Easy Spinach, Edamame Bean & Parsley Quiche

Created as a quicker and easier version of the official coronation quiche recipe, this Spinach, Edamame Bean & Parsley Quiche turned out delicious! Using ready made pasty and with no blind baking, this simpler recipe includes full step by step images and detailed instructions to make this shortcrust pastry quiche foolproof.

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With a new official recipe for the coronation being released by the Royal family with less than 3 weeks to go until the big day, I’ve had to work super quick to test, shoot and create this slightly easier royal quiche recipe.

After thinking about it all afternoon once the recipe was announced, it was after reading this review from Felicity Cloake in the Guardian that made me realise just how dodgy the recipe is. Or unhelpfully written at the very least.

I don’t think for a second that the royal chef doesn’t know how to make a great quiche that’s perfect every time. But the art of scaling down recipes from a professional kitchen to a domestic one and writing instructions for amateur cooks to follow are different skills entirely. I’m sure its the reason that the official coronation trifle recipe is so bad too.

I’ve made a few tweaks to the recipe and taken shortcuts where possible but this isn’t really the big problem with the recipe. What I’ve mostly brought to the party is detailed instructions and a sensible running order to make everything without faffing. And the use of a flan/tart/quiche tin that is more common in domestic kitchens.

How Many Does This Coronation Quiche Serve?

This recipe generously serves 8 and could serve up to 12 for smaller buffet portions.

I’ve actually increased the size of this quiche to make use of a 25cm/10inch tart or quiche tin. I believe that this is a much more standard size tin that more people are likely to already own rather than the 20cm/8inch tin used in the original recipe.

Because the amount of ingredients in the official recipe wasn’t terribly large – only using 2 eggs, and either way you’d still likely want to use a standard size piece of pastry, I don’t think this change is excessive. Of course you can make a smaller quiche if you prefer. To make a 20cm/8in quiche, use 2/3 of all the ingredients.

How to Serve Spinach & Edamame Bean Quiche

I like to serve a quiche just a little warm or room temperature. When it is hot hot straight out the oven, it won’t have had time to set up a little. When it is fridge cold, the flavours are dulled. So my goldilocks temperature preference is warm.

The official suggestion for what to serve the quiche with is a green salad and boiled new potatoes. And I am totally fine with this, it’s a classic combination of spring flavours. Plus the potatoes don’t have to be served piping hot which makes serving a breeze.

If serving the quiche buffet style I would suggest cutting it fully first. People can be a menace with a knife and cut off all sorts of weird shapes and corners!

Quiche Ingredients

• Pastry
• Spinach
• Beans
• Herbs
• Eggs
• Cheese
• Milk/Cream
• Salt/Pepper

Pastry

I’ve chosen to suggest using ready rolled shortcrust pastry as this is the most convenient option. You do need to roll it slightly larger and thinner than I arrives but that is very quick and simple.

If you prefer you can buy the block and roll it to size yourself. Or of course you can make pastry from scratch. I actually highly recommend trying the pastry recipe in my Quiche Lorraine with Homemade Thyme Pastry. That recipe is designed for the same size tin so you don’t need to make any changes.

Of course you could make the pasty in the official recipe but you will need to double it to have enough – and even then you will need to be frugal and not roll it any larger than needed.

Another alternative is to use puff pastry like I use in my Puff Pastry Quiche with Bacon, Courgette & Mozzarella. If you’re feeling very extra you can even make your own Puff Pastry.

Spinach

Buckle in because I have a lot to say here. But if you read nothing else, read this – the cooked spinach must be bone dry before adding it to the quiche.

I have reduced the overall amount of spinach in the quiche slightly. It is still very much a main ingredient and very generous. But I’ve tried to deal with the suggestion that the original recipe is more of a spinach pie than a quiche.

I tested using both fresh and frozen spinach for this recipe.

Fresh Spinach

This turned out to be my preferred option. I’ve included instructions for wilting down the spinach in the recipe which was missing from the official instructions.

This isn’t difficult to do, you simply need a larger pan and a few minutes for it to wilt down. Giving it a few more moments once wilted allows it to dry out in the pan and really reduces the time and effort involved in getting it dry enough.

1 large supermarket bag which is usually 450g was perfect to make the 200g spinach needed.

Frozen Spinach

The frozen spinach was a lot of work to defrost and squeeze out the liquid. It just kept coming. So although using frozen spinach is slightly more economical cost wise, effort wise it didn’t do it for me.

The other issue with the frozen spinach was getting hold of it. Jamie Oliver has been touting it as his new wonder ingredient but neither my local Aldi or Lidl had any, despite it being a product they both stock in theory.

Beans

The official recipe calls for either cooked broad beans (lima beans) or soya beans (edamame beans). Using frozen here is really a no brainer for me although if you fancy getting fresh broad beans and double shelling them, please don’t let me stop you.

The frozen beans simply need thawing and drying. I do this by running warm water over them. Fresh beans will just need a couple of minutes boiling then rinsing in cold water and drying.

I actually used soya beans as I always keep them in my freezer to make Salt & Chilli Edamame Beans.

Herbs

The official recipe uses tarragon. Tarragon has a very strong anise flavour which personally I find extremely overpowering. It also isn’t so readily available in smaller and discount supermarkets as other herbs.

I’ve used flatleaf parsley which is a fairly unobtrusive flavour and just adds a little extra freshness. I also love to add chives to quiche so I’ve suggested that as an options too.

Use one or mix the fresh herbs to your heart’s content. I wouldn’t suggest using dried herbs, you’d be better off just using none.

Eggs

I’ve used 3 large eggs in this recipe. If you only have medium eggs, you can use those – the difference is negligible. Alternatively if you want to use 4 medium or even 3 extra large you can. The custard in this coronation quiche is very forgiving.

Make sure to whisk the eggs into the cream/milk very thoroughly. You don’t want to end up with chunks of white or yolk in the finished quiche.

Cheese

The official recipe uses good old cheddar cheese and I see absolutely no reason to change it. Unless of course you have another cheese in your fridge that you prefer or want to use up.

The cheese goes into the quiche grated/shredded. You can use a block and grate/shred it yourself which is the more financially economical option. Or use ready grated which is the more time economical option. I opted for grated because I had that in already and I hate grating cheese!

Milk/Cream

Before I scaled up this recipe I was going to suggest simply using 300ml of single cream instead of mixing double cream and milk. Cream in the UK is usually sold in 300ml or 600ml so this made sense to me.

However once I increased the total amount of liquid dairy to 450ml, it made more sense to use 300ml of double cream and top it up with cheaper milk. I’ve specified semi-skimmed milk as most people tend to have this. But if you use another type, it will not make mush difference.

You can also just use a straight up 450ml of single cream.

Salt/Pepper

I always specify sea salt flakes in my recipes – I always use Maldon sea salt. If you are using regular fine table salt, you should use half the amount in the recipe as it is much stronger.

Black pepper should ideally be freshly ground if possible. I’ve gone fairly easy on the pepper in the recipe so if you are a pepper fiend, feel free to add more.

How to Adapt This Quiche Recipe

The royal family have specifically stated that one of the reasons they decided on a quiche as the official coronation recipe is that it is easily adapted to suit all tastes. Quiche is indeed super adaptable.

Adapt the Pastry

You can use any pastry you prefer. I love to make quiche with puff pastry and with American style pie pastry which is a buttery rough puff pastry. The very light thyme pastry in my quiche Lorraine recipe is also delicious.

Puff Pastry Quiche with Bacon, Courgette & Mozzarella Recipe

My Puff Pastry Quiche with Bacon, Courgette & Mozzarella is almost a complete meal in itself! I just can’t get enough of the light puff pastry crust packed full of smoky bacon, vegetables and melty mozzarella in a soft and creamy egg custard filling. Serve hot or cold for a tasty and portable treat. 

Quiche Lorraine with Homemade Thyme Pastry Recipe

My classic Quiche Lorraine with Homemade Thyme Pastry combines a lovely short and buttery crust with salty bacon, smooth melty cheese and the most delicious and delicate eggy custard filling. Its a mystery how pastry, eggs and bacon can be so light but trust me, this quiche is stunning!

You can also pop a lid onto a quiche and create a pie for a more substantial meal.

Puff Pastry Bacon & Egg Pie Recipe

Puff Pastry Egg & Bacon Pie is a simple quiche taken to the next level. More pastry for the win! This particular pie includes boiled eggs as well as chunky gammon pieces and the smoothest, creamiest egg filling! You have to try it!

Adapt the Filling

As long as you use a savoury egg and cream or milk based custard in a pastry shell, no matter what other fillings you add, you are making a quiche.

You can take fillings out of this coronation quiche recipe, add fillings in or swap them entirely. The one thing you need to take into account is the overall volume of the filling mixture. Add too much and it will be overflowing.

Take things out without replacing them and you could end up with a sad lack of filling. You can always add an extra egg and more milk/cream to combat this.

Here are some of my favourite and classic quiche fillings to give you some inspiration:

• Ham and cheese quiche – I like to use cooked thick cut gammon and a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

• Broccoli & stilton quiche – Blanch or steam the broccoli before drying thoroughly and chopping small. Consider mixing blue cheese with another hard cheese or it may become overpowering.

• Tomato, basil & mozzarella quiche – My confit tomatoes are beautiful in a quiche. Add a fine grating of parmesan (or veggie alternative) onto the cooked quiche for extra pizazz.

• Mushroom & spinach quiche – Replace the beans in this recipe with mushrooms cooked in butter.

• Cheese & onion quiche – Another classic quiche. It’s a personal preference whether you choose to cook the onions first or not. I prefer to use a thick layer of well caramelised onions in my version.

• Bacon & mushroom quiche – Cook bacon or pancetta lardons until crispy then cool before adding to the pastry base along with mushrooms cooked well with butter.

Is the Quiche Suitable for Vegetarians?

The official recipe uses lard (pork fat) in the pastry recipe which makes it not suitable for veggies.

But as this cheat’s recipe uses store-bought pastry which is always vegetarian and often vegan, and the quiche filling contains no meat, this coronation quiche recipe is vegetarian.

Make This Quiche Allergy Friendly

This recipe is free from nuts.

Gluten Free Quiche: Ready made and ready rolled gluten free pastry is now readily available to buy. You can simply use this in place of the regular pasty.

You should also make sure to use a gluten free flour to dust your work surface is needed. Or you can also use cornflour if needed.

Dairy Free Quiche: Double check the ingredients on your pastry – as long as you are not using a “all butter” variety, it will more than likely not contain any dairy.

You will also need to replace the cream and milk. There are many plant based options to choose from so you can simply swap out the milk and cream like for like.

Egg Free Quiche: Eggs really are the main ingredient in a traditional quiche. You could use a liquid egg replacer although the finished texture of the quiche may be a little different to the original recipe.

Please note that this recipe may contain other allergens not referred to above and any variations suggested have not been tested unless otherwise stated. For more information regarding any dietary information provided on this website, please refer to my Nutritional Disclaimer.

Pricking the Pastry Before Baking

It is very common to see pastry cases being pricked with a fork or sharp knife before being blind baked or filled and baked.

The official royal quiche recipe doesn’t mention pricking the pastry but the chef in the accompanying video is clearly doing it.

I have been taught to never do this. It is a sure fire way to allow filling to leak into the pastry base and make it soggy. Especially when not blind baking first. So just remember no pricking = no soggy bottom.

Chilling Pastry Before Baking

It is important with almost any pastry to keep it well chilled. When it gets warm the fats in the pastry can melt and then seep out the pastry when baked. Shortcrust pastry is much more forgiving than working with puff pastry.

When using ready rolled pastry I do prefer to allow the pastry to sit out of the fridge a little before trying to unroll it. This can make it easier to unroll without it cracking.

But once it has ben worked with and the quiche tin has been lined, it is a really good idea to chill it again before using. This is why I make lining the tin the first step in this recipe – it can then sit in the fridge whist the filling is being made.

The other main reason for chilling the pastry thoroughly is to prevent serious shrinkage when it bakes. I also work to negate shrinkage by spending a quick moment bringing the side of the pastry slightly up and above the rim of the quiche tin.

Equipment Notes for Spinach Quiche

The vast majority of the equipment needed to make this quiche is fairly standard kitchen equipment – from scales and measuring spoons to a rolling pin, baking tray and whisk.

Baking Tin

The one thing that you do need to think about is the tin or dish that you are going to bake the quiche in. There are two main things to consider – the size and the material.

Let’s discuss the size first. This recipe is written for a 25cm/10inch dish. This is what I’d consider to be a fairly standard size quiche to make. I’ve owned many dishes of this size over the years.

To measure your dish you are looking to measure the diameter so from one side all the way to the other side.

As for material, for many years I have used ceramic dishes to make quiche. But I bought a thin metal quiche tin with removeable base a few years ago and honestly I have not looked back.

Metal conducts heat much better than ceramic which helps the pastry to become nice and crisp without needing to overcook the filling. And the removeable base makes getting the quiche out the tin super easy.

If you don’t have metal and only have ceramic, by all means please use it. You may need to increase the cooking time a little more to compensate.

A comprehensive list of the equipment used to make this recipe is included in the main recipe card below. Click on any item to see an example. There are no hard and fast rules so many items can be sensibly substituted to achieve the same results.

How Far In Advance Can Quiche Be Made?

Quiche will always be at its best on the day that it has been baked. But it can be made up to 2 days before serving. It needs to be well covered and stored in the fridge.

There are other ways to get prepared. The quiche tin can be lined with the pastry and kept well covered in the fridge for up to 2 days. The spinach can also be cooked, dried and cooled up to two days in advance and the beans can be defrosted too if needed. Cheese can be grated and stored at any time.

I would not recommend mixing the liquids and filling more than a couple of hours before baking. And the wet filling mixture should only be added to the pastry shell just before baking. Any further in advance and the pastry can get soggy.