One of nature's great wonders, popovers are made with just milk, eggs, and flour. Plus a little butter and sugar, if you're feeling sneaky. Whisk, pour into tins, and bake (no peeking!). A half hour later, you're rewarded with the most incredibly airy and crispy puffs you could ever imagine. Oh, and p.s., no popover tin required.
There's a lot of mythology surrounding popovers, but it really breaks down to simple food science. All the puffing action comes from the eggs in the batter, which propel the batter sky-high just as it starts to set. This makes a crispy shell with a hollow, custardy interior.
It's important to keep the ratio of ingredients consistent and that they're thoroughly combined into a very smooth batter. You also need to start the popovers in a very hot oven with a pre-heated pan to get them to puff, and then lower the heat halfway through to help them dry out. Without the drying step, the popovers steam and collapse when removed from the oven.
A few other popover tricks for you. Frothing the batter just before you pour it into the tins helps them puff to even more impressive heights. Cutting a slit in the bottom of each popover also helps steam to escape as they cool. Oh and yes, the lore about not opening the oven door is true: keep it closed closed during cooking to ensure a consistent oven temperature for the popovers to do their thing.
A popover tin will help you make popovers so big you could use them for sandwiches, but using a muffin tin is just fine. Both large and small popovers make an excellent addition to the table. I love them for breakfast with jam and honey-butter, but they also make a special treat to serve with dinner.
Ready for a popover party? Let's do it.
How to Make Popovers
Makes 6 large or 12 small popovers
Recipe adapted from the Joy of Cooking
What You Need
Ingredients
1 cup (8 ounces) whole or 2% milk
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and divided
1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Equipment
Blender or food processor
OR
Whisk and a bowl
Popover pan
OR
Muffin tin
Instructions
1. Make the Popover Batter: In a food process or blender, or with a whisk and a bowl, blend the milk, eggs, and one tablespoon melted butter until completely combined. Add the flour and the salt. Blend until frothy and bubbly.
2. Heat the Oven: Heat the oven to 450°F. Let the popover batter rest while the oven heats. This gives the flour time to absorb the liquid and gives the popovers a better texture.
3. Pour the Batter into the Pans: Put the popover tin or muffin pan in the oven for 2 minutes to warm. Remove from the oven and divide the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter between the cups. Whiz (or whisk) the batter one more time to froth it up again and then fill each cup halfway.
4. Bake the Popovers for 15 Minutes: Place the pan back into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Do not open the oven door during baking (this causes the popovers to deflate).
5. Reduce the Heat and Continue Baking: Still without opening the oven, reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for another 15 minutes. Now you can open the oven door and check the popovers. Finished popovers will be golden-brown, feel dry to the touch, and sound hollow when tapped.
6. Prick with a Knife, Cool, and Eat!: Turn the popovers out onto a drying rack. Pierce the bottoms with a knife to allow steam to escape. Cool just enough so they can be handled and then eat immediately.
Additional Notes:
• Making Popovers Ahead: Popovers are the best when they're fresh from the oven. But if you need to make them ahead, just warm them in a 350°F oven until warm and crispy again, about 5 minutes.
• Freezing Popovers: Freeze baked popovers in an airtight bag or container for up to three months. To re-heat, place the popovers directly from the freezer into a 350° oven and bake until warm and crispy, about 8 minutes.
• Other Ways to Make Popovers: While you should keep the ratio of milk, eggs, and flour about the same, you can add other flavoring ingredients to the batter. Try a few tablespoons of sugar for sweet popovers or a few teaspoons of herbs and spices for savory ones. Or you can really treat yourself and make cheesy popovers.
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Popovers!
Yorkshire puddings - everyone in England has these with their Sunday dinner - meat, mash and Yorkshire pudding covered in gravy.
Lovely.
My grandmother used to make popovers for some holiday meals! With butter. Sometimes they were a bit burnt, but she tended to overcook everything anyway... They were still good, though!
I love popovers!
Preheating the pan really isn't necessary though. I start mine in a cold pan and they puff up just fine.
Oh, now I'm daydreaming about tea and popovers on the lawn of the Jordan Pond House in Acadia National Park, a far cry from the dreary weather we're having today, many miles away from Maine. Now I'm tempted to try these myself!
This is a great, simple tutorial I am looking forward to trying very soon - thank you! Would it be right to assume this recipe makes 12 regular size muffin popovers?
Oh man. I used to be a server in a horribly-managed restaurant whose claim to fame were the popovers brought out before your meal. Served with a trio of butters (plain, strawberry and pesto). I used to sub in the kitchen as the popover cook from time to time... I've cooked MANY a popover in my day! That joint taught me a lot about life, but also how to make a *bitching* bread pudding from the leftover popovers. NOM.
Bostonienne...I too recall the high tea at beautiful Jordan Pond. Amazing the prim and proper amongst the wild!
Monica - Yup, the recipe makes 12 muffin-sized popovers!
@ bookmanfilm - I know these as yorkshire puddings too!
Sometimes in England you find giant ones filled with meat, veggies and gravy, also delicious
I've always called this yorkshire pudding as well. I've always had them with roast beef, never sweet, but I'm sure they're delicious both ways.
We always had yorkshire pud with a roast - using the roast drippings instead of oil in the bottom of the pan. We made a big one in a 8x8 pan and then cut it up to share it.
Yummy with homemade gravy on top!
Please check out my video on How to make Popovers
http://in-homeculinaryclasses.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-make-popovers.html
I have made the sweeter version of the popover and made "strawberry shortcakes" with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. They were kind of like a thicker cream puff just a bit easier seeing as you can just go from blender (or bowl) to muffin tin and done. They were soo good and bit lighter than the traditional kind.
Would these be okay if your used WW flour instead?
These are like my individual Yorkshire puddings!
we make a great 'oven pancake' that is made the same way, only using a rectangular glass pan. We put the butter in the pan, put it in the oven while it is heating up. The batter is poured into the hot pan with the hot melted butter.
We cut it up and serve it covered in syrup.
yumm
hugs
When my children were small we lived in the country and every rainy day, I'd make popovers for their after-school snack. We had lovely homemade jam or honey from the farm.
Arlenef, that sounds like a Dutch Baby, except that they're made in a cast-iron pan. Very yummy!
Jorden Pond is the world epicenter of Popovers. Yum.
I swear popovers are just Yorkshire Puddings from over the pond, right?
I've never had them with jam, but I might try that!
There's a high-end restaurant chain called Fogo de Chao which serves the most wonderful version of these, and will replenish them throughout your meal. Each basket arrives warm. I asked them what makes them so wonderful --soft and chewy and earthy and buttery all at once--and they told me they use yucca flour.
SashaC - Since this recipe isn't super dependent on gluten, I think that whole wheat would work pretty well. Try a 50:50 ratio of whole wheat to all-purpose flour to begin with and see how that works before moving to a higher percentage of whole wheat. Let us know how it goes!
My mother used to make pop-overs when I was growing up. We loved them! I have her recipe, but haven't made them in years and years. Mmmmm, thanks for reminding me - great food memories from my childhood!
Hi - I followed this recipe and made these popovers this morning for a family breakfast. It worked beautifully - thank you! I used a regular muffin tin, 2% milk, and whipped the batter up with a whisk in a big bowl. The dozen popovers were gone quickly from the table! : )
Tips to make THE perfect popovers:
1. Place your pan in the oven as the oven heats up, you want to work with a completely hot pan to start. Ideally you can find a cast iron popover pan, they will cook in considerably less time, and I find tend to have a crispier crust. They will also remain hot as you cook a few batches at once
2. Make sure all ingredients are room temperature. No milk or eggs will spoil, and your popovers will not only cook quicker, but it is very important that the ingredient blend, it will take the same effect as if you let your batter rest overnight.
3. Make sure not to open the oven as you turn down the temperature, they will rise, and they will cook, just keep a light on in the oven.
4. Feel free to add bacon, chives, cheese to your batter as you fill up the tins, delicious alternative flavor! Or make them savory and add cinnamon sugar or my favorite, honey
5. If you add more eggs, you will get a more custard like inside, but they will not stay at fluffy once they cool, but is a very filling version of the usually crusty/airy treat.
I make these all the time as they are easy and best served hot with jam!