13 Quiche Varieties You Should Get To Know

Quiche is a dish that's endured through the ages. While it's most closely associated with French cooking — and the word "quiche" is French — the term actually derives from the German word "kuchen," meaning cake.

This egg dish has been around since the 1400s. Its origins are often traced to the German region of Lothringen, which later became part of the larger Alsace-Lorraine territory. This area has changed from German to French hands many times throughout history, but it's now a part of France.

The original iteration of quiche consisted of a bread crust. It was filled with a mixture of eggs and dairy, also known as custard. Over time, pastry or pie crust took over as the base for quiche, giving the dish a more elegant character. As people continued to enjoy the dish and experiment with it, new and exciting ingredients were added to the filling, creating variations on the basic quiche. Here, we've collected some of the best and most beloved quiche varieties, as well as some you may never have heard of before.

Perhaps the best-known of all the quiche varieties is quiche Lorraine. Most modern quiche Lorraine recipes feature bacon and cheese. But the original version did not have cheese. It did have meat, in the form of bacon or ham. As you might intuit from the name, this variety comes from the same region where quiche was invented: the French area of Lorraine (which is no longer called such).

A true quiche Lorraine focuses on the interplay of custard and meat. As for the meat, you can go with any kind of bacon or ham. But for best results, only bacon lardons will do. Lardons are matchstick-shaped pieces of meat that are cut from a slab of cured pork. They are usually thicker than pieces of typical bacon. Since lardons have bigger dimensions, their interiors have more chew to them, while their exteriors are satisfyingly crispy.

You can usually buy lardons from a good butcher. You could also ask for a whole slab of bacon, then cut them yourself. They should be cooked before being added to the quiche filling, as they won't cook properly while swimming in custard. Without adding anything else, the savory meatiness of the bacon lardons compliments the sleek elegance of the custard filling. Together, these two components make a proper and authentic quiche Lorraine.

Yet another variation on the quiche Lorraine is the quiche Alsacienne. It's named for Alsace, the former French region which bordered Lorraine on the other side of the Vosges mountains. This variety is similar to both the Lorraine and Vosgienne quiches but with the notable addition of onions. Typically, the onions are browned or caramelized first, before being added to the filling, giving this quiche a rich and sweet dimension of flavor.

The other major difference you'll find in a quiche Alsacienne, compared to its two siblings, is the type of pork used. Rather than bacon lardons, the preferred meat is speck, which is a particular type of pork that is cured in spices and cold smoked. The combination of intense sweetness from the onions, as well as the savory flavor from the speck, gives quiche Alsacienne a truly unique and complex personality. 

While many Alsacienne recipes incorporate cheese, as with the Vosgienne, others omit it, making it more similar to a Lorraine. How long to cook the onions also varies. Some prefer a long caramelization until the onions are deeply rich and softened. Others call for a shorter sauté which results in a more pungent onion flavor.

If you head further south in France, towards the Mediterranean Sea, you'll reach Provence. This enchanting, sun-drenched region is famous for its seemingly endless fields of lavender, its crisp dry rosé wines, and its deliciously fresh, summery cuisine. Thanks to its warm, sunny climate, lots of delicious and colorful produce thrive here. Many of these herbs and vegetables have made their way into Provence's famous quiche, called quiche Provencale.

Tomatoes are a key ingredient, as well as zucchinis and bell peppers. All of these are also common foods in Provencale cooking. These ingredients are cooked with garlic and onion to add flavor and release moisture before being added to the quiche filling. Another crucial element to giving this quiche its unmistakable Mediterranean flavor is herbes de Provence — a combination of thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, bay leaf, and other herbs. This can be purchased as a pre-made blend, or you can make your own. These herbs add beautiful aromatics and dimension to the vegetables while enhancing the flavor of the egg custard. Unlike the hearty, rich quality of northern France's regional quiches, this variety has a lighter and fresher character that embodies the spirit of Provence.

Quiche au fromage, which is a French term meaning cheese quiche, is simple. It consists of a crust, an egg custard, and some cheese. There are no hard and fast rules for quiche au fromage, so this variety can be totally customized to suit your personal cheese preferences. Gruyère is the classic quiche cheese. Similar substitutes include Comté, Emmental, Jarlsberg, or any nutty Swiss cheese. Raclette is another Swiss cheese that's a great choice, as it's made for melting.

Other semi-firm cheeses work well and add their own characters. Some of these include sharp cheddar, mellow Monterey Jack, or sweet Provolone. Soft cheeses like Brie and Camembert can add richness and texture along with a subtle earthy flavor. For an intensely flavored quiche, go for cheeses that are packed with flavor, like a pungent Roquefort or a funky Taleggio. 

Even cheeses that don't melt particularly well can add an interesting and tasty dimension to quiche, like crumbles of feta, or hard-aged cheeses like parmesan. A quiche au fromage can focus on one singular cheese — for a focused flavor — or a combination of multiple kinds of cheese — for more complexity. 

Savory and earthy, mushrooms are a fantastic addition to a quiche. The world of mushrooms is vast, offering a wide variety of options that vary in intensity and character — from mild, white button mushrooms to pungently aromatic, luxurious truffles. As with other vegetables, most mushrooms should be cooked first, so that they don't release their moisture into the filling mixture. Cooking them beforehand also concentrates their flavor. You can also take this opportunity to enhance them with fat and seasonings.

Button mushrooms may not be the most exciting option, but they'll add some fleshy texture to your quiche, along with a subtle flavor. Oyster mushrooms are similarly mild tasting. But they also offer a softer texture and more complexity. Cremini, sometimes called baby Bella, mushrooms are a step up in flavor intensity and make for a solid mushroom quiche. Another step above that are shiitakes, which are loaded with umami and wild woodsy flavor.

You could also use maitakes — also called hen-of-the-woods — which are intensely earthy and hold up well to strong flavors. Chanterelles are gorgeously golden and are nicely complemented by rich ingredients like cream, making them perfect if you're going for a sumptuous, high-end quiche. For full extravagance, rare and almost priceless truffles can be shaved on top of a mushroom quiche. If you like the flavor but don't want to break the bank, truffle-flavored oil, salt, or butter work well.

Quiche aux Fruits de Mer, or a seafood quiche, appears in Julia Child's famous cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." The filling in her recipe calls for onions or shallots cooked in butter, along with crab, shrimp, or lobster, and a splash of wine. Any one of these shellfish, or any combination of the three, works well in this recipe. Though they're not listed, scallops are another delicious shellfish option.

Sweet and succulent, shellfish indeed make wonderful filling additions to quiche. They add a buttery flavor and texture to the already rich dish. But you shouldn't limit yourself to just shellfish. Other types of seafood can make excellent quiche partners, too. Smoked or fresh salmon make an intensely-flavored quiche, with a robust and meaty taste and texture. Smoked trout is another good option if you're going for potency. 

If you want to go big, bold, and opulent, you could also consider adding uni — also known as sea urchin — to your quiche. This option has a creamy texture, loaded with umami. Just make sure you're getting it fresh, in season, and from a reputable fishmonger. Top the dish with a dollop of caviar to make it extra luxurious.