These mini vegan quiche cups are perfect for the festive season, special holidays, buffets, and as a delicious dinner party starter. Or simply enjoy along with a big bowl of tasty salad for a wholesome lunch or as a quick snack straight from the refrigerator.
¼teaspoonmustard powder[or 1 teaspoon of white miso paste, can be found in many UK supermarkets such as Asda]
Quiche filling:
1tablespoonolive oil[or rapeseed/vegetable or your usual oil, or replace with ½ cup veggie broth]
65gramvegan bacondiced [a few veggie rashers]
70gramred bell pepper[1 small or ½ large pepper] diced
70gramonion[about 1 small or ½ medium] diced
1garlic clovefine diced/minced or 1 teaspoon garlic paste
Topping:
20gramvegan cheese[fine grated/shredded, can use more if liked]
1teaspoonred pepper flakes [optional][or paprika/chilli flakes, etc, or even a fine diced spring [green] onion]
Instructions
Prepare the filling:
Heat the oil or veggie broth in the small skillet or fry pan. Over a medium heat cook the diced pepper, vegan bacon, onion and garlic for 5 minutes. Stir frequently. Set aside to cool.
70 gram red bell pepper, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 70 gram onion, 65 gram vegan bacon, 1 garlic clove
Prepare the quiche base:
Add the silken tofu, milk, nutritional yeast flakes, garlic and onion powders/granules, mustard powder, cornflour [corn starch], salt and white pepper, to a food processor or blender.
Whizz until smooth and well combined. You may need to stop and open up the processor to scoop down the insides if any ingredients have splashed up the sides.
Preheat the oven to 170 Fan / 190C / 374 Fahrenheit / Gas 5. Prepare the muffin tray:
Use the vegan margarine to grease the muffin tray cups really well. It may look a lot but it helps the ground almonds to stick to the spinach so use more margarine if required.
3 tablespoon vegan margarine
Place a heaped teaspoon of ground almonds into each muffin cup and lift the muffin tray up to disperse the almonds around the sides. Turn the tray around to change the angle and use your fingers to carefully pat the almonds around the sides. Use more ground almonds if required.
60 gram ground almonds
Line each muffin cup with a layer of spinach leaves, overlapping the leaves if necessary. ***[see the 'how to prepare' section of this recipe post above for photos of how to prepare each of these stages]***
50 gram baby spinach
Assemble and bake:
Divide the cooked vegan bacon mixture between each of the muffin cups.
Divide the quiche base between each of the muffin cups, it will work out about a ¼ cup each of the whipped base. A silicone spatula is a really helpful tool as it can scrape all the liquid out of the food processor or blender, so that none is wasted.[before using the quiche base give it another whizz just to ensure its all fully combined after its been sitting waiting]
Sprinkle the grated vegan cheese over each muffin cup and sprinkle a little red pepper flakes to finish.Use more cheese if liked.
20 gram vegan cheese, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes [optional]
Bake on the middle shelf for 25-30 minutes, until the quiches are set and firm [but still soft inside], and tinged with golden.
Leave to cool a little in the muffin tray before carefully removing. A cake palette knife is good as its bendy and can get under the bases easily.The quiches will firm up more as they cool. [Don't worry if some of the ground almonds come away from the bases. These pieces can be used as a tasty salad sprinkle if serving the quiches with a salad, or store in the refrigerator and use as a soup or stew topping]
Enjoy warm or chilled. These quiche cups are particularly tasty as part of a buffet and can be made a few days in advance.
Notes
Nutritional information is provided for guidance only and is not intended to be an exact analysis as ingredients can vary.
Mini Quiches can be stored within the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Or frozen for 2-3 months.
Enjoy chilled straight from the refrigerator or reheat in a warm oven or for a few minutes in the air fryer.
The vegan bacon used was This Isn't Bacon Plant Based Rashers which comes in packs of 120grams, and only half the pack is required for the recipe. However any type of vegan bacon is fine.
The type of silken tofu used was Mori Nu Silken Tofu Firm. Silken tofu is shelf stable and can usually be found in the World Foods section of the supermarket.
Don't use firm tofu that is found in the refrigerated section as it won't blend smoothly enough.
The vegan cheese used was Violife cheddar flavour.
Nutritional yeast flakes can be found in most UK supermarkets, a tub will do for many meals.
Some of the ground almonds may fall off as they are removed from the muffin cups whist warm, the quiches will firm up more as they cool in the pans.
Do grease the muffin cups really well as this will ensure the almonds stick to the sides forming a thin crust layer.
The flaky bits of almonds that fall off can be saved and used as a salad sprinkle if serving the quiches with salad leaves. Or store the almond sprinkles in a small tub in the refrigerator/freezer and use them a tasty garnish for stews and soups.
The ground almonds can be omitted if preferred and a few extra spinach leaves added instead.