Smoked salmon quiche with creamy soft custard and fresh asparagus and dill – a perfect brunch for special occasions or a nice light dinner served with fresh green salad.
Back in my college days, I worked for our college cafeteria. One night, I was called to be a server at an alumni event, and they served these cute little mini quiches.
That was my first introduction to quiches, and I was immediately smitten. Naturally, I labeled quiche as a special occasion food.
As it turns out, it doesn’t have to be! While there’s something elegant about it, it’s also quite simple.
Over the years, I’ve made dozens of quiches and I’m so excited to share my favorite quiche recipe!
WHAT IS QUICHE?
Is quiche a pie? Yes, quiche is basically a savory pie with egg custard filling.
What’s the difference between a quiche and a frittata?
Not be confused with frittata, which is more like an omelette, quiche is creamy soft and custardy. It’s all about egg to cream/milk ratio. Frittata uses more eggs, while quiche has higher cream/milk ratio, which yields that amazing custardy texture!
Quiche is perfect for family brunches, or as a light dinner. To make it for a special occasion, I like to add special flavors, like smoked salmon!
Reasons you’ll love this smoked salmon quiche:
This smoked salmon quiche seriously bursts with flavor!
- Creamy egg custard softens the intense smoked salmon flavors without muting it.
- Fresh dill complements salmon beautifully.
- Blanched asparagus adds a burst of freshness in every bite!
- And flaky homemade all-butter pie crust adds amazing texture contrast. But you can use store-bought pie crust too.
- This smoked salmon quiche is a great make-ahead brunch item for any occasion! It’s great served at room temperature, and freezes well too. (More on that later…)
SMOKED SALMON QUICHE INGREDIENTS
Pie crust – I strongly recommend a homemade pie crust, and my all-butter pie crust is my go-to. But you can use your favorite recipe, or store-bought pie crust, if necessary.
Smoked salmon – So, there’re 2 types of smoked salmon: cold-smoked and hot-smoked. For my smoked salmon quiche, I recommend hot-smoked salmon over cold smoked. Hot-smoked salmon is the one picture below, and it flakes nicely. Cold-smoked salmon can be used as well, but since it doesn’t really flake, make sure to cut it into smaller pieces.
Asparagus – If you don’t like, or don’t have asparagus, you can substitute broccoli for it. While you surely can omit the greens altogether, I highly recommend it for pop of color and nutrition. To learn more about asparagus, this article covers everything you need to know about cooking asparagus.
Heavy cream – For rich flavors, I recommend heavy cream, or at least half-and-half. Using just milk will produce slightly runnier texture.
Eggs – We’re only using 2 eggs for this quiche, because we’re using a shallow tart pan. If you’re using regular pie crust, double the egg and cream amount for fuller quiche.
Cheese – Freshly grated cheddar cheese is ideal for this quiche.
Dill – Fresh dill is best for this recipe, but dried dill works just fine.
HOW TO MAKE SMOKED SALMON QUICHE
For deliciously rich and creamy texture, I followed Julia Child’s recommended egg-to-cream ratio for quiche custard. She recommends to add 1 egg in a measuring cup plus cream to the ½ cup level; or 2 eggs and add cream to the 1 cup level, etc.
- Prepare the pie crust:
- Make the pie dough, chill and roll into a disk. Then line a tart pan and blind bake.
- Prepare the filling:
- Blanch asparagus and then cut into bite sizes.
- Flake the smoked salmon, if using hot-smoked salmon.
- Whisk together eggs, cream, dill and seasonings until smooth.
- Assemble the quiche:
- Arrange smoked salmon, asparagus and cheese evenly over the crust.
- Pour in the egg/cream mixture.
- Bake until set, about 35-40 minutes.
NOTE: We’re using tart pan here, and therefore this quiche is not very thick. You can easily double the custard mixture and make it in a regular pie dish. In that case, you’ll need to bake it longer.
HOW TO FREEZE QUICHE
Quiche freezes well. To freeze, simply bake and cool completely. And wrap it tightly with a plastic wrap and then foil. Freeze for up to 3 months.
To thaw, place it in the fridge overnight. To warm it up, bake it at 350°F for 15-20 minutes, or until warmed through.
Enjoy!
Smoked Salmon Quiche
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust Note 1
- 4 oz 120gr asparagus (Note 2)
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup heavy cream or half-and-half (Note 3)
- 1 teaspoon fresh or dried dill
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 oz 115gr hot-smoked salmon (Note 4)
- 1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- To prepare the pie curst: On floured surface, roll the chilled pie dough into 10-inch circle. Place the dough on 9-inch tart pan, cut the excess dough and pierce with a fork everywhere. Place aluminum foil over the pie crust and pour pie weight (I use raw beans, or rice instead of pie weight.)
- Blind bake for 15 minutes, then remove the foil with beans and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the surface is slightly brown.
- To prepare the filling: Meanwhile, wash the asparagus and cut 1-2 inches off the end. Blanch them in a boiling water for 3 minutes, and then immediately transfer into a bowl of ice water. Cut into 2-inch pieces.
- Flake the smoked salmon with a fork.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, heavy cream, dill, salt and pepper until smooth.
- To assemble the quiche: Sprinkle flaked salmon, asparagus and cheese evenly on the bottom of the pie crust.
- Pour the egg mixture over the filling. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until just set. Let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Tips & Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published on March 21st, 2014, and updated on April 27th, 2020.
This photo was from 2014!
When I made this quiche it leaked all over the counter so I threw out the crust and just baked it in a pan. What do you call a quiche without a crust?
Healthy and easy to make🙂
Yay, so happy you liked it, Elisa. Thank you for your feedback!
I made this for Sunday Brunch early in the COVID-19 Shutdown so I used what I had in the freezer/pantry and it was amazing! The substitutions I made was using vacuum-sealed package of cold (wet) smoked salmon and a frozen pie shell. I dabbed the salmon lightly with a paper towel to remove excess moisture and thawed and rolled the frozen pie shell to fit the tart pan. I thought the egg-to-cream ratio was perfect. The only issue was that some of the egg custard seeped out of the tart pan at the removable bottom. Thank you for a deliciously decadent Sunday Brunch Quiche recipe. This will be in the repertoire for a long time to come.