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.
Is there a substitute for tofu that can be used? Thinking of making this for Mother’s Day Brunch and a few of us are soy-free….love all your recipes! I purchased both of your cookbooks and use them faithfully when I don’t feel like browsing the internet!
Hey Liana, Aww thank you so much for the kind words about my cookbooks and recipes! It means the world to me. I haven’t tried this using a sub for the tofu so I’m sorry that I don’t know of a swap for you. However, I have been wanting to try it using cooked chickpeas…I just really don’t know if it’ll firm up the same as tofu. If you try anything I’d love to hear how it goes. :)
I just saw a recipe online for chickpea “tofu” that’s soy free! I’ve also recently seen pumfu advertised—faux tofu made from pumpkin seeds!
Vegan carrot has a recipe using “just” vegan eggs
Yes chickpea tofu (burmese tofu) is delish
My family enjoys this recipe very much! I do need some advise, though; I would like to try it with the frozen vegan pastry shell I found at Whole Foods. Do you think I should pre-bake it before adding the filling? I would bake it for 9-10 minutes.
Thank you!
Molly
Hey Molly, So funny I was just thinking about this recipe (and using a store-bought crust) the other day! I haven’t tried it yet so I’m not positive as to whether you’d need to prebake the crust. I would probably bake it for 5 minutes before adding the filling just in case and then watch it as it bakes as you made need to cover the crust to prevent browning (these are all just guesses of course! heh). I’d love to hear how it goes if you try it out.
Fantastic recipe! My GoTo recipe for brunch or a light dinner with salad. I made a couple of modifications as we do not eat oil or nuts. I replaced the almond flour with chick pea flour (which gave a nice flavour), replacde oil in crust with apple sauce, didn’t use oil for sauteeing (I used water), and didn’t use oil-packed sun dried tomatoes (I replaced with dried sun-dried tomatoes and blanched them for 2 minutes). The recipe comes out perfect everytime!!
Hey Sandy, Oh thank you so much for sharing your modifications! That’s so great they worked and that you love it so much. :)
Hi, Angela… I made this recipe yesterday at home and it was delicious! My children loved it and they finished it in a day… I am planning to make it again with the asparagus and broccoli as you mentioned. Hope it will come out delicious too. :)
So glad you all loved it Amit! I love that it works with so many different veggie combos…a good one to change with the seasons.
I’m really surprised you came out with this recipe so long ago! It’s obviously meant to become a classic. Everything right down to the crust was delicious; flavor and texture. Thanks so much for sharing your talent so generously. I always try and make a recipe exactly how it’s written, the first time, and then modify it to what we’d like. Truly this needs no modification! However, in reading some of the comments, I will try other flavors. I like the consistency of the spinach a lot and will probably add more next time and also some of my dried veges like zucchini.
Aww thank you so much! I’m so happy you loved it the first time :)
I have been plant-based for almost a month and it’s amazing to find such creative vegan recipes. Thanks for making it so easy. <3
Thank you Heather! Congrats on 1 month of plant-based eating too!
Love this recipe! Ive made it for my non-vegan friends and they love it too! What salad would you pair with this from your recipes?
Thanks Frances! So happy to hear that. What about my Crowd-Pleasing Caesar Salad or Best Shredded Kale Salad?
Hi, how do I ground the flaxseeds and almonds? Can you give me some tips or do a blog post on that? Or may I buy it already ground?
Hey Angela, You can certainly buy them ground, but you can make ground flax in your blender or coffee/spice grinder and your can grind almonds in a blender or food processor (I like to use my food processor). Hope this helps :)
Hello Angela !
I’ve only made the crust as a breakfast cracker ; it was DELICIOUS ! From texture, to nuts/seasonings ratio. Next time I will double the recipe for sure ! and try the tofu mix too.
(I didn’t use oil, and I used herbes de Provence instead of parsley.)
Thanks for this wonderful recipe :)
That’s such a great idea to make it into crackers!! YUM!!
Would love to see a separate thoughts/ comments section (no need for rating )and a separate section for folks that have actually made the recipe and have comments about it.
Hey Dooz, that’s actually an idea that we have for the future of the blog! Thank you so much.
I did it yesyerday and it came ul delicious!! Thank you !
Hey Ana, I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the quiche!
Can I use the exact recipe but put it into tart shells? I am attending a bridal shower and need to bring “finger food?”
Hey Carol, I haven’t tried it before so I’m not sure, but I can’t see why not? I’d love to hear how it goes!
I have almond meal in my pantry already, so would it still be one cup I’m measuring out or less ??
Hi Kelly, 1 cup of whole almonds usually makes about 1 1/3 cups almond meal. Hope this helps!
This is an A+ vegan recipe!! Even my SO loves it. It takes some time to make but the results are beautiful and it reheats small servings well in my Nu-Wave (only takes 5 minutes instead of the extra time + energy for the big oven).
I’ve substituted a variety of flours for this and they’ve all worked well. My favorite combo is almond + chickpea flour. I also double or even triple the amount of spinach – once it’s wilted you can’t even tell how much is packed in there. I add a few tablespoons of turmeric and a pinch of smoked paprika to the blended tofu for some color – if you don’t do this it will be yellow on the top once cooked and beige on the inside. The quiche tastes great without the additional spices, but it sure looks pretty and you could probably fool non-vegan friends and family with this trick.
I’ve made this several times now and it’s always a hit. Thanks for creating and sharing this with the world!
Hey Chelsea, Thanks for your review and for sharing all of your swaps! Don’t you love when a recipe is versatile? I appreciate your kind words too.
Hi Angela,
I’ve made your cashew sour cream many times and am finally going to venture trying one of your dishes. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long that sour cream is bomb.
Wondering, Would dried basil be okay to use instead of fresh? Green onions instead of chives?
Thanks,
Anna
Hi Anna, So happy to hear you love the sour cream. :) I haven’t tried the swaps you asked about, but I think it should work fine. I really love the flavour of fresh basil but it’s not always on hand! 1-2 teaspoons dried basil should do the trick. I’d love to hear what you think!
Could this be made the night before and kept in fridge and then baked in the morning?
Hey Jody, I’ve never tried refrigerating the quiche before cooking so unfortunately I can’t help much there, but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work! I do know that once baked it holds up well in an airtight container in the fridge for several days. I hope that helps! I’d love to hear how it goes if you try it out.
Hey Angela, all your recipes look really yummy! Im just wondering as to what camera you use for taking pictures of your masterpieces? they’re all very detailed and would love to pictures of my own creations, Thanks!
Hi there, Thank you! I used a Canon 5D
I made this last night and didn’t tell my husband what was in it until he finished eating (he turns his nose up at Tofu!!). He said it was ‘very’ nice and when I told him it had tofu in it he said he didn’t care it was very nice and he would eat it again!!! Praise indeed. I certainly will be making it again.
Wow, a win for sure :) Thanks for your feedback!
I changed this quite a bit and made it WAY sinpler but really enjoyed so I thought I’d share my adjustments. I used 3/4 block tofu and 4 eggs (because I eat eggs). I used dill instead of chives, I used red onion instead of leek, I left out the basil because I didn’t have any, and most importantly, I skipped the sauté in the pan part by just chopping my veggies into smaller pieces (bigger than diced but smaller than chopped) so they’d cook in the oven (which they did! Perfectly!). I also used a leftover pie crust I had from Thanksgiving. I will definitely make again!
Oh awesome tips Fiona! What a genius idea to skip the saute and cook it all at once. I’m trying this soon!
Hi Angela! Am excited to give this recipe a try! Does it freeze well?
Dani
Hi Dani, It’s been a while since I’ve froze it but I do think it should freeze well!