This caramelised onion quiche is loaded with flavour. With salty-savouriness from bacon, sweetness from caramelised red onions and richness from a simple creamy egg filling it’s a lovely treat for any meal of the day.
The quiche pastry crust is just amazing. It’s buttery and flaky and just so tasty you’ll be leaving that crust edge for the last bite. I use the same quiche pastry for all my quiches and everyone loves it. For something extra special, I use cream in the filling of this onion quiche but it can be swapped for milk too (my usual go-to).
Having grown up with mums bacon and potato quiche for Sunday lunches, it screams lunch to me but this bacon and onion quiche is lovely for a brunch or late-morning breakfast. A cup of coffee and a seat outside in the morning sunshine just seals the deal.
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Ingredients you’ll need
This onion and bacon quiche evokes homely, country-style, relaxing vibes for me. The ingredients are very simple everyday ingredients just like you’d get in a classic French quiche Lorraine with a little kick from those sweetened onions.
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredients and instructions.
- Flour: Just plain flour, aka all-purpose flour for the quiche pastry.
- Butter: I love to use salted butter for this quiche pastry but you can use unsalted butter and just add a pinch of salt too.
- Eggs: You’ll need 7 large eggs in total.
- Bacon: Make sure to finely dice your bacon so you get loads in every mouthful. You could use ham in it’s place.
- Onions: You can’t have a caramelized onion quiche without onions. I use red onions. Brown onions will work but will have a stronger flavour.
- Dried thyme: This is such a nice shelf stable flavouring for the onions. You can use fresh thyme leaves too – 1 ½ -2 teaspoons.
- Brown sugar: To caramelise onions properly, they need a little help from sugar.
- Balsamic vinegar: This is a classic flavouring in caramelised onions.
- Cheese: I use Gruyère cheese, a nutty Swiss cheese, here for something special but you can easily swap it for your favourite cheddar too. Parmesan cheese can work but will have a stronger flavour and add more saltiness. You can leave out the cheddar and add goats cheese instead which goes beautifully with caramelised onions and in quiche. Around 120g / 4oz torn into small pieces would work well. Even some feta would be good.
- Cream: You’re after thickened cream, aka heavy cream or whipping cream too. You can use light cream if you like and you can even swap it for whole milk.
- Seasoning: A little salt and pepper rounds out the ingredients list.
How to make caramelized onion quiche
This onion bacon quiche is truly very simple to make. Even the pastry is made with the use of a food processor. The only thing you will need is a little patience to chill the pastry for at least 2 hours. Of course, you could also make the quiche pastry crust 2-3 days in advance which is a win in my books. The onions and bacon can also be cooked a couple of days in advance so you can just assemble and bake on the day you serve it.
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Make the pastry
Start by blitzing together flour and butter in a food processor until the pieces of butter are about the size of lentils. Add the egg and blitz again until it looks like breadcrumbs. Finally, with the food processor on low, dribble in the cold water until it starts clumping.
2. Roll the pastry
Pull the pastry together with your hands, then roll it out into a large circle, about 2 inches larger than the base of your quiche dish. Place it into your quiche dish and – very important – press the sides down into the corners; don’t press from the centre out or you’ll just thin out your pastry too much. Now chill for 2-72 hours. If you don’t have a quiche dish, you can use a pie dish or tart pan of similar size too.
3. Cook the bacon
While the pastry chills you can get onto your filling. Start by cooking the bacon in a pan until golden.
4. Making caramelised onions
Set the bacon aside and leave just 1 tablespoon of oil in the pan. Add the onions and thyme and cook for 20 minutes until you can just see golden bits start to develop. Add the sugar and balsamic and cook for another 5 minutes. Set those aside with the bacon.
5. Blind bake
After the pastry case has chilled, run a paring knife flat to the top of the quiche dish all the way around the edge to cut away any excess pastry. Next, use a fork to dock the pastry (to prick holes all over the base). Line the base with baking paper and fill it with pie weights or rice. Now, bake it for 20 minutes, then remove the paper and weights and bake for another 10 minutes. It should just be turning golden around the edges now.
6. Make the egg filling
The egg filling is a simple case of whisking together eggs, cream, salt and pepper. Make sure it’s well beaten and there are no bits of white that haven’t been whisked in.
7. Assemble the quiche
Now, it’s time to assemble your bacon and onion quiche. Scatter half the cheese over the pastry base, then scatter over the onions and bacon in an even layer. If those have been in the fridge and are cold and stuck together, just heat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to loosen. Top it with the remaining cheese, then the egg and cream mixture. All that’s left is to bake it around 30 minutes until the egg filling is just set.
Tips and tricks
- Cold pastry ingredients: To get flaky pastry, you need to use cold butter, eggs and water. Keeping the pastry cool is critical to getting it’s wonderfully flaky texture.
- Don’t overmix the pastry: Another reason the pastry gets a flaky texture is from the small pieces of butter that remain in there, where it’s not worked into the dough fully so try not to work it too much.
- Don’t skip chilling: Chilling the dough is so important. It allows the glutens to relax and let’s it get very cold so that it doesn’t shrink when you bake it. This actually makes it a great recipe to make ahead since you can make it 2-3 days ahead.
Making it ahead
You can get ahead with most of the steps in this caramelised onion quiche, leaving just the assembly to the day you want to bake it.
- The quiche pastry can be made 2-3 days ahead. Keep it in the quiche dish chilling in the fridge. Once it’s cold, trim off any overhanging pastry, then cover it well with plastic wrap.
- The quiche pastry can be frozen. Chill in the fridge first until firm, then you can lift it out of the dish and transfer it a sturdy airtight container. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- The bacon and onions can be cooked 2 days ahead. Keep them stored in the fridge in an airtight container. The fat of the bacon will set so just zap the mixture in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to loosen it all.
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Ingredients
QUICHE PASTRY CRUST
- 225 g plain flour (all purpose flour) (8oz / 1 ¾ cups)
- 115 g salted butter cubed and chilled (4oz / 1 stick / ½ cup)
- 1 large egg cold
- 1 ½ tablespoons cold water (notes 1)
QUICHE FILLING
- 150 g bacon finely diced
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 large red onions sliced (~600g/21oz before preparing)
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- Pinch salt
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 40 g Gruyere cheese or cheddar, finely grated (1.4oz / ½ cup packed)
- 6 large eggs
- ½ cup thickened cream (heavy cream)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- 9 inch quiche dish (base diameter)
- food processor helpful but not essential
Instructions
- FOR THE HOMEMADE QUICHE CRUST:To a food processor, add the flour and butter and process until it looks a bit like lumpy flour. Add the egg and blitz to combine and it should now look like breadcrumbs. With the food processor on low, slowly add the water until it starts clumping together (see the post for step by step photos).
- Tip the dough out onto a clean surface and just pull together with your hands into a smooth round disk (handling as little as possible).
- Now, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a large circle about 4mm thick. Place the rolling pin in the centre and pull one half over the top of it, then transfer to a 23cm/9inch quiche dish (internal base measurement). Press edges down into the corners with the overhang sticking up. Chill at least 2 hours or overnight. Can stay in the fridge for 2-3 days before use.
- PREP THE FILLING: Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a heavy based pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until browned. Set aside until required.
- Discard excess oil, leaving just 1 tablespoon behind. Add the onions, thyme leaves and pinch of salt. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until the onions are very soft and just starting to turn golden brown.
- Add the sugar and balsamic and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring often. Set aside with the bacon. These can be stored up to 2 days in the fridge before use.
- Finely shred the cheese and chill separately until required.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, salt and pepper until fully combined – make sure all the egg whites are completely mixed in.
- BLIND BAKE: Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) / 350F. Take the quiche dish out of the fridge 10-15 minutes before you bake (so the dish isn't so cold or it may crack in the oven).
- Prick the pastry base all over with a fork. Trim off the overhang with a knife. Set aside until the 10 minutes is up.
- Lay a sheet of baking paper into the pastry case and fill with pie weights or rice (notes).
- Bake the tart shell for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and baking weights and bake a further 10 minutes.
- FILLING THE QUICHE SHELL: Scatter half the cheese over the base, then top with the bacon and onions (if they’ve been chilled, just heat in the microwave for 30 seconds first to loosen). Top with the remaining cheese.
- Pour the egg mixture over the top going around and around so that it gets into all the gaps and cracks. Press down on top with a fork to settle most of the ingredients underneath the egg mixture.
- Bake 30-35 minutes, turning the quiche at the half way mark so that it cooks evenly. It’s done when the top is golden and a knife inserted in the cenre comes out mostly clean (not with wet egg mixture).
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- Pie weights: Pasty beads or pie weights are small ceramic beads used to weigh down the pastry so that it doesn’t puff up or shrink as it blind bakes. You can also just use rice or lentils but make sure it’s full. Store the rice or lentils in a container once cooled to use next time. I’ve been using the same batch of rice for years.
- If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate the cold butter and gently work it in with your fingertips, then stir in beaten egg and enough water to bring it together with a knife.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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4 Comments on “Bacon and Caramelised Onion Quiche”
This was delicious and different from the normal quiche . I used pizza cheese and it was still very nice .
I’m so happy you love this little twist on a classic quiche, Lauren. Truly appreciate you dropping back to leave a review.
Absolutely brilliant
So happy you love it 🙂