Bacon and Mushroom Quiche
Delicious Bacon and Mushroom Quiche featuring crisp, smoked bacon, caramelised red onion, browned chestnut button mushrooms and fresh thyme. All in a creamy cheese, fresh chive and egg filling encased in a nutty wholemeal pastry. Perfect hot or cold!
Due to the popularity of my Roasted Vegetable Quiche and Salmon and Spinach Quiche, I thought I'd add another quiche recipe to Ella's Better Bakes.
And this smoked bacon and chestnut mushroom quiche really is a winner! After all, bacon, mushrooms, onions and egg always go so well together. Add in some thyme and chives, and you have the perfect combination.
I make this quiche every couple of weeks now and serve it with a lovely, bright, fresh salad (see salad recipe below) and buttered new potatoes.
I love a wholemeal pastry too because its nutty flavour and slightly coarse texture really complement the filling.
Homemade pastry is really easy once you get the hang of it, and it is so much better than shop-bought pastry in my opinion anyway. I never like the texture of bought pastry, and it lacks the flavour and flakiness of homemade pastry.
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Why make this Bacon and Mushroom Quiche?
Wholemeal pastry case 🧈 for a nutty flavour ✔️
Chestnut mushrooms 🍄🟫 for more nutty flavour ✔️
Smoked bacon 🥓 for extra flavour and structure ✔️
Egg 🥚 and cream smooth custardy filling ✔️
Fresh chives 🌿 really go well with the egg filling ✔️
Fresh thyme sprigs🪴 (no need to pick off those fiddly leaves!)✔️
Only one cheese, 🧀 mature cheddar, needed ✔️
Ingredients and Substitutions
See the Recipe card below for the exact quantities
- Wholemeal flour - you can make normal shortcrust pastry if you prefer. Just swap the wholemeal flour for plain flour.
- Fine salt - necessary in the pastry only, to give it flavour
- Unsalted butter - salted butter will also work fine; just add less salt.
- Eggs
- Olive oil - for frying the bacon, onions and mushrooms. Can be replaced with vegetable oil, sunflower oil or butter plus a drop of any of these oils.
- Smoked back bacon - I prefer smoked bacon, but unsmoked will be fine, as will lardons, pancetta, or streaky bacon.
- Red onion - I like the sweetness of red onion in this bacon and mushroom quiche, but don't worry if you only have white (normal) onions; they will be absolutely fine too.
- Baby chestnut mushrooms - chestnut mushrooms have more flavour than white mushrooms; they give the quiche a nuttiness that pairs well with the wholemeal pastry. However, white mushrooms are fine to use. I don't recommend using dried mushrooms and rehydrating them, as they can be a bit chewy and the flavour too strong for this recipe
- Fresh thyme -if you do not have fresh thyme, add a teaspoon of dried thyme instead.
- Double cream (heavy cream)
- Mature cheddar cheese - Gruyère cheese works well too; swap out 50 grams of the mature cheddar for Gruyère if using. Red Leicester cheese also works really well instead of cheddar.
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
See Recipe card for exact instructions.
Wholemeal Pastry
Place your wholemeal flour and salt into your food processor and whizz a little to mix together. Then add your cubed cold butter evenly over the top of the flour and pulse the processor until the mixture becomes sand-like and no lumps of butter remain.
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Add your egg yolk and very cold water, and pulse again until the mixture starts to clump together.
Tip the mixture out and bring it together into a ball. If it isn't sticking together very well, sprinkle over a teaspoon of very cold water. Knead literally 2-3 times just to fix the dough together.
Once in a ball, flatten the dough out to about an inch thick, and wrap it in cling film. Refridgerate for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better).
Top Tip: Refrigerating your pastry overnight results in a flakier and more flavoursome pastry. This is because it allows the gluten in flour to develop and hydrate. It also makes it easier to roll out.
Roll your chilled pastry out until it is about 5 mm thick. Then drape it over your greased quiche tin and press it into the base and sides.
Roll your rolling pin over the top of your tin to cut off the excess pastry. Then prick the base of the pastry all over with a fork. This stops it from bubbling up when baking.
Cover the pastry with foil, making sure the edges are fully covered to prevent them from burning. Then fill with baking beans or uncooked rice to hold the foil down.
Bake for 15 minutes and then carefully remove the baking beans, or rice, and the foil. Return to the oven to continue to bake for another 15 minutes or until the pastry is browned all over and is slightly coming away from the sides of the tin. Set aside.
Bacon and Mushroom Quiche Filling
Remove the rind from your bacon and set it aside. Chop your bacon into small pieces. Add your oil to your pan along with the bacon rind and heat for 3 minutes. Add your chopped bacon and fry on a medium-high setting until browned. Place them on a piece of kitchen paper to soak up the excess fat.
Add your onions and thyme to the same pan and fry on medium-high until browned and caramelised. Then place on kitchen roll to soak off the fat. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs and add to the onions; discard the stalks.
Add your sliced mushrooms to the pan and fry until golden brown. Place on a piece of kitchen roll to soak off the fat.
Whisk your eggs with your cream and chives. Then mix in two-thirds of your grated cheddar.
Mix your bacon, onions and mushrooms together and then place in the baked pastry case.
Carefully pour over your egg mixture. Then sprinkle over the rest of your cheese and chopped chives.
Bake for 35-40 minutes in your preheated oven. When ready, the centre of the quiche should be set and the quiche golden around the edges. Leave to cool for 10 minutes to allow the quiche to fully set before serving.
Top Tip: Prep your Bacon and Mushroom Quiche up to a day before.
All of the elements of this Bacon and Mushroom Quiche can be made up to a day ahead. You can mix the eggs, cream and chives, cover with cling film and then refrigerate (this also helps to enhance the flavours). You can fry your bacon, onion and mushrooms, cool them and then cover and refridgerate. And you can make your pastry tart case in advance. Then just put it all together and bake it when you are ready. You will need to allow another 5-10 minutes for the quiche to bake.
Storage
Bacon and Mushroom Quiche should be kept refrigerated once cooled and consumed within 3 days of baking.
It can be frozen once baked and fully cooled.
Serving suggestions
Bacon and Mushroom Quiche is perfect for dinner or lunch; it can be warmed through or eaten cold.
I like to have it with a colourful salad and some scrubbed and boiled Charlotte potatoes (or other waxy or new potatoes). Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them, then return to the still-hot pan. Add a good knob of butter and sprinkle with freshly chopped flat parsley leaves, place the lid back on the pan and give it a good shake to evenly coat all of the potatoes.
To create a salad and salad dressing for 4 people, I follow this recipe:
Salad
1 bag of mixed leaf salad
20 or so baby plum tomatoes chopped in half (I find these are sweeter than cherry tomatoes)
Half a cucumber, cut into 1 centimetre chunks
Half a red onion, thinly sliced
A 70 gram bag of black olives, cut in half
Half a yellow pepper, cut into small chunks
A drained small tin of sweetcorn in water
Salad Dressing
Mix the following and drizzle over the salad when you are ready to serve it:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or normal olive oil)
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon of coarse-grained mustard (or Dijon mustard)
1 teaspoon of runny honey
Salt and freshly milled pepper to taste
Top tips for Perfect Bacon and Mushroom Quiche
Better if made a day ahead - if you can, it is always best to make and bake a quiche the day before, refridgerate it and then gently reheat it when you need to serve it. This allows the egg filling to develop its flavour, and it is also much easier to slice up.
Do not overwork your pastry - only mix your pastry in your mixer until it begins to clump into large balls. Then tip it out onto a work surface and scrape it all together until it forms a ball, and knead it a couple of times only. If you knead it or handle it too much, it will lose its lovely flakiness when baked.
Chill your butter again after cutting it up - your butter needs to be really cold to make pastry; otherwise, your dough will be cakey in texture. I usually chop mine up and then refridgerate it again for ten minutes to firm it back up if it has warmed up too much.
Chill your pastry for as long as possible - the longer you chill your pastry, the better it will bake up and the more flavour it will have.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
📖 Recipe
Bacon and Mushroom Quiche
Here's what you'll need...
- Food processor optional
- Large shallow oven tray
- Baking beans or uncooked rice
- Foil
- Frying pan - large
- Pastry brush (optional)
Ingredients you'll need...
Wholemeal Pastry
- 200 g Wholemeal flour plus a bit extra to roll out (1 Cup and 12 tablespoons)
- ½ teaspoon FIne salt
- 100 g Unsalted butter cut into 1 cm cubes - must be very cold (½ Cup)
- 1 Egg yolk cold
- 4-5 tablespoon Very cold water
Bacon and Mushroom Quiche Filling
- 2 tablespoon Olive oil
- 180 g Smoked back bacon - with rind removed (6 rashers approx i.e. 1 pack)
- 1 Large red onion or white onion
- 150 g Baby chestnut mushrooms (1½ Cups)
- 4 Springs of thyme
- 270 ml Double cream (1 Cup)
- 4 Large eggs (use 3 eggs and 1 yolk)
- 150 g Strong cheddar cheese grated (1½ Cups of grated cheese)
- 4½ tablespoon Chives chopped into small pieces
- Freshly gound pepper
Here's what we do...
Wholemeal Pastry
- Grease your fluted tart tin, making sure you get into the fluted edges. Using a pastry brush can be useful for this.
- Fit the blade attachment to your food processor and then add your flour and salt and whizz for a few seconds until combined. Or mix by hand in a mixing bowl.
- Spread your cubed butter over the flour mixture and mix until sandlike. Give the bowl a shake midway to ensure all of the flour at the base is incorporated.
- Add your egg yolk and 4 tablespoons of very cold water, and pulse your food processor until the mixture starts to clump together into balls. You may need to add another tablespoon of cold water to achieve this (I usually do).
- Tip your pastry out onto your worksurface and bring it together into a ball. Knead it just 2-3 times so that it fully sticks together.
- Flatten the dough out until it is about an inch thick and then cover with cling film and refridgerate for 30 minutes.
- Heat your oven to 180°C /160°C Fan/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Lightly flour your work surface and roll the dough out into a circle about 5 mm thick. Drape it over your quiche tin.
- Hold the edge of your pastry vertically with one hand and with the other gently press it into the base of the tin, pushing it gently into the fluted sides. If it is a bit thinner in some places, then just wet the back of a bit of spare pastry and stick it over the thin part. Nobody will ever know! Make sure you push the pastry into the join between the sides and the tin and base.
- Take your rolling pin and run it over the top of the tin so that it cuts off the excess pastry and gives you a nice. neat finish.
- Prick the pastry base all over with a fork so that it doesn't balloon up when baked.
- Cover the pastry with foil, making sure the sides are totally covered. Then tip in your baking beans, or uncooked dry rice. Enough to fully cover the base and hold the foil down so that the pastry does not fluff up.
- Place the quiche tin on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes.
- Tip out the baking beans, or rice, and remove the foil.
- Return to the oven and bake uncovered for another 15-20 minutes until the pastry is coming away from the sides of the tin and it is just beginning to brown.
Bacon and Mushroom Quiche Filling
- Remove the rind from your bacon and set it aside. Cut the bacon into pieces of approximately 3 centimetres each.
- Thinly slice your onion and slice up your chestnut mushroom quite thickly.
- Heat your olive oil on a medium-high setting for a few minutes and then add your bacon and rind.
- Fry on medium-high until the bacon starts to brown, keep moving it around as it cooks. You don't want the bacon too browned because it becomes quite tough.
- Remove your bacon to a piece of kitchen paper to soak up the excess fat.m. Leave the rind in the pan.
- Add your sliced onion and thyme sprigs to your pan and fry on a high setting until the onion browns and caramelises, this will take about 5 minutes.
- Again, place the onion and thyme onto a piece of kitchen paper to soak off the excess fat. Remove the thyme sprigs and gently pick off any remaining thyme leaves and add them to the onion. Discard the stalks.
- Turn the heat down to medium-high and add your mushrooms. Fry them until browned around the edges. Again, don't overcook them.
- Place the cooked mushrooms on a piece of kitchen paper to soak off the fat.
- Beat your eggs together with your double (heavy) cream, 2½ tablespoons of your chopped chives and about 4 good grinds of black pepper (no need to add extra salt, the filling will be salted from the bacon and cheese).
- Mix in two thirds of your grated cheese.
- Mix your bacon, onion, thyme leaves and mushrooms together and then place them in your baked pastry case.
- Pour over your egg mixture, making sure the cheese is evenly spread out
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of your quiche, and then sprinkle 2 tablespoons of chopped chives over the top.
- Bake in the centre of your oven for 35-40 minutes until your quiche is golden on top, and when you peel a little topping back from the centre, you can see that it is set in the middle.
- Leave to cool and set for 10 minutes in the tin, and then remove from the tin and serve.
- Serve with a good salad and new potatoes in butter.
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