, and bell peppers to the pan and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook until the vegetables are softened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the sausage and cook until heated through, another 2 to 3 minutes (photo 1). Remove from heat and set aside.
Step 2: Mix the custard
Since this no crust quiche is taller than a quiche that's baked in a pie shell, it's good to have the filling mixed throughout rather than sunk to the bottom. Whisking the custard (that is, the cream and eggs) into a frothy mixture helps hold everything in place.
Using a handheld mixer, blend the eggs, milk, heavy cream, remaining salt, and black pepper until frothy (photo 2).
Step 3: Assemble the quiche
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8-inch round cake pan (with sides that reach at least 2-inches high) with baking spray. You don't want the custard to overflow the pan.
Layer ½ of the sausage mixture into the pan. Pour ½ of the frothy custard over the mixture, then sprinkle with ½ the cheese (photo 3). Repeat the layering, remixing the batter to keep the bubbles.
Step 4: Bake the quiche
Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F and bake the quiche for 40 to 45 minutes or until the center is just set and a knife insert into the center comes out clean (photo 4).
Remove the quiche from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Serve warm.
Storage and make-ahead instructions
Allow the quiche to cool completely and refrigerate for up to 3 days. It can also be frozen, well wrapped in plastic wrap in an airtight freezer-safe container, for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
The quiche can be served cold, at room temperature, or warmed at 300˚F for about 5 to 10 minutes.
Yield Notes
A full-sized quiche will make 8 to 10 meal-sized servings.
For another take, try making mini crustless quiche muffins. Just bake them at 350˚F for 20 to 25 minutes (or until set) in a well greased standard muffin pan. These can be refrigerated or frozen like their full-sized cousin. Or try these Better Than Starbucks Egg Bites and Zucchini Puffs - easy portion control!
How to keep a crustless quiche from sticking
Because we're not using a pie crust for this quiche, there's a chance the quiche will stick to your pan. In the photos I'm using a stoneware casserole dish that's well seasoned, but any well greased baking pan will do. Butter, a good baking spray or canola oil spray, or parchment paper will all help your quiche release.
Questions asked and answered
Here are some questions you might have...
At its core, quiche is a custard, just like the base for ice cream, crème brûlée, and baked french toast - the crust is merely a holding vessel. Most people might think of egg custard as a dessert, but really the only difference is how the custard is flavored. Is it sweetened or is it filled with savory ingredients? If it's the latter, it's quiche, simple as that.
Quiche is a free-standing custard, which means it can hold its shape and is baked to set (like bread pudding). There is an easy recipe ratio for a free-standing custard: 2 : 1 (2 parts liquid, 1 part egg, by weight). A kitchen scale comes in handy here.
It's a cousin to pastry cream, which contains the same base of eggs and cream but has a 4 : 1 recipe ratio (4 parts liquid, 1 part egg), so it can't stand up on its own and is thickened on the stove with cornstarch.
A classic quiche has a crust (unless it's a crustless quiche!) and is made from a custard base of eggs and milk. Most frittata recipes only use eggs and don't have a crust.
The 2 : 1 recipe ratio of 2 parts milk, 1 part egg (by weight) allows for enough of the proteins in the egg to set the custard well enough to hold. Any more milk and the quiche will be too soft to set, giving you a runny custard. On the opposite end, not having enough milk will give a firmer texture to the quiche.
Like with most custard-based pies (think pumpkin pie), quiche will appear done when there is a slight jiggle in the center when bumped. Any longer in the oven and the custard will get too firm.
I hope you like this recipe! Let me know if you have any questions, and don't forget to leave a comment and rating. Thanks!
Slainté! L’chaim! Cheers!
- Tammy
More custard recipes to try
Recipe
Crustless Broccoli Quiche with Sausage
Equipment
- large sauté pan
- hand mixer
Ingredients
For the filling
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1½ cups broccoli, cut into small florets
- ½ cup red onion, small dice
- ⅓ cup bell pepper, small dice
- 1½ cups breakfast sausage, fully cooked, cut into ¼-inch half moons, see Recipe Notes
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
For the custard
- 4 large eggs
- 1¼ cups milk
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
For the topping
- 1 cup cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Spray an 8-inch round cake pan (with sides that reach at least 2-inches high) with baking spray. You don't want the custard to overflow the pan.
- Cook the filling: Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli, red onions, and bell peppers to the pan and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook until the vegetables are softened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the sausage and cook until heated through, another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Make the custard: Using a handheld mixer, blend the eggs, milk, heavy cream, salt, and black pepper until frothy. This helps keep the garnishes suspended as you layer them into the pan.
- Assemble the quiche: Layer ½ of the sausage mixture into the pan. Pour ½ of the frothy custard over the mixture, then sprinkle with ½ the cheese. Repeat the layering, remixing the batter to keep the bubbles.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F and bake the quiche for 40 to 45 minutes or until the center is just set and a knife insert into the center comes out clean.
- Remove the quiche from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Serve warm.
- Storage and make-ahead instructions: Allow the quiche to cool completely and refrigerate for up to 3 days. It can also be frozen, well wrapped in plastic wrap in an airtight freezer-safe container, for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.The quiche can be served cold, at room temperature, or warmed at 300˚F for about 5 to 10 minutes.
Chris says
Amazingly easy and delicious recipe!
Tammy Spencer says
I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing 🙂