Classic Popovers - A Simple 4 Ingredient Recipe (2024)

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Classic popovers are crispy on the outside, tender on the inside and are so easy to make. They’re delicious warm and slathered with honey butter.

Several years ago, my husband and I frequented a wonderful restaurant by our home that served the best popovers – and they were free! No matter what you ordered, you were each provided a hot popover with adelicious maple honeybutter. And, these weren’t little mini popovers, these were the real-deal.

At the time, I thought popovers were pretty fancy and likely difficult to make. I could make a mean dinner roll, but I thought homemade popovers might be a bit ambitious. I was so wrong!

4 Ingredient Popovers

After a little research, I found out I could make the perfect popovers with just four simple ingredients. I mean combining milk, eggs, flour and salt makes for a pretty easy popover recipe in my mind.

Start preheating the oven, mix up the batter, pour into your popover tin and “pop” them in the oven! In a little over 30 minutes you will have fresh, hot popovers.

Do I Have to Use a Popover Pan?

There is a special pan for making popovers. Known as a popover pan (also called a popover tin), it has deep wells and steep, straight sides which help force the popover batter upwards to create that puffy top and crispy sides.

If you don’t have a popover pan, you can use regular muffin tins. The only difference is that you won’t get large, fluffy popovers. They will be smaller due to the fact that a standard muffin tin isn’t as deep, nor are the sides as steep as a regular popover pan.

Fun Fact About Popovers and Yorkshire Pudding

While I was doing my classic popover recipe research, I kept coming across mentions of Yorkshire pudding. I thought this was a little odd until I learned that popovers are just an American version of Yorkshire pudding.

They basically use the same simple ingredients, but how you prepare the popover pan is where you see a difference. For popovers, you prepare the pan using a non-stick cooking spray or melted butter. For Yorkshire pudding, you use beef drippings or beef fat to prepare your pan.

Yorkshire pudding is typically served with dishes such as roast beef, pot roast or prime rib. If you plan on having a meal highlighting beef, Yorkshire pudding would be a fun addition.

Bake Your Popovers Today!

These easy popovers are great for abreakfast treatwith a little blueberry or apricot jam. They are also a great replacement for the classic dinner roll at your dinner parties or as part of a holiday meal. Serve them with some honey butter (or try this awesome Pumpkin Pie Spice Butter) and they will surely be a hit at your dinner table!

Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Classic Popovers

  • If you don’t have a 6-cup popover pan you can use a muffin pan. But, instead of making 6 popovers, you’ll divide the batter between 8 muffin cups. Once you reduce the temperature, watch them closely, they will probably be finished a couple minutes earlier.
  • Leftover popovers can be reheated in a 300 degree oven for about 5 minutes.
  • I use whole milk for this recipe, but any milk you have on hand will work just fine. However, I would not recommend using half and half or heavy cream.
  • Do not open the oven door while baking. This could cause the popovers to deflate. Just have patience!
  • Use room temperature ingredients to ensure the best popovers.

Ingredients Needed to Make Classic Popovers

Full instructions are found below in the printable recipe card

  • Milk
  • All-purpose flour
  • Salt
  • Eggs

How to Make Classic Popovers

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Spray a 6-cup popover pan with cooking spray.
  • Pour milk in a large bowl.
  • Add flour and salt.
  • Whisk together, just until flour is incorporated, do not overmix.
  • Whisk in eggs, one at a time, just until blended. Again, don’t overmix or scrape the side of the bowl.
  • Divide popover batter equally between the popover cups. This will make six popovers.
  • Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.
  • Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until a deep golden brown.
  • Serve immediately.

More Quick Bread Recipes

Yield: 6 servings

Classic Popovers - A Simple 4 Ingredient Recipe (5)

Classic popovers are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside and so easy to make. They're delicious warm and slathered with honey butter.

Prep Time10 minutes

Cook Time40 minutes

Total Time50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 eggs

Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
    2. Spray a 6-cup popover pan with cooking spray.
    3. Pour milk in a large bowl.
    4. Add flour and salt.
    5. Whisk together, just until flour is incorporated, do not overmix.
    6. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, just until blended. Again, don’t overmix or scrape the side of the bowl.
    7. Divide batter equally between popover cups. This will make six popovers.
    8. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.
    9. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until a deep golden brown.
    10. Serve immediately.

Notes

If you don't have a popover pan you can use a muffin pan. But, instead of making 6 popovers, you'll divide the batter between 8 muffin cups. Once you reduce the temperature, watch them closely, as they will probably be finished a couple minutes earlier.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving:Calories: 168Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 128mgSodium: 268mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 1gSugar: 0gProtein: 9g

This recipe was originally posted on 04/20/15. It was updated to improve user experience and reposted on 05/13/20.

Classic Popovers - A Simple 4 Ingredient Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good popovers? ›

My biggest tip for creating perfect popovers is to use warm milk and room-temperature eggs with absolutely no chill on them. Do not take the milk and eggs from the fridge and use them. Cold ingredients will give you dense popovers. Warm ingredients will give you light, airy, and perfect popovers.

What makes popovers puff up? ›

What makes popovers pop? Unlike cake or bread, popovers use neither baking powder/baking soda nor yeast to provide leavening. Steam is the engine that makes them rise — and rise, and rise!

Should popover batter be cold or room temperature? ›

How to make popovers. Before we get started: all of your ingredients should be at warm room temperature. To warm ice-cold eggs from the fridge, place them in a cup of hot tap water for about 10 minutes.

What type of batter are popovers made of? ›

Flour, milk, eggs, salt, and butter: what a simple combination of ingredients for such a sublime treat! These popovers don't require a special pan and can be mixed by hand (or a blender or mixer, if you prefer). In under 30 minutes, you'll have a dozen gorgeous popovers.

Should popover batter rest overnight? ›

There's just one thing that will make the popovers better, and that's time. The batter needs time to rest before baking so that it creates a more tender popover in the end. So, cover the batter and pop it into the refrigerator for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.

What are two reasons for failure of popovers to pop? ›

Best to use all warm ingredients in the 40-50 degrees celsius (100-120 fahrenheit) range. There are two major possible causes that seem likely: The oven was not hot enough. Popovers require a fast rise, so that they can expand from the steam before the outside sets.

What are the biggest causes of popover failures? ›

Until last night…
  • Preheat your popover pan.
  • NEVER open the oven door while baking.
  • Use room temperature ingredients.
  • Use the freshest eggs possible.
Jun 22, 2016

What type of flour is best for popovers? ›

using room temperature eggs (see recipe for how to quickly bring your eggs to room temperature) room temperature milk (see recipe for how to quickly bring your milk to room temperature) hot oven. bread or all-purpose flour: for especially loft popovers, bread flour is your gal!

What's wrong with my popovers? ›

SF Gate claims that if your bakes are flat and dense, rather than tall and puffy, you must adjust your ingredient ratios. Usually, the batter consists of a simple egg, milk, and flour mix but if you add too much flour, the batter will be too dense and your popovers won't have the power to rise.

Is it necessary to poke the popover when it comes out of the oven? ›

Remove from oven:

Popovers lose their crunch if they linger in the pan, so turn them out on a wire rack immediately and poke a small opening in the side of each with a paring knife to let the steam escape.

What do the English call popovers? ›

Yorkshire Puddings are a staple in England with a Roast Dinner. Here in the US we know them as Popovers which are the same thing as the modern Yorkshire Pudding, except using a different pan.

Should popover pans be greased? ›

And be sure to grease not only the cups, but the surface around them as well. The popovers are going to balloon up and over the edges of the wells. Fill the cups about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Put the pan in the oven, on a lower rack.

Why don't my popovers puff up? ›

Preheat the oven to 425 with the pan preheating in the oven. When baking don't open it again until they're done. If you open the oven door the temperature inside can drop too quickly and the popovers will not rise properly. Whip the batter up really airy right before you add it to the pan they'll rise extra high.

Why do popovers fail? ›

If you are having problems with popovers not popping, try decreasing your flour or adding an egg if you have already tried all the other tricks and you are sure that, like me, you are doing everything right.

How to prevent popovers from collapsing? ›

If you don't want your beautiful popovers to collapse, simply use a sharp paring knife and pierce the bottom of the hot popovers to allow steam to escape and place them on a cooling rack. Do not let them cool in the pan, they'll lose their shape.

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