Cheese, Bacon & Turkey Quiche combines a crisp cheese pastry case with a rich creamy filling using cooked turkey, bacon, and soft French Brie cheese. It’s the ideal way to make the leftovers from Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter into another meal that everyone will love.
It’s always a pleasure to make new dishes from food leftover from other meals. Holiday times are the greatest opportunity to be creative with leftovers and I love a quiche as a vehicle to use up those bits and pieces of leftover delicious food.
There is always plenty of leftover turkey, cheese, and cream. Make sure you have some bacon in your fridge so you can make this great tart.
What kind of cheese can I use?
You need a hard cheese like Cheddar to add to the pastry case, although if you don’t have any you can make a plain pastry case.
I use French Brie and a little Parmesan in the filling of the quiche, but use any cheese you like. Any soft cheese, blue cheese or hard cheese that you like to eat.
What kind of bacon should I use?
I use smoked bacon lardons or pancetta mostly because they are conveniently choppped into small cubes already! But I have made this quiche with streaky bacon cut up small. As with the cheese, use any bacon that you have and like, just cut it up small and cok until crisp.
How to make Cheese, Bacon & Turkey Quiche
I make my own cheese pastry case, but if you don’t have time or don’t want to make pastry. Then make sure you have some ready made shortcrust pastry in your fridge or freezer. You can also use a ready made shortcrust pastry case.
Make the cheese pastry
Make this super tasty pastry in the food processor. Don’t worry if you don’t have one because there are instructions in the recipe card to make the pastry by hand.
Put all the dry ingredients, including the grated cheese, into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the egg and water
Add the egg and the water and pulse until the mixture starts to come together, add a little more water if it is too dry.
Chill the pastry dough
Press the mixture into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes minimum.
Line the Tart Tin
Roll out the pastry thinly in a circle and line the tart tin. Trim the pastry around the edge of the tin but leave enough to allow for a little shrinkage.
Blind Bake the Pastry Case
Place a piece of baking parchment onto the pastry and top with baking beans or dried peas, beans or rice.
Bake blind for 15-20 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Why blind bake the pastry case?
Blind baking simply means baking the pastry shell before filling it. If you put a wet filling into an unbaked pastry case the base is unlikely to cook properly and you will get a ‘soggy bottom’ rather than a crisp bite of buttery crust.
I don’t have my own video for this but here is a YouTube video from the Co-op which shows you how to line a tart tin and bake blind.
For the Cheese, Bacon & Turkey Quiche filling
You will need:
- Cooked turkey
- Bacon
- Onion
- Lemon zest
- Cream
- Eggs
- Cheese
Cook the onion
Peel and finely chop the onion. Gently saute in a little butter until the onion is soft and transparent. Remove from the pan and put in the base of the pastry case.
Cook the bacon
Add the bacon to the pan and cook on medium heat until it starts to go brown and crisp. Remove from the pan, drain on kitchen paper, and add to the base of the pastry case.
Keep back a few pieces of bacon, if liked, to decorate the top of the quiche before serving.
- Distribute the bacon and onion on the base of the pastry case.
- Cut the turkey and the cheese into generous sized pieces and put over the tart.
Whisk the eggs
Whisk the eggs, add the cream, lemon zest, seasoning, and grated Parmesan.
Add the egg mixture
Pour the mixture into the pastry case over the bacon, turkey, and cheese. Be careful not to overfill the pastry case and have the mixture overflow. It is better to leave a little in the jug than over fill.
Bake the Quiche
Bake until the filling is golden brown and just set in the centre. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.
How to serve Cheese, Bacon & Turkey Quiche
Serve warm or at room temperature sprinkled with crispy bacon bits and finely chopped chives. Serve this quiche with a fresh green salad, carrot salad, and tomatoes.
As an appetiser
Serve small slices of quiche as an appetiser with a small side salad.
As a main meal
Make Turkey Quiche into a hearty meal, serve with a baked potato or potato wedges, salad, or vegetables to fill up your hungry family.
Serve with Relish or Chutney
Homemade relish, chutney or pickle is a great accompaniment to any leftovers and it is particularly delicious with this Cheese, Bacon & Turkey Quiche.
Here are some of my homemade chutney and relish recipes you might like to try:
More Leftovers Recipes
The Best Leftover Turkey Club Sub Sandwich features delicious layers of roasted turkey, cheese, bacon, salad, and pickles. All these gorgeous ingredients are held together in a sourdough baguette.
Leftover Turkey and Leek Pasta Bake is a great way to use the leftover turkey, chicken, or even ham from a celebratory meal. Leftover turkey can be a little bit bland, so I’ve packed this pasta bake with lots of bold flavours like leeks, bacon, spring onions, peas, lemon juice, and Dijon mustard.
Cheese, Bacon & Turkey Quiche
Equipment
- Food Processor (optional)
- 23 cm tart tin
- baking beans
- Sharp knife
- chopping board
- Frying Pan
- grater
- bowl or jug
- whisk
Ingredients
For the Pastry
- 225 grams (1.8 cups) plain flour all purpose flour
- 65 grams (0.3 cups) butter cut into pieces
- 65 grams (0.3 cups) white vegetable fat (shortening) cut into pieces
- 100 grams (0.8 cups) grated cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon (1/4 teaspoon) salt
- 1 medium (1 medium) egg
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) cold water
For the filling
- 1 (1) small onion finely chopped
- 100 grams (0.5 cups) bacon chopped
- 250 grams (1.3 cups) cooked turkey
- 250 millilitres (1 cups) double cream
- 3 large (3 large) eggs
- 100 grams (0.6 cups) ripe Brie
- 25 grams (0.25 cups) Parmesan grated
- 1/2 (1/2) lemon zest
- salt & freshly ground pepper
- 2 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) finely chopped chives
Instructions
For the pastry
- Put the flour, butter, vegetable fat and cheese into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add the egg and the water and pulse until the mixture starts to come together, add a little more water if it is too dry.
- Press the mixture into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes minimum.
- Pre -heat the oven to 200C
- Roll out the pastry thinly in a circle and line the tart tin. Trim the pastry around the edge of the tin but leave enough to allow for a little shrinkage.
- Place a piece of baking parchment onto the pastry and top with baking beans or dried peas, beans or rice.
- Bake blind for 15-20 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- Heat the oven to 170C
To make the filling
- Gently saute the onion in a little butter until soft and transparent, remove from the pan and place in the base of the tart case.
- Increase the heat to medium and add the bacon pieces. Cook until golden, drain and place into the pastry case, distributing evening across the base. Keep back two teaspoons of crispy bacon pieces to decorate your tart, if liked.
- Cut the turkey into generously sized pieces and scatter over the onion and bacon.
- Cut or break off pieces of Brie and distribute evenly across the flan base.
- Whisk the eggs, add the cream, lemon zest, seasoning and grated Parmesan, pour into the flan case.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the filling is golden brown and just set in the centre. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
Debs Dust Bunny says
I love pies and tarts and this one looks gorgeous! I would have to have a little leftover cranberry sauce on the side. Brie and cranberry are such a delicious combination. What a great way to combine some of the very best of Christmas.
belleau kitchen says
A very lovely tart and I know you know I know how fab this tastes! Happy New Year xxx
Janice Pattie says
Debs: we did indeed have cranberry sauce with this tart and it was a great combo.
Dom: yes, I know, it's the cheese, cream, buttery pastry thing, it couldn't taste anything but good!
Maggie says
I admire that you had the energy to rustle up a tart:) What a great way to use up those tasty leftovers.
Rebecca Subbiah says
very nice, have a fab new year Janice
Karen S Booth says
I love my leftovers too and often make pies and tarts with them! Yours looks and sounds lush!
Beau Pace says
That looks absolutely delicious!
Happy New Year!!!
Susan heavenonaplate says
I made a camembert and cranberry flan with mine…you can't go wrong with leftovers, often better than the main event IMHO.
Cat says
This tart looks and sounds absolutely delicious! What a fantastic way to use up leftover turkey and make a completely different, tasty meal.
Janice Pattie says
Thank you, we really enjoyed eating it!
Rebecca - Glutarama says
Oh my goodness, if I could eat this…I’d eat it ALL to myself! I can make this gluten free for my daughter though so its going to go on the (very) long list of things I plan to make for dinners this winter.
Janice Pattie says
Yes, you absolutely can make it gluten-free with your own gluten-free pastry. I hope you all enjoy it.
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie says
Oh you know how much I love a leftovers recipe! This looks like a fab way to use up Christmas leftovers 😀
Janice Pattie says
Oh me too, Eb. I love to see what I can make with leftovers and this one is a keeper.
Jacqui – Recipes Made Easy:Only Crumbs Remain says
Love the sound of this quiche perfect for using up some left over turkey and Christmas cheese.
Janice Pattie says
Thanks, Jacqui.
Becky says
This looks delicious. I have a couple of questions. Can you make the crust substituting a gluten free flour mix? Also, would this freeze well.
Thank You
Janice Pattie says
Thank you. I don’t have experience of baking gluten free, however if you have a mix for gf pastry I see no reason why it wouldn’t work. Quiche always taste better when freshly made. But you can freeze it for up to 4 months and then defrost overnight in the fridge.