Crustless Smoked Turkey and Spinach Quiche

I am making a valiant attempt to clear unreviewed recipes from my desk and so today, once again, we travel back to a Sunday in July…

Prep-wise, this was not my finest hour… I had misread the instructions and, as a result, breakfast wasn’t served until 10:45am. I had friends bring an assortment of bagels, I was going to put together a fruit salad and a quiche. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? However, I didn’t plan on also making the last few steps of the jar salads that we were to take on the boat, and which I had to assemble right after breakfast. All of this took time which I hadn’t anticipated or I would have been more prepared for the quiche. In hindsight, even though I had already chopped the onion (when I was making something else the day before that required onion), I should have also cubed the smoked turkey ham and the cheese and prepared the spinach leaves. Oh well. I had hoped that by now, entertaining groups of friends for a few days every summer, I would have known to do this.

In any case, the crustless quiche was quite good. I found the recipe in a recent issue of Cooking Light magazine and increased the quantities by 20% since I was going to make this in a 10” quiche dish rather than in a 9” pie pan which the recipe had specified. It was very good, not light-tasting at all, and I plan to make it again next year for a guest breakfast (providing I can remember to do so…). I love the combination of spinach and smoked turkey ham, and the Swiss cheese (I used emmanthaler) certainly took that combination over the top.

Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Cindy Barr

Crustless Smoked Turkey and Spinach Quiche


Sprinkle some of the Swiss cheese in the pie plate first before adding the ham and egg mixture. The thin layer on the bottom gives you another hit of flavor when you bite into a piece.—Wendy McMillan, Longmont, CO


Cooking spray
3/4 cup (4 ounces) cubed smoked turkey ham (such as Jennie-0)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese, divided
1 cup fresh baby spinach leaves
1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
1/2 cup evaporated fat-free milk
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add ham, onion, and pepper to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until ham is lightly browned.

3. Sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese in a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Top with ham mixture.

4. Combine remaining 1/2 cup Swiss cheese, spinach, and next 5 ingredients (through egg whites) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.

5. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, stirring with a whisk until blended. Pour egg mixture over ham mixture. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in center of quiche comes out clean.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)

CALORIES 152 (30% from fat); FAT 5.1g (sat 2.8g,mono 1.3g,poly 0.5g); IRON 1mg; CHOLESTEROL 68mg; CALCIUM 225mg; CARBOHYDRATE 11.2g; SODIUM 427mg; PROTEIN 14.2g; FIBER 0.5g

Cooking Light, JUNE 2008