Vegan Gluten-Free Quiche Florentine

plant based Quiche Florentine

Going plant based is easier for some than others. One group that can struggle is breakfast people. You know who we’re talking about—they would eat breakfast for every meal if they could. Their middle name is practically Eggs, and the thought of going without their morning faves makes them want to run away screaming.

We get it. We love breakfast, too; it’s the MVP. We’ve got good news if you’re a breakfast person: you don’t have to give up your breakfast favorites to go plant based! Our Vegan Gluten-Free Quiche Florentine is here for you. Breakfast lovers rejoice! 

This vegan quiche is packed full of veggies, loaded with spices, and topped with a nut-free cheesy sauce that’ll have you dancing for joy. Oh, and if you prefer to eat this for lunch, dinner, or your midnight snack, we won’t be judging. Last we checked, the breakfast police aren’t real. 

healthy Quiche Florentine recipe

Let’s talk ingredients

Quiche Florentine

Vegan Gluten-Free Quiche Florentine ingredients

Veggies: this quiche is absolutely stuffed with yummy good-for-you veggies like mushrooms, yellow onion, green onion (AKA scallions), garlic, spinach, kale, and bell peppers. Substitution ideas can be found below if you need them.

Smoked paprika: this is one of our favorite spices for adding subtle umami flavor or in-your-face amazing smoky notes. The amount we use here creates a flavor somewhere in the middle.

Black salt: also called “kala namak” or “bire noon,” black salt is one of the most important ingredients in your quiche. It gives it an eggy smell and flavor, so don’t skip it. Contrary to its misleading name, it’s not actually black in color, but more dusty light pink. It’s not the same as Hawaiian Black Salt, so don’t be fooled. Most ethnic grocery or herb/spice stores will carry black salt, and it’s pretty easy to find online. An ounce or two will last you a while and open up your vegan breakfast options considerably. Hello hollandaise! 

Garbanzo bean flour: this gluten-free flour adds to the texture of your quiche while also layering in a subtle nutty flavor for more umami.

Unsweetened applesauce: this vegan baking superstar adds moisture with a hint of sweetness and is a common egg substitute.

Nutritional yeast: also known as “nooch,” this non-active yeast is another plant based powerhouse. Its flavor is a subtle cheesy one, not yeasty at all, and it’s usually easily found in health food stores and some conventional grocery stores.

Roma Tomato: this hearty tomato is sliced and placed on top of your quiche before baking. It stands up to oven temperatures well without making the quiche top soggy.

Nut-Free Cheesy Sauce

Vegan Gluten-Free Quiche Florentine cheesy sauce ingredients

Rolled oats: we grind the oats to a fine powder in the blender to play the role of flour, adding both flavor and texture. Be sure to use oats that certify gluten-free processing for a gluten-free sauce. 

Sunflower seeds and hemp seeds: add fat to your sauce without nuts. Fat is absolutely essential for carrying certain flavors and giving the sauce that luscious mouthfeel you expect. 

Tapioca flour: this bad boy helps thicken your sauce while also providing a stretchy texture reminiscent of melted cheese. This texture change takes your cheesy sauce from delicious to hot damn that’s good! 

Mustard powder: did you know that in addition to providing flavor, mustard and mustard powder are emulsifiers? Emulsifiers chemically marry hydrophobic fat-containing ingredients with water-containing ingredients, allowing them to mix and stay that way. That’s why you see mustard or mustard powder in so many dressing recipes. It’s pulling double duty here, too, giving our sauce flavor and helping us combine our ingredients.

Miso: this fermented soy paste adds tons of savory umami flavor, a slight tang, and a bit of saltiness. There are soy-free misos available if you need them, but try not to skip it.

easy Vegan Gluten-Free Quiche Florentine

Time to make your vegan breakfast dreams come true

Quiche Florentine 

First, preheat your oven to 350 ºF and line an 8x8x2” baking dish or 9” pie plate with parchment paper.

Now, let’s get some mise en place (culinary term for getting everything prepped before cooking) going. Wash all your veggies, then chop, dice, or slice them and measure them all into the same large bowl. After that’s done, measure out all of your spices into the bowl with your veggies. Stir to combine.

Quiche Florentine and cheesy sauce

Heat a skillet large enough for all your veggies over medium heat. Once it’s warm, drop your veggies in (don’t wash the bowl yet) and cook until softened, and most of the liquid released has evaporated, about 6–8 minutes. 

gluten free Quiche Florentine

While your veggies are softening, let’s put together the rest of our filling. Put the garbanzo bean flour, water, applesauce, nutritional yeast, tapioca flour, dijon mustard, and baking powder into a bowl and whisk to combine.

Once your veggies are softened, transfer them back to their bowl, pour your filling mixture on top, and fold to combine. Folding your mixture will help preserve some of the air you just whisked in, which will help the final texture of your quiche.

gluten free Quiche Florentine recipe

Transfer your filling to your baking dish and spread it evenly to the edges. Place your tomato slices on top, pop that baby in the oven, and bake until the filling is set in the center (no jiggly bits), the top is golden brown, and the sides have pulled away from the edges, about 35–40 minutes.

Quiche Florentine brunch

Nut-Free Cheesy Sauce

While your quiche is baking, make your cheesy sauce.

First, add the dry ingredients to your blender and blend to a fine powder. This will ensure your sauce is silky smooth.

Now, add your wet ingredients directly to the blender with your dry ingredients. Blend again until mixed completely and smooth.

dairy free Quiche Florentine recipe

Transfer your blended cheesy sauce to a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk often until the mixture thickens and the texture becomes glossy and gooey like melted cheese. This will probably take about 10–12 minutes, but possibly longer. Keep going until you see the right texture. You’ll know it when it happens. Set aside and keep warm if you’re serving your quiche immediately.

crustless Quiche Florentine recipe

Serve your Vegan Gluten-Free Quiche Florentine!

Slice up your quiche, drop those heavenly wedges on a plate, and smother them in your cheesy sauce. If you’re feeling fancy, you can garnish with fresh diced tomatoes. Enjoy!

healthy Vegan Gluten-Free Quiche Florentine

Storing & reheating

This recipe makes enough for one quiche and will keep in the fridge for about five days.

If you’re one of those “patience is a virtue” types, or you’re not a morning person, you can make the quiche a day ahead, pop it into the fridge after it cools to room temperature, and let the flavors meld overnight. It will be even more delicious the next day.

Reheat in a 350 ºF oven for about 10 minutes or until heated through when you’re ready to serve. You can either wait to make your cheesy sauce fresh or reheat it on the stovetop over medium-low heat, stirring frequently.

To make your quiche gluten-free, you’ll need to buy rolled oats that specify gluten-free processing.

Quiche Florentine and cheesy sauce recipe

Have you made our Vegan Gluten-Free Quiche Florentine? Was it the answer to all your plant based breakfast hopes and dreams? Tell us about it in the comments below.

healthy Quiche Florentine recipe

Vegan Gluten-Free Quiche Florentine

Makes 1 quiche
Author: Molly Patrick

Ingredients

Quiche Florentine

Veggies

  • 1 cup mushrooms, diced (any variety / 70 g)
  • ½ cup yellow onion, diced (80 g)
  • 3 tablespoons green onion, thinly sliced (20 g)
  • 2 teaspoons garlic, minced (6 g)
  • 2 cups baby spinach, chopped (60 g)
  • 2 cups baby kale, chopped (95 g)
  • 1 cup bell pepper, diced (any color / 150 g)

Spices

  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ¾ teaspoon black salt (AKA kala namak or bire noon, not Hawaiian Black Salt)
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
  • ½ teaspoon dried oregano
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon mustard powder
  • teaspoon dried red chili flakes
  • teaspoon black pepper (about 5 turns)
  • teaspoon white pepper

Everything Else

  • cups garbanzo bean flour (AKA chickpea flour / 115 g)
  • 1 cup water (250 ml)
  • ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce (65 ml)
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (10 g)
  • 2 teaspoons tapioca flour
  • 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 medium Roma tomato thinly sliced

Nut-free Cheesy Sauce

Dry Ingredients

  • 2⅔ tablespoons uncooked rolled oats (not instant / 15 g)
  • 1⅔ tablespoons sunflower seeds (raw & shelled / 15 g)
  • 1⅔ tablespoons nutritional yeast (9 g)
  • 1⅔ tablespoons tapioca flour (10 g)
  • ¾ teaspoon onion powder
  • ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 pinch mustard powder
  • 1 pinch white pepper
  • 1 pinch ground nutmeg

Wet Ingredients

  • 1 cup water (250 ml)
  • 1⅔ tablespoons hemp seeds (raw & shelled, AKA hemp hearts / 20 g)
  • 1⅓ tablespoons unsweetened non-dairy milk (20 ml)
  • 1 tablespoon white or yellow miso (10 g)
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice (10 ml)
  • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar (10 ml)
  • 1 teaspoon tahini (5 g)
  • ¼ teaspoon dijon mustard

Instructions

Quiche Florentine

  • Preheat your oven to 350 °F (177 °C). Line an 8x8x2” baking dish or 9” pie plate with parchment paper. The paper can go up over the edge of the baking dish and you can trim it in a moment.
  • Prep and measure out all of the veggies and place them into a mixing bowl. Measure the spices into the bowl with the veggies and stir to combine.
  • Heat a skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the veggies & spices to the skillet and cook for about 6–8 minutes, until the veggies are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated. Set the bowl aside, you will use it again shortly.
  • While the veggies & spices are cooking, place the garbanzo bean flour, water, applesauce, nutritional yeast, tapioca flour, dijon mustard, and baking powder into the bowl and whisk until combined.
  • When the veggies are softened, transfer them to the mixing bowl and fold them into the mixture until combined.
  • Transfer the mixture to your baking dish and spread out evenly. Place the slices of tomato on top. Trim the parchment paper so it’s not hanging over the side of the baking dish. Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the filling is set in the middle, the top is golden brown and the sides have pulled away from the parchment paper.

Nut-Free Cheesy Sauce

  • While your quiche is baking, make the sauce.
  • To your blender, add the oats, sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast, tapioca flour, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, mustard powder, white pepper, and nutmeg. Blend for about 20 seconds, until the ingredients come together into a fine powder.
  • Leave the powder in the blender and add the water, hemp seeds, non-dairy milk, miso, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, tahini, and dijon mustard. Blend again until completely blended and smooth.
  • Transfer the mixture to a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, for 10–12 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and achieves a thick, glossy, gooey cheese-like texture. Stir the sauce more consistently as it begins to thicken. If it doesn’t get thick at first, wait for it, it will. It may have lumps in the beginning, but it will smooth out as it thickens.

Serve

  • Slice the warm quiche and smother slices in the cheesy sauce. Garnish with fresh diced tomatoes if you'd like. Enjoy!

Notes

  • The quiche can be eaten the same day, but for best flavor refrigerate overnight to give the ingredients time to meld. Reheat in a 350 °F (177 °C) oven for about 10 minutes, until heated through.

Vegan Gluten-Free Quiche Florentine Substitutions

Quiche Florentine

easy Vegan Gluten-Free Quiche Florentine recipe

The veggies in this recipe are super flexible. Switch them up to adapt your quiche to the seasons or use up produce from your garden.

Mushrooms: not a fan of these fun guys? (Sorry, not sorry.) You can use the same amount of zucchini, peeled eggplant, cauliflower, or broccoli. 

Yellow onion/green onion: substitution options include ​​shallot, chive, leek (use the white part), fennel, celery, radish, or turnip. 

Baby spinach/kale: use finely chopped collard greens, chard, mustard greens (these can be spicy/strongly flavored, so be cautious), or dandelion greens.

Bell peppers: use yellow squash, radish, carrot, celery, or chard stems.

Garbanzo bean flour: sub with 1 part almond flour, 1 part cornmeal, and 1 part rice flour.  

Cheesy Sauce

crustless Quiche Florentine

Sunflower seeds: sub with raw cashews, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes.

Tapioca flour: you can substitute with arrowroot powder, but your final product won’t have the stretchy texture associated with tapioca flour.

White or yellow miso: tamari, soy sauce, or vegemite if you can find it will do in a pinch, but your cheesy sauce won’t have the same depth of flavor. Start with a teaspoon and add more if needed.

healthy Quiche Florentine

Hungry for more? Keep your plant based breakfast healthy and simple and take your mornings to the next level with Gluten-Free Porridge.

May all your meals be breakfast.

Xo
Team Dirty

Get a weekly dose of inspiration to eat more plants and celebrate imperfection

Our Sweary Saturday Love Letters are written by our ex-boozer, ex-smoker, plant-loving co-founder, Molly Patrick.

5 Comments

  1. Marcia on April 17, 2022 at 3:52 pm

    5 stars
    A lot of ingredients, but SO worth it! The nut free cheesy sauce wasn’t as flavorful as I expected, but it did compliment the quiche well. I omitted the kale and added more of the other vegetables. Omnis will like it!

  2. Rebecca on May 1, 2022 at 12:47 pm

    I haven’t made this. I do have a question. When I combine the chickpea flour (Bob’s Red Mill) and the water at that ratio it turns into a kind of hard lump! The pictures always look like pancake batter. Is it the type of flour I’m using? TIA

    • Stephanie from Team Dirty on May 2, 2022 at 11:34 am

      Hi Rebecca,

      How annoying!

      Bob’s Red Mill chickpea flour should work fine. We would recommend putting all the liquid ingredients into the bowl first and then sprinkling in the flour while you stir if you have problems with the flour getting pasty or lumpy. Hope that helps! Enjoy the quiche!

  3. Melissa on June 17, 2022 at 10:05 am

    5 stars
    This was delicious! I made it the day before, left it at room temperature for about 30 minutes before reheating, and reheated for about 30 minutes; it could have used a few more minutes but it was delicious! I used pumpkin seeds instead of sunflower for the sauce, so it was a bit muddy looking due to their green color, and I was lazy and rounded all fractions up to the full measure – thus it was quite thick and didn’t really need the full 10 minutes of cooking but it was super flavorful and a nice addition to the quiche. it also smells so good when baking! A keeper! (any word on how the sauce keeps when made ahead?)

    • Team Dirty - Brittany on June 17, 2022 at 10:27 am

      Hello, Melissa! We’re glad you loved this recipe, and thank you for the tips. The sauce is fantastic made ahead and also freezes well. Once you’re ready to reheat, add a small splash of nut milk to thin it down to your liking.

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