Onion Quiche

Mild and sweet, Onion Quiche is a vegetarian lunch or supper dish you can eat hot or cold.

I avoided Onion Quiche for years because I don’t like raw onions (these aren’t) and I don’t like a strong onion flavour (this isn’t). When I finally made this for a vegetarian friend, I realised what I had been missing and now Onion Quiche is one of my favourites.

The onion taste is mild and slightly sweet – it’s something to do with the way they’re cooked – gently fried first and then baked in the quiche filling.

What can you add to Onion Quiche?

• Cheese – 150g grated strong Cheddar cheese in the bottom of the cooked pastry case, before you add the onions, will add some protein and that cheese & onion flavour
• Bacon – 150g cooked chopped streaky bacon is another option.

Making Onion Quiche easier and quicker

Pre-cooked pastry case

1. If you are organised and prefer to make your own pastry, you can make and blind-cook pastry cases that you freeze for later. On occasions, I have done this, although I prefer to batch cook the finished quiches so that I have some ready-to-eat meals in the freezer.
2. Or you could buy a shortcrust pastry case. This is a great option if you’re short of time or not confident about making pastry (although if this is you take a look at my recipe and method for Pâte brisée, which involves not rolling out the pastry – the bit I hate).
3. The third option is to buy ready-made pastry, in a block or ready-rolled. If you’re using my method of making the pastry case you won’t be rolling it out, so buy a block.

Frozen sliced onions

Again you have the option of buying frozen, sliced onions or freezing them yourself – details are here. You will need to cook the onions a little longer – especially if you start from frozen!

Helpful Tools

• Microplane Spice Mill – I’m a big fan of freshly grated nutmeg and I use a lot of it, especially in quiches. I’ve used a small nutmeg grater for years, but I recently upgraded to a Microplane spice mill. What a difference it makes!
• Splash screen – Reduces fat splashes when you’re frying the onions for the sauce.

If you like this…

Why don’t you try:

Pastry for Quiches – Pâte Brisée

Pâte Brisée is a savoury pastry, especially useful for quiches. The egg yolk makes the pastry stronger and easier to handle.

Tuna and Tomato Quiche

This tuna and tomato quiche is perfect for lunch, dinner or a picnic and uses a quick and easy way to make the pastry without rolling it out.

Quiche Lorraine – picnic size

A simple, hearty quiche to eat hot or cold. Ideal for a picnic or to take on holiday.

Salmon and Prawn Quiche

Salmon and Prawn Quiche makes a special lunch dish for a summer picnic or buffet. You will need a pastry case – buy one or use this easy recipe for Pastry for Quiches.

Print Recipe

Onion Quiche

A simple, vegetarian quiche, especially good on cold days.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: Supper

Cuisine: European

Servings: 5 servings

Author: [email protected] Cooks

Ingredients

For the pastry case:

• 1 recipe Pâte Brisée or 1 ready-made 22-24cm shortcrust pastry case

For the Onion Quiche filling:

• 500 g onions
• 20 g butter
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Grated nutmeg
• 3 large eggs
• 250 ml milk

Equipment

24cm/9-inch china flan dish

Instructions

Preparation:

• Set the oven to 200°C fan, gas mark 7
• Peel the onions and slice finely – use the slicing disc of a food processor if you have it.

For the pastry case:

• Press the pastry into the flan dish with your fingers or use a pre-cooked case
• Blind-cook the pastry case for 10 minutes.

  I.e. put a piece of baking parchment on the pastry and cover with baking beans (to stop the pastry rising)
• Remove the baking parchment and beans and cook the pastry case for a further 10 minutes.

For the Onion Quiche:

• Heat the butter in a large frying pan on MEDIUM heat
• Add the onions to the pan and turn them to coat in butter
• Turn down the heat to LOW and cook the onions gently for about 5 minutes until they are soft, but not brown
• Spoon the onion mixture into the flan case. Season generously with salt and pepper
• Grate some nutmeg over (or sprinkle 2-3ml if pre-grated)
• Blend the eggs and milk, in a processor or with a mixer, and pour the mixture over the onions
• Bake the quiche for 25 minutes, then turn the oven down to 170°C fan, gas mark 5 until golden brown on top.