How To Make the Best Popover Recipe - Through Her Looking Glass (2024)

This Jordan Pond House Best Popover recipe is sure to be a hit at your house! These popovers are known regionally as the best popovers in all of New England. If you’ve never tried a popover before, you’re in for a real treat.

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How To Make the Best Popover Recipe - Through Her Looking Glass (1)

What Are Popovers?

A popover is a light, fluffy muffin made from a thin eggy batter that rises to form a hollow shell when baked. That airy shell is typically served hot and slathered with butter and strawberry jam.

You can easily buy an expensive gourmet popover baking mix, but since there are only 5 ingredients — flour, milk, eggs, salt, and baking soda — why not make your own? The taste is just as delicious, and popovers are so easy to make.

The baking technique for making popovers is a crucial element to this recipe. There’s lots of beating with your electric hand mixer. And absolutely no opening the oven door and peeking! This could cause the popovers to deflate, similar to a soufflé.

How To Make the Best Popover Recipe - Through Her Looking Glass (2)

The Famous Jordan Pond House at Acadia National Park

If you’ve ever visited the Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine, you likely know about theJordan Pond House — a lovely tea house on Park Loop Road inside the park.

Jon and I visited Acadia National Park and TheJordan Pond House seven summers ago when we spent a romantic long weekend in Bar Harbor, Maine, celebrating our anniversary. We stayed at the Primrose Inn in Bar Harbor, which is a gorgeous 1878 Victorian-era bed & breakfast. Acadia National Park is a stunning park with beautiful trails, mountain vistas, and incredible views.

On our way home from the long weekend, we stopped at The Jordan Pond House for popovers and a glass of iced tea. They serve afternoon tea with popovers every day from 11:30-5:30. Weheard about the popovers over the weekend. And after savoring one, we “popped” into the gift shop to buy a popover pan that includedthe famousJordan Pond House “Best Popover Recipe.”

These popovers are known regionally asthe best popovers in New England, and they’re not hard to make. Just follow the easy directions below from “The Story of Jordan Pond,” published by the Acadia Corporation.

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Key Ingredients

You only need 5 ingredients to make the best popovers ever at home! As far as dry ingredients go, you’ll need to sift together all-purpose flour, salt, and baking soda. For the wet ingredients, all you need is whole milk and room temperature eggs. That’s all!

How To Make the Best Homemade Popovers

These popovers take less than an hour to make, and only require 5 simple ingredients that you probably have in your pantry right now. So, get to baking!

  1. In a large bowl, add the eggs and mix at a high speed until they are doubled in size, which should be around 2-3 minutes. You want to incorporate a lot of air into the eggs (especially the egg white) so that the batter is light and fluffy. Once the eggs are whipped, turn the speed down. Pour the milk in, and whisk until everything is fully incorporated.
  2. Continue mixing, and add the sifted dry ingredients (flour, salt, and baking soda). Once everything is mixed well, but not overly so or to the point that the whipped eggs have deflated, add the remaining milk, and continue whisking for another minute.
  3. Grease the muffin pan, and add it into the 425 degrees F oven to preheat for 5 minutes. While the pan is preheating, strain the batter to prevent lumps, and then divide the mixture equally into the muffin pan.
  4. Bake in the middle shelf for 15 minutes, and then reduce the temperature to 350 F. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, then carefully remove from the muffin tin, and serve warm with softened butter and jam. Enjoy!

How To Make the Best Popover Recipe - Through Her Looking Glass (4)

Tips and Tricks

  • Popover pans can be substituted with a regular muffin pan, but there will be a slight difference in the height of the popovers since the muffin pan is shorter.
  • Have your eggs sitting at room temperature for at least an hour before mixing the batter for best results.
  • To get a smooth batter, sift the flour before mixing it into the eggs. And also, strain the batter before adding it to the muffin pans.
  • Avoid opening the oven in the first 15 minutes so the popovers get the right form and texture.

What To Serve with Popovers

Popovers are traditionally served warm or hot with butter and strawberry jam. They can also be served savory with butter, sliced ham or turkey, or even taco filling. They can be served sweet with Nutella, chocolate ganache, sweet marscarpone, or pie filling.

More Baked Goods Recipes To Try

  • Fresh Strawberry Crepes
  • Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
  • Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
  • Birthday Cupcakes
  • Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins

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Print Recipe

5 from 7 votes

Jordan Pond House Best Popover Recipe

Best popover recipe in all of New England! Light and airy. Traditionally served hot with butter and jam.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Servings: 6

Author: Allie Taylor

Ingredients

  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 cup sifted all purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Speck of baking soda

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425°.

  • Sift and measure flour, salt and soda. Set aside.

  • Beat the eggs at high speed until lemon colored (2-3 minutes).

  • On slowest speed, very slowly 1/2 cup of the milk. Beat until well mixed.

  • Add slowly (with mixer going on slow speed) the dry ingredients.

  • When mixed, stop beating.

  • Scrape sides of the bowl with a spatula.

  • Beat at medium speed and slowly add the remaining milk.

  • Beat 2 minutes.

  • Place well-greased muffin tin or popover pan into oven to warm up for five minutes.

  • Turn mixer to high speed and beat 5-7 minutes.

  • Batter should be smooth and about the thickness of heavy cream.

  • Pour batter through a strainer, and into well-greased, preheated muffin tins or popover pan.

  • Bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven at 425° for the first 15 minutes.

  • Without opening the oven, reduce the temperature to 350° and bake 15 - 20 minutes longer.

  • Popovers are best served at once, but may be kept in the warm oven for up to five minutes.

  • Serve immediately with butter and strawberry jam.

How To Make the Best Popover Recipe - Through Her Looking Glass (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.

What is the biggest causes of popover failures? ›

Too cold and you won't get the popovers to steam internally quickly enough. But be aware that you shouldn't make it too hot. If your milk and/or butter is hot enough to cook the eggs while mixing, the batter won't rise. Best to use all warm ingredients in the 40-50 degrees celsius (100-120 fahrenheit) range.

Why are my popovers not airy? ›

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.

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.

What are two reasons for failure of popovers to pop? ›

King Arthur Baking says that there are a few ways your popover could go wrong. First, you must use all-purpose flour because it has a solid gluten structure to capture all the steam. Secondly, you must make sure to preheat your oven because the hotter the oven, the higher the popovers.

Should popover batter rest overnight? ›

There's just one thing that will make the popovers better, and that's time. The batter needs time to rest before baking so that it creates a more tender popover in the end. So, cover the batter and pop it into the refrigerator for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.

Should popover batter be room temp or cold? ›

How to make popovers. Before we get started: all of your ingredients should be at warm room temperature.

Should popover batter be room temp? ›

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.

What is the best grease for a popover pan? ›

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.

How do you know when 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.

Is it necessary to poke the popover when it comes out of the oven? ›

The oven door must not be opened during baking, or the popovers will either fall or won't gain the necessary height. Rule 6: Pierce each popover with a sharp, thin-bladed knife immediately after they are removed from the oven. This allows the steam to escape and will help keep the exterior crispy.

What happens to an undercooked 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.

Does popover batter keep? ›

Making popover batter, you can also make ahead of time store in refrigerator up to 2-3 days!

What tastes good with popovers? ›

Popovers are great to have with soup, salad, or alongside roast chicken, roast beef, or just about anything you would serve with rolls.

Should you grease popover pans? ›

The batter should be easily pourable and relatively liquidy—if it isn't, you may want to strain. Otherwise, mixing the batter is the simplest part of the process! A popover pan should be greased. I prefer to use melted butter, but oil or nonstick spray would work too.

Should popover batter be cold or room temp? ›

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.

How do you 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 team to escape without deflating the crust dome.

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