As someone who works from home, I often need a nudge to be pulled away from my work; there aren’t as many opportunities for social connections (at least, in person) and that’s something I’ve missed since working for myself. I’m also a self-professed workaholic, always with fear in the back of my mind that if I’m not working all the time everything will somehow go to shit. Combine this mindset with loving what you do and it’s a recipe for not giving yourself much free time. I’m trying to work on this and create a better balance with it all, especially now that the majority of my book is complete. A change of pace is in order! Eric asked me the other night what my professional goals were for the next year and I’m still thinking about it, even toying with ideas like teaching vegan cooking classes, going back to school, and who knows what else. Or maybe I’ll just be content to keep things as is, but with more wiggle room to try new things. Half the fun is figuring it out, I guess.
Several months ago, one of my girlfriends organized a monthly meet-up inviting a group of friends who are all fellow entrepreneurs/business owners. I couldn’t say “count me in” fast enough, knowing it would be a great way to connect with other women who are balancing their businesses (with motherhood, for some), while facing many of the same questions and doubts that I’ve faced myself. In our group we have a photographer, an interior designer, a mortgage broker, an esthetician, a real estate agent, and me, the blogger/future cookbook author. They are all such amazing women and it’s a fun, random mix of experiences and talents. It’s been refreshing to share our struggles and victories together and I’ve even surprised myself at how much I needed this support system. Self-reliance has always been my strength (to a fault, perhaps), but there is no weakness in asking for help, support, or friendship. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
Sun-dried Tomato, Mushroom, and Spinach Tofu Quiche
Yield
8
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This was my first time making a tofu quiche and it really surprised us with how amazing it turned out! Even Eric went crazy for this quiche, often enjoying leftovers twice a day until it was finished. Enjoy it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack. I've made this a few different ways simply by changing up the vegetables used. One version used asparagus (1 cup diced) and broccoli (1.5 cups diced), which was also very nice. The only thing I would advise against is using a high-water vegetable, like fresh tomatoes as it might result in a water-logged quiche. Best of all, it reheats well. Simply place leftover quiche on a baking sheet and pop it in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 350F. Inspired by the Sprouted Kitchen Cookbook.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 tablespoon ground flax + 3 tablespoons water, mixed together
- 1 cup whole almonds, ground into flour
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats or buckwheat groats, ground into flour
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil
- 1-2.5 tbsp water, as needed
For the quiche:
- 1 block (14-oz) firm tofu
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 leek or yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 3 large garlic cloves, minced
- 3 cups (8-oz) sliced cremini mushrooms
- 1/2 cup fresh chives, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 cup baby spinach
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3/4-1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- Black pepper, to taste
- Red pepper flakes, to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a round 10-inch tart pan. Alternatively, you can use a 9-inch glass pie dish if desired.
- Wrap rinsed tofu in a few tea towels. Place a few books on top of it to lightly press out the water while you prepare the crust.
- For the crust: Whisk together flax and water mixture in a small bowl and set aside so it can gel up.
- In a large bowl, stir together the almond meal, oat flour (or buckwheat flour), parsley, oregano, and salt.
- Add in the flax mixture and oil. Stir until mostly combined, adding the remaining water until the dough is sticky (about the consistency of cookie dough). The dough should stick together when you press it between your fingers.
- Crumble the dough evenly over the base of the tart pan (or pie dish). Starting from the centre of the pan, press the mixture evenly into the pan, working your way outward and up the sides of the pan. Poke a few fork holes in the dough so air can escape.
- Bake the crust at 350F for 13-16 minutes, or until lightly golden and firm to touch. Set aside to cool while you finish preparing the filling. Increase oven temperature to 375F.
- For the filling: Break apart the tofu block into 4 pieces and add into food processor. Process the tofu until smooth and creamy. If it doesn't get creamy, add a tiny splash of almond milk to help it along.
- In a skillet, add oil and saute the leek (or onion) and garlic over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in the mushrooms, season with salt, and cook on medium-high heat until most of the water cooks off the mushrooms, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in the herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, nutritional yeast, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes until combined. Cook until the spinach is wilted.
- Finally, remove from heat and stir in the processed tofu until thoroughly combined. Adjust seasoning to taste if desired. Spoon mixture into baked crust and smooth out with a spoon until even.
- Bake quiche, uncovered, at 375F for 33-37 minutes, until the quiche is firm to the touch. For best results, cool the quiche for 15-20 minutes on a cooling rack before attempting to slice. The crust may crumble slightly when sliced warm, but not to worry.
- Wrap up leftovers and refrigerate for 3-4 days. Leftover quiche can be reheated in the oven on a baking sheet for about 15-20 minutes at 350F.
This recipe is AWESOME!!!!!!! I made it this morning for our Saturday brunch. I was out of almonds so I substituted cashews. Holy yumoly!!! I am trying to increase my vegan recipes. This one is a keeper! Thank you!!!
I have made this twice so far and it’s awesome. It is time consuming but well worth it
Hello Angela,
I have been diagnosed with a whole bunch of food intolerances — which mean I need to eat vegan+meat (many legumes and nuts are off the list, and soy is only once in a while).
I love your recipes — delicious!!! I’m wondering if you can recommend a replacement for almonds. I can eat walnuts and cashews but not almonds, brazilnuts or hazelnuts (for example).
Thanks,
Joelle
Hey Joelle, Thanks for your kind words about my recipes! =) Almonds are a tough one to replace, and to be honest, I think it depends on the recipe. If you have any specific recipe questions, I’m happy to help weigh in. I think cashews (they are sweet and creamy too) can be a nice substitute in some recipes, and occasionally sunflower seeds.
This is the best quiche ever. Seriously. Thank you so much. A lot of times I make it without the crust to save time. Still so good!
This quiche is fabulous. I have been eating a plant based diet for almost 3 years and have to admit that quiche was something that I missed eating, but not any more. I followed the directions exactly and I am seriously impressed with how great this tastes. Will definitely make it many times again I am sure.
OMG I am eating this right now, and I LOVE IT!!! I love the crust! I love the inside! This may be my new favorite dish! I want to say I LOVE YOU but that seems a bit forward. THANK YOU!! :-)!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the love, Angela!! I’m so happy you’re enjoying the quiche. :)
Hey just tried this out and it is SO delicious. Thank you for sharing
So glad you enjoyed it Lorraine! Thanks for taking the time to let me know :)
hi is there a nut-free substitution for almond flour?
Hey Emily, I haven’t tried the crust with other types of flour, and subbing in crust recipes can be tricky sometimes, so I’m hesitant to make any strong suggestions. You may want to read back through some of the comments to get an idea of what others have tried. I seem to recall someone tried sunflower seed flour and really enjoyed the results!
Would this work without Nutritional Yeast?
Hey Natalie, It should, the quiche just won’t have that cheese-like flavour that nutritional yeast provides. :)
Just made this tofu and spinach quiche! It came out amazing. The consistency is perfect! I used a different crust recipe — made with half whole wheat pastry flour and all purpose flour and coconut oil. I highly recommend making this recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it, Sandra! And thanks for sharing your subs–so helpful to know! :)
I just made this dish and this was one of the best quiche I ever had. Eating gluten is just fine for me, and as I like to eat my quiche with hands I need a crust that holds together; so I just went with my basic go-to pie crust recipe. Being vegetarian, I’m ok having eggs and dairy, but this tofu quiche blew my mind: I’m never going back to the usual recipe! Thanks a lot!
Hey Agathe, I’m so happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting us know. :)
Love this! My mom made it for Thanksgiving and everyone, vegan or not, went crazy for it.Question:Has anyone tried to freeze it?
What a great idea to serve this with a Thanksgiving spread…I don’t know why I haven’t tried this yet! I also haven’t frozen it before so I’m not sure how it would thaw. I do know that tofu’s texture changes when you freeze it, so I wonder how it would turn out. If anyone has tried it, please let us know!
Just curious to hear if you did freeze this and how it turned out? I’m just starting out with vegan food and trying to have things to hand and prepared in advance is a great help. Thank you ?
I’ve frozen it and popped it in the oven with foil over it and it was still delicious! I actually do this often. I make a double batch and freeze one of them ☺️
Thanks for sharing your tips, Angeline! That’s great to know :)
Hi Angeline, do you cook it before you freeze it? Thanks
Omg this recipe looks AMAZING!! I don’t currently have almonds on hand…. Could I replace them with cashews?
Hey Sylvie, I haven’t tried anything other than almonds, but I can’t see why cashews wouldn’t work!
Can you use a pre-made crust from the store?
Hey Sarah, I haven’t tried it, but I can’t see why not as long as it’s sturdy enough (and unsweetened). If you try anything I’d love to hear how it goes.
Angela, I have your 1st book and every recipe I have tried has been a winner. The tofu quiche recipe is wonderful. My picky spouse said after a couple of mouthfuls this is a winner don’t lose the recipe. My crust was made with leftover cooked black rice, the ground flax seed in water, olive oil & spices. I did not pre-bake the crust. The pie looked terrific and held together for serving. Also it heated in the microwave well. Thanks for the time and effort it take s to develop your recipes.
Hi Bonnie, Thank you so much for the praise…I’m so delighted to hear you both enjoyed it so much! Happy new year :)
Hi there,
I really loved this recipe and can’t wait already to try it. I was just wondering if I could use tofu spread instead of firm tofu? I recently started to consume it and just put it literally in every dish :) Here in USA I prefer the one from the company mazel products. Thank you for the inspiration xo
Hey Liza, I’m so glad you like the recipe! As for the spreadable tofu, I haven’t worked with it before so I’m not sure if the quiche would “firm up” enough. If you try anything out, please let us know how it goes!
This was absolutely delicious, and the textures (both the crust and filling) were perfect! I ground the almonds but used already prepared/processed buckwheat flour for the crust, omitted the mushrooms (I just don’t like them that much), used a LOT of chopped kale as the veggie, lots of carmelized onions too, and generous amounts of both the chives and basil, and it was a total hit. I made two – one to take to my non-vegan-eating book club, and they gobbled it! And one for home, and it’s been gobbled too. I’m going to make some seitan ham for the next one and do the exact same thing, except use the ham instead of the kale. Thank you for the recipe!!
Hey Leslie, Thanks for your feedback!! So glad it was a hit :)
Can this be frozen
Hey Mona, I’m not too sure, I would suggest checking the comments if you haven’t already as someone may have done so and reported back. Tofu’s texture tends to change when freezing and thawing so that would be my only concern. I’m sure it would still taste great though!
Angela, my quiche is BEAUTIFUL! It smells amazing, the texture is perfect, and the taste is out of this world. It’s the o my thing I’ve missed as a vegan, and His one is so much better than the one I grew up on. Thank you so much.
Do you know if it will freeze or how long it’s good for in the fridge?
Hey Jen, Oh that’s so great to hear!! Thank you :)
As for leftovers, it should keep in the fridge for several days in an airtight container, but it’s been a while since I’ve made it so I’m not positive. Tofu’s texture tends to change when freezing and thawing, so if you’re fine with that I think freezing should be okay too. Please let me know if you try it (maybe just try freezing one slice to see what you think?)
Could you provide metric measurements in your recipes??
Thanks.
Hey there! Absolutely…I started adding metric measurements to my recipes in 2016 or 2017 so everything after that will have the. Also all of the recipes that I’ve added to our recipe app have them as well. :)
Thanks for responding so quickly.
Maybe I’m blind but the sun-dried tomato, mushroom, spinach tofu quiche recipe that I am looking at on the website just comes in imperial measurements. Do I need to change settings somewhere?
Hey there,
Not all of my recipes have metric conversions yet, but all of them post January 2017 do. We’re slowly working our way back through old reader fave recipes. Hope this helps!