Green Chile Mini Quiches are so easy for lunches

You’ll love these green chile mini quiches filled with ham and pepper jack, an easy flavorful green chile custard and baked in my easy cream cheese pastry.

I’ve been a long fan of quiche for it’s ability to feed my family when we’re on the run. Living in Colorado, green chile quiche is a Fall favorite. Whether you roast your own green chiles or buy the frozen already done for you chiles, that little smoky bit of green heat is always welcome.

We love the mini quiches in our family for easy lunches. Paired with a cup of soup or a salad, you really don’t need a whole lot more. Even better, you can freeze these little mini quiches and warm them up on demand. That is always a must with teenage boys in my house!

Let’s crack some eggs and fire up the green chiles!

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Green Chile Mini Quiches

Why mini quiches are so smart

1. Just plain good: flaky cream cheese pastry plus so much tasty savory flavors from pepper jack, ham and a garlicky green chile custard is something you want to eat.
2. Fewer leftovers: Sometimes a whole quiche will linger in the fridge, and it ends up being my lunch all week. Portion-wise, all of my kids prefer the minis. The bigger boys eat more, and my daughter is happy to eat 1 and call it a day.
3. Freezable: While I’ll never be able to fully wean us off of Costco potstickers for quick and easy snacks, it’s nice to have another option. As this recipe makes 30 mini quiche, it’s easy to have enough to pop into a freezer bag so that kids looking for a quick meal can toss a couple in the toaster oven.
4. Portable: If you’re a family on the go, these are much less messy than a whole quiche. I’ll bake up a batch (or reheat frozen ones) and toss them into a tupperware and we’re off to someone’s baseball game. Anytime we can avoid going out as a family of 6 is a win.

How I roast chiles for green chile quiche

Where I live in Colorado it’s pretty common in Fall to see roadside stands or chile roasters set up in front of grocery stores where you can get fresh green chiles.

As my family is not typically thrilled about the stew-like version of green chile, I almost always buy a few unroasted chiles and roast them myself. Here’s what I do:

• Wash and dry chiles.
• Set chiles on a gas stove over high heat, directly on the grate.
• Turn chiles as they blacken.
• When most of the skin is blackened, take the chiles off the heat and set in a bowl.
• Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap for a few minutes to steam the chiles.
• Peel off the blackened skin, and then rinse off any skin that is sticking.
• Seed the chiles while you’re rinsing them.
• Pat the chiles dry and use immediately or freeze them whole for later use.

What kind of pan should you use for mini quiches?

I’ve experimented many times with different pans for mini quiches. Here’s my top picks:

1. Muffin tins: standard-sized muffin tins give you a good amount of surface area to work with meaning you can get a good amount of filling in each mini quiche. You can also vary how big you make your quiches by simply choosing a larger circle cutter. As bigger rounds of dough will sit higher up in the tin, you can fill those quiches with more without having a different pan.
2. Mini muffin tins: are good for appetizer-sized quiches, though you can barely fill them with anything, making them
3. Madeleine pans: Madeleine pans make adorable shells shaped quiche. If you use them, just be sure to build up the edges of the shells so that the custard doesn’t run all over the place. Also place the pan inside a sheet tray to catch any drips.
4. Sandbakkel tins: These Scandinavian tins make really beautiful quiches with their decorative fluted edges, though they are kind of a pain to clean. If you use them, spray them first with cooking spray and place two strips of parchment inside each tin in an X across the bottom and up the sides. When the quiche are done, you can lift on the parchment tabs to pop out the quiche easily.

Process for making mini quiches

1. Roll: roll out the pastry.
2. Cut: Use a biscuit cutter to cut rounds of the dough. Press the dough inside a standard muffin tin.
3. Chop: chop the ham and any vegetables you’re using.
4. Grate: grate the pepper jack.
5. Whiz: whiz the ingredients for the custard in a blender.
6. Fill: Place some of the filling inside each crust, and then pour in enough custard to come almost to the top of the crust.
7. Bake: Bake the quiches until the crust is lightly browned and crisp and the filling is no longer wiggly.

Ways to shake up your quiche making

• Swap out the meat: I love this quiche with bacon. It’s also really good with leftover rotisserie chicken.
• Use different cheese: cheddar, regular monterey jack or mozzarella are all good here.
• Play “What’s in my fridge?”: quiche is a great place for using up leftovers. Random cooked vegetables are always welcome in a quiche. Reinvent those leftovers!

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