This crustless tomato quiche is the perfect bake to see you through the rest of the summer days. It's packed with vibrant tomato flavours with a deliciously light egg custard filling and a cheesy topping. If you like tomatoes you're going to love this crustless tomato quiche!
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The best tomato quiche
This is the absolute best tomato quiche I've ever tasted. It's made with fresh juicy tomatoes cooked with onions before being mixed with a creamy egg custard and baked in the oven. The custard is given a twist by the addition of cream cheese, which imparts an extra creamy texture. I've added fresh basil for extra flavour too because everyone knows basil and tomatoes are a match made in heaven.
I think this crustless tomato quiche is one of the most delicious recipes I have posted to date (and even if I'm blowing my own trumpet, that's saying something).
Joking aside, I think you'll love this tomato quiche!
It is absolutely packed with tomatoes.
- Firstly, there are lots of tomatoes in the filling. They are fried with onions until the onions are caramelised and the tomatoes have broken down and released their sweetness.
- The filling itself is made by mixing eggs with cream cheese, milk and breadcrumbs to form a thick, savoury custard, which is combined with the tomatoes and onions and poured into a quiche dish.
- Finally, the whole quiche is covered with grated cheese and even more tomatoes to form a delicious tomatoey (is that a real word?) topping.
Plus, because you don't have to spend time making pastry, this crustless tart is super quick and easy to put together. You will need about half an hour to prepare the tart (which includes cooking the tomatoes and onion) and then it's into the oven to bake.
This quiche makes a great addition to any picnic or potluck and is perfect for a light lunch. I've even been known to have a slice for breakfast. It's also great when served with a slice of cheesy garlic baguette!
What you will need
Equipment
For frying the tomatoes and onions, you will need a frying pan. I recommend using a frying pan rather than a saucepan. A frying pan has a larger surface area that allows the juices from the tomatoes to evaporate faster than they would in a saucepan.
You will also need a mixing bowl for mixing the custard, and a 9" round baking dish for baking the quiche. Because this is a very runny mixture, I recommend using a solid glass or ceramic baking dish rather than a loose-bottomed flan dish so the mixture doesn't leak out during baking.
Other items you will find useful would be a balloon whisk, a chopping board, a sharp knife and a spatula.
Ingredients
**You can find the complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this crustless tomato quiche on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**
This recipe will make 1 x 9" round quiche, which will yield approximately 10 slices.
Tomatoes - Some of the tomatoes will be used for the filling and some will be sliced and arranged on top of the quiche. You should remove the skins from the tomatoes before using them. See the FAQ section below for how to do this.
Cut the tomatoes for the filling into small pieces, remove the seeds and allow any excess liquid to drain away before using them. The tomatoes for the topping should be cut into slices. You can use any tomatoes you happen to have available - if you are using cherry tomatoes, these should be halved rather than sliced before being used as the topping.
The weight for the tomatoes, as given in the recipe, is before they have been skinned and deseeded.
Onion - I've used a white onion, but you could substitute with shallots if you prefer. The onion should be peeled and cut into fine dice (approximately half an inch in size).
Breadcrumbs - these help to thicken the filling. I've used Panko breadcrumbs because they are ultra-absorbent, but you could grate a couple of slices of day-old bread on a cheese grater if you don't have Panko.
Cheese - I've used a mixture of grated cheddar and mozzarella. You can use any cheese that grates and melts easily. The grated cheese is sprinkled both on the base of the baking dish and also on top of the quiche before it is baked.
Cream cheese - this is used in the filling. You could substitute this with ricotta if you prefer. I normally buy supermarket 'own brand' cream cheese.
Eggs - large eggs, please. If your eggs are on the small side you could add an extra one.
Milk - I've used full-fat milk but you can use semi-skimmed instead.
Fresh basil - this is finely chopped and added to the filling. I haven't tried making this dish with dried basil, but if you do use dried basil instead of fresh, bear in mind that dried basil has a much more intense flavour than fresh basil, so you will need much less (ie one teaspoon of dried to 2 tablespoons of fresh approximately).
Salt and sugar - for seasoning. I always add a scant teaspoon of sugar when I'm cooking with tomatoes to enhance the flavour. Salt is optional and to your taste. I forgot to include black pepper with the ingredients, but you should grind some black pepper over the tomatoes on top of the tart before baking.
Olive oil - for softening the onions.
What to do
Just a few simple steps:
- Prepare the baking dish
- Chop and fry the onions and tomatoes
- Mix the custard
- Assemble and bake
Prepare the baking dish
Pour one teaspoon of olive oil into your baking dish and spread it over the base and sides. Use a pastry brush to do this, or you can use a piece of paper towel.
Add 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs and shake the dish around until the breadcrumbs cover the base and sides of the dish.
Sprinkle one-third of the grated cheese on the base of the dish.
Set the dish aside.
Onions and tomatoes
Peel and chop the onions into fine dice and then soften them in a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Fry them on a gentle heat and don't let them get too brown - they should start to turn translucent.
This will take about 5 minutes.
Peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Cut the tomatoes into small dice, drain and add to the onions along with the sugar. Season with salt to taste.
Turn up the heat and bring to a boil stirring occasionally.
Turn the heat down to a strong simmer and leave the tomatoes to cook with the onions until most of the liquid has evaporated. This should take between 10 and 15 minutes depending on how watery your tomatoes are. The tomato mixture should be just bubbling.
This is the consistency you are looking for. The tomatoes should have thickened, and there should be very little liquid left in the pan.
If the tomatoes are too watery the quiche will not set once it goes into the oven.
Set aside to cool.
Mix the custard
Place the eggs, milk, cream cheese and breadcrumbs into a mixing bowl.
Mix with a balloon whisk until the cream cheese has been incorporated and there are no lumps in the mixture.
Chop the basil finely and add it to the custard mixture.
Assemble and bake
Once the tomatoes have cooled sufficiently, mix in the custard.
Do not add the custard if the tomatoes are still hot as you don't want the custard to start to cook.
Pour the mixture into your prepared baking dish.
Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese on the top.
Slice the remaining tomatoes and arrange them on top of the cheese.
Sprinkle lightly with salt and finely ground black pepper.
Bake in a preheated oven (180C / 360F) for 40 to 50 minutes until the custard has set.
If the tart starts to brown too much, cover it loosely with a sheet of tin foil.
Check that the tart is cooked by inserting a wooden toothpick into the centre. The toothpick should come out cleanly.
Once cooked, the tart should feel firm to the touch if you press it gently on the top.
Remove the tart from the oven and leave to cool.
Store the tart in the refrigerator and serve cold.
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Tips and FAQ
Place your tomatoes into a large bowl and cover them completely in boiling water. Leave them to sit in the hot water for 2 minutes.
After 2 minutes, pour off the hot water and cover the tomatoes with cold water to stop them from cooking further.
The skins should slip off.
If your tomatoes are very firm you may like to cut a shallow cross on the base of the tomato before covering them with boiling water.
The main reason why your quiche hasn't set is that you left too much liquid in the tomatoes and onions when softening them. It is very important that most of the liquid from the tomatoes evaporates.
When cooking the tomatoes and onions it may seem as though the liquid will never evaporate. Just be patient, it will cook out eventually. Just keep stirring, drawing the spatula through the mixture until the liquid has gone. Do remember to let the tomatoes drain well before adding them to the pan.
A frying pan has a larger surface area than a saucepan which will help the liquid evaporate faster.
The second reason may be because the eggs you used were too small. I used three large eggs, if your eggs are on the small side you can use 4 eggs instead.
No, sorry. This recipe is not suitable for freezing. The quiche will turn very watery and unappealing if frozen and defrosted.
You can store this quiche covered in the refrigerator for 3, possibly 4 days.
If you would like to take the quiche on a picnic, pack it into a cooler box with one or two ice packs to keep it cold. If the dish doesn't fit into your cooler box, cut slices of quiche and pack them into a rigid plastic box first.
Save for later
If you would like to make this crustless tomato quiche yourself, why not save the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily? Just click on the image below.
Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right-hand side of the screen.
Related recipes
If you enjoyed this tomato quiche recipe you may also like to try one of these other crustless tarts:
You can find many other delicious tarts and quiches (including these amazing Stilton, pear and walnut sausage rolls) on my savoury tart recipes page.
📋The recipe
Crustless tomato quiche
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Frying Pan
- Mixing bowl
- 9" round Baking dish
- Spatula
- Balloon whisk
- Sharp Knife
- Chopping Board
Ingredients
Baking dish
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons / 10 grams Panko breadcrumbs
- ⅓ cup / 40 grams grated cheese cheddar/mozzarella mix
Filling and custard
- 1 large onion peeled and finely diced
- 1 pound / 450 grams fresh tomatoes peeled, deseeded, drained. and finely diced
- ⅓ cup / 25 grams Panko breadcrumbs
- 4 ounces / 110 grams cream cheese or ricotta cheese
- 3 large eggs or 4 small eggs
- ½ cup / 120 ml milk
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon sugar optional
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Topping
- ½ cup / 60 grams grated cheese cheddar / mozzarella mix
- 2 to 3 medium firm tomatoes peeled and sliced
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Prepare the baking dish
- Pour the olive oil into the baking dish and use a pastry brush to spread it over the base and sides.1 teaspoon olive oil
- Sprinkle the breadcrumbs into the dish and shake the dish to coat the breadcrumbs evenly on the base and sides of the dish.2 tablespoons / 10 grams Panko breadcrumbs
- Sprinkle the grated cheese on the base of the dish⅓ cup / 40 grams grated cheese
Make the filling
- Fry the chopped onion gently in the olive oil until it becomes translucent.1 large onion, 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Add the peeled and chopped tomatoes to the onions. Try not to get too much of the tomato liquid into the pan. Add the sugar and salt.1 pound / 450 grams fresh tomatoes, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar
- Bring to the boil, then turn the head down to a strong simmer and allow to cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture has thickened. (see the main post for an image of the consistency - there should be hardly any liquid left in the pan)
- Remove the tomatoes and onion from the heat and allow to cool.
- Place the eggs, milk, cream cheese and breadcrumbs into a mixing bowl.⅓ cup / 25 grams Panko breadcrumbs, 4 ounces / 110 grams cream cheese, 3 large eggs, ½ cup / 120 ml milk
- Mix with a balloon whisk until the cream cheese has been incorporated and there are no lumps in the mixture.2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
- Chop the basil finely and add it to the custard mixture.
Assemble and bake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 360°F
- Once the tomatoes have cooled sufficiently, mix in the egg and milk mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
- Sprinkle with the grated cheese½ cup / 60 grams grated cheese
- Arrange the sliced tomatoes in single layer on the top and sprinkle them lightly with salt and black pepper2 to 3 medium firm tomatoes, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Place the baking dish in the preheated oven and bake for 40 to 50 minutes until the tart has set.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- Serve chilled.
Notes
- If the tart starts to brown too much, cover it loosely with a sheet of tin-foil.
- Check that the tart is cooked by inserting a wooden toothpick into the centre. The toothpick should come out cleanly.
- The tart should also feel firm to the touch if you press it gently on the top.
- The main reason why your quiche hasn't set is that you left too much liquid in the tomatoes and onions when softening them. It is very important that most of the liquid from the tomatoes evpourates.
- When cooking the tomatoes and onions it may seem as though the liquid will never evaporate. Just be patient, it will cook out eventually. Just keep stirring, drawing the spatula through the mixture until the liquid has gone.
- Do remember to let the tomatoes drain well before adding them to the pan.
- A frying pan has a larger surface area than a saucepan and this will help the liquid evaporate faster too.
- The second reason may be because the eggs you used were too small. I used three large eggs, if your eggs are on the small side you can use 4 eggs instead.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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