Easy Popover Recipe - The Carefree Kitchen (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.

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.

To make ahead: You can make the batter and refrigerate it for up to one day before baking. Just let the batter come to room temperature and whisk it well or whirl it in the blender for a few seconds before pouring it into the muffin tins. To store: Store baked and cooled popovers in a ziptop bag for up to a day.

The flour needs some time to absorb into the liquid, which not only thickens the batter a bit, it also allows the gluten molecules to relax which makes for a lighter, not chewy popover. The resting period also makes the batter more velvety and helps allow air bubbles to release.

Thin mixtures made weak popovers that couldn't contain their steam, while thick mixtures never generated enough steam for lift. As a kid, I had measured my flour by volume, so I was probably adding subtly different amounts each time, which led to the occasional failure.

Allow the batter to rest at room temperature while the oven preheats. Resting the batter really does result in better-risen popovers with an airier texture (as opposed to chewy). At least 15 minutes allows the starch molecules to expand and the gluten to relax.

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.

Tips for perfect popovers

-- For best results, refrigerate the batter one to 24 hours before baking - the longer the better. -- Fill cups two-thirds full, or almost to the top. -- To give the popovers greater stability, heat the empty pans in a preheated oven two to three minutes before filling.

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.

As soon as you remove the popovers from the oven, poke a little hole in the top of each one. This will give the steam someplace to escape while cooling. If you don't do this the steam stays trapped inside making them soft which causes them to deflate.

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.

If your popover batter is excessively lumpy, you may want to strain it, pressing the batter through a sieve to remove lumps. However, if your batter is slightly lumpy, this is normal—much like making pancake batter.

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.

The best way to reheat popovers is to preheat your oven to 350 or 400F and toss them in for several minutes (5-10 minutes). This will also make them firmer if they've gotten too soft while sitting. You do not need to put them back in a popover pan, just tossing them in on a cookie sheet will work fine!

Reheat leftover popovers by placing them on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for 5 to 7 minutes. Cut off tops of popovers or slice lengthwise to assemble. Layer with leftover roast meat, onion and cheese place on a baking sheet and heat at 400 for about 5-8 minutes or until cheese is melted.

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 team to escape without deflating the crust dome.

Grease the cups of a nonstick (6-cup) popover pan very generously with softened butter or the cups of a cast-iron pan generously with vegetable shortening.