You could spend hours and a lot of effort making a quiche from scratch, rolling out a homemade crust, whisking up the egg filling, and patiently waiting for it to bake in the oven. Or you could just buy a quiche from the store, sprinkle your favorite cheese over top, and broil it to perfection for a similar result. No more compromising flavors and textures for the sake of convenience. In an instant, this five-minute transformation turns your plain, uninspiring store-bought quiche into the remarkable comfort food it’s always meant to be.
Does cheese really have such a huge impact on quiches? Maybe not as it is, but broiling brings out the very best this ubiquitous ingredient has to offer: melty texture, intensified tanginess, and a crispy, caramelized crust. It melts into the existing filling, adding enough richness to overshadow the lackluster qualities of the original dish. In place of the usual muted flavors and less-than-satisfying textures, you get a complexity that perfectly walks the fine line between comfort and indulgence. Digging into golden brown, cheese-crusted forkfuls, you’d almost forget that the quiche sitting on your plate wasn’t homemade. All you need to do is pick the best kind of cheese for the job.
The right cheese makes all the difference
Some cheeses melt better than others, so choose wisely if you want your melty cheese quiche dreams to come true. Cheddar, Gryuère, and mozzarella are some of the most common choices for baked dishes, as evident in countless lasagna recipes and pizza varieties. Silky smooth and irresistibly ooey-gooey, they couldn’t be more of a perfect fit for your quiche. A bit creamier and more spreadable are goat cheese and ricotta. Sure, you won’t get that same stretchy pull with these varieties, but they bring a signature softness that’s unique to the quiche experience. But hey, why choose when you can just use a little bit of everything and have a mixed-cheese quiche?
On the other end of the spectrum, there’s parmesan cheese. Not exactly known for its meltability, this umami-rich grated cheese tends to crisp up into a brown crust when it meets high heat. However, this makes it an excellent topping over other cheeses, creating a delightful textural contrast. Feta and blue cheese are other slightly unusual choices to experiment with. They won’t melt into the dish entirely, but rather retain some of the crumbliness that makes each bite more fascinating.
While this is only a simple upgrade for a store-bought dish, the right ingredient pairings can get you a much better result than expected. If you’ve got a quiche Lorraine recipe, use deeply nutty Gruyère cheese to match the smoky, savory bacon bits. Got a spinach quiche? Leave it to feta cheese to elevate it. Or with goat cheese in the mix, you might want to consider adding caramelized onion for a restaurant-worthy transformation.
