Loaded Potato Quiche

If you have been around for awhile you know I have chickens so I am swimming in eggs usually! Plus with living in warmer weather I usually always have them around! So naturally I am always looking for new ways to utilize our eggs!

Funny enough with having chickens you would think we all like to eat eggs. Nope! So it can be tricky when making egg dishes like quiche so they are not overly egg tasting. In this loaded potato quiche recipe you get all the protein of the eggs but the fillings, toppings and pie crust are the star of the show! Plus there is a bit more milk than other recipes which cuts down the egg taste and makes the quiche fluffier!

Everything on this loaded potato quiche just tastes so great that I don’t think I could choose a favorite part! The pie crust comes together so easily and is perfectly flaky. The goat cheese layer creates a nice creamy gooey layer in the quiche. And who can resist a delicious onion string? I know we can’t!

Ingredients Needed

Cream Cheese Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

4 ounces cubed cream cheese

1/2 cup cubed butter

Quiche

4 ounces spreadable goat cheese

4 eggs

2 red potatoes

3/4 cups milk

2 slices of bacon

2 Tablespoons chopped chives

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Crispy Onions

1 cup flour

1 Tablespoon salt

1/2 of a white onion

1 Tablespoon pepper

1 cup milk

oil for frying

1 Tablespoon hot sauce

How to Make Loaded Potato Quiche

The first step to this loaded potato quiche recipe is creating the pie crust for the quiche. Of course you can use a pre-made crust but trust me that this cream cheese pie crust is easy to make and worth the little bit of extra effort! The key to this pie crust (well really any pie crust) is fridge cold butter and cream cheese! If the butter and cream cheese melt you won’t get as flaky of a crust.

Add all of the pie crust ingredients into a food processor bowl and mix everything together. If you do not have a food processor this process can be done with a pastry cutter but not your hands as they will melt the butter and cream cheese. Do not over mix the dough! You want to be able to see streaks of cream cheese and butter throughout the dough.

Once the dough just comes together, pull it from the processor and flatten it into a disk. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and pop it into the fridge to rest and cool.

Place a pot with tall sides on the stove top over medium-high heat. I find the easiest and quickest way to make crispy bacon bits it to chop up the slices of bacon before adding them into the pot. Cook the bits until crispy and pull them from the pan to cool. Turn off the heat but do not drain the pot! We will use the bacon grease later!

Another quick cooking hack I like to use is cooking the potatoes in the microwave. To prep the red potatoes for the microwave, poke them with a fork all over. I have a potato button on my microwave that determines the time for me but if you do not, cook them for about 5-7 minutes so that they are fork tender. Once the potatoes are fork tender, chop them into bite size pieces and set aside.

Lastly prep the onion strings to soak until fying. Slice the onion half in half again and then into small strips. You want strings not rings! In a bowl mix together the milk and hot sauce. Add the onion strips and set them aside to soak. Soaking the onions in milk will help to reduce the bite and make them sweeter.

In another bowl thoroughly whisk together the eggs and milk for the quiche. Add the potatoes, bacon, chives, salt and pepper to the bowl and mix it just enough so that everything is stirred. You want to be careful to not break up the potatoes, but make sure it is mixed enough that you get a taste of everything in one bite.

Now it is time to assemble the quiche! Grab the dough from the fridge and roll it out about an inch larger than the diameter of your pan. I chose a 9 inch tart pan. A tart pan has a removable bottom that makes serving the quiche easy! You can also use a pie pan.

One of the biggest deterrents of making your own pie crust, well at least it was for me, is rolling out a circle. I could never roll anything resembling a circle and would have to piece work my crust together.

That is until I found a little trick! Starting with the disk of dough take the rolling pin and press it into the dough to make an x. Working in a circle start at where the x meets and roll away from you. Give the dough a slight twist clockwise and repeat rolling from the middle out.Continue this slight twist and roll motion until your dough is the correct size. You should have a near perfect circle ready to drape over your pan!

No need for buttering the pan with this crust! There is enough butter in the crust to grease the pan while cooking. Just press the dough into the pan and trim off any excess overhanging dough.

The next step is made easier with spreadable goat cheese but whatever you have on hand will work! It just might not create a nice even cheese layer. Using the spatula, spread an even layer of the goat cheese onto the bottom of the pie crust.

You can use any savory flavored goat cheese you have on hand for this recipe. I used a combination of plain and garlic and herb in the picture below. A truffle or chive goat cheese would also taste great here!

Once you have create a cheese layer pour the quiche mixture into the pie crust. Don’t be afraid to move around the potatoes in the pan so that you have an even spread. My potatoes for some reason all decided to fall into the middle and needed some seperating.

Important note! You do not want the mixture to reach to the top of the pan. The egg mixture will puff up slightly in the oven and spill over if you do not leave a small headspace—about a 1/4 inch. As a back up you can place the quiche on a sheet pan to catch any overflow in the oven.

Carefully pop the quiche into an oven preheated to 450 degrees and cook for 25 minutes.

While the quiche is baking, return to the pan you cooked the bacon in. Top off the bacon grease with canola oil, or any other neutral cooking oil, so that it is about 1 inch deep. Heat the oil to 375 degrees over medium high heat.

Set up the dredging station by mixing together the flour salt and pepper into another bowl. In small batches grab the soaking onions and dredge them into the flour. Slowly drop them into the oil and fry until golden brown. Once they are brown pull them from the oil and drain them over a rack.

I recommend frying a single string to try before finishing off the whole batch. This way you can taste to see if it needs more or less seasoning.

After baking the quiche make sure the eggs are cooked by inserting a knife into the center. The knife should come out clean when removed. Please note that you will see extra browning from the sugars in the milk in this recipe. It is not burnt!

Once the quiche has cooled for 5 minutes, top it with the fried onions. You can enjoy the loaded potato quiche now while it is hot or you can pop it into the fridge and enjoy it cool the next day.

Quiche is a great make ahead breakfast for a busy week or prepped ahead for a brunch. Plus it can be enjoyed many ways. You can simply pull a slice out of the fridge and eat it cold. Or toss it in the toaster oven on toast for about 3 minutes to get the onions crispy again and the quiche warm. Anyway you enjoy it you will enjoy it!