Perfect Popovers are crispy on the outside, light and airy on the inside. Made from a simple batter of eggs, milk, flour, and butter, this is a classic recipe for popover rolls that rise up tall but are hollow and buttery delicious inside. All my tips and tricks are included to easily give you perfect popovers every time.
A little known secret to which my family can attest is that when I have too much wine, I will whip up a batch of late night popovers. “So, it was a popover night, huh Mom?” It’s fine, I own it and I’m coming out because it proves my point that making perfect popovers is No Big Deal.
Popover rolls were brought to New England in the 1800s by settlers from England who “Americanized” them into the big airy pastries they are today. Popovers rolls are made from a simple, almost pancake-like batter except there are no leavening agents added.
Instead, the batter with eggs, milk, flour, and butter is added to the tins of a popover pan which are designed to allow the heat to circulate around the tins with spaced out deep wells and straight sides. The sudden intense heat of the oven makes air expand in the batter to puff puff puff them up.
Popovers are special. They are impressive and tasty. They should be light and crispy, not dense and egg-y. These tips below work for me to consistently make perfect popovers every time.
A popover is a light roll with a crispy exterior and a semi-hollow interior. It’s made simply with flour, eggs, milk and butter, yielding buttery, endearingly eggy flavor.
Yorkshire pudding aka “Dripping Pudding” aka “toad-in-the-hole” (which is just a Yorkshire pudding with a sausage baked in) is made from a batter of milk, eggs, flour, and salt and works like pastry. Serious Eats says that the Yorkshire pudding is whipped into a batter and left to sit overnight, rested till it reaches room temperature before baking, and is supposed to turn out of the oven tall, light, and slightly crispy. In fact, the pudding is supposed to quadruple in size while baking so that it doesnt fall flat, which sounds similar to the concept of a New England popover.
The New England area (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) has another well-beloved baked good called the popover. Famous for its shape and buttery flavor, its the perfect example of European immigrants taking an old U.K. recipe and adapting it for their own means. In this case, the popover was inspired by the beloved English Yorkshire pudding, but there are some key differences between the two, and if you were to order one thinking it would taste the same as the other, you would be sorely mistaken (via MasterClass).
Yorkshire pudding was invented in early England but according to Historic-UK, the specifics of when, where, and who invented it have been lost to time. The first printed Yorkshire pudding was released in 1747, but it is surmised that the commonwealth was baking this pudding up well before its publication. And before those of you who grew up outside the United Kingdom add the Yorkshire pudding to your list of desserts you want to give a try, its important for you to know that this particular pudding isnt sweet, its savory, and it isnt a pudding in the scene of a custard either.
New York Times Cooking says that popovers and Yorkshire pudding use the same ingredients but traditionally, Yorkshire pudding relied on meat drippings (meat was often cooked above these baked goods so as not to waste a drop) for flavor and color whereas popovers just use butter (which is just as delicious in our opinion). According to BBC, a Yorkshire pudding is traditionally baked in an angled muffin pan to create that iconic large, puffed top, while King Arthur Baking claims that popovers specifically use deep-welled pans to force the batter to expand on top and create a mushroom-looking appearance. And though you could just use a simple muffin pan to bake either of these goodies, they wont have that classic shape that makes them so identifiable.
Yorkshire puddings are what eventually inspired the towering American popovers. The English colonists tried to recreate Yorkshire pudding by placing the batter into hot butter, which allowed the mixture to puff and crisp up in the oven (via Taste Atlas). Unlike Yorkshire pudding, these New World treats were not strictly savory, Mashed confirms that popovers are often served with butter and jam instead of meat and herbs. Savory versions still exist though, like this recipe for gruyere and black pepper popovers.
Are popover the same as Yorkshire pudding?
Yes and no. Yorkshire pudding is made from the same kind of batter, but they are made in regular muffin tins greased with beef fat. They are often made to accompany beef dishes.
- Eggs. This recipe uses 2 whole, large eggs. It is important that they be at room temperature and not cold. To speed up a late-night popover sesh, I put the eggs in hot tap water for 15 minutes.
- Milk. I use 1% or 2% milk because that is what I always have on hand. I do not recommend skim milk, and I have not tried whole milk. Like the eggs, the milk needs to be room temperature or even a little warm, so I give it a zap in the microwave.
- Flour. Regular all-purpose flour. Be sure to spoon and level the flour into the measuring cup and not scoop, which packs the flour in and creates an inaccurate measure.
- Salt. Popovers need some salt. I forgot the salt once and ended up throwing them out. Kosher salt is recommend for this recipe and not table salt.
- Butter. Butter is a central, necessary component and unsalted butter tastes better than salted. Also, we need the butter melted.
We do also need a way to grease the popovers tins. I use cooking spray since it’s so easy, but butter will also work.
The Easiest Popovers Recipe | So delicious!
FAQ
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Are popovers supposed to be eggy?