For Perfectly Creamy Quiche, Use This Dairy-To-Egg Ratio

A good quiche can jumpstart your morning in style, but before you simply toss the ingredients into a pie crust haphazardly, it's good to know the fundamentals. One thing to keep in mind is the ratio of dairy to egg, since this will largely determine the texture of the dish. To find out more about this, we spoke to Chef Billy Parisi.

"I use a classic 4 to 1 cream to large eggs ratio," Parisi told The Takeout. "It seems to be the right amount of each that enables enough creaminess in the quiche while also allowing it to perfectly firm up." That balance is exactly what we're looking for. After all, the last thing we want is to wind up with a watery quiche. If you're the kind of cook who gets frustrated trying to pin down every little detail on a dish that's supposed to be simple, keeping this ratio in mind is sure to help alleviate some of that stress.

As for what kind of dairy to use, Parisi drew a hard line. "Hands down heavy whipping cream or even just whipping cream will make for the creamiest eggs because of their higher fat content," he said. "If that makes you nervous, even half and half will do a good job to help make them creamy." Heavy cream may sound heavy-handed, but it actually goes great with eggs. It may have a higher fat content than your typical donut, but you also won't be eating the whole quiche at once (probably).

The 4-to-1 ratio sounds pretty good, but if you've gathered all the ingredients together and you're staring at them, wondering how exactly an egg compares to a glass of milk, you're not alone. Although eggs vary in size, large eggs are the ones you're most likely to find at the grocery store. When using Parisi's ratio, we'll add ¼ cups of dairy for every one egg. So, if you follow his recipe for quiche Lorraine, you'll see that he uses six eggs and 1½ cups of heavy whipping cream. This follows his ratio exactly since four eggs are equal to 1 cup of dairy, and the extra two eggs get added as ½ cup.

If your recipe calls for more or fewer eggs, you can double-check the ratio of dairy to milk to make sure the recipe arrives at the right texture. If it doesn't match, just adjust either the number of eggs or the amount of dairy you add to fit Parisi's ratio. Make a batch and the filling overflows? Simply reduce the amount of dairy and eggs you put in next time. The same goes for quiche that isn't full enough; simply add more.

When you've perfected your quiche recipe, there's a good chance you'll devour the whole thing before long. On the off chance you have leftovers or you make quiche in big batches, just follow the secret to freezing quiche, and you'll be set for weeks to come.