Cheesy Crustless Quiche Lorraine

This Cheesy Crustless Quiche Lorraine is packed with bacon and gruyere cheese, but no crust! Easy to make, and completely gluten-free.

Why Make This Recipe

• Perfect for any meal of the day: This dish works just as well for breakfast as for a light lunch or dinner. You might eat a slice in the morning paired with some ripe berries, or eat with a Tomato Salad or green salad in the afternoon or evening. 
• Delicious French flavor: Quiche Lorraine is a traditional and popular French dish, and you’ll see why. You can’t go wrong with the combination of eggs and bacon, and while cheese isn’t essential in the French version, I find it’s a welcome addition. Super kid-friendly too! 
• Gluten-free and low-carb: This version of a quiche uses the same filling you find in a traditional quiche without the crust. Perfect for gluten-free eaters, or those of you just looking to cut down on the carbs. This recipe is totally delicious without them!

🥗 Ingredients

• Gruyère cheese: I love the flavor of gruyère in this dish, but you could substitute another form of Swiss cheese like an Emmental. You could also try Jarslberg or Comté. You could also try cheddar, though it will give you a more robust flavor than the mild gruyère. Or, you can leave out the cheese! Traditional French Quiche Lorraine recipes don’t even include cheese. 
• Bacon/Lardons: You can replace these with some thinly sliced or chopped ham instead. (And bonus, if you replace with ham that’s already cooked, you can make this recipe even faster!)
• Crème Fraîche: Try replacing this with sour cream or even plain Greek yogurt if you can’t find crème fraîche. 
• Herbs: You will notice that there are no herbs in this traditional Quiche Lorraine recipe. But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t add them for your own take on this dish. Some thyme, tarragon, or chives would be lovely. 

🥣 Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grate gruyère cheese on the small holes of a box grater (or as finely as you can). If you have regular bacon strips, stack them on top of one another and cut into ½-inch slices. (Chilling the bacon in the freezer for 15 minutes before you slice them can help you cut them cleanly.) Now, put your bacon or lardons in a medium nonstick skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently. Cook until bacon is as crispy as you like it, 5-8 minutes.

Remove from pan and drain on a paper towel. While bacon is cooking, add eggs, milk, crème fraîche, ground mustard, and pepper to a medium bowl. Whisk vigorously for one minute, and make sure crème fraîche is well incorporated.

Pour egg mixture into an 8-inch quiche pan or pie pan. Gently sprinkle cheese, and then cooked bacon over the top. Lightly grate nutmeg clove or sprinkle ground nutmeg over the top of the quiche.

Put in the oven as gently as possible, and bake for around 25 minutes, until the custard is fully cooked. Let rest for 5-10 minutes—quiche will fall a little as it sits. Serve it warm or at room temperature. Leftover Crustless Quiche Lorraine will keep for 3-4 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. 

🧐 Recipe FAQs

👩‍🍳 Expert Tips

The trick to this recipe is getting the cheese and bacon filling to spread throughout the quiche rather than sinking to the bottom. After much experimentation on this, I’ve found a couple of tips that worked for me. First is to make sure that the custard filling is thick enough to provide some resistance when you add the cheese and bacon—so, a high egg to milk ratio. Adding the crème fraîche helps thicken the egg mixture as well, as does whisking it well. Next, putting the egg mixture in the pan first, rather than adding the filling first and then pouring on the eggs. Then, grating the cheese finely and sprinkling it and the bacon oh-so-gently over the egg mixture will help it stay on the top and middle of the quiche. Finally, transferring the dish to the oven quickly and carefully without banging it down onto the oven rack will help too!

This Crustless Quiche Lorraine recipe will work with many different types of pans, from a ceramic quiche pan as pictured in these photos, to a glass or metal pie pan, to even a cast-iron skillet. I find that my quiche comes easily out of the ceramic pan (after I have cut around the edges with a knife) without greasing the pan, but you may want to butter your pan or spray with nonstick cooking spray if you are worried about sticking. 

Note that depending on the size of your eggs, your filling may be close to the top of your dish when it goes into the oven. If it looks like the pan will be so full that it will be hard for you to transfer it to the oven by itself without spilling it, put the pan on a baking sheet before pouring in the egg mixture. Then transfer the baking sheet with the pan on it to the oven. That will also catch any drips if it runs over at all. Expect the custard to puff up a bit as it bakes, then sink down a bit after it cools. 

Other Quiche and Frittata Recipes

I love a good egg-based main course, whether it’s for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. If you do too, you may want to check out some of my other favorite breakfast all-day recipes. 

• Quiche Florentine
• Spinach Mushroom Quiche with Tomatoes
• Bacon, Broccoli, and Cheddar Frittata
• Spinach Frittata with Mushrooms and Feta
• Cheesy Pancetta Frittata with Corn and Leeks
• French Crêpes with Eggs and Cheddar
• Croissant Breakfast Sandwich with Spinach
• Ham and Cheese Frittata

Now, once you've got the quiche, you'll want to know what to serve with it. What about serving with this hash brown casserole? Or check out these options in our Best Side Dishes for Quiche post!

More Gluten-Free Recipes

And, if you're looking for other delicious gluten-free main courses, try my Chicken Soup with Rice and Lemon or my Stir Fry Salmon. Or, check out this delicious Baked Sausage and Sauerkraut recipe from our friends at Low Carb-No Carb!

If you try this Crustless Quiche Lorraine recipe, I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below—I read them all, and your feedback is invaluable to me. And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I'd love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!

Instagram Users: Now that you've made this recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I'd love to see your results!