How To Make the Best Asparagus Quiche

I have high standards for quiche — as in, quite literally high. I want a tall quiche where there’s a big ratio of filling to crust, one filled to the brim with creamy custard setting softly around the meat, veggies, or cheese. Lots of restaurants make quiche in springform or cake pans because of the tall, straight sides that yield substantial slices. Home cooks, however, tend to use pie pans because they’re a common piece of kitchen equipment, not to mention the fact that you can buy store-bought pie shells. But the resulting quiches tend to be thinner.

This recipe bridges the gap between the two worlds and celebrates spring asparagus all in one fell swoop: Chopped asparagus, scallions, and feta cheese go into a deep-dish crust so there’s plenty of room for lots of custard to hold it all together. Since the veggies don’t need to be pre-cooked, this quiche doesn’t take a lot of time to put together, and you’re rewarded with a satisfying, beautiful dish that can be eaten at any time of day.

This recipe uses a deep-dish pie pan because it holds more filling than a regular pie pan due to its taller sides. To line it, roll out homemade pie dough out into a big round that’s 12 to 13 inches across.

If you want to take a shortcut with the crust, grab a frozen deep-dish pie shell at the grocery store instead. It doesn’t hold quite as much filling as a deep-dish pie pan, but still works just fine. Don’t use a regular store-bought pie shell, which doesn’t hold enough filling, or try to roll out store-bought dough, which will be too thin when rolled out to the right size.  

To make sure the crust doesn’t get soggy when the custard goes in, the important first step to this quiche is par-baking the crust before adding the custard and doing the final bake. (This isn’t blind baking, which is when a crust is fully baked because it doesn’t go back into the oven.) Par-bake by lining the pie shell with foil, adding in pie weights (sugar works great too!), and then baking until the crust is just set. Take the foil and weights out, bake just a few minutes more to get the crust a very light golden-brown, and the par-baked crust is now ready to fill. If you’re using a frozen deep-dish crust, follow the directions on the package, using pie weights if it offers that as an option.

Once the crust is par-baked, filling the crust is easy. Chop up asparagus, slice some scallions, crumble up feta cheese, and layer it into the crust. Scallions give great flavor and don’t need to be pre-cooked, and feta cheese offers creamy, tangy notes — try to get whole pieces of feta still in brine for the best flavor. Whisk together an easy custard of half-and-half and eggs and pour it into the crust.

Since a homemade deep-dish pie shell holds more filling than a frozen store-bought one, the recipe offers different amounts of asparagus and custard to fill up the shells to the right level, so be sure to note what you should be using.

After about 45 minutes in the oven, this fragrant, beautiful spring quiche is ready to eat. Let it cool slightly before diving in so you can cut clean slices. I like my quiche warm, but it can certainly be eaten at room temperature, too. This quiche — chock-full of crisp-tender asparagus and buttery crust — is a really great vegetarian breakfast, brunch, or lunch, especially alongside a green salad tossed with a vibrant vinaigrette.