Don't you just love looking through the glass of the cafe display case and seeing a scrumptious piece of savoury pie! Well, with this simple spinach vegan "quiche" with sun-dried tomatoes you can have yourself a piece (or a half a pie) right in your very home!
This simple spinach vegan "quiche" is:
Perfectly Creamy
Has A Crispy Crust
So Much Flavour From The Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Great Colour From The Spinach
And It Fulfills All Your Savoury Brunch Dreams
Now I may know what you're thinking... this is a pie... there's no way it's simple. And true. Any recipe that takes longer than 40 minutes in my books is not the simplest of recipes BUT a savoury pie isn't usually an everyday occasion right?
As far as fancy, show-stopping sorts of breakfasts go... I love this recipe because:
There's No Need To Pre-Bake The Crust
The Filling Is All Made In The Blender
The Veggies Cook In 5 Minutes
And...
It Travels So Well!
This is my go-to dish for brunch parties or holidays with family. It can be enjoyed cold and heats up quickly and beautifully!
Quicker Vegan Quiche
Using a store-bought crust will cut the prep time down to just 15 minutes! Pop it in the oven, and you're ready to eat in an hour.
Price Comparison For A Vegan Quiche
Our homemade whole wheat pie crust costs approximately: $1.52 CAD.
A store-bought prepared pie crust will cost approximately: $2.15 CAD.
The whole pie with our homemade crust costs us $9.83 CAD to make. That's $1.64 per serving. Likely less than you would pay for that slice in the cafe display box!
Traditional quiche will use between 4-8 eggs, cream, and one or two types of cheese. Here's a bit of an approximate comparison with our ingredients:
- 6 eggs, CAD $2.95 vs. 454g silken tofu, CAD $2.49
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, CAD $1.45 vs. 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast, CAD $1.23
- 1 cup whipping cream, CAD $2.98 vs. ⅓ cup hummus, CAD $1.23
*And I triple checked, both hummus and nutritional yeast happen to price out at exactly $1.23 for this recipe. No typo!
So pricing on the low end of the ingredient cost for a traditional quiche, our recipe shows overall savings for each substitute! Yummy and Thrifty!
Ingredients For Simple Spinach Vegan Quiche
If you are new to cooking "egg" dishes without eggs our recipe may look like gibberish! Not to worry! These ingredients were new to me and they may be new to you.
Silken or Soft Tofu
- Replaces the eggs. Is the bulk of the filling. Delivers creaminess.
- It's also packs a ton of protein, just like eggs.
- Choosing Chia has a great guide to buying and cooking with tofu.
Chickpea Flour (or Gram Flour)
- The hummus and chickpea flour thicken up the filling.
- Both are made from chickpeas! Try our 5 minute homemade hummus for even more savings!
- Chickpea flour can be found at your bulk store but if you don't have it on hand simply substitute 1 tablespoon cornstarch or white flour.
- The 1 tablespoon of chickpea flour in this recipe costs CAD $0.03!
- CookingLight has a guide to chickpea flour you can peruse.
Nutritional Yeast
- Responsible for the "cheesiness".
- It has a great savoury and cheesy taste that adds so much depth and flavour.
- It's available at most big grocery stores in the "natural foods" section or your bulk store.
- And you can find more info about cooking with nutritional yeast from The Spruce Eats.
- Check out our recipe for spicy queso that also gets its "cheesiness" from nutritional yeast!
Kala Namak or Indian Black Salt
- This one is relatively new for me to!
- A third name for it is Himalayan Black Salt.
- It adds some eggy drama to the dish because it has a sulphur like smell! Some people swear by it, I don't think it's an absolute must, but as ¼ teaspoon costs CAD $0.01... why not have your breakfast pie smell like eggs!
- Head to One Green Planet for some more black salt info.
Ok... I think you have all the info you need to make this incredibly satisfying and simple spinach vegan "quiche"! So give it a try, maybe test out some ingredients that are new to you, save some money, and let us know what you think in the comments below!
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Simple Spinach Sun-Dried Tomato Vegan "Quiche"
- Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Simple spinach vegan "quiche"! A spinach & sun-dried tomato breakfast pie to impress with a homemade whole wheat crust! The perfect brunch!
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 6 tbsp cold vegan butter
- 3-7 tablespoon ice water
For the Filling:
- 454 g silken tofu (or soft tofu, see note if your package of tofu is smaller)
- ⅓ cup hummus (homemade for extra savings)
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp chickpea flour (OR 1 tbsp corn or arrowroot starch)
- ¼ tsp kala namak (black salt for "egginess" OR sub sea salt)
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
- ⅓ cup red onion, chopped*
- ⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 2 cups packed spinach*
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
*Fresh ingredients you need that are not part of our pantry and freezer tips.
Instructions
For the Crust:
- In a small bowl prepare your ice water for the crust by adding a few ice cubes to about ½ cup of water.
- In a large bowl, mix your flour and salt.
- Slice your cold butter into the flour mixture, trying to work quickly so the butter doesn’t melt. Use a fork to gently cut the butter into the flour. When it’s done, the mixture should resemble wet sand.
- Add the ice cold water 1 tablespoon at a time and mix it into the flour using a wooden spoon. Add as many tablespoons as needed for the dough to just come together (mine took 5). It should just be wet enough to form it with your hands but if it’s too wet the dough will be soggy. So go slow!
- Gently form the dough into a ½-inch-thick disc, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days.
For The Filling:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and prepare the filling while your dough chills.
- Add the tofu, hummus, nutritional yeast, chickpea flour, and black salt (or sea salt) to your blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and onion. Season with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the sun-dried tomato and spinach. Cook until the spinach is wilted another minute or so and turn off the heat.
To Assemble:
- To roll out your crust, remove from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes at room temperature. Place the disc of dough between two layers of parchment paper or two silicone baking mats. Using a rolling pin, roll the crust into a circle slightly larger than your pie plate.
- To transfer the crust, take off the top sheet of parchment or silicone. Gently lay the pie plate on top of the crust and use the lower sheet of parchment or silicone to flip the dough and plate over. Once it’s inverted, gently press the dough into the pan, tidy the edges, and mend any cracks or holes with excess dough and the heat of your hands.
- Pour your tofu filling into the pie crust and spread the sauteed veggies in.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the top appears golden brown and firm. Let cool at least 5 minutes before serving and store covered in the fridge for up to 2 days (though you’ll want to dig in while it’s fresh)
Notes
*Approximate Cost: $9.83 CAD ($1.64/serving). See the body of our post for the savings vs. eggs, cream, and cheese!
*Making our homemade whole wheat crust will save $0.26 CAD. Feel free to use a prepared crust to cut the preparation time down to only 15 minutes.
*I have made this with a 300g package of silken tofu. The filling won't be as high but it still works without changing any of the other ingredient amounts or cooking time.
*Use our 5 minute Homemade Hummus vs. store-bought hummus for even more savings!
*To make this recipe soy free you can try replacing the tofu with 1 ¼ non-dairy milk and increasing the chickpea flour to ⅔ of a cup.
*Feel free to switch up the veggies if you only have others on hand!
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: French
Kate
Hi, should we use soft silken tofu or extra firm silken tofu? The brand I found in the store has both options.
Kathryn Alexandre
Oh interesting I've never used extra firm silken tofu. I would think both would work but soft silken tofu is what I would suggest. I've even made this recipe with regular extra firm tofu and it still works but the texture of the pie is just denser. Soft silken tofu will give a really nice lightness and smooth texture. Let me know what you end up using and how you like it!
Maria
I actually made this breakfast pie for lunch. I love quiche and haven’t made one in years. This was much easier and much more healthy than my traditional quiche recipes. It smelled like eggs, tasted and looked like eggs. It was wonderful!
Kathryn Alexandre
Oh fantastic! I'm so glad this recipe inspired you to try a "quiche" again. Wonderful to hear you enjoyed it. Thank you for letting me know!
Cynthia
What does CAD stand for?
Kathryn Alexandre
Canadian dollars!
Jodie
I haven't had quiche for soooo long as I am vegan so when I came across this I was excited to try it. I added mushrooms, onion as well as spinach and sundried tomato and layered in between as well as on top. I used store bought puff pastry in place of pie shell (quick and & easy). My husband loved this too and it stores well in freezer for when you don't want to cook.
Kathryn Alexandre
Wonderful! I'm so glad you both like it and it's a handy meal to have in the freezer. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a lovely review and star rating!
pati
what can i use instead of vegan butter?
Kathryn Alexandre
hmmm there are quite a few recipes online for coconut oil or vegetable shortening pie crusts. If you're hoping for an oil-free pie crust I've only tried making a pie crust once without a fat source and it did fall apart on me. I tried making it wheat free and used quinoa and aquafaba but it did crumble after it baked. I have a note to try it again and try mashing the quinoa and adding a couple flax eggs to try and hold it together better. My note does say that it tasted good though so if you do want to experiment with an oil-free version and won't be heartbroken if it happens to crumble when you take it out of the pie plate let me know what you end up trying.
Brigitte
Kathryn, a simple recipe for an oil crust is: 180 g of whole wheat flour, 40 g olive oil (or neutral oil), 80 g water (liquid ratio is 120 g, I play a lot with it, original recipe was 50/50 oil/water), pinch of salt. Mix and it's ok to over mix, it's not like a butter crust. Refrigerate 30 minutes (I don't). I use it for free form tarts mostly but will try it for my next quiche. It tastes a little like soda crackers but firmer.
Good luck.
Brigitte
Kathryn Alexandre
This is great, thank you so much Brigitte. It sounds delicious and really simple!
Brigitte
Perfect quiche recipe, finally. Thank you so much for the recipe and I'm so glad I found a Canadian blog for vegans, 🥰
Brigitte
Kathryn Alexandre
I'm so glad you loved this "quiche" Brigitte and thrilled that you found our blog! Thank you so much for taking the time to write a lovely 5 star review. That means so much to us!