This Spinach and Bacon Sheet Pan Quiche is so "spinachy" and delicious! 

I love this Spinach and Bacon Sheet Pan Quiche. It is loaded with spinach, enough so that I'm pretty sure you're getting a complete serving of leafy greens.
 
In fact, the flavor is "spinach forward," but has just enough bacon to add some smokey richness.

This quiche includes one of my favorite cheeses, Gruyere, along with Parmesan and cream cheese. While I've never made quiche with cream cheese before, I did not notice any distinct cream cheese flavor at all. However, the quiche was a lot less "eggy" than most traditional quiches. That could also be because the quiche is mostly spinach, more so than quiche pies.

Whatever the reason, this sheet pan quiche really made me happy.

On a side note, have you ever tried to follow an old recipe that begins with "one 15 ounce can of..." or whatever the ingredient is, and when you go to the store, the can or package now is short by an ounce? Annoying, right?

I've always counted on 10 ounce packages of frozen spinach to be there for me whenever I need them, until today..... Sadly, national brand frozen vegetable company with the large green man has now reduced the size of their frozen chopped spinach to 9 ounces. Do you know how many recipes calling for frozen chopped spinach will be thrown off by this move? Luckily, I was able to find 10 ounce boxes of the store brand, but I'm pretty sure it won't be long until the 10 ounce boxes will be gone! What is this world coming to?

Fortunately, this quiche is loaded with spinach, so a couple of missing ounces won't make a huge difference.

This sheet pan spinach quiche is the first recipe this year for the Avid Baker's Challenge hosted by my friend Hanaa of Hanaa's Kitchen. This year, we are baking 12 recipes from The Smitten Kitchen, by Deb Perelman. How cool is that? One of my favorite cookbooks is The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, and I've loved Deb's blog for years. I'm particularly in love with the photography. It's so natural, and not overly styled or artificially saturated. Something to which I aspire.

I cheated and used a package of two Pillsbury pie crust rounds for this quiche, which I cut to line the the quarter sheet pan, sort of like a jigsaw puzzle. I had a few scraps leftover, some of which I used to patch the spots where the crust shrunk during par-baking. Feel free to use your favorite pie crust for this recipe.

This quiche makes delicious appetizers. Just cut it into small squares and set it out on a platter and watch them disappear. I happened to make this quiche for just us, and we ate it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the next four days.

Truth in advertising... actually, only I had it for breakfast, Mr. Kitchen is a creature of habit and has a more traditional view of breakfast. Regardless, we both loved this quiche!

Spinach and Bacon Sheet Pan Quiche

Ingredients

• Pie crust recipe of your choice (enough dough that you would use for a top and bottom crust on a round pie), rolled out and ready to line a quarter sheet pan. You'll have a little left over for patching gaps. 
• Nonstick spray oil
• 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup half and half
• 6 large eggs
• 2 ten ouch packages of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, and as much of the water squeezed out of the spinach as possible
• 1 cup (115 grams/4 ounces) shredded Gruyere cheese
• 1/2 cup (50 grams) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 green onions, thinly sliced
• 6 slices of thick cut bacon, fried, drained, and chopped (optional)
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Spray a quarter sheet pan (9 inch by 13 inch rimmed baking sheet) with spray oil, and line it with parchment paper.
2. Press the pie crust dough into the pan, piecing it together to evenly line the pan. Be sure to fold extra crust overhang onto the sides of the dough and press it to create and even crust around the perimeter. When done, place the pan into the freezer, and freeze for about and hour. Once you are ready to bake, prick the crust all over with a fork.
3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and spray foil with spray oil. Press the foil, oiled side down, onto the pie crust, an fill with pie weights. Bake for about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, carefully remove the foil and pie weights, and return the crust to the oven for 5 minutes. Set aside while finishing the filling.
4. Whip the cream cheese with an electric mixer until you have a fluffy mixture. Slowly add the half and half, whisking or mixing constantly, until you have a smooth mixture. Whisk in the eggs, two at a time.
5. Stir in the spinach and distribute it evenly throughout the mixture. Add the cheeses, green onions, and bacon, and stir. Add the salt and pepper and stir completely.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared crust, spreading it evenly in the pan. The mixture should just reach near the top of the crust.
7. Lightly cover the edges of the crust with foil to prevent burning, and place the quiche on the center rack of your oven.
8. Bake for 15 minutes, and then remove the foil, and bake for 10 minutes more (how long you leave the foil on depends on how brown your par-baked crust is).
9. Allow the quiche to cool for 10 minutes before slicing. Leftovers will last in the refrigerator for up to four days, and are great cold or room temperature, and they are fantastic sliced and reheated.