Vegan Spinach Quiche
This Vegan Spinach Quiche is inspired by classic French cooking. It’s packed full of caramelised shallots, spinach and tangy vegan cheese. Get the recipe below.
Page Contents
Classic French cooking
French cooking is often held up as being the most sophisticated of them all. French cooking is responsible for a range of techniques we now all use: from poaching and sautéing, flambéing to braising.
If you learn the skills required in French cooking you’ll be well set up to cook any other cuisine or to begin experimenting in your kitchen.
Today we’re cooking a classic French dish – the quiche.
What is a quiche?
A quiche is a savoury tart. It’s made up of a shortcrust pastry filled with a savoury custard then fillings such as cheese, meat and vegetables. You can also find some with fish!
Of course we’re making a vegan quiche so there’s no cheese, meat and fish in sight. Instead this Vegan Spinach Quiche is filled with caramelised shallots, spinach (obviously) and a vegan cheese substitute.
More on that below…
How to make a vegan spinach quiche
Let’s break down how to make this classic French dish.
Vegan shortcrust pastry
Before we begin, there’s one thing you must know. Cold hands and a warm heart make the best pastry. Cold hands are essential so the butter doesn’t melt and all food tastes better when its made with love.
Once you’ve made sure your hands are nice and cold (I genuinely run them under a cold tap on a hot day…) then we can begin.
The first step is to rub the fat into the flour to make what’s known as “breadcrumbs”. The technique is relatively easy though it may seem intimidating. All you need to do is delicately pick up some of the fat and flour then rub it between your finger tips. As you do so the fat and flour will combine and eventually it will be the texture of breadcrumbs.
It’s important you only use your finger tips. As I said it is quite a delicate process. You don’t want fat and flour all over the palms of your hands.
Next we add the liquid to bring it all together into a ball. You don’t need to add much. Keep working it until it just comes together. It might look a bit raggedy but it will work I promise.
Resting the dough comes next. Wrap it in clingfilm so it doesn’t dry out and leave it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Longer if you can. This will make sure the pastry doesn’t shrink back when its rolled out and baked.
Once it’s rested and been rolled out (to roughly 2 inches wider than the size of the tin), drape it over the tin and then start working it into the corners. Do this by gently pushing, are lifting and moving the excess pastry as you work your way round.
To trim off the excess, just roll your rolling pin over the top and it will cut it perfectly to size.
To stop you getting a soggy bottom, you will need to “blind bake” it. Essentially you’re cooking the pastry part of the way so it doesn’t soak up the filling when it’s added.
Once it’s blind baked you’re all done and it’s ready to fill.
Vegan savoury custard
Quiches are filled with a rich and creamy savoury custard that would ordinarily be made with cream and eggs. Savoury custard might not sound all that appealing but it’s actually a really good flavour carrier for our fillings and has a really decadent mouthfeel.
To make a vegan savoury custard you need to get a little inventive.
The filling for this vegan spinach quiche is made from gram flour and aquafaba. You might know them as chickpea flour and chickpea water. That’s right, chickpeas are more versatile than you think!
Now chickpea flour and water doesn’t taste of all that much so we season it with garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast and a pinch of nutmeg. We don’t want to overpower the custard too much as the caramelised shallots, spinach and vegan cheese also need to shine through.
The technique is not quite as simple as whisking everything together I’m afraid. You first whisk the seasonings with the gram flour and water. You then whip up the aquafaba so it’s filled with air. Gently fold this into the rest of the ingredients for a light, frothy filling.
Caramelised shallots
One of the things I love most about this quiche is the caramelised onions. Sure the spinach is the star of the show but I love the sweet flavour the caramelised shallots bring to the dish.
Caramelising them is easy. Simply cook them low and slow in olive oil with a big pinch of salt. The salt will help draw out the moisture.
Once they’re sticky and golden you know they are ready.
Spinach
Spinach is the key component of this dish so there is a lot of it.
The only problem with spinach is that it leaks a lot of water when it cooks. A lot of spinach leaking a lot of water will result in a wet soggy mess which is exactly what we don’t want.
This can be solved by wilting the spinach first, leaving it to cool (ideally in a sieve or similar strainer so the liquid can escape), then squeezing it to get rid of as much moisture as humanly possible.
And that’s it. Once it’s squeezed, just chop it up and add it to the quiche.
Vegan cheese
Traditionally this recipe would be made with Gruyere but a tangy vegan cheese will do. I like to use Violife’s extra mature or Cathedral City.
Each melts well so you get a burst of gooey cheese in each bite.
Shortcuts to making this dish
Want to make the recipe but wondering how to make it a little bit less time consuming? Here are some of my favourite shortcuts:
- Buy a block of shortcrust pastry that’s ready to roll
- Buy frozen spinach, leave to thaw in a sieve so that all the extra moisture drains away
- Use pre-grated cheese
The recipe
Delicious served warm or cold, this vegan spinach quiche is perfect for an evening meal and can be accompanied by salad or new potatoes. It is also perfect to be served during a buffet, or to pack in your picnic.
Vegan Spinach Quiche
Equipment
- 1 7 inch tart tin
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 200 g plain flour
- 100 g vegan butter
- 4 – 6 tsp plant milk
For the filling
- 3 banana shallots
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 150 g vegan cheese grated
- 250 g spinach
- salt and pepper
- 75 g gram flour (also known as chickpea flour)
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 0.5 tsp onion powder
- 0.5 tsp garlic powder
- 1 pinch nutmeg ground
- 190 ml water
- 3 tbsp aquafaba (or chickpea water)
Instructions
- Cut up the vegan butter into cubes and add to a mixing bowl along with the flour.
- Rub the vegan butter and flour between your fingertips until you have a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add the plant milk a few tbsp at a time until the pastry comes together into a ball of dough.
- Wrap the pastry in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- While the pastry is resting, pre-heat your oven to 150C.
- Thinly slice your shallots then add them to a pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a good pinch of salt.
- Saute for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
- In the meantime, wilt your spinach in a large pan with a splash of water.
- Once wilted, remove from the pan and leave to cool.
- Once cold enough to touch, squeeze out all of the liquid.
- Dust the work surface with flour, put the dough in the middle and sprinkle it with flour.
- Flour your rolling pin then roll out the pastry into a circle 5cm/2” larger than the quiche tin.
- Carefully lift it into the tin and push it into the corners and grooves.
- To cut off the excess pastry, roll the rolling pin over the top of the tin.
- Prick the bottom of the pasty with a fork.
- Scrunch up baking paper then place inside the pastry case. Top the baking paper with baking beans.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until beginning to go a pale golden colour.
- Remove the baking paper and baking beans and bake for another 5 minutes until golden.
- While the pastry case is baking, add the gram flour, onion powder, garlic powder, nutmeg and nutritional yeast into a bowl.
- Slowly pour in the water, mixing continuously so that there are no lumps.
- With an electric whisk, whisk the aquafaba in a separate bowl until light and fluffy, holding soft peaks.
- Fold the aquafaba into the wet mix.
- Once the pastry case is baked, cover the base with the caramelised onions, followed by the vegan cheese. Lastly add the wilted spinach.
- Pour over the gram flour and aquafaba mix.
- Bake in the oven at 160C for 30 minutes or until the quiche is golden on top and the middle is set.
- Enjoy hot or cold.
Nutrition
More French inspired recipes
For the full range of recipes on the blog that are inspired by French cuisine, check out the French recipe collection.