Crustless Quiche
This crustless quiche recipe offers the tender texture that you love in a regular quiche. It's an easy, healthy, high-protein egg dish!
Posted by Kathryne Taylor on November 13, 2026
Craving quiche, but don’t want to fuss with a crust? This eggy wonder is perfectly tender inside, like a regular quiche! You’d never guess it, but there’s cottage cheese inside, which makes it nice and soft, similar to egg bites. This protein-rich quiche recipe is the perfect way to balance morning muffins and breads.
If you’re particular about your eggs like I am, you’ll appreciate this recipe. It’s made differently from a baked frittata. While I love a well-made frittata (you can find all my tips here), this recipe is a safer bet. Even if you cook it a couple of minutes too long, it won’t turn brown on the bottom or spongy like a frittata can. Try it, and you’ll see!
How to Make a Quiche Without Crust
You’ll find the full recipe at the bottom of the post, but here’s why this recipe works so well.
1. Cottage cheese instead of milk or cream.
It’s the secret ingredient that offers a very subtle tang and extra protein. Once blended, the lumpy texture disappears, which explains why I’d never guess it was there. Quiche typically has a high milk-to-eggs ratio, and the cottage cheese helps the eggs firm up just right without spending a long time in the oven.
2. Baked in a water bath.
I promise, the water bath is easy to manage, and it makes all the difference. We’ll bake the egg dish on a rimmed baking sheet filled with a small amount of hot water. The steam from the water bath gives these bites a luscious, smooth texture by gently cooking the eggs, preventing them from rising so quickly that they develop big air bubbles. Without the water bath, the eggs would be firmer and brown at the bottom.
Watch how to make this recipe
Flavor Variations that Work
The ingredients shown here are inspired by traditional French quiche Florentine, which typically includes sautéed spinach with onion and Gruyère or Swiss cheese. You can’t go wrong with this classic combination. That said, you can easily change up the greens, onion and cheese:
- Instead of spinach, you could sauté chopped kale, chard or collard greens until tender (remove the tough ribs before cooking).
- Instead of yellow onion, you could use 1/4 cup chopped green onion.
- As for the cheese, anything goes. Cheddar, Parmesan or goat cheese would be lovely.
You can also add up to 1 cup tender or cooked vegetables, cut into bite-sized pieces. Try cooking bell pepper with your onions, or adding quartered cherry tomatoes.
Cheese Tip
Buy your own block of cheese and grate it before using. Pre-shredded and pre-crumbled cheeses are coated in cellulose powder, so they don’t melt as nicely.
Quiche Serving Suggestions
This easy, protein-rich quiche makes a great breakfast or brunch, but you could also make it for lunch or dinner. Here are my suggestions to build a full meal.
- For a simple occasion, round out your meal with crusty sourdough (toasted if you’d like) and a little green salad.
- For a full-blown spread, consider serving quiche with crispy hash browns or any of my pancake recipes, which you can cook on the stove while the quiche bakes in the oven. Or instead of pancakes, make muffins the day before.
- For a fun summer salad, try my Easy Tomato Salad or Summertime Fruit Salad. In the cooler months, try my French Carrot Salad or Favorite Green Salad with Apples, Cranberries and Pepitas.
Please let me know how your quiche turns out in the comments. I love hearing from you.
Crustless Quiche
This crustless quiche recipe offers the tender texture that you love in a regular quiche. It’s an easy, healthy, high-protein egg dish! This spinach, onion and cheese version was inspired by traditional quiche Florentine. Check the post for variations. Recipe yields 6 medium slices; you could likely bake two quiches in the oven at once.
Ingredients
- 8 large eggs
- 1 cup (8 ounces) cottage cheese (4% milkfat or higher, made with whole milk)
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 10 twists of freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
- ½ cup chopped yellow onion
- 2 cups (3.5 ounces) finely chopped spinach
- 1 packed cup (4 ounces) freshly grated Gruyère or Swiss cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, and grease a glass pie plate with butter. In a kettle or medium saucepan, bring 3 cups of water to a boil and maintain a simmer until it’s needed.
- In a blender, combine the eggs, cottage cheese, and the salt and pepper. Blend on high for 8 to 10 seconds, just until the mixture is smooth and frothy (no longer!). Set it aside.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt, and stir to combine. Cook until the onion is tender and translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the spinach, and cook until the spinach is wilted and reduced in volume, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool for a couple of minutes, then stir it into the blender mixture. Stir in half of the cheese.
- Place the prepared pie plate on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Carefully pour the egg mixture into the pie plate. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, then transfer the stacked pans to the oven. Carefully pour the hot water into the sheet pan, enough to submerge the bottom of the pie pan by at least ⅛ inch.
- Bake for 34 to 39 minutes, until the eggs are puffed and appear cooked, and the center of the quiche jiggles just a bit when you give it a gentle shimmy.
- Remove the pie plate from the sheet pan of water in the oven, and let it cool for at least 10 minutes on a cooling rack before serving. Leftover quiche will keep in the fridge, covered, for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat slices in a microwave or on a rimmed baking sheet in a 300-degree oven until warmed through (they will release some moisture while reheating, which you can discard).
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
