Crustless Spinach and Cheese “Quiche”

I absolutely love this dish and every time I entertain friends or bring this dish to a brunch, they ask me for the recipe.

Sometime in the late 1990s before I married, my future sister-in-law invited me over for dinner.  At the time, we both lived outside of Boston and it was easy to meet up.  When I arrived at her house, she was whisking away in the kitchen and threw a casserole dish into the oven.  She put my future niece to bed and we sat in her kitchen, conversing over a glass of wine.  Thirty minutes later, she pulled the dish out of the oven, whipped up a simple salad and brought them to the table.  I asked if she was serving a spinach quiche and she said “everyone asks the same, but it’s not.”  Back then (over 15 years ago) no one talked about crustless quiche, but that’s essentially how we would define it today.  I guess my sister-in-law was ahead of her time!  I couldn’t stop eating the quiche.  I asked for the recipe and she jotted it down on a piece of paper which I stored in an accordion file folder for years (until I recently transferred it to Evernote, my favorite paperless app where I download and store recipes, but that’s a whole separate blog post).

This is one of my favorite go-to brunch dishes, but it’s not just for brunch.  I have eaten this crustless quiche for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This recipe is quick and easy as long as you remember to pull the spinach out of the freezer to thaw well before you are ready to prepare the dish. The cottage cheese serves as a substitute for the milk/half and half/heavy cream in traditional quiche recipes. As this quiche has no crust, the sides brown and caramelize, forming its own “crust.”  As with most casserole-like dishes, this quiche is better the next day when all of the ingredients have settled and melded together.

Crustless Spinach and Cheese "Quiche"

Print Recipe

You can make this dish up to one day before serving. Simply heat the oven to 300 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.  If you are not serving this dish to guests, just slice off a wedge and nuke it for 30-45 seconds.  Whether you serve this straight from the oven or reheat it, everyone will most likely go back for seconds or thirds.

Servings	Prep Time
2-3 people as a meal	10 minutes

Cook Time

50-60 minutes

Servings Prep Time 2-3 people as a meal 10 minutes

Cook Time 50-60 minutes

Crustless Spinach and Cheese "Quiche" Print Recipe You can make this dish up to one day before serving. Simply heat the oven to 300 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.  If you are not serving this dish to guests, just slice off a wedge and nuke it for 30-45 seconds.  Whether you serve this straight from the oven or reheat it, everyone will most likely go back for seconds or thirds. Servings Prep Time 2-3 people as a meal 10 minutes Cook Time 50-60 minutes Servings Prep Time 2-3 people as a meal 10 minutes Cook Time 50-60 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cups cottage cheese
• 1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 package/box frozen spinach thawed and drained of all liquid
• kosher salt to taste

Servings: people as a meal

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk eggs with flour until smooth.

   
3. Add cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, spinach and salt to the egg mixture. Stir together until all ingredients are well incorporated.

   
4. Pour the mixture into a greased 1-quart casserole dish and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the the top just begins to brown. If you are using a shallow dish, shorten the baking time accordingly.

   
5. Allow the quiche to cool 5-10 minutes before serving. The quiche will recede from the baking dish and settle as it cools.

   

Recipe Notes

Adapted from my sister-in-law's recipe.  Thank you!!

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