Traditional quiche Lorraine
Ingredients
Method
- Make the pastry: rub the flour, salt and cold butter together with your fingertips, add the cold water little by little and bring together into a ball without overworking. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Roll out the pastry to 3 mm thick, line a 26 cm tart tin and prick the base with a fork. Cover with baking paper and baking beans, then blind bake for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, fry the lardons in a dry pan for 5 minutes until golden, then drain on kitchen paper.
- In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the cream, milk, nutmeg and pepper. Don’t add salt: the bacon is already salty.
- Remove the beans and paper and lower the oven to 180 °C. Scatter the lardons over the pastry case and pour the custard over them.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until golden and puffed, with the centre still slightly wobbly. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.
Notes
A crisp shortcrust pastry, golden smoked bacon and a melt-in-the-mouth egg and cream custard: quiche Lorraine is one of the best-known dishes of French cooking. Here is our traditional quiche Lorraine recipe, with no cheese, just as it is made in Lorraine.
The history of quiche Lorraine
Quiche was born in Lorraine, in north-eastern France. Its name comes from the word Kuchen, “cake”, in the Germanic dialect spoken in the north of the region. It can be traced back to the 16th century in Nancy, at the court of the Dukes of Lorraine. Originally it was a flat bread dough topped with eggs and cream and baked in the baker’s oven. The bacon came later, and the bread dough gave way to shortcrust pastry.
In the 20th century, quiche Lorraine became a national dish, then a symbol of French cooking around the world. It is served as a main course with a salad, as a starter, or in small squares with drinks.
The real quiche Lorraine recipe
For people from Lorraine, a real quiche filling contains only three things: eggs, cream and bacon. No cheese, no onion. A quiche with grated Gruyère is delicious, but it is no longer quite a quiche Lorraine. Our easy quiche Lorraine follows this tradition, with a little milk added for a lighter custard.
Quiche Lorraine with or without cream?
You sometimes read that the original quiche Lorraine was made without cream. It’s the other way round: cream, a key product of Lorraine farms, is the basic ingredient. Quiche Lorraine with crème fraîche is therefore the most traditional. For a lighter quiche Lorraine without cream, replace the cream with the same amount of whole milk and add 1 egg: the custard will be a little less rich but will still set well.
Homemade shortcrust pastry for quiche Lorraine
A homemade shortcrust pastry for quiche takes 10 minutes. The secret is very cold butter and as little handling as possible, just enough to form a ball. Chilling for 30 minutes stops it shrinking in the oven. Blind baking, with baking beans on baking paper, prevents a soggy bottom. Ready-made shortcrust pastry also works for a quick version.
Quiche Lorraine with onions
Quiche Lorraine with onions is a very popular variation. Soften 2 sliced onions in the pan with the bacon for 10 minutes, without browning, before spreading them over the pastry. With lots of onions, you get close to the Alsace onion tart or the Swiss onion tart, another speciality of the region.
Baking quiche Lorraine in the oven
Quiche Lorraine is baked in two stages: 15 minutes blind baking at 200 °C for the pastry, then 30 minutes at 180 °C once filled. The top should be golden and puffed and the centre still slightly wobbly: it finishes setting out of the oven. If the top browns too fast, cover it loosely with foil.
Mini quiche Lorraine
For individual quiches, line 6 tartlet tins of 10 to 12 cm. Blind bake for 10 minutes, fill and bake for 18 to 20 minutes at 180 °C. As mini quiches in a muffin tin, they are perfect for a buffet or party: allow 15 minutes of baking.
Quiche Lorraine in a Thermomix
In a food processor, shortcrust pastry takes 20 seconds: blitz the flour, salt and cold diced butter, add the water and pulse just until the pastry comes together into a ball. For the custard, mix the eggs, cream, milk and spices for 15 seconds on medium speed. Then bake in the oven as in the recipe.
Gluten-free quiche Lorraine
For a gluten-free quiche Lorraine, make the pastry with 150 g of rice flour, 80 g of cornflour and 20 g of ground almonds, 125 g of butter, 1 egg and a little water. This pastry is more crumbly: roll it out between two sheets of baking paper. Also check that your bacon is certified gluten-free.
Quiche Lorraine in the air fryer
Quiche Lorraine in the air fryer works best as individual tartlets: bake the filled cases for 12 to 15 minutes at 160 °C. The air fryer is also perfect for reheating a slice: 5 minutes at 160 °C and the pastry turns crisp again, unlike in the microwave.
What to serve with quiche Lorraine
The classic side for quiche Lorraine is a crisp green salad with a mustard vinaigrette. A tomato salad, a potato salad such as German Kartoffelsalat or raw vegetables also work well. For an aperitif from eastern France, serve it with pretzels.
Freezing cooked quiche Lorraine
Quiche Lorraine keeps for 3 days in the fridge. To freeze a cooked quiche Lorraine, let it cool completely, then wrap it whole or in slices in cling film and a freezer bag: it keeps for 3 months. Reheat it from frozen for 20 minutes at 170 °C so the pastry stays crisp.
Quiche Lorraine calories
One slice of quiche Lorraine contains about 580 kcal (for 6 slices), with 16 g of protein. It is a rich dish because of the buttery pastry and the cream. To lighten it, replace some of the cream with milk, use leaner bacon and serve a smaller slice with a big salad.
More tarts and quiches
Fancy a lighter, zero-waste version? Try our carrot top and goat’s cheese quiche. A pinch of nutmeg flavours the filling of every quiche, and our spice guide will help you vary the flavours. For aperitifs, also try our French olive and bacon savoury cake, moist and ready for the oven in 10 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my quiche Lorraine runny?
It was underbaked, or cut while too hot. Give it 5 more minutes in the oven if the centre is still liquid, then wait 10 minutes before slicing: the custard finishes setting as it cools.
Should you pre-cook the bacon?
Yes, it’s best. A quick fry browns it and gets rid of its water and some of its fat, which would otherwise make the pastry soggy.
