‘Magic’ Crustless Zucchini Quiche

After many years of you telling me you love this crustless quiche recipe, I decided it was time to come up with another similar recipe – this time a crustless zucchini quiche! It’s vegetarian, but definitely not short on flavor and with the same yummy soufflé like texture as its big brother with the ham.

That’s not to say that you can’t tweak the recipe and throw some tasty bacon or ham in there, but essentially this is a vegetarian crustless quiche. I still call it ‘magic’ since it somehow manages to ‘make its own crust’ while it’s baking.

This is a dinner that everyone loves, and here’s a summary of reasons why:

• Creative way to use up zucchini: Make Greek zucchini fries (yum!) then impress everyone with a zucchini crustless quiche!
• Makes its own crust: Well, sort of. Some call this ‘impossible quiche’ since it forms a pancake-like layer at the bottom to satisfy the crust-lovers among you.
• So quick and easy. This will take you around 30 minutes less to make than a traditional quiche with a crust.
• Great Texture: The self-raising flour makes the quiche both slightly firmer and fluffier than a classic quiche, and gives it an irrestistible, golden and crunchy top.
• Suprisingly economical: This recipe uses milk (rather than cream) and just 4 eggs. Zucchini and onion are usually budget-friendly too, and you can add any cheese you happen to have.
• Reheats Well: Tastes even better reheated—try using an air fryer for the best results!

About the ingredients

You’ll find a full list of ingredients with amounts in the recipe card below. But here’s a summary of what you need to know.

• Butter: Caramelizing a chopped onion in butter adds a sweet, rich flavor. Prefer olive oil? That works too!
• Onion: Use either a brown or red onion, sliced thinly or chopped finely—your choice.
• Zucchini: You’ll need around 3 to 4 cups of sliced and halved (or quartered) zucchini. I’d say you’ll need 2 smaller zucchinis or about 1 and a half medium ones.
• Garlic: Don’t skip the crushed garlic in this recipe. It goes perfectly with the mild flavored zucchini.
• Dried herbs: I go quite heavy on the dried herbs, once again to lift the milder flavors. Any dried herbs are fine, but I particularly like basil, oregano and dill.
• Flour: The key to making the quiche fluff up and make its own ‘crust’. Use self-raising flour or plain flour with baking powder added. Bisquick works too!
• Milk: Whole or reduced-fat milk both work well. You can substitute with cream for a richer texture, but this is not necessary at all.
• Eggs: Just 4 large eggs needed—less than most crustless quiche recipes. If you have small eggs, add an extra one.
• Salt and Pepper: I usually season the ingredients twice – once when cooking the zucchini and onions, and again when making the custard mixture. season to taste, but bear in mind that cheese is quite salty already.
• Cheese: There’s lots of flexibility here. Sharp cheddar along with creamy ricotta cheese are my go-tos, but you can mix things up with parmesan, gruyere, feta, or any cheese you like. Feta is a particularly good substitute for ricotta if you’d like the quiche to have a Greek style vibe.

How to make the best crustless zucchini quiche

Start by lightly caramelizing the onions in melted butter for 5 to 10 minutes—they’ll add a lovely sweetness to the quiche!

After 5 minutes, toss in the zucchini slices, the garlic and the dried herbs. Cook them for 5 to 7 minutes, which will help release excess moisture, so you won’t get a soggy quiche. Sprinkle over salt and pepper to taste.

Then roughly layer up the zucchini and onions with the cheese (2 layers will be fine).

Now make the egg custard mixture. Start with the flour, then whisk in the eggs. Blend in the milk carefully so that there are no lumps.

After pre-heating the oven, carefully pour the egg mixture evenly all over the other ingredients in the quiche pan.

Then bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the quiche is puffed up and golden and there are no more raw egg patches in the middle.

Variations

Get creative and make this crustless quiche your own! Here are a few simple ideas:

• Add more greens such as frozen or fresh green beans, broccoli or asparagus.
• Mash some lemon zest into the ricotta cheese (lemon goes well with zucchini!).
• Add tasty bacon or ham! Simply pan-fry a bit of chopped bacon before caramelizing the onions. Or just sprinkle cooked ham in with the zucchini layers.
• Replace the caramelized onions with chopped (raw) salad onions (spring onions/scallions).
• Use fresh herbs instead of dried (just mix them into the egg mixture).
• Go wild with the cheeses! Try feta cheese instead of ricotta, or goat cheese, or how about parmesan, gruyere, or even mozzarella?

Serving ideas

Serve with literally anything, but here are some of my favorite ideas.

• Something that’s a completely different color, such as sweet potato fries, or sautéed butternut squash
• these easy parmentier potatoes (little roasted diced potatoes that you could put into the oven at the same time as the quiche). If you have an air fryer, try these air fried smashed potatoes.
• How about this light and tasty Greek potato salad? You’ll love the contrast of hot quiche with cold, tangy potatoes.
• Greek lettuce salad or just a simple green salad with this 5-minute lime honey dressing is enough if you’re serving the zucchini crustless quiche for lunch.
• Soup and quiche are a match made in heaven! How about adding some hearty Greek lentil soup on the side, or go lighter with this instant pot tomato soup?

Alternatively, I wrote a huge list of recipes to serve with quiche, in case you’d like to check that out instead.