How to Make Yorkshire Puddings Without Setting Your Oven on Fire

Contrary to American belief, Yorkshire Puddings aren’t actual puddings like your basic vanilla, chocolate, or gelatinous swirl. I made this fatal error last winter when my English cousins were deciding on supper for our family: “Yeah, I’d love pudding for dessert!” Red cheeks and a Google search later, I was a mix of chagrin and hunger for authentic British cooking.

Yorkshire Puddings are a type of spongy biscuit made of eggs, flour, and milk. Its pancake-like consistency and bowl appearance are the Buttercup to the Wesley of crown roast and meat gravy. However, cooking these fluff nuggets isn’t easy – 400-degree oil is necessary for the puddings to poof up (which is dangerous if the oil spills out of the muffin tins).

Out of the frying pan and into the…conflagrated oven of flour remnants and egg spittle. Although I set my oven on fire, I finished baking the Yorkshire Puddings; what kind of chef was I if I abandoned my puddings during their inflamed time of need? And they came out incredible and lush – unfortunately, the same could not be said for my cheap oven.

I spent the next week scrubbing my wire racks and oven floor with a baking soda paste. While the experience built character, I wouldn’t bake Yorkshire Puddings next time with more heat/flames than necessary. Here is a BBC-inspired Yorkshire Pudding recipe to keep your fingers and oven unburnt – and your stomach fueled with British cuisine. 

No-Fire Yorkshire Puddings

• Prep Time:15 mins
• Cook Time:14 mins
• Total Time:29 mins
• Servings:6
• Medium

Ingredients

• I cup eggs
• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• A bottle vegetable oil

• Step 1

  Heat your oven to 400° Fahrenheit - be careful! This is a SUPER HOT temperature, especially when bubbling oil is involved. Put a dash of vegetable oil in each cup of a muffin tin. Fill the tin about 1/4 of the way with oil, enough so you can swirl oil around the tin edges as well.

  

• Step 2

  Once the oven reaches 400° place the muffin tin with the oil inside.
  
  #SpoonTip: Make sure to pull out the oven rack so the oil doesn't slosh everywhere. Not today, fire.

  

• Step 3

  In a separate mixing bowl, combine the eggs, water, flour, milk, and baking soda. Don't be alarmed if there are white lumps in the mixture - that's just the unseparated flour.

  

• Step 4

  Let the oil bubble and simmer for about 10 minutes in the oven.

  

• Step 5

  After 10 minutes, take the muffin tin out (don't forget oven mitts!) and fill each cup with the batter. Leave a little room on top so it doesn't spill everywhere. #SpoonTip: Be quick! Since the oil is piping hot, the batter will begin to fry as soon as it collides with it.

  

• Step 6

  Bake the Yorkshire puddings for 14 minutes. And don't open the oven - the rush of air will affect the rise/shape of the puddings.

  

• Step 7

  Be VERY careful taking the puddings out - after they've cooled and dropped slightly, pour out the excess oil that's collected inside. Enjoy with a crown roast and thick gravy.

  

Hungry for some crown roast, gravy, and mashed potatoes yet? All you need is some Alex Turner tunes and a steaming pot of tea, and you'll be a United Kingdom lover in no time. Cheers!