Cheesy Crustless Quiche Lorraine

5 from 3 votes

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

Prep Time5

Cook Time35

Additional Time5

Total Time45

Servings:

Calories: 467kcal

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are using a glass or metal quiche or pie pan, butter it or spray with nonstick cooking spray. If you’re using a white ceramic pan like the one I’m using, you don’t need to grease it before adding the ingredients.
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.

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!

Leftovers will keep for 3-4 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. And, this dish freezes well. Just slice into individual pieces and freeze each of them, well-wrapped. Defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then reheat in the oven or the microwave.