Recipes, guides and kitchen know-how. Mostly useful, occasionally silly.
Yorkshire Pudding Recipe - Tall, Crisp and Never Flat
Tall, crisp Yorkshire puddings every time: equal volumes of egg, flour and milk, a rested batter, smoking-hot fat and an oven door nobody opens. Plus giant, air fryer and for-two versions.
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- Prep10 min
- Rest30 min+
- Cook35 min
- Serves4 (12 puds)
- Calories~280
Calories are approximate, per serving (3 puddings), worked out from the ingredients. Brands and portion sizes vary.
Whisk 4 eggs, 140g plain flour and 200ml milk-and-water into a smooth batter, rest it for at least 30 minutes, then pour it into a 12-hole tin of smoking-hot oil and bake at 220C (200C fan) for 20 to 25 minutes without opening the door.
That's it. That's the whole secret. The rest of this post is me making it sound harder so I look clever.
Yorkshire puddings are the only thing at a Sunday roast everyone agrees on. Nobody fights over the sprouts. People have left home over the last Yorkshire.
In our house, the first one goes to Erin. By royal decree. She has a tiara. The tiara has never lost an argument.
The second one goes to whoever gets there before Tyson. Usually Tyson.
This yorkshire pudding recipe is the one we landed on after reading a stack of methods - a two-time World Yorkshire Pudding Champion, Yorkshire's own regional food group, the chefs everyone's heard of, a few food scientists and several hundred angry forum posts from people whose puddings came out flat.
They all agree on three things. Equal volumes of egg, flour and milk. A rested batter. Fat so hot it smokes. Get those right and they rise like Aaron when I bring up his puff pastry phase.
Why is it called a Yorkshire pudding?
Hannah Glasse named it in her 1747 cookbook, after a batter pudding cooked under roasting meat in the north of England.
Ten years earlier it was a "dripping pudding". Somebody in marketing had a word.
The first written recipe turned up in 1737. You made a batter "as for pancakes" and set it under a joint of mutton, so the fat dripped straight into it.
Why Yorkshire? One theory is coal. Yorkshire had plenty, so kitchens ran hot ovens, roasted a lot of meat and had a lot of fat going spare. Waste not, want not, rise a lot.
It was served before the meat, with gravy, to fill everyone up so they ate less of the expensive bit. A starter designed to stop you eating the main. Genius. Rude, but genius.
In 2008 the Royal Society of Chemistry ruled that a Yorkshire pudding under four inches tall isn't a Yorkshire pudding. It started when a Yorkshireman in Colorado wrote in about his "apologetic little hillocks" - The Register covered the ruling at the time.
Aaron now measures every single one with a ruler. He's from Belfast. He has no skin in this game. He just likes rulers.
The biggest one ever made was baked in Skipton in 1996 and covered over 46 square metres, according to Guinness World Records. Erin has asked for one. She's been told no. She's appealing.
What you need
This yorkshire pudding recipe for 4 makes 12 puddings in a standard 12-hole tin.
- 4 large eggs - about 200ml once cracked into a jug
- 140g plain flour - about 200ml in a jug. Never self-raising, which makes them flat and dense
- 140ml whole milk plus 60ml cold water - 200ml in total. The water makes them crisper
- A good pinch of salt, and white pepper if you like
Isaac spotted that the three jugs come out the same height before anyone told him. I'm still processing it.
For the tin
You need 1 teaspoon of fat per hole - 12 teaspoons for a 12-hole tin - and it has to be smoking hot before the batter goes in.
This is the bit where most Yorkshire puddings go to die.
- Beef dripping gives the crispest, most savoury shell. Ideal if there's beef in the oven anyway
- Sunflower or vegetable oil works nearly as well and keeps them veggie
- Not olive oil or butter - both burn before they get hot enough
Test the fat with one drop of batter before you pour. If it sizzles and bubbles at the edges straight away, you're ready. If it just sits there, give the tin another 5 minutes. Every source I read blames cool fat for flat puddings, and so does every flat pudding I've ever made. Fat that isn't smoking is just a puddle with ambitions.
Kit
A deep, sturdy 12-hole tin, a jug and a whisk. That's the lot.
- A deep metal 12-hole tin (or a 4-hole Yorkshire tin). Flimsy trays don't hold the heat and the puddings rise less
- A balloon whisk that scrapes the corners where the flour hides, or a push-down whisk that needs no batteries
- A measuring jug with a spout, so you can pour fast
No electric mixer needed. It over-beats the batter and the bubbles you whisk in just pop in the oven anyway.
How to make yorkshire puddings
Step 1 - Whisk the batter until smooth
Whisk the eggs and flour together first, then add the milk and water in two goes until the batter is smooth and like single cream.
- Put the flour and salt in a big bowl or jug. Crack in the eggs and whisk to a thick, smooth paste - lumps are easier to beat out now than later.
- Whisk in half the milk and water, then the rest. Stop as soon as it's smooth. You're making batter, not a smoothie.
Step 2 - Rest the batter for at least 30 minutes
Cover the batter and leave it for at least 30 minutes - overnight in the fridge is even better.
- Resting lets the flour soak up the liquid and the gluten relax, so the puddings climb higher. Tested side by side, longer rests rose taller every time.
- Rested in the fridge? Take it out 30 minutes before and give it a quick whisk. The experts argue about warm versus cold batter. Both work. The experts are still arguing. We ate ours.
Step 3 - Heat the fat until it smokes
Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan, gas 7), then put 1 teaspoon of fat in each hole and heat the tin for 10 to 15 minutes until the fat is shimmering and smoking.
- Use the middle shelf and take everything else out of the oven. A crowded oven means uneven puddings. Not sure your oven means 220C when it says 220C? Here's how to catch it out, plus the fan and gas numbers.
- Brush a little fat up the sides of each hole if you can. Stops them sticking. Stops you crying.
Step 4 - Pour fast, then keep the oven door shut
Working fast, fill each hole half to three-quarters full, then bake for 20 to 25 minutes without opening the door.
- Pull the tin out, shut the oven door straight away to keep the heat in, and pour quickly - the batter should sizzle as it hits the fat. Back in the oven within a minute.
- Do not open the door for at least 20 minutes. A blast of cold air now and they sink. This rule is enforced by a princess. There is no appeal.
Step 5 - Turn them out and serve straight away
They're done when they're tall, deep golden and crisp all over - lift them out and serve them hot with gravy.
- Pale or soft? Give them 5 more minutes. Underbaked puddings collapse as they cool.
- Serve straight away. With roast beef, ideally - getting the beef pink in the middle is the other half of the job.
Giant yorkshire pudding
For one big pudding, heat 4 tablespoons of fat in a roasting tin about 35 x 25cm, pour in 150g flour, 4 eggs, 150ml milk and 50ml water whisked together, and bake at 220C (200C fan) for 25 to 30 minutes.
It serves about 8 as a side, or 4 if you fill it with sausages, roast potatoes and gravy and call it dinner. Which we do. Every time. Nobody complains.
Use the lower shelf so it has room to rise, and the same rule applies - door shut.
Yorkshire pudding recipe for 2 (and for a crowd)
For 2 people, use 2 eggs, 70g plain flour and 100ml milk-and-water - it makes 6 puddings in half a 12-hole tin.
The ratio is 1 egg to 35g flour to 50ml liquid, so it scales up or down without any guesswork. Eesha made a poster. It's laminated. Aaron laminated it.
- 2 people (6 puds): 2 eggs, 70g flour, 70ml milk + 30ml water
- 4 people (12 puds): 4 eggs, 140g flour, 140ml milk + 60ml water
- 8 people (24 puds): 8 eggs, 280g flour, 280ml milk + 120ml water - two tins, one at a time
Cooking for a crowd at Christmas? The whole Christmas oven timetable, worked out to the minute shows where the puddings fit around the turkey.
Air fryer yorkshire pudding
Heat about 1 teaspoon of oil in each of 4 small ovenproof ramekins in the air fryer at 200C for 10 minutes, pour in the batter about 1.5cm deep and cook for 15 minutes without opening the drawer.
Half the main batter fills 4 to 6 ramekins. Check your air fryer's handbook says ramekins are fine in yours. Read the manual. Aaron did. Twice. Then he wrote a summary.
Make ahead, freeze and reheat
Make the batter up to a day ahead in the fridge, or bake the puddings, cool them and freeze them for up to a month.
- Freeze once completely cold, in a bag or box
- Reheat from frozen in the oven at 200C (180C fan) for 8 to 10 minutes - no need to thaw
- Reheat leftovers from the fridge for 5 minutes at 200C, or 3 minutes in the air fryer at 160C
Never the microwave. They go soft and sad, like a Sunday evening.
If it goes wrong
Flat and didn't rise? The fat wasn't hot enough, or you used self-raising flour.
Fix: Heat the tin until the fat smokes and test with a drop of batter. Plain flour only. Self-raising flour is for cakes. It knows what it did.
Rose, then sank? The oven door was opened too early, or they came out too soon.
Fix: Door shut for 20 minutes, then only take them out when they're deep golden and crisp. Erin will guard the door. She charges in Haribo.
Soggy or pale? Oven not hot enough, too much milk, or underbaked.
Fix: Swap some milk for water, keep it at 220C and give them 5 more minutes. Soggy puddings are just pancakes having an identity crisis.
Stuck to the tin? The tin and fat weren't hot enough, or the tin is thin.
Fix: Heat the empty tin with the fat for the full 10 to 15 minutes, brush fat up the sides, and use a heavy tin. A butter knife round the edge rescues most of them. Most.
Greasy? Too much fat, or it wasn't hot when the batter went in.
Fix: One teaspoon per hole, no more, and smoking hot. They should be crisp, not swimming. They're puddings, not ducks.
Lopsided or uneven? A crowded oven, or batter that wasn't rested.
Fix: Bake them on their own on the middle shelf, and rest the batter for at least 30 minutes. Aaron's ruler will let you know. Loudly.
Yorkshire pudding questions people actually ask
Can you use self-raising flour?
No - plain flour only. The puddings rise from steam and eggs, and self-raising flour makes them flat and heavy. Self-raising flour is for cakes. It knows what it did.
Milk or water?
Mostly milk with a splash of water. Milk gives colour and flavour, and water makes the shell crisper. Which? recommends the same swap in its own testing.
Do you have to rest the batter?
You don't have to, but it makes them taller. Thirty minutes is the minimum, and overnight in the fridge is better.
Can you make them gluten free?
Yes - swap the plain flour for a gluten-free plain flour blend at the same weight. They'll be a little less tall. Still taller than Aaron's head. Most things are.
Are Yorkshire puddings only for roast beef?
Tradition says beef, but they go with any roast. Erin has hers with jam. That's actually historically accurate. She'll be insufferable about it.
When is Yorkshire Pudding Day?
The first Sunday in February in the UK. Deliciously Yorkshire, the county's regional food group, has its own version if you want a second opinion from the source.
That's it. Equal jugs, a rest, hot fat and a door nobody touches.
And if anyone asks who had the first one, it was Erin. By royal decree. It's always Erin.
Now go and rise to the occasion.
