This delicious Three-Cheese Zucchini Quiche, made lighter without heavy cream, is perfect for end-of-summer zucchini for breakfast, brunch or lunch.
Zucchini Quiche
Trying to adapt quiche to make it healthier is challenging because you can’t skimp on the pie crust (which is the best part, in my humble opinion. Aside from the buttery crust, quiche is also typically made with a good amount of heavy cream and cheese. I tested this Three-Cheese Zucchini Quiche a couple of times, and I think you’ll love how it turned out! I have many more healthy quiche recipes on my blog. Some others you might like with crust are my Spinach Ricotta Quiche, Chicken Quiche, or for crustless quiche recipes try Crustless Ham and Cheese Quiche or Broccoli Cheddar Quiche.
This healthy zucchini quiche recipe is lightened it up using part-skim cheeses and swaps out heavy cream for skim milk. It highlights delicious summer zucchini and basil, the ricotta creates a fluffy, creamy inside, and the cheese blend adds saltiness that is so flavorful, and even great the next day for lunch.
How To Make Zucchini Quiche:
Parbake your crust. If you want to make this faster you can use a frozen pie crust instead. Cut the zucchini into rounds and saute until tender. Add it to the crust then combine egg, milk, basil, salt and cheeses and pour that over the zucchini finishing it with Parmesan. Bake 350F until the eggs set, 50 to 55 minutes.
What are the best cheeses to use in quiche?
For this three-cheese quiche, I used part-skim ricotta, part-skim shredded mozzarella, and freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Do you sauté veggies before adding them to quiche?
Yes, sautéing the zucchini and onion before adding them to the quiche releases the water so the crust doesn’t get soggy.
Should you par bake the crust for a quiche?
Par baking the crust means you partially bake it before adding the egg filling. This process will ensure the zucchini quiche crust is crispy. Prick the crust with a fork and bake it for 15 to 18 minutes at 350° Fahrenheit.
Can you freeze zucchini quiche?
This can be refrigerated for up to 4 days, or frozen up to 3 months. To freeze quiche I like to wrap slices of quiche individually in plastic or foil and freeze. Then when I need a quick breakfast or lunch, I can pull out a slice. You can either thaw the quiche in the fridge and then microwave or microwave it for a little longer straight from frozen.
Variations:
- Zucchini: Swap zucchini for yellow squash.
- Onions: Sub white or yellow onion for red onion.
- Cheese: Use shredded cheddar instead of mozzarella or asiago or Pecorino Romano in place of parmesan.
- Herbs: Substitute basil for fresh rosemary or thyme.
More Zucchini Recipes You’ll Love:
- Caramelized Onion, Red Pepper, and Zucchini Frittata
- Zucchini Casserole
- Turkey Meatloaf with Zucchini
- Giant Zucchini Parmesan
- Crustless Zucchini Pie
Zucchini Quiche
Equipment
- Deep Pie Dish 9-inch
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch refrigerated pie dough
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup diced red onion
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 2 medium zucchini, about 7 ounces each, cut into 1/8-inch thin slices
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 6 large eggs
- ½ cup skim milk
- ½ cup part-skim ricotta cheese
- ½ cup part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped basil, plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Remove the pie dough and allow to sit at room temperature while you prep your ingredients.
- Roll the dough out on a well-floured work surface until it’s approximately 12- inches in diameter.
- Transfer it to a 9-inch deep pie dish. Using your fingers, press it firmly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Trim off any excess, leaving about 1/2-inch overhanging. Then fold/crimp the overhanging dough.
- Prick the bottom of the pie crust with the tines of a fork. Place crust on a small sheet pan (this makes is much easier to transfer to the oven once it’s filled).
- Transfer the pie crust to your pre-heated oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until par-baked. Then remove.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the onion and garlic and sauté 30 seconds. Add the zucchini, ½ teaspoon salt and pepper, to taste and toss to evenly combine.
- Cook for 7-8 minutes, stirring every couple minutes, until the zucchini has softened and flavors combined. With a slotted spoon, transfer three-quarters of the zucchini to par-baked crust.
- In a medium bowl, add the eggs, milk, ricotta, mozzarella, 2 tablespoons Parmesan, basil and ½ teaspoon salt and pepper, to taste. Using a fork, mix to combine until uniform.
- Pour egg mixture into the crust over the zucchini. Top with remaining zucchini and 2 tablespoons Parmesan.
- Cover the crust with aluminum foil so it doesn’t burn and place in oven quiche in oven.
- Bake 350F 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until set and top is browned.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Top with basil, slice into 6 pieces and serve.
This is a really good recipe for using up your zucchini. I made it twice and added a few other things each time and it was still so good. I did not have Ricotta the first time so I used cream cheese and I also added mushrooms. The second time I used Ricotta and added mushrooms and chicken since we were having it for dinner.
Super delicious! I added mushrooms and tomatoes also.
I was curious if you think this would freeze well?
To freeze quiche I like to wrap slices of quiche individually in plastic or foil and freeze. Then when I need a quick breakfast or lunch, I can pull out a slice. You can either thaw the quiche in the fridge and then microwave or microwave it for a little longer straight from frozen.
I messed this up in a few different ways (store bought crust, I’m talking to you), but it was still amazing! Thank you for the detailed step by step. Will definitely make it again.
I made this omitting the crust to save points. Cooked in a 8×8 pyrex dish at recommended time & temperature and it came out perfectly. Did 4 servings. May not be considered a quiche but we considered it delicious!
I made this recipe exactly as stated. It was absolutely delicious! Thank you 😊
On regular rotation in my house! If you love quiche, you will love this. With the real pastry crust, it doesn’t taste like a healthy option at all.
Best quiche I ever made. However, from the start I modified it to use what we need and what we had:
– potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride, for salt
– all hard cheeses (no ricotta): mostly Machengo (delicious!) and parmesan
– mix of red and green onions
– whole milk mixed with soy milk instead of skim milk
It was so good I just did that again the next time, instead of trying to get ingredients to follow the recipe ‘to a T.’
This is delicious! Made exactly as the recipe said and turns out perfectly. More flavorful than I expected–
This was delicious! I used a frozen crust and worked great. Wonderful way to use up summer zucchini!
Made this yesterday. Turned out perfect. Tasted great. My husband loved it. Added mushrooms. Baked at 325 degrees for 50 minutes in convection oven.
I use a hashbrown base and bake hashbrowns like pie crust and cover it while cooking eggs…yummy.
I’m making this tonight I’ve done own pastry I’ll leave another message after we have eaten Thankyou 🇦🇺
This is a great quiche. Love the ricotta in it. I also sprinkled sun dried tomatoes in it. Got rave reviews.
Fantastic, delicious, and wonderful quiche! Followed the recipe exactly and it was three 👍! I will definitely make this again!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I made this recently, and it was so good, my husband and I really liked it. When I prebaked the crust it kinda fell down, so I am going to have to make sure I do a better job on that next time. I’ll definitely be making this again! Thank you Gina for all the wonderful recipes!
Delicious!!!
Made this and brought it to my girlfriend who just had a baby. Served alongside some fruit, it was a wonderful and healthy lunch where the leftovers work great for breakfast the next day (or a 2am newborn wakeup call!).
Delicious! I ended up making my own crust. Thanks for the great recipe.
Would this work with 2 ingredient dough?
I would have given this a five because I really enjoyed the flavor. However, the instructions must have been incorrect with regards to blind baking the crust – which at 350 did not bake the crust properly. It worked much better at 450
If I use a frozen pie crust. Should it be par baked?
Oh my gosh! This is fantastic! The zucchini and onion is such a perfect combination. You’d never know this is a lightened up version of a classic!
I got back from a trip , didn’t want to go to grocery store , and wanted to make something easy with ingredients I had at home. This recipe was a great choice! I did substitute 4 oz light cream cheese for the ricotta as I that’s what I had. Another commenter suggested this. I also put some roasted red peppers on top since they were in my fridge too. So good. Will be going into the rotation! Thanks Gina for this recipe.
Wow! I’ve made this three times in two weeks. One for me, one for a sick friend and one for my son. I followed the recipe. Perfection each time. Thank you!
So delicious I didn’t want to share! I made it without the crust and I only had 4 eggs, so I added 1/3 cup egg whites.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Loved this, substituted Light Cream cheese for ricotta and added mushrooms as I only had 1 small zucchini. Delicious!!
I just posted a question about making this without the crust and then read the comments below. Sorry, the question was asked and answered prior to my post. I can’t wait to try this. Thank you, as always for great recipes!
This looks so delicious! I was wondering though; what do you think it would turn out like if I omitted the crust and just prepared in a greased pie plate? I’m prediabetic and am not supposed to eat anything high in carbs – especially processed carbs. Any suggestions?
This was delicious! I made it with low fat ricotta. I will definitely make this again. The most difficult part was rolling out the crust as it kept splitting. Thanks for such a yummy recipe.
What crust did you use? If it was refrigerated/frozen did you leave it out to thaw first? Don’t think it would split otherwise.
This came out amazing! Definitely a keeper!
This was amazing. I followed the recipe almost exactly, the only change was I had 2% ricotta and it came out it came out perfect. I made this for dinner with a scrumptious side salad.
Any substitute for ricotta? I love it, but my husband can’t tolerate it.
Fabulous for any occasion
I skipped the crust part and served with home fries.
Thank you.
Can you make and freeze? Would you cook it first and freeze?
As written in the narrative- This can be refrigerated for up to 4 days, or frozen up to 3 months. To freeze quiche I like to wrap slices of quiche individually in plastic or foil and freeze. Then when I need a quick breakfast or lunch, I can pull out a slice. You can either thaw the quiche in the fridge and then microwave or microwave it for a little longer straight from frozen.
Just made this for the first time tonight! So yummy and
Definitely a keeper!
DEElishsus! I made it for brunch today.
My husband and I are cheeselovers and this was very satisfying *and* heathyme!
Can I make this using puff pastry like the spinach pie?
This is fantastic! I was able to put this together with pantry items I hand on hand- I added a red pepper to the veggies you have here, and used a mixed bag of cheese types I had. It was DELICIOUS. So happy to find a fantastic quiche without cream. Even made my own crust and it was very easy. I’ll be making this any time I have summer zucchini to use up.
Perfect!!
Delicious! The basil really made this recipe. I’m looking forward to leftovers.
OMG!!! This is a low fat, high taste recipe. You are so right, Gina. The house smells amazing too. TY very much
Glad you enjoyed it!
Can’t wait to try the zucchini quiche
Unfortunately, the link to WW isn’t working
Fixed! 🙂
I made this using crooked neck squash from our garden. We will enjoy this for dinner tonight. The quiche is beautiful! I would have loved to post a photo!thanks for the recipe!
You cover the outside rim, not the whole quiche, correct?
The link to WW personal points does not seem to be working.
could you make this without the crust?
Sure, I would use a regular pie dish, not deep. Not sure if it needs more filling? If anyone does this crustless let us know!
I made it crustless! Sautéed zucchini, onion, and garlic in 10 inch pan. Poured egg mixture over it and cooked on 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Turned out great!
I made it without the crust, as well, and it was delicious!