Popovers, also known as Yorkshire pudding, rise tall and crisp on the outside with a soft, hollow center, no yeast or baking powder involved. Steam does all the work here, and a hot muffin tin is what gets them to puff up instead of falling flat. From mixing the batter to pulling them out of the oven is about an hour, most of it hands-off resting time.

A muffin pan full of Yorkshire Pudding. — A pinch of dry mustard in the batter is what gives these popovers their faint background flavor and helps the structure hold as they puff

Why a Hot Muffin Tin Makes These Rise Tall

Most popover recipes tell you to just pour batter into a muffin tin and hope for the best, and half the time you end up with something that looks more like a dense muffin than the tall, hollow popover you were picturing. This recipe pours the batter into a hot, oiled muffin tin, adds a pinch of dry mustard to the batter, and lets it rest for at least 30 minutes before baking.

That hot tin is what turns steam into lift, so instead of flat, muffin-shaped puddings you get popovers that puff up tall with a crisp, golden shell and a soft, hollow center. I’ve made these for many family dinners with a house full of people watching the oven, and they’ve never once let me down.

The Tips We Picked Up From Mary Berry

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My mom made a version of these when I was growing up, though we always called them popovers, not Yorkshire pudding. Mine didn’t always turn out right, they’d come out flat more often than I’d like to admit. My daughter and I watched the Yorkshire pudding episode of The Great British Bake Off together, and the two tips Mary Berry gave that we ended up building this whole recipe around are already baked into every step above. Once we started following them, flat popovers stopped being something I worried about.

A muffin tin of popovers on a wire rack.

Same Batter, Different Names

In Britain, this exact batter gets baked in one big dish and called Yorkshire pudding, traditionally served next to a roast beef or lamb dinner. In the States, it’s more common to bake individual portions in a muffin tin, which is where the name popover comes from instead. The batter itself starts out thin and crepe-like, not unlike how a German apple pancake baked over caramelized cinnamon apples begins before it goes in the oven. Whichever name you use for it, you’re making the same recipe.

Lighter Than a Dinner Roll, and I Trust It for Christmas

These are lighter than a yeast roll or biscuit, with a soft, cup-like center that’s built for holding gravy, or in my case, a slab of butter. That makes them a good call when you’re already serving a heavy meal and don’t want to fill people up on bread before the roast even hits the table. I was so nervous about these for Christmas dinner one year that I kept a batch of fluffy dinner rolls made with a flour paste ready as backup, but nobody touched them, everyone went straight for the popovers. Now I have full confidence in this recipe and don’t need a back up.

A Few Things That’ll Keep These From Falling Flat

Resist opening the oven while they bake. The blast of cool air is enough to stop the rise before it’s done, and they won’t recover.
Serve these the moment they come out of the oven. They’ll fall a little and cool fast, and reheating never gets you back to that same crisp, hollow center.
If 30 minutes doesn’t get you tall enough popovers, let the batter rest longer on the counter. Skipping the fridge is intentional here, a cold batter doesn’t puff the same way in a hot tin.
No popover pan? A standard 12-cup muffin tin works exactly the same way, and if you’re rounding out a holiday bread basket, my bread and biscuit recipes are worth a look too.

Just Four Ingredients, Plus One Secret

The exact amounts are in the recipe card below.

Ingredients you'll need to make Yorkshire pudding.

Dry mustard – this is the one ingredient people don’t expect in a popover. It adds a faint background flavor and helps stabilize the batter so it holds its structure as it puffs.
Milk – whole milk gives the richest result, but this batter is forgiving. Skim milk works fine if that’s what you have on hand

How to make Yorkshire Pudding

Step 1

In a bowl with a spout, combine eggs, milk, flour, salt and dry mustard and blend with a hand mixer until well combined. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes.

A bowl of batter for popovers next to a hand mixer.

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 425º. Place 1 teaspoon oil in each hole of a 12 hole muffin tray. Place the muffin tin on the top rack in the oven and bake until the oil is hot and almost smoking.

Step 3

Remove the pan and immediately pour equal portions of batter into the muffin tins. It should be hot enough that it sizzles. Quickly return it to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until they have risen and are golden brown.

Batter being poured into a hot muffin tin.

This popover recipe proves you don’t need a special pan or a long ingredient list to get something worthy of your best holiday table, just a hot muffin tin and a little patience while the batter rests.

Light and airy popovers in a muffin tin.

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