Quiche is a special dish because it is both unique and surprisingly versatile. It’s hard to go wrong with eggs, cream, and cheese. And the rest of the filling can involve anything from meat to vegetables. This means that a traditional quiche can basically be served anytime, from breakfast to dinner. Unfortunately, that range can make it tough to begin choosing the right side dish. So, we have carefully pulled together some great ideas to serve with your delicious tart.
The best side dishes for quiche should be lighter, and pair well with the egg base. Anything heavier than your quiche will likely become the main course. Also, eggs are the greatest constant in any quiche, no matter what experimental toppings are added. Therefore, these side dishes are ideal for different meals of the day:
- Light or protein salad
- Focaccia bread with spinach and rosemary
- Tomato bisque
- Whole roasted cauliflower
- Fondant potatoes
Quiche is always a fun meal to get any day started, but it becomes really flexible with the right ingredients and side dishes. Cooking literally anything can open up an overwhelming barrage of options, though. Keep reading to learn where to start with quiche, including both specific recipes and broader ideas.
What is a good side dish with quiche?
It can take around an hour or more to prep and cook a typical quiche. After all that work, you’ll want to have some side dishes that will pair nicely. Ideally, they should also complement the presentation of the quiche. This usually involves a salad, soup, or specially prepared vegetables. Here are our recommendations.
Light or Protein Salad
Salads are the perfect place to begin for a number of reasons. Firstly, quiche always has a creamy filling. So even though quiche sits in a pastry crust, it generally isn’t all that crunchy. Salads are an easy way to balance out the quiche’s smoothness with a healthy, satisfying, and refreshing crunch. Remember, many restaurants already serve salads with basic egg dishes.
If your quiche was made with heavier ingredients, then it’s probably dense with meat for a hearty dinner. You can balance that approach with a light salad. This can include something like a broccoli salad, or a slaw salad.
Slaw salads hold for a long time, so they can be useful if you need to prep the salad in advance. Also, slaw salads may include broccoli. There are countless quiche recipes that call for broccoli to be added inside the quiche. Naturally, broccoli on the side will be a perfect match.
However, it’s possible that your quiche was made to be a light, charming lunch. Salads are especially useful again, because both quiche and salads can often be prepared with seafood. A simple, grilled shrimp salad would add enough heft to your meal without spoiling dinner.
Focaccia Bread with Spinach and Rosemary
Focaccia is a somewhat fancy flatbread that is both crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside. It also has a very convenient flexibility, and can even be used to make sandwiches. Serving any bread with some crisp will be a perfect pair with quiche. Bread can subdue the savory richness of the quiche without sacrificing any flavor.
You can serve focaccia bread with herbal toppings and spinach to better match your quiche. Spinach is a popular ingredient for both quiche recipes and focaccia recipes. If you're working with crispy bread, you can read this post to learn if you need to wash a knife after cutting bread.
Tomato Bisque
To begin with, tomato bisque isn’t exactly a true bisque. That’s because bisque is traditionally a French soup based on the strained broth of crustaceans. However, bisque has basically become a general name for other creamy types of soup. So, tomato bisque is essentially just a creamy tomato soup.
This is perfect, because even creamy tomato soup has a light density. Even better, tomatoes are naturally fresh, and don’t require many ingredients. This keeps a tomato bisque rather simple, which means that it won’t overwhelm your quiche. This simplicity is one of the reasons tomato soup remains such a cozy hot dish.
Roasted Cauliflower
Roasted vegetables are one of the easiest options for breakfast. Roasted veggies shouldn’t take long to prepare, and they can be as filling as you’d like them to be. One of the best selections is a whole cauliflower, roasted to perfection. Remember, quiche is typically made with vegetables to begin with. So, it stands to reason that roasting any of them on the side will work out.
However, whole cauliflowers are a particularly large and crunchy vegetable. The crunchy texture will provide the same balance that a salad would. But the cauliflower will draw far less attention from the quiche.
Even better, a whole cauliflower is larger than most roasted vegetables. This means it can be topped with other things like parmesan cheese, which would agree with the cheese in your quiche.
And instead of a wide pile of typical roasted vegetables, the presentation will feel more complete and simple. Then again, you may not be so worried about the visuals. In that case, you could also serve a whole roasted cauliflower on a bed of other roasted veggies like asparagus or tomatoes. All of this will enhance the creamy egg base in the quiche.
Fondant potatoes
Like the bisque idea, fondant potatoes are an attempt to lean towards French ideas. Fondant potatoes are a staple of French recipes, which is why they’re also known as “pommes fondant.” Basically, it’s sort of an evolution of roasted potatoes, and unique for its preparation.
Fondant potatoes have been cut into cylinders, which are an appealing and interesting look for potatoes. Next, the potatoes are browned on both ends, and slowly roasted in butter until the potatoes are very tender. Fondant potatoes can also be served with various herbs.
Either way, potatoes can be eaten with nearly anything. And potatoes in any form can agree with eggs. Just make sure that your potatoes are going to balance out your quiche. You don’t want creamy potatoes with a creamy quiche, or crispy potatoes with a crispy quiche. Creating contrast gives everyone a break from either texture. You can read this post to learn about twenty types of potatoes every cook should know.
What to serve with quiche for Easter brunch?
Luckily, the signature dish for Easter is a glazed ham. Ham happens to be a very popular addition for traditional quiche recipes. A few strips of glazed ham can make a great side for your quiche, as long as you keep the portions balanced. This idea can extend to the other cold cut meats that are traditionally served for Easter.
An Easter celebration usually involves a big brunch. This means that you will want to incorporate heavier side dishes, without losing the attention on your quiche. The best way to achieve this is to prioritize protein salad and bread recipes. These side dishes can create a busy, full meal.
Since eggs are widely used for fun on Easter, don’t be tempted to use deviled eggs for your salad’s protein. Unless you are really careful, this can start to overwhelm the guests with egg flavors and unbalance the overall meal.
What meat goes with quiche?
Bacon, sausage and ham are all frequently considered to be breakfast meats. This makes them ideal additions to your quiche.
Bacon is a staple for quiche because bacon and eggs are already the best of friends. Even Martha Stewart’s website lists multiple bacon recipes for making the best quiche. Bacon can be prepared many different ways, or even included inside the quiche. This is so common, it’s in most ready-made quiche products that you can buy at the market.
Similarly, sausage and ham can also be served inside or outside the quiche. You can get equally creative with either sausage or ham. They are prepared in a variety of different ways across many different cultures.
How to serve quiche at a buffet?
A buffet can make things challenging for quiche, which must be served warm or hot. Yes, it’s technically safe for you to serve quiche cold. But quiche usually needs to be refrigerated within two hours. And besides, cold quiche is going to develop a terrible taste and a rubbery consistency.
Also, if quiche is being served at a buffet, it is no longer the focal point of the meal. Buffets offer a wide variety of foods, which means that your quiche should have a more simple recipe. If your quiche is less complicated, it is more likely to blend well with the other food. If you want to keep the portions right, you can also try to make a mini quiche for your guests. This is possible by cooking with a mini muffin tin.
Fortunately, quiche can usually be cooked and refrigerated in advance without losing its flavor when you reheat it. Preparing some batches of tiny quiche will make great finger food.
Summary
Quiche can involve a wide variety of ingredients, but the creamy egg base invites some very particular company. Now you have an idea of what flavors, ingredients, and sides will complement your quiche for any time or occasion. All you need to do is plan ahead, choose the right path of side dishes, and let your own creativity shine!
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