This week I had vegan lunch guests over and I have been wanting to create an egg-free quiche for an egg-hating friend (Hi Erika!) since forever already so I embraced the challenge to not only make it egg-free but completely animal protein-free and thus vegan. By not wanting to use butter for the crust, and flour without butter simply doesn’t form a nice crust, I came up with this quinoa crust that happens to be naturally gluten-free. Most vegan quiche recipes out there use tofu for the filling to get the egg-like consistency but since soy and tofu are not my favorites to eat, MY filling is also soy-free and of course dairy-free because it’s vegan. Ok, now let’s put that all in one sentence so you know what this is you are seeing in the picture. This is the recipe for a gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, soy-free Flourless Vegan Vegetable Quiche! WOW!! I know this doesn’t sound very promising in the taste department BUT look at the picture guys!!! Don’t be deceived by all the x-free but rather scan the ingredients list below and you’ll immediately understand that this quiche tastes AMAZING! I loved it! I am so happy with how this came out I am dancing right now (literally!)
On the taste barometer, this quiche comes close to my mom’s quiche (sorry mom!) and I will definitely, definitely make this again one day. This has a lot of meaning, because I rarely make something twice. Sad reality of a food blogger, lol.
Once the quiche was finished I felt like there was only one thing missing. CHEESE! Ugh! Cheese is not vegan and cheese is not dairy-free and cheese is delicious but NOT ok for this quiche. So I browsed Pinterest and found this amazing Vegan Parmesan Cheese recipe by vegan food blogger Angela from oh she glows. It was the perfect fit for my Flourless Vegan Vegetable Quiche and gave it that little extra something. Her Vegan Parmesan Cheese tastes wonderful and I will use it for other recipes as well, for sure.
Coming to the filling, how did I manage to reach an egg like consistency without tofu and without eggs you ask?
Well, the secret ingredient is: chickpea flour! I have never used it before and was curious as to what it would be like to work with it. I bought it and then stored it for a couple of weeks forgetting about it in the pantry until I stumbled over an Italian recipe for a pancake like bread called “socca”. In pictures it looks like a doughy bread (I have never tried) it and I figured I would give it a try as quiche filler, hoping it wouldn’t be too dry. The chickpea flour – water mixture gives the absolute PERFECT consistency for a quiche filling (vegan or not) and it gives it incredible taste! Chickepea flour has so much more taste than egg that I am seriously considering using it even in my vegetarian quiches. I think I might have just started a love relationship with chickpea flour. You’ll soon find out….
Flourless Vegan Vegetable Quiche
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp flax seeds
- 3 Tbsp water
- 1.5 cups quinoa
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- Salt
- 1.5 cups chickpea flour
- 2 Tbsp tapioca starch
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1 t cumin
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- Pepper
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 1/4 cups water
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 onion
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 tomato - (very large)
- 10 green asparagus
- 1/2 cup sesame seeds
- 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
Instructions
- Cook the quinoa in the vegetable broth until soft and fluffy (as instructed on package). Once cooked, fluff up with a spoon and try for saltiness. Depending on the vegetable broth's saltiness you may or may not have to add some salt to the quinoa. Let cool a little.
- Grind the flax seed in a coffee grinder or food processor or blender and mix he ground flax seed with water and let sit until quinoa is cooked.
- Peel and crush garlic put in a bowl.
- Peel and chop onion put in same bowl.
- Wash and deseed bell pepper, chop and put in same bowl.
- Wash and chop tomato and put in same bowl.
- Cut a good part of the asparagus' dry ends off, wash the asparagus and peel them (yes, peeling them is important, only the stems, not the tips). Do not cut but put as one in same bowl.
- Set bowl aside.
- In another bowl, whisk together chickpea flour, tapioca starch, spices, oil and water and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400F (200°C).
- Line the bottom of a spring form with parchment paper and oil the sides.
- Once quinoa is cooked and cooled to a temperature that you can touch, mix soaked flaxseed with quinoa and form a dough with your hands, making sure the flaxseed is well incorporated into the quinoa dough.
- Spread the quinoa dough on the bottom and sides of the spring form using your fingers to press everything into place.
- Once oven is hot, bake the quinoa dough alone for 12 minutes.
- While the quinoa dough is baking, give the chickpea flour mix another good whisk and then mix in garlic and onions.
- Once quinoa crust is finished baking for 12 minutes, take out of the oven and arrange cut up vegetables and whole asparagus evenly in the crust. Pour chickpea flour mix over all and bake for 45 more minutes.
- Take out of the oven and let cool for at least 10-15 minutes in the spring form before opening it.
- While letting cool prepare Vegan Parmesan Cheese by toasting sesame seeds over medium heat for about 2 minutes constantly stirring and then process in food processor or coffee grinder or blender together with the nutritional yeast.
- Enjoy with freshly prepared salad!
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Jasmina says
Hi Lorena, I see that the comments are quite old, but I just found out this recipe, so I hope you still answer postings here. I would like to make the quiche for my husband, who can’t eat eggs, gluten and dairy, but loves quiches. On the other hand, I have intolerance to soya, so this one looks quite promising. Just one question: can I omit the tapioca starch or replace it with something else, for example arrowroot?
Thank you,
Jasmina
Lorena says
Hi Jasmina, I’ve never tried with arrowroot but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Both starches are similar enough to do the trick. I’m excited to hear how you liked the recipe. Make sure point #9 “In another bowl, whisk together chickpea flour, tapioca starch, spices, oil and water and set aside” is long enough. Chickpea flour that hasn’t been soaked long enough has a very bitter flavor. To get rid of the bitterness soaking is required. So make sure the “set aside” as a good 45-ish minutes. Please come back and let me know how you liked the recipe :)
Jasmina says
Hi Lorena, thank you! I was planning to make it this evening and will let you know how it worked out 😉
Jasmina says
Hi Lorena, I have to admit that my husband was quite skeptical about an eggless quiche, BUT eventually he was totally surprised and loved it! I actually found tapioca starch, so I didn’t have to substitute with arrowroot. I will definitely do it again. Thank you for sharing this great recipe! It is really valuable for people, who can’t eat eggs, milk and gluten! 🤗
Lorena says
Jasmina, I’m sooo happy you liked it!!! Also, thank you for reminding me of this recipe. It had been forgotten in the archives. I will put this post in my editorial calendar for February and hope to update it with more in-process photos and more detail about the recipe.
Leo says
A huge thankyou. I’ve never even able to fathom why anything I made using chickpea flour had the bitter aftertaste.
Andrea says
Can this crust be used with eggs? Im not vegan but would like a GF crust option. Would a longer bake time for a regular quiche mix make the quinoa soft?
Thank you,
Andrea
Lorena says
Hi Andrea, yes you can totally use eggs. The crust should come out just fine. Just like with this recipe, bake the crust for 10-12 minutes alone, then add filling and return to oven until egg filling is set. Then wait for the quiche to cool down a bit in it’s form before removing from it.
Anni says
My son and I made this quiche, me being gluten free and he being vegan. We made one each changing the vegetables slightly to our own preference, and we were blown away with the results! My son has made this quiche a couple of times now and it will probably be his “go to” recipe from now on
Lorena says
How absolutely wonderful Anni!!! Thank you so much for coming back and letting me know. Comments like this one are the ones that keep me going. You made my day!!!
cherish flint says
This is by far one of the worst recipes I have ever tried.
Although ingredients are not unusual in my gluten free kitchen, the texture and consistency of this quiche is awful. No need to recreate a crust. a crustless quiche is incredibly delicious, nutritious and time spent plus the outcome is so much better sans crust. Let’s keep things delicious people…and in keeping things simple you always do!
Lorena says
Hi Cherish, I’m sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you. Did the quiche filling end up looking like in the photos? If not, something must have gone wrong in the process, I’m happy to trouble shoot why the consistency didn’t turn out well. Did you soak the chickpea flour for long enough? If the consistency did look exactly like in the photos then I assume you don’t like chickpea flour? Perhaps you could try with quinoa flour instead? In any event, you are free to message me if you want help troubleshooting and/or finding an alternative. A crustless quiche is always an option, but in my opinion they end up tasting/looking more like a frittata. I prefer my quiches with crusts.
Mary says
How much flax seed if I’m using some I already ground last week??
I’m going to try to make mini quiches in tart pans, I’m guessing this will make 2 or maybe 3???
Lorena says
I’m not exactly sure but I would guess 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal. In terms of mini quiches it all depends on the form of your forms. Keep a close eye on the mini quiches as they will need less time in the oven probably.
Michelle says
Hi Lorena, how much water do you add to the garbanzo flour? I didn’t see it listed. I am really looking forward to trying this recipe :) Thank you
Lorena says
Hi Michelle, never noticed I had forgotten to include the water measurement in the recipe. Just did the correction. Add two and a quarter cups of water (thank goodness I kept my recipe scribbles on my notepad, phew). Let me know how you liked it. I am always very excited to hear how people found the instructions and the outcome :)