This crustless zucchini quiche recipe is an easy way to feed a crowd, or act as a healthy make-ahead vegetable-packed breakfast, lunch, or light dinner. You’ll love the sunny flavor with tomatoes, fresh parsley, shallot, creamy mozzarella, and rich parmesan cheese.
With layers of fresh summer vegetables, this crustless zucchini quiche may feel a bit fancy, but it’s amazingly practical. It’s a perfect way to use up those forgotten veggies in the back of the fridge!
This easy recipe came about at the tail end of a long week when I’d run out of groceries except for a lone zucchini, tomato, and a handful of shallots. While classic quiches are a special treat, I didn’t feel like rolling out a crust. So I turned the zucchini and shallots into a crust of sorts, caramelizing them on the stove until they were sweet and slightly crisped.
Simply delicious! This crustless vegetable quiche is great for my low-carb, gluten-free, and vegetarian friends, and the recipe keeps well in the fridge all week.
Table of Contents
Crustless Zucchini Quiche Ingredients
The glorious thing about crustless zucchini quiche is that it’s easily a fridge-raid situation (same goes for other variations like mushroom quiche). The comments section has a wealth of genius swaps and substitutions. Here’s what I went for, along with suggestions for ways you can make this recipe your own:
- Tomato: Go for varieties that are firm and flavorful when ripe, like Roma. Avoid anything too watery as they may make the quiche soggy. Or substitute with sun-dried tomatoes.
- Zucchini: Look for smooth, deeply green skin, which is a good indication of freshness. Credit to Susan in the comments, who had success substituting this with asparagus (though it’s not something I’ve tried myself).
- Shallots: Give the zucchini “crust” a sweet and savory depth of flavor. Substitute with garlic, white onion, yellow onion, or leek.
- Seasoning: Sweet Spanish paprika gives the quiche a very mild spice without dominating the zucchini’s delicate flavor. Kosher salt and black pepper perk everything up.
- Parsley: Adds freshness. Substitute with other tender green herbs, like mint, basil, cilantro, or dill.
- Cheese: Mozzarella adds richness, while parmesan brings an umami quality. Feel free to swap in feta.
- Eggs are the base of the quiche.
- Milk: I like whole milk here as it adds a welcome richness. Feel free to use low-fat if you prefer.
- Baking powder: Makes the quiche light and fluffy.
- Flour: A little white whole wheat flour or all purpose flour adds structure to the crustless quiche. If you’re gluten free, Gaby in the comments substituted with a mix of rice and potato flour with success.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Any high-quality extra virgin variety will work well.
How to Make Crustless Zucchini Quiche
The cooked zucchini and shallots serve as the “crust” lining the bottom of my quiche dish. Still, I augmented the egg mixture with just a little bit of white wheat flour, so we still get a hearty quiche without the crust.
- Get ready. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a 9-inch pie dish. Slice 1 medium tomato, 1 large zucchini, and 3 shallots into rounds. Chop enough parsley leaves and tender stems to get a packed 1/4 cup.
- Expel the tomatoes’ excess water. Arrange the sliced tomatoes on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt. Leave for a few minutes, then pat dry.
- Meanwhile, soften the vegetables. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the zucchini and shallots. Season with 1/2 teaspoon paprika and a pinch of salt and pepper. Raise heat slightly and saute, tossing regularly, until everything is tender and beginning to brown.
- Make the vegetable “crust.” Transfer the zucchini mixture to the prepared pie dish, pressing to spread across the bottom. Arrange the sliced tomatoes on top. Sprinkle evenly over top with 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella and 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan.
- Make the quiche filling. In a mixing bowl, whisk together 3 large eggs, 2/3 cup milk, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/4 cup chopped parsley. Pour the egg mixture into the pie dish on top of the cheese.
- Bake. Bake in the hot oven until the egg mixture is well set, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and wait 5 to 7 minutes. (Quiche will puff up slightly because of the baking powder, but will quickly go down as it sits.) Slice and enjoy!
What to Serve with Zucchini Quiche
I like to serve this zucchini quiche with a bright, flavor-packed Mediterranean salad or two. My first choice here is Balela salad because it is a more substantial salad with loads of chickpeas. Fattoush salad and Tabouli are two more hearty yet fresh salad recipes.
How to Reheat Leftovers
- In the oven: Wrap the slices individually in foil and heat in a 300°F oven until warmed through.
- In the microwave: Heat on low for 30 seconds or so (without the foil).
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Crustless Zucchini Quiche
Ingredients
- 1 medium tomato, sliced into thin rounds
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large zucchini, sliced into rounds
- 3 shallots, sliced into rounds
- 1 teaspoon sweet Spanish paprika (divided)
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour or all purpose flour, sifted
- Packed 1/4 cup chopped parsley
Instructions
- Get ready. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a 9-inch pie dish.
- Expel the tomatoes’ excess water. Arrange sliced tomatoes on paper towel and sprinkle with salt. Leave for a few minutes, then pat dry.
- Meanwhile, soften the vegetables. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the zucchini and shallots. Season half of the paprika and a pinch of salt and pepper. Raise heat slightly and saute, tossing regularly, until the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown.
- Make the vegetable “crust.” Transfer the zucchini mixture to the prepared pie dish, pressing to spread across the bottom. Arrange the sliced tomatoes on top. Sprinkle the mozzarella and Parmesan evenly over top.
- Make the quiche filling. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, remaining paprika, baking powder, flour, and parsley. Pour the egg mixture into the pie dish on top of the cheese mixture.
- Bake the quiche. Bake in the hot oven until the egg mixture is well set, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and wait 5 to 7 minutes. (Quiche will puff up slightly because of the baking powder, but will quickly go down as it sits.) Slice and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Salad options to serve along: Balela Salad; Fattoush Salad; Tabouli; 3-ingredient Mediterranean Salad; Orange and Pomegranate Salad
- Recommended for this recipe: Private Reserve Greek extra virgin olive oil (from organically grown and processed Koroneiki olives). SAVE! Try our Greek EVOO Bundle!
- Recommended for this recipe: All-natural Sweet Spanish Paprika.
- SAVE! Try our Ultimate Mediterranean Spice Bundle, or create your own 6-pack or 3-pack from our all-natural or organic spice collections.
Nutrition
*This post has recently been updated with new information for readers’ benefit.
Tried recipe tonight and both myself and husband loved it. He was hesitant at first because on meat, but after the first couple of bites said he didn’t need it. Will definitely be making more often.
Love this dish. Easy to make.
Not sure why so many people think this recipe is delicious. I think it’s bland and flavorless. Because I hadn’t made a quiche before I followed the directions and used the exact ingredients (except for using cilantro instead of parsley because that’s what I had on hand). Can’t figure out what went wrong, but will definitely not be making it again.