This cherry tomato quiche is another veganized old recipe of mine. A few years back, I couldn’t even think quiche can be made without eggs. But I was amazed of how well it turned out even from my first egg free quiche trial. Because, luckily, there are many vegan options to successfully replace eggs.
This quiche is not so complicated to make (especially if you’re using a store bought dough) and it’s packed with delicious flavors. It’s perfect for breakfast or brunch and you’ll love the combination between sweet cherry tomatoes and aromatic herbs. And it has a good amount of protein, as I used a lot of tofu in the filling ?.
Cherry tomato quiche ingredients
In this paragraph, you’ll find general information about used ingredients, their role and possible substitutes. Details about necessary quantities and step-by-step preparation can be found in the recipe card at the end of the article.
Dough ingredients
- flour – I used all purpose flour, I’m not sure this works the same with gluten free flour;
- vegan butter (not margarine) – it’s very important to use chilled butter; dice it and store it in the fridge until you need to use it;
- baking powder – to make the dough rise a little;
- ice cold water – I usually don’t count water as an ingredient, but, for this dough, it makes quite a big difference; it’s very important to use ice cold water so that you get a flaky crust;
- turmeric – this is actually an optional ingredient, I only add it for the nice color it gives the crust;
Filling ingredients
- cherry tomatoes – use it in any type or color you can find at your local market;
- tofu – our protein mass and of, course, the cheese replacement; use firm tofu;
- nutritional yeast – every vegan’s best friend since it’s high in B vitamins; it also has a nice cheesy taste;
- vegan cream – I used soy cream, but oats cream works as well;
- kala namak – the Indian name for black salt; it comes in the Himalayan areas and it has an eggy taste and smell due to it’s sulfur content; and, since I used to make this quiche with eggs before, I used black salt to try recreate the “original” taste; I’ve also used it to replace eggs when I made the aquafaba mayo and the chickpea omelette and it was great;
- turmeric powder – again, am egg replacement, this time in terms of color; don’t worry, it’s such a small amount that you won’t feel any turmeric taste
- corn starch – the binding agent to help the filling keeping together; you can replace it with soy or chickpea flour;
- aromatic herbs – basil, thyme and oregano; use fresh if possible.
How to make vegan cherry tomatoes quiche
Dough preparation
First you need to whisk together all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Then add the vegan butter cut into cubes and start kneading. It’s not necessary to use a food processor. I actually prefer using hands to knead the dough because I can get a better feeling of the dough consistency and texture.
When the dry ingredients and butter are well combined, you’ll have a very crumbly dough (dough crumbles actually). I recommend adding the ice cold water gradually because you might not need to use it all. Knead until the dough starts to clump together. The dough has to be chilled for at least 30 minutes before baking. This way the cold butter fat melts quickly and forms a perfect flaky pie crust.
Quiche filling preparation
For this filling, I prefer sautéing the cherry tomatoes with roughly chopped fresh basil leaves in olive oil, over medium heat for 2 minutes. Just make sure you won’t overcook the tomatoes because they’ll break and the filling will be soggy. However, this step is optional; if you ‘re on the rush, there’s no need to sauté the tomatoes.
I also prefer cutting a few tomatoes into halves and put them on top of the filling to give the quiche a better look.
Then, all you need to do is put all the other filling ingredients in a food processor and mix until you get a smooth paste.
Assemble and bake the cherry tomato quiche
Place the chilled dough ball onto a clean surface and roll it out into a large disc. Make sure the disc is about 3 cm larger than the tart pan, so that you can cover the pan sides too. Then transfer the dough into the pan and press it firmly at the bottom and sides to create an evenly tart shell. To transfer the dough disc easier into the pan and avoid breaking it, you can roll it on the pin and unroll it on the pan’s surface.
Prick the dough with the tins of a fork to help release the steam while baking. Also, to prevent the crust from puffing, you can weight it down with beans, rice or special pie weights.
In case the dough softened while rolling and pressing it into the pan, you can chill it for 10-15 minutes before baking it.
The next step is to bake the crust for about 10 minutes before adding the filling. This step is important because the crust needs a bit more time to bake than the filling.
In case you sautéed the tomatoes, it’s better not to fold them into the tofu filling. You’d risk breaking them and end end up with a filling that doesn’t hold together. That’s why I put a tofu filling layer first onto the crust, then the sautéed tomatoes and then the rest of the filling. Put then on top the halved cherry tomatoes and place the quiche into the oven.
Bake for 40-50 minutes. In case the crust tops turn brown, slightly cover them with aluminum foil to slow down the cooking process. After removing the quiche from the oven, allow it to chill before slicing.
No time to prepare a quiche?
To be more efficient, you can prepare the filling while the dough is chilling in the fridge. Or you can prepare quiche dough one day in advance; it keeps well in the refrigerator.
And, if you’re really short on time, you could take a shortcut and use a store bought dough.
How to store the quiche
It keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge up to 2-3 days. I haven’t try freezing it, but I have doubts it would work. In general, tofu changes texture when frozen. And such an amount of frozen tomatoes will make the quiche too soggy.
NOTE: This article was published in December 2020 and updated in August 2021 with improves text and photos. The recipe remained unchanged.
If you like this vegan cherry tomato quiche recipe, please rate it or leave a comment below. And, if you prepare this cherry tomato tart using my recipe, you can share a photo and tag Choose Tasty either on Instagram (#choose_tasty) or on Facebook (#choosetasty). I’d love to see your creations.
Vegan Cherry Tomato Quiche
Equipment
- 25 cm tart pan
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups all purpose flour 240 g
- 80 g vegan butter diced and chilled
- 10 tbsp ice cold water
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder optional
Filling
- 450 g cherry tomatoes
- a handful of fresh basil roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil if you want to sauté the cherry tomatoes
- 500 g firm tofu
- 200 ml unsweetened vegan cream soy or oats
- ⅔ tsp dried thyme if fresh, use more
- ⅔ tsp dried oregano if fresh, use more
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp salt or to taste
- 1 tsp ground black pepper or to taste
- ½ tsp turmeric powder optional
Instructions
Dough preparation
- Put flour, salt, turmeric and baking powder in a large bowl and combine well;
- Add the butter and start kneading until you get a flaky dough;
- Add cold water gradually and continue kneading until the dough comes together into a ball;
- Cover well the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes;
Filling preparation
- (Optional) Cut a few cherry tomatoes in halves for quiche decoration; sauté the rest of the cherry tomatoes with the chopped fresh basil with olive oil over medium heat for 2 minutes; set aside;
- Put all filling ingredients (except for the tomatoes) in a food processor and process into a smooth paste;
Quiche assembling
- Preheat the oven at 180° C;
- Roll the dough out on a clean work surface and make disk a bit larger than your tart pan, so you can cover the sides too;
- Transfer the rolled dough into the tart pan and press it well on the bottom and sides; trim the excess dough; prick the dough with the tins of a fork;
- Bake the dough for 10 min then remove it from the oven; you can use pies weights to prevent puffing;
- Spread half of the filling over the crust into an even layer; add the cherry tomatoes on top, then cover with the rest of the filling; press into the filling the tomatoes cut into halves (if the case);
- Bake the quiche for about 40 minutes; at 180° C, until the filling is set and the crust is crispy;
- Remove from the oven and allow the quiche to cool for 15 minutes before slicing it.
Notes
- Make sure the dough is chilled before baking it.
- If you choose to sauté the cherry tomatoes, don’t overcook them; they’ll break during baking and the filling will turn soggy.
- If the top of the crust turns brown during baking, cover with aluminum foil; this will slow down the crust cooking process.
