Puff Pastry Quiche – Sustainable Cooks

Puff Pastry Quiche is quiche in its finest form. This recipe uses a flaky puff pastry crust to hold a savory custard filled with Swiss and cheddar cheese, along with tender diced ham. Hello, brunch!

A store-bought crust for quiche elicits sad trombone sounds (whomp whomp), but making your own crust from scratch isn’t always an option. Solution? Puff pastry quiche, my friends.

Puff pastry is just as convenient as those rolls of store-bought pie crust, but the results are miles better—because as we know from puff pastry pizza, turkey pot pie with puff pastry, and baked brie with garlic, this buttery, flaky dough is the stuff dreams (and delicious recipes) are made of.

That being said, if you only have traditional pie crust hanging around, check out our Ham and Swiss Quiche.

Ingredients

This recipe has:

• Puff pastry – Note that this is similar to, but not the same as, crescent roll dough. You want puff pastry here, which has a more flaky texture and buttery flavor.
• Cooking spray or butter for the pie plate.
• All-purpose flour – Some for the filling and just a bit to make it easy to work with the puff pastry.
• Eggs
• Half-and-half – For a rich custard*.
• Dried dill
• Swiss cheese – Slices of Swiss pair well with the ham in this puff pastry quiche recipe.
• Cooked ham – Use leftover Instant Pot ham, or you can ask your deli counter to cut you some thick slices that you can dice at home.
• Shredded cheddar cheese – A sharp cheddar will give you more cheesy flavor to balance the smoky ham.

Half-and-half is a dairy product that can be found in the United States. It is made up of half heavy cream, and half whole milk. It may be called “half cream” in other countries.

Step By Step Instructions

*I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can also click “jump to recipe” to skip down.

Start by following the thawing times on the puff pastry box (anywhere from 20-120 minutes depending on the brand).

Coat the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan with cooking spray or butter. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and begin preheating it to 375˚F.

Carefully unfold the sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll it out with a floured rolling pin until it’s about 16×16 inches.

Transfer the puff pastry to the prepared pie pan, then trim and crimp the edges. Poke holes on the bottom and sides of the puff pastry with a fork, then cover it with parchment paper and add dried beans or pie weights.

Pro tip: if the puff pastry is getting too warm while you’re working with it, pop it back into the fridge or freezer for 15-20 minutes. I guess that is the single benefit of having ice-cold hands like my own! That, and helping people recover from sunburns.

Set the pie pan in the oven and bake for 12 minutes. This step is called parbaking or blind baking. Now you can impress your friends with that fact at the next trivia night. Nerd.

In a deep mixing bowl, combine the eggs, flour, half and half, and dill in a deep bowl. Mix with an immersion blender or whisk well.

Arrange the Swiss cheese on the bottom of the pie crust, then add the ham. Pour the custard over the ham, then top with the shredded cheddar.

Loosely cover the puff pastry quiche with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Remove the foil and bake for 5-10 minutes more, or until the egg has fully set in the middle.

RECIPE VARIATIONS & OPTIONAL ADDINS

• Feel free to switch up the cheese! Gruyere is quite good with ham and makes an excellent stand-in for the Swiss. Gouda (especially smoked Gouda!) and havarti are also great, or add Parmesan for a more assertive flavor.
• You can make this puff pastry quiche vegetarian by swapping the ham for sautéed mushrooms, steamed broccoli, or well-drained frozen spinach.
• You can also try a different protein. Crumbled cooked sausage or bacon is always tasty in homemade quiche.

WHAT TO SERVE WITH THIS RECIPE

It depends on if you’re serving this puff pastry quiche for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. If it’s a breakfast meal, we love Air Fryer Home Fries or Instant Pot Cold Start Yogurt.

Fresh fruit is lovely, but we also love Steamed Cinnamon Apples or Peach Compote on the side.

If we’re serving it for dinner, Asparagus Casserole, a nice big Cabbage Chopped Salad, Roasted Frozen Broccoli, or Air Fryer Asparagus works well on the side.