Popovers Recipe: 3 Tips for Making Light, Buttery Popovers

Popovers are light pastry rolls made from flour, eggs, butter, and milk. This fluffy side dish is an American variation on Yorkshire pudding, a savory baked pudding historically baked in pans greased with meat drippings. While their simple, egg and flour-based batters are the same, popovers are baked in pans greased with butter or nonstick cooking spray. A large, skillet-sized popover is known as a Dutch baby.

Popovers are a flexible side dish that can be enjoyed as part of a breakfast spread, as a stuffed dessert (like strawberry shortcake), or with a hearty meal to soak up residual jus or gravies.

There are many ways to enjoy popovers thanks to their biscuit-like flexibility:

1. 1. As a substitute for bagels or toast. Popovers can function like bagels or toast during breakfast time: Pair popovers with cultured butter, honey (or honey butter), cream cheese or mascarpone, jam, and marmalade.
2. 2. As a dessert. Slice popovers in half and fill them with a dollop of homemade whipped cream and fresh fruit, like sliced strawberries or berries.
3. 3. With savory meals. Serve popovers as a side dish alongside hearty meals, where they’re ideal for dipping into jus, sauces, gravies, and stews.

If it’s your first time making popovers, consider these tips before making a batch of these eggy, fluffy treats:

1. 1. Use a popover pan. The key to perfect popovers is using a popover pan. The cylindrical walls of popover cups are straight rather than angled like those in a regular muffin tin, accentuating their puffy, mushroomed tops by forcing the batter up out of the slim space. If you can’t find a popover tin, a muffin pan will still produce delicious—shorter, more modest—popovers.
2. 2. Bake on the lower rack. Anticipate volume when baking popovers: Placing the pan too close to the top of the oven could result in scorching.
3. 3. Avoid opening the oven door during the bake. Releasing too much heat while the popovers bake can cause them to deflate during the baking time. Instead, wait for that tell-tale golden brown hue, then turn them out onto a wire rack. Poke a small hole in each with a paring knife to help excess steam escape and keep them crisp as they cool.