Perfect Yorkshire Puddings Recipe on Food52 (2024)

Call them Yorkshire puddings or call them popovers (there's little difference); these beauties always take centre stage on a Sunday roast.

I am a born and bred Yorkshire woman, so I make these most Sundays and have been doing so since my Mum taught me when I was just 9-years old.

There is fierce rivalry amongst Yorkshire Pudding makers as to the best recipe - everyone has their own method - and size really does matter, the bigger the better it seems.

Ten years ago, I wrote the world's first book dedicated to the puds - The Great Book of Yorkshire Pudding - now in is its fourth edition. This is my tried and tested recipe and so, so easy to make. 400,000 views on YouTube bear a testament to the recipe's success. Here in the UK, I am known as the Yorkshire Pudding Queen.

Traditionally, the puds are served before the roast with hot gravy because looking back to when meat was costly (yes, even more than it is now), eating this carb-packed dish first would fill up empty tummies on the second course needed less meat.

Here, it is a cultural, geographical choice, and you are more likely to see them served this way in Yorkshire.

Don't keep them just for Sundays, though. They make a great midweek meal filled with sausages, a good Irish stew, or hot, spicy chilli. Children love them.

Should you have leftovers (never in my house), they are so good cold smeared with a little jam, honey or Golden Syrup. Serve them as a dessert with a little ice cream - delicious.

I hope you enjoy them.
—Elaine Lemm

Directions

1. In a large baking bowl, add the eggs, the milk and beat lightly to mix.
2. Sieve the flour into the egg/milk mix followed by the salt and beat well until mixed. Do not worry too much at this stage if the batter seems lumpy. Put the batter to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes up to several hours on the worktop. Give the batter a quick beat from time to time but don't angst over it.
3. When you are ready to cook your puds, heat the oven to 220C/425F. Put a 12 hole muffin tin on the middle shelf to heat up.
4. Once at temperature, ½ teaspoon of oil or fat into each cup of the muffin, pop the tin back into the oven and heat it to very hot; the fat is ready when it is slightly smoking (not burning).
5. Give the Yorkshire puddings another quick whisk, then pour through a sieve into a jug. Then quickly fill each cup halfway and get the tin back into the oven as quickly as possible. Cook for 20 - 25 minutes until they are risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve with lashings of hot gravy either as a starter or alongside your Sunday roast.