Cheesy and satisfying Bacon Cheddar Crustless Quiche is an easy make-ahead breakfast bake that gets lightened up with cottage cheese. This tasty and crowd pleasing crustless quiche has the best texture and is perfect for make-ahead weekday breakfast or holiday brunch.
If you love savory make-ahead breakfasts, than this dish is for you. Full of belly satisfying eggs, gooey cheddar, and bacon, this is going to be your new favorite way to make-ahead your breakfast!
The secret to light and fluffy eggs is to blend the eggs with cottage cheese. This simple step will give the eggs so much fluff and texture, without any of the cottage cheese taste… trust me!
Why no piecrust?
As a lover of all things piecrust, I can understand the hesitation in not using one in a quiche recipe. After all, the crust adds a flaky goodness that just can’t be beat.
Bacon Cheddar Crustless Quiche is a recipe that I love to make ahead and have around for the week. While piecrust is delicious and decedent, it doesn’t play a role in my weekly diet and doesn’t hold well as a make-ahead recipe due to its tendency to get mushy with time.
This quiche is so flavorful it doesn’t need a piecrust either. The added texture you get from blending the eggs with the cottage cheese, is more than enough to make up for a lack of piecrust bottom.
Making this for a special occasion? Then by all means, add rolled out piecrust if you like. Simply place piecrust in the bottom of the pie tin, pierce with a fork, and bake for 10-15 minutes before adding the eggs mixture.
If you are looking for a delicious quiche recipe with the piecrust, don’t miss my Ham and Cheese Quiche. This is a great recipe for using up leftover ham too!
Crustless Quiche with Cottage Cheese
The secret to making a full and satisfying crustless quiche is blending the eggs with cottage cheese beforehand. This little trick will give you the fluffiest and lightest quiche you could imagine.
To do this, simply combine the eggs and cottage cheese in a blender and blend until the eggs are foamy and there are no more chunks in the cottage cheese. For this recipe I used 2% cottage cheese, but 1% or fat free would work as well.
If you don’t have a blender, you could use a Hand Stick Blender (emersion blender). Alternately, you could keep the chunks in the cottage cheese and just whisk the eggs until light and foamy.
Another benefit of using cottage cheese in this recipe is the added protein it provides. Additionally, part skim cottage cheese gives you a lower fat recipe than if you were to just use additional eggs.
Why This Recipe Works
This simple quiche recipe comes together FAST and is totally customizable. Here, I used my family’s favorite breakfast ingredients: bacon and cheese! But you could absolutely make this quiche using different combos such as roasted broccoli, spinach, ham, sausage, and whatever cheese you have on hand.
You are going to love how quick this dish comes together and how make-ahead friendly it really is. While many egg dishes lose their luster in the fridge, this Bacon Cheddar Crustless Quiche holds up well and reheats beautifully.
Make this the day of or up to three days in advance! Just slice up the quiche and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To reheat, cut a slice and microwave on high for about 30 seconds. Serve with salsa, hot sauce, or roll in a tortilla for a quick breakfast burrito.
To make, I recommend using a standard-sized 9.5 inch glass pie dish if you have one. I personally love the Anchor Hocking dish because it has the handles, which makes carrying a dish full of eggs a bit easier to manage!
How to Make Bacon Cheddar Crustless Quiche with Cottage Cheese
Firstly, crack the eggs into a blender and add in cottage cheese. Blend until there are no more chunks in the cottage cheese and the mixture is frothy. Secondly, pour the eggs into a mixing bowl and add in the toppings.
For this recipe I used Bacon Crumbles, shredded cheddar cheese, and green onions. I recommend using bacon crumbles for this dish. The crumbles are easier than cooking bacon, and the leftovers are perfect for adding to salads, breakfast burritos, pasta dishes, really anything.
If you don’t have bacon crumbles on hand, you could substitute cooked crumbled breakfast sausage, chorizo, or Canadian bacon. You could also skip the meat altogether and add in drained cooked spinach, cooked broccoli, or roasted bell peppers. As for cheese, feta, mozzarella, Monterey Jack, or fontina would be delicious in place of the cheddar.
To add some color and flavor to the quiche, I like to add in chopped green onions. You can absolutely skip this step or add in more onion if you like. Save some to sprinkle over the finished dish for garnish.
Lastly, spray the pie pan with cooking spray and pour in egg mixture. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until the eggs are set in the middle of the dish. Also, don’t be worried when you see the the quiche is puffy. It will settle down about a minute after coming out of the oven.
Make-Ahead Breakfast Egg Recipes
Love make-ahead breakfasts? Me too! Be sure to check out some my favorite make-ahead breakfast recipes:
Simple, delicious, and healthy. You are going to love this easy to make recipe. Be sure to comment below and let me know what you think. Enjoy!
Bacon Cheddar Crustless Quiche
Equipment
- 9 or 10 inch glass pie pan
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- ¾ cup cottage cheese (I use 2% cottage cheese)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- ½ cup crumbled cooked bacon
- 2 tablespoons green onion, diced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° degrees. Coat a glass pie plate with nonstick cooking spray, set aside.
- In a blender, add eggs, cottage cheese, salt and pepper. Blend until there are no chunks left. Pour egg mixture into a bowl and mix in ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese, crumled cooked bacon, and green onion. Pour into prepared pie dish. Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup cheddar cheese.
- Bake for 25-28 minutes, or until eggs are cooked through and set in the middle. (Note that the dish will be puffy when baking but will settle when taken out of the oven.) Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before cutting into slices.
Notes
Nutrition
G
This is really excellent. I added cherry tomatoes on top and they didn’t make it runny (whew!). It’s so good that I stood at the stove and ate it right out of the dish.
Angela Allison
Love it! Thanks so much for the comment 🙂
Samantha
I tried this recipe with sausage because my husband prefers it over bacon. It worked perfectly and reheats well too.
Caitlin Combs
This is awesome. So versatile. Can I make this with egg whites?
Angela Allison
Thank you! Yes, you can use egg whites instead.
Dawn
Made this today and my husband loved it! Super easy…delicious and so many ways to change the flavors. Thank you for such a fantastic recipe!!!
Cindy
What can you use instead of cottage cheese?
Thank you
Angela Allison
I’ve never made it without cottage cheese but I bet plain greek yogurt would work.
T.Aden
So delicious! The texture and flavor is amazing!
Linda Asher
Looks delicious! Trying it for my Bible study group tomorrow morning to eat! Yummy!
Tina
I always hate it when people change a recipe and then comment, however…I added a little blanched fresh broccoli with the bacon step, but otherwise followed your recipe exactly. It was delicious! Very flavorful and a great consistency. Thank you for sharing!
Angela Allison
Great idea to add the broccoli! So happy you enjoyed it.
Jessica Sorensen
I am excited to make this but would like to do individual mini pie pans and was wondering on the cook time
angelakallison
I would reduce the cooking time by about 10 minutes. You’ll know when it’s done when the center is set and no longer giggly. Enjoy!
Nikki Brewster
Delicious
Kathy
I’ve made scrambled eggs with cottage cheese in them for years. It’s the best way to make scrambled eggs for a crowd. They stay really nice for a buffet. I’ve always mixed it up with a fork and not in a blender. Sometimes I add a tablespoon of water for added fluffiness.
Love the quiche recipe. Thank you for sharing!
By the way, I tried Greek yogurt as a substitute once. The flavor and texture was not as good as using cottage cheese.
Linda
Such a brilliant idea to add cottage cheese and to use a hand blender to mix. It made it so light and fluffy. The best quiche I have ever had! I hate it when they come out really hard cooked. Wonderful recipe. Thank you!
angelakallison
Yes! The cottage cheese makes the eggs so fluffy! Happy you loved the recipe 🙂
Trish
What do recommend to replace the cottage cheese
angelakallison
I’ve never made it with anything other than cottage cheese, but perhaps ricotta cheese or Greek yogurt would work.
Chelsey
Hey! This looks fabulous! I was wondering…could I completely assemble this and put it in the fridge overnight, then bake it in the morning?
angelakallison
Yes, you can do that. Just add the cheese topping right before baking so it doesn’t sink to the bottom. Enjoy!
Jane A
I put the cottage cheese and eggs in the food processor. Then added ham to it and let it chop the ham up. Poured into glass dish added cheese, steamed broccoli and green onion. This was absolutley marvelous!! Definitely a keeper.
angelakallison
Great idea to let the food processor chop up the ham too! So happy you loved the recipe! 🙂
Patty
Thanks for making it before rating. This is helpful!
SHANIKA
I love making Quiche! I’ve never tried a crustless version, but this looks so perfect! I think I might actually give this a try! YUM!
Emese
The perfect quiche doesn’t really need a pie crust. I love how light and fluffy they are without one.
Kushigalu
What a fantastic quiche recipe. Love this version. Will try it soon
Nora
How many servings does this make?
Angela Allison
I usually cut it into about eight slices, but I’d say you can serve about four.
Emily
We love quiche but haven’t tried a crustless one. What a fantastic recipe, especially for the holidays!
Dannii
Everything is better with bacon. I love a simple crustless quiche recipe.