Winter Squash Quiche with Caramelized Onions, Bacon & Goat Cheese

A Quiche for the Cooler Months

Roasted winter squash brings sweetness and a creamy texture, while bacon adds smoke and caramelized onions bring another layer of savory sweetness. Goat cheese cuts through all of that richness with just enough acidity and tang.

Dried thyme, nutmeg, white pepper, and Silk Chili give the custard warmth without making it taste overtly spiced. The nutmeg is particularly good with both the squash and the dairy, while the chile adds another dimension behind the bacon and caramelized onions.

And then there's the crust. You can absolutely make this with my Classic Butter Pie Crust, but for this version I replace some of the all-purpose flour with buckwheat flour and use buttermilk in place of the vinegar water. The buckwheat gives the pastry an earthy, nutty flavor that feels made for winter squash.

As with all of my quiches, the crust needs to be extra blind baked before you add the filling. That extra step is what gives you crisp, flaky pastry underneath a creamy custard rather than a soggy bottom crust.

Buckwheat-Buttermilk Pie Crust

1 fully blind-baked 9-inch pie crust, using my Classic Butter Pie Crust recipe, replacing ½ cup of the all-purpose flour with ½ cup buckwheat flour and replacing the vinegar water with buttermilk

Alternatively, prepare the Classic Butter Pie Crust exactly as written.

Quiche Filling

2 tablespoons (16 g) all-purpose flour

3 large eggs (about 150 g out of the shell)

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (200 g) heavy cream

½ cup (115 g) whole milk

1 teaspoon (5 g) kosher salt

½ teaspoon ground white pepper

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon Silk Chili

1 teaspoon dried thyme

½ cup (about 85 g) roasted diced winter squash

2 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and chopped

⅓ cup (about 75 g) caramelized onions

3 ounces (90 g) goat cheese, crumbled

Method

Prepare the pie crust according to the Classic Butter Pie Crust recipe and extra blind bake it before assembling the quiche. For the buckwheat variation, replace ½ cup (63 grams) of the all-purpose flour with buckwheat flour and use buttermilk in place of the vinegar water. This recipe will make 2 crusts so you can save one for later in the freezer or cut the recipe in half to make one. Allow the blind-baked shell to cool while you prepare the filling.

Roast the diced winter squash until tender and beginning to caramelize around the edges. You want the squash fully cooked before it goes into the quiche; roasting also removes some of its excess moisture and concentrates its flavor.

Cook the bacon until crisp, then drain well. Slowly cook the onions until deeply softened, golden, and caramelized. Let the squash, bacon, and onions cool slightly before assembling the quiche.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

To make the custard, place one egg and the flour in a medium bowl and whisk vigorously until completely smooth and no lumps of flour remain. This little step makes it much easier to incorporate the flour evenly into the custard.

Whisk in the remaining eggs one at a time, followed gradually by the heavy cream and milk. Add the salt, white pepper, nutmeg, Silk Chili, and dried thyme and whisk until evenly combined.

Arrange the roasted squash, bacon, and caramelized onions evenly over the bottom of the blind-baked crust. Crumble the goat cheese throughout, distributing everything so you'll get a little of each component in every slice.

Slowly pour the custard over the filling, allowing it to work its way into all the spaces between the squash and onions. Avoid overfilling the crust; depending on the depth of your pie plate, you may have a small amount of custard left over.

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 30–35 minutes, or until the custard is set around the edges but still has a slight jiggle in the very center. The residual heat will finish setting the center as the quiche cools, so don't wait until it becomes completely firm in the oven.

Allow the quiche to cool to room temperature before slicing. This resting period is important—the custard finishes setting as it cools and you'll get much cleaner slices.

Storage

Cover and refrigerate leftover quiche for up to 4 days. Serve chilled, bring it back to room temperature, or gently reheat individual slices in a low oven.

Cook's Note: Roast Before You Fill

With a custard-based tart, controlling moisture in the filling is just as important as blind baking the crust. Roasting the winter squash concentrates its flavor while driving off water, the bacon should be well drained, and the onions should be cooked until deeply caramelized rather than simply softened.

Those steps keep the filling flavorful and concentrated without introducing unnecessary moisture into the custard.

Cook's Note: The Buckwheat Crust

The buckwheat crust isn't essential, but it changes the character of this quiche in a really lovely way. Replacing just ½ cup of the all-purpose flour with buckwheat flour gives the pastry a toasted, earthy quality without sacrificing the flaky structure of the original crust.

Using buttermilk instead of the vinegar water adds a subtle tang that works especially well with the goat cheese, squash, and buckwheat. If you'd rather keep things simple, though, the regular Classic Butter Pie Crust works beautifully too.

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