Bacon, Leek and Mushroom Quiche

Looking for an easy, delicious lunch or light evening meal? This Bacon, Leek and Mushroom Quiche is rich, savoury, and simple to make. With crispy bacon, sweet leeks, and soft mushrooms, it’s a comforting dish that pairs perfectly with a fresh salad or a bowl of steaming soup. Whether you’re serving it for a family dinner or a casual lunch, it’s sure to become a household favourite!

Here in France, quiche is a staple dish. I don’t think I’m wrong when I say that most families make quiche at least once a week! Everyone has their favourite recipe, their own way of making it, and they enjoy it served with a fresh green salad with a homemade, mustard-rich dressing!

In fact, the very first time I ever had a homemade quiche was in France. We visited my husband’s elderly uncle and he had prepared us a quiche for lunch. I was so impressed! Back home in England we tended to buy quiches frozen, I had no idea how easy it was to make from scratch!

Homemade Pastry is a Must!

Most people here buy their pastry ready-made from the supermarket – there is a huge choice! Puff pastry, sweet pastry, shortcrust pastry… It comes ready rolled on baking parchment in a round shape that is the perfect size for a quiche or tart. It is so handy, most people don’t even consider making their own.

But I’m going to let you in on a little secret… I have never actually liked quiche! That is, until I started making my own pastry. Now I enjoy it as much as every other person here in France! There is something about the flavour of shop bought pastry that I just really don’t like, so when I realised how easy it is to make my own, I stopped buying the ready-made pastry and found that I enjoyed quiches and tarts a lot more!

If you are looking for a gluten and dairy free quiche recipe, check out this one. I will also explain below how to make this Bacon, Leek and Mushroom Quiche gluten free.

So, lets down to it and find out just how easy this quiche is to make!

Ingredients Needed to Make Bacon, Leek and Mushroom Quiche

• 1 portion of homemade shortcrust pastry (find my favourite sourdough version here)
• 200g bacon bits, or bacon rashers cut into small pieces
• 2 medium leeks, sliced horizontally
• 200g mushrooms, slice
• 4 eggs
• 400ml milk
• 3tbps flour
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp mustard
• 120g grated cheese (comté, cheddar, emmental…)

Pastry

I recommend using shortcrust pastry for this quiche, but you can really use whatever you prefer. Many people here in France like to use puff pastry for quiches. However, that can be a real fuss to make from scratch. I have made Farmhouse on Boone’s sourdough puff pastry recipe in the past and it has worked very well!

The shortcrust pastry I prefer to use is this Sourdough Discard Pastry Crust recipe. I find it extremely easy to roll out, I enjoy the slightly tangy flavour, and I appreciate the health benefits of letting it ferment in the fridge for several hours.

If you are not into sourdough, BBC Good Food has a good standard shortcrust pastry recipe. And if you are looking for a gluten free version, the pastry in this Gluten Free Quiche recipe has a lot of flavour.

Bacon

I find that bacon bits are easiest to use in this recipe (they are called ‘lardons’ here in France) but you can also cut up bacon rashers before frying them. Another option would be to use ham, this would give you a slightly lower fat option!

Leeks

I love leeks, they are sweet and add so much flavour to many recipes. To prepare them, cut off the bottom where the roots are, and the top where the greens are too dark (you can leave some of the greens on). Cut the leeks in half length-ways and wash thoroughly, making sure there is no dirt hiding in the layers. Then cut them width-ways thinly into small pieces.

If you love leeks like I do, you may enjoy this Chicken, Leek and Spinach Pasta recipe.

Mushrooms

My favourite mushrooms to use in this recipe are brown button mushrooms, but the white ones work very well too.

Eggs

I prefer to use organic eggs if I can get them, and at the very least free range. The eggs I use are quite large, so if you have smaller eggs you may need to add an extra one.

Mustard

I like to smother my pastry crust with mustard to add extra flavour. This is optional, but I highly recommend it! I use Dijon mustard and I recommend avoiding sweetened mustards.

Cheese

The key here is to grate your own cheese! Ready-grated cheese is coated to stop it sticking and I find that the flavour is not the same.

I personally like to use Comté in this quiche (a famous cheese from my husband’s native Franche-Comté) but Gruyère works well, as does Emmental or Cheddar.

Equipment Needed to Make Bacon, Leek and Mushroom Quiche

• 28-30cm ceramic pie or quiche dish
• Baking beans or dried beans
• Baking parchment
• Rolling pin
• Frying pan
• Medium bowl
• Whisk

How to Make Bacon, Leek and Mushroom Quiche

While it looks impressive, this is a very straightforward recipe. Keep reading to see how easy it is to make!

If you have made your own pastry, remove it from the fridge 30 mins – 1 hr before you need it to let it soften enough to roll out easily.

Preheat your oven to 200°C and grease your 28-30 cm ceramic pie/quiche dish.

Roll Pastry and Blind Bake

On a lightly floured surface, roll your pastry out into a disc big enough to cover the bottom and the sides of your dish. Place your pastry disc into the dish and gently press it so that it takes on the form of the dish. Prick the pastry with a fork several times.

Place a piece of baking parchment on top of the pastry and pour baking beans, or dried beans on top. This will prevent the pastry from puffing up during the blind baking.

Bake at 200°C for 15 mins.

Prepare the Filling

While the pastry is baking, prepare the filling as follows.

Fry the bacon in a large pan (generally, there is no need to add oil as the Bacon renders a lot of fat). Add the sliced leeks and fry until softened. Add the mushrooms and continue frying until soft. Remove from heat.

Whisk the eggs, flour, milk, salt and pepper together in a medium sized bowl.

Grate the cheese and add it to the egg mixture.

Build the Quiche and Bake

After 15 mins, remove the pastry from the oven. Smother the bottom of the quiche with 1 tbsp mustard.

Next, add the bacon, leek and mushroom mixture to the bottom.

Finally, pour over the egg, milk, flour and cheese mixture, distributing the cheese as evenly as possible.

Bake the quiche in the oven for another 20-25 mins.

Serve warm or cold with salad or a soup.

Tips for a Successful Quiche

For my top tips for a perfect pastry crust, check out this recipe.

• Blind bake the pastry before adding the filling: this is an important step that will give you a crispy pastry crust, even underneath. It will also help to prevent the filling from escaping.
• Pricking the pastry before baking will prevent the pastry from puffing up.
• Smother the base of the quiche with mustard: this adds a huge punch of flavour to the finished quiche!
• Use milk and flour: this quiche recipe differs from other more traditional recipes in that it uses milk and flour instead of cream. I prefer the lighter texture and flavour this brings to the quiche.
• Adding the cheese to the egg and milk recipe will help to distribute the cheese throughout the quiche, which improves both flavour and texture.
• Let your quiche cool completely before cutting it up if you want a clean slice of quiche, this will give the filling a chance to firm up.

Can I Make this Bacon, Leek and Mushroom Quiche Gluten and Dairy Free?

Yes! it is very easy to make this Bacon, Leek and Mushroom Quiche gluten and dairy free.

• Use a gluten and dairy free pastry crust (check out my recipe for a Buckwheat Pastry here.)
• Use cornflour to thicken the egg mixture instead of all-purpose flour
• Use a vegan milk alternative instead of the normal milk for the filling.
• Leave out the cheese – the quiche will still have a huge amount of flavour from the other ingredients. You may, however, need to add more salt.
• Check the ingredients in your mustard – some may contain gluten or other allergens.

How to Store Bacon, Leek and Mushroom Quiche

Once the quiche is cooked and cooled, it will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can also freeze it. It is possible to reheat the quiche from frozen by covering it with aluminium foil and placing it in a preheated oven at 180°C. See this tutorial for more info.

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What Variations Could I Make to this Quiche Recipe?

The possibilities for variations to this recipe are endless. If you take the pastry, and the egg/milk/flour/cheese mixture as your basis, you can really add whatever other ingredients you think would taste good! Simply pre-cook any meat and vegetables and add them to your quiche!

Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to take a photo and tag me on social media @candleinthekitchen!

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