My dad always makes popovers during the holidays. He originally found the recipe in an old New York Times cookbook, but he’s changed it over the years and made it his own. When I first asked him about his recipe, he told me that the trick is to get the eggs from crazy chickens—a dig at the hens my mom keeps by their house.
Popovers are basically the same thing as Yorkshire puddings—which are served with meat in the UK—except that for a popover, you don’t need meat drippings to season the batter. All you need is flour, eggs, milk, salt, and vegetable oil. You do need a specific pan to make them—it looks like a muffin tin, but the wells are much deeper and there is open space between each well so that heat can circulate. The good news is that the pans are really easy to find, and once you have one, you’ll want to make popovers all the time. They’re great with eggs for breakfast and go well with flavored butters.
Active Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes
- Unsalted butter, at room temperature, for greasing
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 popover pans (aluminum)
Grease the pans generously with butter, making sure there’s butter in all parts of the wells.
Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the salt. Add the eggs, milk, and oil, and whisk until the batter is very smooth.
Fill the wells two-thirds to three-quarters of the way full, using up all the batter.
Bake the popovers without opening the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until they’ve risen up a couple of inches above the pans and are light brown on the outside; you want to make sure the outer part of the popovers gets crispy.
Remove the popovers from the pans by gently twisting and then lifting them. Serve warm.
