Quick Crab Quiche with Swiss Cheese
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Using flaky imitation crab meat gives this Crab Quiche a great texture and flavor while keeping it budget friendly. It’s also a fantastic recipe for those with shellfish allergies since it uses imitation crab meet and no actual crab. Combined with Swiss cheese, green onions and Old Bay seasoning, this quiche is quick to make any night of the week but fancy enough for Mother’s Day or Easter Brunch.
Growing up, Crab Quiche was a spring staple in our house. I didn’t appreciate as a kid, but as an adult, I crave it every year. When I went to remake the dish from memory I thought I got the recipe spot on. Then I told it to my mother. And she laughed, and laughed. Turns out what I came up with was no where near her recipe (oops!), but it still taste incredibly similar. It’s just easier and with fewer ingredients than hers.
Mayonnaise and blue cheese are super popular ingredients in traditional crab quiche, but I find this dish to be plenty creamy minus the mayo. Especially if you use a higher fat milk option. And while blue cheese may pair well with traditional crab, it overwhelms the more mild flavor of the imitation crab. So for this dish, Swiss and/or Gruyère cheese are a more balanced choice.
Ingredients
- Milk – Any dairy milk will work here (skim, low fat or whole milk). Skip the half and half or heavy cream. Do not use non-dairy milk. It changes the flavor too much.
- Old Bay Seasoning – There’s no substitute for this classic seafood seasoning blend. It’s inexpensive and a great spice mixture to have on hand for any seafood dish you’re making.
- Swiss cheese and/or Gruyère cheese – I use a mix of these two cheeses, which my local store carries pre-shredded. You are welcome to choose only one of the cheeses if you have a strong preference for one over the other.
- Imitation crab meat – Imitation crab meat gives this quiche a lot of its texture. Be sure to pull apart the crab meat and shred it with your hands before using it in the recipe. You can use lump crab meat in this dish if you choose, but it will change the texture and taste of the final dish.
- Green onions – Use the whites and greens of the onions. You can swap this out for a finely diced shallot, if you prefer.
- An unbaked pie shell – This can be store-bought or homemade, totally up to you. I always buy mine in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. If you’d prefer to make your own, use your favorite recipe or try my favorite pie crust recipe from Sam at Frosting and Fettuccini.
How to Make Crab Quiche
Heat olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add sliced green onion and cook until it’s softened. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk and seasoning together. Stir cooked onion, cheese and imitation crab into egg mixture.
Pour into pie shell.
Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Slice and serve.
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Crab Quiche with Swiss Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
- 8 oz Swiss and/or Gruyère cheese, shredded
- 8 oz imitation crab, drained and chopped
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 small bunch green onion, sliced
- 1 pie crust, unbaked
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a small pan over medium heat.1 tsp olive oil
- Add onion and cook until onion has softened.1 small bunch green onion
- Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk and seasoning together.1 cup milk, 4 eggs, 1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
- Stir cooked onion, cheese and imitation crab into egg mixture.8 oz Swiss and/or Gruyère cheese, 8 oz imitation crab
- Pour into pie shell.1 pie crust
- Bake for 40-50 mins or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Slice and serve.
Pro Tip
This quiche recipe is based around my favorite quiche base – 1 raw crust + 4 eggs + 1 cup of milk + 2 cups of add ins. (I highly recommend 1 cup of add ins being some kind of cheese.) Using this base formula and the baking instructions in this recipe, you can create as many versions of quiche as you can think up!
Brunch Cocktail Pairings
Crab quiche is delicious for a lunch or a light dinner, but I personally love it for brunch. Especially on Easter, Mother’s Day, or a morning with my girl friends. While the quiche is baking, use that time to make up a batch of one of these cocktail recipes:
What must I do to make crab quiche a crust less quiche?
You can make it as is, just leave out the crust! Make sure your pie plate is well greased. And it may take less time to bake, so start checking the quiche after 35 minutes and remove it from the oven when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Absolutely delicious!!
I love how easy it is to prepare, and you don’t need 15 ingredients! I made it with my own crust and this quiche will be made more! Definitely signing up for your recipes!
I’m all about easy recipe and this is one of my faves! So happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
Absolutely delicious!! And I love how easy it is to make,and I’ve made it more than once😊❤️
Yay! It’s one of my favorites too! So glad you liked it!!
I didn’t have green onions so I used a yellow. Came out amazing! Will definitely make again!
Yes! I’ve swapped the green onion out for yellow, white and red onions. Flavor turned out great with all of them. So glad you liked the recipe!
My husband and I made this, it was delicious! We didn’t use crust but we sautéed yellow onion,spinach and mushroomsand added that to the egg mixture. So good!!
Sounds like some delicious additions! So glad you enjoyed the recipe. I love that you made it your own!
Thank you so much for sending me this recipe. I will make it for Easter brunch and let you know how I made out. It sounds wonderful. I’m thinking of making it without crust – do you think it would work as well without the crust?
Hi Janet! I haven’t made it without a crust, but others have and tell me it works great. I don’t see any reason for it not to. Keep an eye on the baking time – it may need less. And be sure to grease the pie plate really well. Let me know how it turns out!