Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Quiche Lorraine
The original quiche: smoked bacon in a silky egg-and-cream custard, baked in buttery pastry, no cheese, the Lorraine way.
French (Lorrain) · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 40 min
~336 cal · 10g protein · 3g carbs · 32g fat · 0g fiber · 2g sugars · 15g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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The quiche was born in the Lorraine region of northeastern France, and purists there guard its definition fiercely: a true quiche lorraine is an eggs-and-cream custard with smoked bacon lardons in a pastry shell, and nothing else. The cheese so many versions add is, to a Lorrain, a later foreign intrusion rather than part of the original.
Its ancestry shows in the name: quiche comes from the German Kuchen, "cake", a reminder that Lorraine has long sat on the cultural border between France and Germany. What began as rustic farmhouse baking, using up eggs, cream, and bacon in a bread-dough crust, was refined into one of the icons of French home cooking.
The mark of a well-made quiche is in the set. The custard should still tremble slightly at the centre when it leaves the oven, so it stays silky and just-set rather than firm and dry; a fully-set quiche has been overbaked, and in Lorraine that is noticed. Eaten warm rather than piping hot, it is as good at a picnic as at the table.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1 sheet shortcrust pastry (flour and butter based)
8 oz smoked bacon lardons
3 whole plus 1 yolk eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
a scrape nutmeg
generous white pepper
Instructions
1
Line a tart tin with the pastry, prick it, and blind-bake at 375°F for 15 minutes until pale gold.
2
Crisp the lardons (or mushroom lardons) and scatter over the base.
3
Whisk the eggs (or tofu blend), cream, milk, nutmeg, salt, and pepper into a smooth custard.
4
Pour into the shell and bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes until just set with a faint wobble at the center.
5
Rest 15 minutes, quiche is best warm, not hot. Serve with a sharp green salad.
Lorraine tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Lorraine. Lorraine gave the world quiche lorraine, an open tart of egg and cream studded with smoked bacon and, in its oldest form, no cheese at all. Its border kitchen mixes French technique with German habits: charcuterie, plums, and hearty potato dishes.
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France. France turned cooking into a discipline, codifying techniques and sauces that shaped Western cuisine, yet its soul lies in regional home cooking, Provençal vegetables, Alsatian tarts, Burgundian braises. Bread, butter, cheese, and wine are treated as everyday essentials.
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Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Blender, Mould or tin, Whisk.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Quiche Lorraine?
The original quiche: smoked bacon in a silky egg-and-cream custard, baked in buttery pastry, no cheese, the Lorraine way.
Where does Quiche Lorraine come from?
Quiche Lorraine is a French (Lorrain) dish from Lorraine, France.
Can Quiche Lorraine be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Quiche Lorraine recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Quiche Lorraine safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Quiche Lorraine take to make?
About 70 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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