How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (2024)

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Our step-by-step guide for how to make popovers includes tips on baking in a muffin pan if you don't have a popover pan.

By

Martha Stewart

How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (1)

Martha Stewart is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, and lifestyle expert who has taught millions of people through generations the joy of entertaining, cooking, gardening, collecting, crafting, and home renovating via her eponymous magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Emmy-winning television shows, and 99 books (and counting). Based in Katonah, N.Y., where she helms her 156-acre Bedford Farm, Martha is America's first self-made female billionaire.

Updated on July 27, 2023

Prep Time:

5 mins

Total Time:

45 mins

Yield:

Makes 6 large popovers or 10 small popovers

How do you transform a basic egg batter into tall, tender, airy pockets surrounded by a burnished crust? It’s not magic, but kitchen physics, sparked by the combination of a preheated pan and a hot oven. Popovers, the American version of Yorkshire pudding, are quick and easy to make, and add a sense of fun to any meal, from a holiday brunch to a simple supper.

How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (2)

Ingredients

  • 3 large eggs, room temperature

  • 1 ½ cups whole milk, room temperature

  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

  • 1 ¼ teaspoons coarse salt

  • Vegetable-oil nonstick cooking spray

Directions

How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (3)

  1. Bring to temperature:

    If eggs and milk are cold, before combining, submerge whole eggs in warm water 10 minutes and heat milk until just warm. Preheat oven to 450°F with a nonstick popover pan on rack in lowest position.

    Don't have a popover pan? Follow our tips for using a muffin pan instead.

  2. Whisk eggs and milk:

    After you have combined eggs and milk in a large bowl, whisk together until very frothy. This should only take about 1 minute. Have the flour and salt measured out and ready to go.

    How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (4)

  3. Add dry ingredients:

    Add flour and salt to egg mixture. We tested out a blender and an electric stand mixer when making the batter, but concluded that whisking by hand produces the most tender, airy popovers.

    How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (5)

  4. Whisk again:

    Whisk flour and salt into egg mixture just until batter is the consistency of heavy cream with some small lumps remaining. See those air bubbles? They are what will cause the popovers to rise.

    How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (6)

  5. Remove empty pan from oven:

    Remove popover pan from oven and coat with cooking spray.

  6. Fill and bake:

    Fill popover cups about three-quarters full with batter. Bake 20 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350°. Continue to bake until golden brown and dry to the touch, about 20 minutes more.

    How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (7)

  7. 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. Serve right away.

    How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (8)

    How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (9)

Using a Muffin Pan Instead of a Popover Pan

Though a nonstick popover pan results in optimal height, a standard muffin tin works fine, too—but the popovers will be smaller. (Don't worry, they'll still be delicious.)

To make, only fill the outer cups of the standard muffin tin with popover batter; they will get better circulation in the oven. When baking, reduce cook time by 5 minutes.

More Popover Recipes

Originally appeared: Martha Stewart Living, November 2013

How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (2024)

FAQs

What are the ingredients in a popover? ›

What are the biggest causes of popover failures? ›

Preheating your oven to the correct temperature is probably the most important thing you can do to ensure popover success. The hotter your oven, the higher your popovers will rise. Which makes sense: the faster liquid in the batter turns into steam, the more chance your popover has to expand before its crust sets.

Do you need to let popover batter rest? ›

Plan Ahead: The batter will need to rest for at least 1 hour, up to 48 hours ahead. For the best flavor and texture let the batter rest for 24 hours. Always allow it to come to room temperature for an hour.

Should popover batter be warm or cold? ›

Because popovers rely on steam to rise — as opposed to baking powder, baking soda, or yeast — you want your batter warm when entering the oven. This King Arthur Flour article says it best: “The warmer your batter going into the oven, the more quickly it'll produce steam: simple as that.” Use room-temperature eggs.

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.

How to make custom popover? ›

How To Create a Popover. To create a popover, add the data-toggle="popover" attribute to an element. Note: Popovers must be initialized with jQuery: select the specified element and call the popover() method.

What makes a popover rise? ›

The room temperature of the batter, the heat of the pan, and high heat the oven are all what create the steam initially to get the batter to rise, then the bake at 350°F sets the batter and creates the crispy outside.

Why are my popovers not fluffy? ›

Start with room-temperature ingredients. Why? Room temperature ingredients mix together to form pockets of air, which when baked result in a higher rise. If you want your popovers to rise high, let your ingredients come to room temperature before mixing.

How to stop popovers from deflating? ›

An additional trick for keeping popovers crisp is to gently poke a hole in the side of each one with a sharp knife when you remove it from the pan to allow extra steam to escape without deflating the crust dome.

How to tell if a popover is done? ›

Finished popovers will be golden-brown, feel dry to the touch, and sound hollow when tapped. 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.

How full do you fill popover pans? ›

The art and science of popovers

Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling them about 2/3 to 3/4 full.

Should popover pans be greased? ›

A popover pan should be greased. I prefer to use melted butter, but oil or nonstick spray would work too. Greasing the pan ensures that the finished popovers don't stick and promotes browning on the exterior of the popover. After you've greased your pan, place it into the oven while it preheats.

Can I use a muffin pan instead of a popover pan? ›

Popovers are a classic breakfast treat that are known for their light and airy texture, crispy exterior, and delicious taste. While they are traditionally baked in a popover pan, it is possible to achieve the same result using a muffin pan.

Why aren't my popovers hollow? ›

The oven was not hot enough. Popovers require a fast rise, so that they can expand from the steam before the outside sets.

What happens to an underbaked popover? ›

If your popovers lose volume when they come out of the oven, they are probably underbaked. When these airy baked goods aren't cooked enough, too much steam stays trapped inside. That moisture condenses once they're removed from the oven, causing them to collapse.

What is popover content? ›

The Popover plugin is similar to tooltips; it is a pop-up box that appears when the user clicks on an element. The difference is that the popover can contain much more content. Plugin dependency: Popovers require the tooltip plugin (tooltip.

What is popover batter? ›

pop·​over ˈpäp-ˌō-vər. : a hollow quick bread shaped like a muffin and made from a thin batter of eggs, milk, and flour.

What is the difference between popover and pop up? ›

Popovers are a type of popup. They are on the same level as dialogs and other groups like alerts, notifications, lightboxes, etc. Popovers are typically non-modal. They usually don't use backdrops since dimming the interactive content wouldn't make sense.

What makes a good popover pan? ›

Popover pans are distinguished from regular muffin tins by their deep, steep-sided wells. This forces the batter upwards and results in a popover with a puffy dome and crispy sides. Many popover pans have the cups welded to a wire rack. While this looks odd, it promotes even circulation of air and heat around the tins.

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