This leek quiche is perfect for any time of day, any meal, whether breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. The recipe includes sausage, but you can leave it out to make a vegetarian quiche. Serve it hot, at room temperature or even cold. Add a side salad, or serve it on its own. And be sure to add it to your list of best Sunday brunch recipes.
A well-made quiche appeals to just about every eater of every age. While many classic French recipes have a reputation for being fussy or difficult, all good quiche recipes break the pattern. Quiche is generally easy to make and can be adapted for different tastes. Also, you can fill a quiche with ingredients you probably already have on hand, from vegetables to meats, cheeses and more. Our foolproof leek quiche recipe includes troubleshooting tips and lots of ideas for customizing the recipe.
Ingredients for Leek Quiche
- Pie crust: Use your favorite premade pie crust for this recipe, or make one from scratch. You can learn how to make classic pie crust that’s buttery and flaky, or go for a gluten-free pie crust if desired.
- Leeks: Naturally, the star ingredient of this quiche is the leek. Milder than onions, with a natural sweetness and almost zero bite, leeks are pleasantly tender when cooked. Make sure to rinse them thoroughly before slicing to avoid grit, and save the green tops for homemade chicken broth. Here are more tips on how to cook leeks.
- Eggs: Buying good eggs will make a big difference in the flavor of the quiche. Whisk the eggs thoroughly to ensure a smooth-textured quiche. Unsure if your eggs are fresh? Here’s how to tell if an egg is bad.
- Portobello mushrooms: Sauteed mushrooms add a delicious, savory umami flavor to the quiche. If you can’t find baby portobellos, swap in other types of mushrooms, from plain white button to porcini.
- Heavy cream and sour cream: Cream thickens the quiche filling while adding richness and contributing flavor. Sour cream has less moisture than heavy cream, so the quiche gets an added tang without becoming too watery.
- Cheese: Shredded Swiss or Gruyere cheese lends a savory nuttiness to this quiche. It’s always best to grate your own cheese from a block for the freshness, but it’s perfectly fine to use pre-shredded cheese.
Directions
Step 1: Fit the crust in a pie plate
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Unroll the pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate, and use your fingertips to flute the edge. Refrigerate the crust for 30 minutes.
Editor’s Tip: If using pie dough you made yourself, roll it out, then place in the pie plate, flute the edges and chill.
Step 2: Blind bake the crust
Line the unpricked crust with a double thickness of aluminum foil. Fill with pie weights, dried beans or uncooked rice. Bake on a lower oven rack of the oven until edge is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the foil and weights, and bake the crust until the bottom is golden brown, three to six minutes longer. Move the plate to a wire rack to cool. Reduce oven setting to 325°.
Editor’s Tip: If you’re not familiar with why or how to blind bake pie crust, it’s an important step to make sure the crust is crisp and fully cooked. Blind baking it for 10 to 15 minutes jump-starts the process so when you add the wet filling, it won’t get too soggy in the oven.
Step 3: Prepare the filling
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the leeks and mushrooms. Cook and stir until tender, three to five minutes. Add the sausage and garlic, and cook one minute longer, stirring once or twice. Remove from heat.
Editor’s Tip: Cooking the vegetables and meat in advance gets rid of excess moisture and boosts the flavors, so don’t skip this step or you may have a watery quiche (more on that below).
Step 4: Fill the crust
Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese over the crust. Top with the filling mixture and sun-dried tomatoes. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, sour cream, thyme, salt and pepper. Pour into the crust. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Step 5: Bake
Bake the quiche for 40 to 45 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. If the crust is browning too quickly, cover the edges with foil during the final 15 minutes cook time. Remove from the oven, and let the quiche rest for 10 minutes. If desired, top with additional fresh thyme. Slice and serve.
Editor’s Tip: Overbaking can cause the eggs to curdle and make the custard separate. To avoid an overbaked quiche, check the quiche often starting about 5 minutes before end of the suggested cook time. The quiche should be puffy and set at the edges, with a slight wobble at the center.
Recipe Variations
- Make it vegetarian: Omit the sausage or swap in your favorite plant-based meat brand alternative for a vegetarian quiche.
- Add bacon: Use chopped bacon instead of sausage for an extra-savory quiche.
- Use your favorite cheese: Any melty cheese will taste great in leek quiche, so use the one you like most. Cheddar makes it kid-friendly, while pepper jack has a nice kick.
- Go green: Add chopped spinach or Swiss chard to the quiche filling for a vegetable boost. If using frozen greens, cook them first according to the package instructions, then drain completely to avoid a soggy quiche.
How to Store Leek Quiche
Leftover leek quiche should be kept in the refrigerator, tightly covered. It will keep for up to three days. Past that, the crust may get unpleasantly soggy.
Can you freeze leek quiche?
Leek quiche freezes well. To freeze uncooked quiche, assemble the quiche through Step 4. Set the assembled quiche on a baking sheet or a level shelf in the freezer, and let it freeze. Wrap the frozen quiche tightly, and store it in the freezer for up to three months. To cook, remove the quiche from the freezer about 30 minutes before you’re ready to bake it. Unwrap the quiche, and place it directly on the oven rack. Bake at 350° until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean and the internal temperature reaches 165° (you may need to increase the bake time).
You can also freeze a fully baked quiche. Let it cool completely, then freeze the whole or sliced quiche, tightly wrapped, for up to three months. Let the quiche thaw completely in the fridge, then reheat in the microwave or oven until heated through to 165°.
Leek Quiche Tips
How do you clean leeks for quiche?
To clean leeks for quiche, you want to remove the grit that gets trapped in their many layers. Simply slice off the edible part of the leek (the white and pale green part), and slice the leek in half lengthwise. Then, rinse each half under running water, opening the layers with your fingers to let the water run through.
You may also chop the leeks completely, then rinse them well in a colander. Be sure to pat them dry before using to get rid of excess moisture.
How do you avoid a watery leek quiche?
Watery quiche isn’t very pleasant to eat! Luckily, it’s relatively simple to avoid this pitfall. First, make sure you don’t add wet ingredients to the quiche. Cooking the leeks and sausage before adding them to the quiche keeps them from releasing liquid into the custard. Do the same with any greens or vegetables you wish to add. Next, make sure to bake the quiche on the middle rack of the oven. The lower rack will cook the crust too quickly, and the filling won’t set properly, while the top rack will heat the custard too much.
