Quiche Lorraine — It Sounds Fancy, But It’s Just Bacon, Eggs, and Cheese
Nobody Has to Know It Was This Easy
Quiche Lorraine sounds like something you need a French cookbook and a free afternoon to pull off, and it is really just bacon, eggs, and Swiss cheese in a pie shell. That is the whole secret. The blender does the work, the oven does the rest, and what comes out is golden and puffed and looks like you fussed over it. This is my go-to whenever I am hosting a brunch, a ladies’ breakfast, or a tea party, and the reason is simple — I can put it together the night before and have nothing left to do in the morning but turn on the oven.
🍂 This one is on the table in my fall brunch menu for a crowd — the whole menu, timed out, from the cookbook I am writing right now.
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Watch me make this quiche Lorraine from start to finish — or scroll down for the full printable recipe card.
Featured Tools & Ingredients
- Color: Gray
- Base Material: Plastic
• To make that wonderful frothy egg mixture
- HEALTHY CERAMIC SKILLET - Made of natural ceramic, free of PFOA, PTFE, PFAS, lead and cadmium, safe...
- SUPER NONSTICK FRY PAN - The ceramic surface is smooth and super nonstick, eggs can just slide right...
• This has become my favorite pan. It's great for cooking the bacon
- Durable Sharp, 304 Stainless Steel - Made of 304 stainless steel (95%), the heavy-duty cheese...
- Box Gratters with Sharp Blades on 4 Sides - Coarse, medium, and fine grating surfaces, and slicing...
• This is for shredding the cheese
See the complete shopping list ↓
Quiche Lorraine
Start CookingIngredients
- 1 9-inch pie crust
- 4 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
- 1 ½ cups Swiss cheese shredded and divided, I like to shred my own.
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ onion cut into wedges
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 dash ground nutmeg
Don’t Want to Plan? I Got You.Every Saturday I share a full week of dinners, sides, and a dessert — with the grocery list already done. Come grab this week’s Weekly Meal Plans!Equipment
Method Start Cooking
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Cook the bacon until crisp, drain it, and crumble it. Do this before it goes into the pie shell — bacon will not crisp up once it is under the custard.
- Scatter the crumbled bacon evenly across the bottom of the pie shell, then layer 3/4 cup of the shredded Swiss gently over the bacon.
- In a blender, combine the eggs, sour cream, onion, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Blend until it is completely liquid and foamy and no pieces of onion remain.
- Pour the egg mixture slowly over the bacon and cheese, trying not to displace the layers underneath.
- Top with the remaining 3/4 cup of shredded Swiss.
- Set the quiche on a rimmed baking sheet and bake 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the quiche rest about 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
To double it: this recipe fills one deep dish shell. Doubling is exactly two of everything, which is what I am making in the video — two shells, 8 slices of bacon, 3 cups of Swiss, 6 eggs, 2 cups of sour cream, and 1 whole onion.
Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Reheat individual slices at 325°F for about 15 minutes rather than in the microwave, which makes the custard weep.
Four Weeks of Family-Friendly FoodWhen people gather, I cook. Four weeks of the dinners my crowd asks for — planned, tested, and shopped for. Come see what’s in the cookbook →Why This Quiche Lorraine Works
Most quiche recipes ask you to make a custard on the stove, and that is where people get nervous. This one skips all of it. Everything that would normally be whisked and tempered and babied goes into the blender together — eggs, sour cream, onion, salt, pepper, nutmeg — and thirty seconds later you have a thick, foamy mixture that pours straight over the bacon and cheese. There is no roux, no double boiler, and nothing to curdle.
The sour cream is what makes it different from every other quiche Lorraine you have had. Heavy cream gives you a custard that is silky and a little thin. Sour cream gives you something denser and tangier that holds its shape when you cut it, which matters a great deal when you are setting slices out on a table and they need to still look like slices an hour later.
And then there is the onion, which is the part people question and the part I will not give up. It goes into the blender with everything else, so there are no pieces and no texture — just that savory backbone underneath the bacon and the Swiss. If you have ever eaten a quiche and could not work out why yours at home tasted flat, this is usually the answer.
A Few Things That Make Quiche Lorraine Even Easier
- Do not skip the nutmeg. It is my secret ingredient and it is the reason people cannot quite name what makes this taste so good. A dash is plenty — too much and you will taste dessert.
- Cook the bacon crispier than you think you need to. It softens under the custard as it bakes, so bacon that came out of the pan just barely done will disappear into the filling. Crisp bacon holds onto enough bite to still be bacon when you cut a slice.
- Shred the Swiss yourself. Bagged shredded cheese is coated in starch so it does not clump in the bag, and that same starch keeps it from melting cleanly. A block and a box grater take two minutes and you can see the difference on top, where the cheese browns instead of sitting there looking powdery.
- Set the pie plate on a sheet pan before it goes in. A full quiche is heavy and sloshy, and a flimsy pie pan flexes right when you are trying to slide it onto the rack. The sheet pan gives you something to hold and catches any drips.
- Let it rest the full fifteen minutes. I know. But a quiche cut straight out of the oven weeps onto the plate, and the same quiche fifteen minutes later cuts into clean wedges. This is the step everybody skips and then wonders about.
Quiche Lorraine FAQ — The Questions I Get Every Time
What temperature do I bake quiche Lorraine, and for how long?
Bake at 375°F for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. If you want to be exact about it, USDA food safety guidance says egg dishes like quiche should reach 160°F in the center. The knife test gets you there on its own, but a thermometer takes the guessing out of it.
Can I make quiche Lorraine ahead of time?
This is the whole reason it is my brunch recipe. Assemble the entire quiche, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it overnight. In the morning it goes straight from the fridge into the oven — add about five minutes to the bake time since it is starting cold. That is exactly what I am doing in the video, and it means the morning of a party has one item on it instead of six.
Why did my quiche come out watery in the middle?
Almost always underbaking. A quiche looks set well before it is, because the top browns first and the center is still liquid underneath. Give it the knife test in the very middle, not an inch in from the edge, and if it comes out wet put it back for another five to ten minutes. The other culprit is cutting it hot — that is not really a watery quiche, that is a quiche that did not get to rest.
Do I have to use the onion?
You do not have to, but I would try it before you decide against it. Everything goes into the blender together, so there is nothing to bite into and nothing to pick out — no chunks, no pieces, no texture at all. What you get is the flavor, and onion with bacon and Swiss is the reason this tastes like a quiche from a bakery instead of scrambled eggs in a crust.
Can I use a different cheese?
Swiss is traditional and it is what I use, but Gruyère is the classic upgrade if you want to spend a little more — it is nuttier and it browns beautifully. Sharp cheddar works and makes it taste like a breakfast casserole rather than a quiche, which is not a bad thing, just a different one. Stay away from anything very soft or very wet, like fresh mozzarella, which will loosen the custard.
Can I freeze it?
Yes, after baking. Cool it completely, wrap it well, and freeze up to two months. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator and reheat at 325°F for about 20 minutes. I would not freeze it unbaked — the crust goes soggy sitting under a raw custard, and you lose the crisp bottom that makes a quiche worth eating.
How do I scale this up for a crowd?
Straight doubling, which is what you will see me do in the video — two pie shells, eight slices of bacon, three cups of Swiss, six eggs, two cups of sour cream, and a whole onion. Two quiches fit side by side on one sheet pan and bake in the same amount of time. Each one cuts into eight, so two will feed sixteen people a slice, and for a brunch table where there is also fruit and something sweet, that stretches further than you would think.
🛒 Complete Shopping List
Everything you need to make this Quiche Lorraine — click any item to shop on Amazon.
Ingredients
Equipment
More Brunch Recipes You’ll Love
- Fall Brunch Menu for a Crowd — the whole menu this quiche belongs to, timed out so almost nothing happens the morning of.
- French Toast Casserole — the sweet half of the table, and it goes together the night before just like this one does.
- Lemon Scones — the ones I made for my daughter’s brunch, and the thing people reach for second.
- Apricot Pecan Scones — fancy little things that are really just biscuits, which is my favorite kind of fancy.
- Homemade Biscuits and Gravy — when the crowd you are feeding wants breakfast, not brunch.
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Quiche Lorraine — About Stephanie’s Recipes
Stephanie Longstreth is the home cook, mom, and storyteller behind StephanieCooksForACrowd.com. She cooks for a family of seven in Florida — five kids, two cats, and one husband who appreciates a good meal. Four of her children came home through adoption, and family stories are woven into everything she makes and shares. Find her crowd-friendly recipes, weekly meal plans, and real family life on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest @stephaniecooksforacrowd.