Low-Fat Crustless Quiche: 4 g of Fat a Serving, Still Sets Firm

Low-Fat Crustless Quiche: 4 g of Fat a Serving, Still Sets Firm

A quiche is two rich things stacked on top of each other. The shell is flour held together with butter; the filling is eggs held together with cream. Between them, a generous slice of the classic version lands somewhere around 30 g of fat, and most of that is spent before you get to anything you can taste.

This one keeps the part people actually eat quiche for — the soft, barely-set savoury custard with a browned top — and drops the pastry altogether. The custard is rebuilt around evaporated skimmed milk and cottage cheese blended smooth. Cream sets a custard because of its protein, not its fat. Take the fat out, put the protein back, and the slice still holds a clean edge when you cut it.

Fat: 4 g  ·  Saturated fat: 1.8 g  ·  Serves: 6  ·  150 kcal  ·  Prep: 15 min  ·  Cook: 40 min

Why This Version Works

The shell was the bigger number. A 23 cm shortcrust case takes roughly 100 g of butter before anything goes into it. Removing it saves more fat than every other change on this page put together, and nobody has ever praised a quiche for its base.

Evaporated skimmed milk is the swap that matters. It is milk with about 60 per cent of the water boiled off, so per 100 ml it carries close to twice the protein of ordinary milk and almost no fat. That concentrated protein is exactly what makes a custard firm up instead of weeping.

Cottage cheese gives it body. Blended until completely smooth — lumps will not disappear in the oven — it adds a faint tang and enough substance that the slice does not taste thin, which is the usual failure of a low-fat quiche.

Keep two yolks, not six. Going all-white gives you a pale, squeaky slab. Two whole eggs carry the flavour and most of the setting power; four whites supply the rest of the structure for no fat at all.

Semolina does the work of a crust. Oil the dish lightly and dust it with fine semolina: the outside edge gets something to brown against, and the slice lifts out cleanly. It costs under a gram of fat for the whole tin.

Ingredients

For the custard

• 2 whole eggs plus 4 egg whites
• 200 ml evaporated skimmed milk
• 150 g low-fat cottage cheese, blended completely smooth
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ tsp salt and plenty of black pepper

For the filling

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 large leek (about 200 g), halved lengthways and sliced
• 200 g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 100 g baby spinach
• 25 g extra-mature cheddar, finely grated
• 1 tbsp chopped chives

For the dish

• A little oil from the teaspoon above, plus 1 tbsp fine semolina

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 180°C fan. Wipe a 23 cm round ceramic or metal dish with a few drops of the oil, then add the semolina, tilt the dish until the base and sides are coated, and tip out what does not stick.
2. Put the rest of the oil in a wide non-stick pan over medium heat. Cook the leek for 5 minutes until soft but not coloured.
3. Turn the heat up, add the mushrooms and cook for 6–8 minutes. Keep going past the point where they release their water — you want the pan dry again and the edges browning. This is the step that decides whether the quiche is watery.
4. Add the garlic for a minute, then the spinach a handful at a time until it collapses. Tip the lot into a sieve and press gently with the back of a spoon to lose any remaining liquid. Spread it over the base of the dish and scatter over the chives.
5. Blend the cottage cheese until perfectly smooth, then whisk in the eggs, whites, evaporated milk, mustard, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Do not aerate it — you want it combined, not frothy.
6. Pour the custard over the vegetables and scatter the cheddar on top. The cheese sits on the surface rather than being stirred through, so you taste it on every forkful and 25 g goes a long way.
7. Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the top is golden and the centre has a slight wobble when you nudge the dish. A set centre at this stage means an overcooked one by the time it reaches the table.
8. Let it stand for 10 minutes before cutting. The custard firms as it cools, and a quiche cut straight from the oven will always look looser than it is.

Nutrition per serving

Calculated for six slices, from raw ingredient weights.

• Total fat: 4 g
• Saturated fat: 1.8 g
• Calories: 150 kcal
• Protein: 12 g
• Fibre: 2 g
• Carbohydrate: 10 g

For comparison: the same filling in a shortcrust case, set with double cream and 100 g of cheddar, works out at roughly 30 g of fat a slice. The custard here is doing the same job for about an eighth of that.

Variations

• Smoked salmon and dill. Swap the mushrooms for 100 g of hot-smoked salmon flaked in at the end, and the chives for dill. Adds about 2 g of fat a serving.
• Roasted red pepper and basil. Two peppers roasted and skinned in place of the mushrooms; no extra fat at all.
• Broccoli and mustard. 250 g of small broccoli florets, blanched for 2 minutes and drained very well, with a second teaspoon of Dijon in the custard.
• Individual portions. Divide between six oiled ramekins and bake for 20–22 minutes. Useful for a week of packed lunches.

Storing and reheating

Covered in the fridge, it keeps for four days and is arguably better cold on day two, when the custard has tightened and the flavours have settled. To reheat, use a moderate oven — 160°C fan for 10 minutes — rather than a microwave, which drives water out of the eggs and leaves the texture spongy. It freezes in slices for up to two months; thaw in the fridge overnight before warming.

What to serve with it

A sharp, barely-dressed salad is the right partner: the quiche is mild and soft, so it wants acid and crunch next to it. Chicory and orange, or tomatoes with red onion and a splash of vinegar, both work. For a bigger plate, add new potatoes boiled and crushed with a little of their cooking water instead of butter.

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Questions People Ask

Why did my crustless quiche come out watery?

Almost always the vegetables, not the custard. Mushrooms, spinach, courgette and tomatoes all hold a great deal of water, and anything still in them when the dish goes into the oven ends up in the bottom of your quiche. Cook the filling until the pan is dry, then drain it in a sieve. The thirty seconds that takes is the difference.

Can I use ordinary skimmed milk instead of evaporated?

You can, but the set will be softer and the slice less willing to stand up on a plate, because ordinary milk carries roughly half the protein per 100 ml. If it is what you have, use 180 ml rather than 200 ml and add an extra egg white to compensate.

Can I make it ahead for the week?

Yes, and it is one of the better make-ahead dishes for exactly that reason: it is designed to be eaten at fridge temperature. Bake it the day before, cool it completely, and cut it only when you need a slice — a whole quiche dries out far more slowly than six cut edges do.

Is the semolina essential?

No. Without it the quiche still bakes perfectly well; you simply get a softer outside edge and have to be more careful lifting the first slice out. Fine polenta or dried breadcrumbs do the same job if that is what is in the cupboard.