How to make Perfect Yorkshire puddings (2024)

If you thought making your own Yorkshire puddings was difficult, think again. You really can make delicious individual Yorkshire puddings easily with only a few basic ingredients and a little know how.

No roast beef dinner is complete without Yorkshire puddings, indeed some would say no roast dinner was complete without a Yorkshire pud or two!

When I was growing up my mum made great Yorkshire puddings. She always made them in a single dish which was cut into portions. I now use the same recipe for my toad in the hole. The Yorkshire pudding always had a crisp outer ring but is slightly heavier and more pudding like in the middle. Made with a higher proportion of eggs than my individual ones, I think it is the perfect batter when it is the main ingredient.

But when it comes to Yorkshire puddings to go alongside our family roast and piles of vegetables we prefer a pudding that is lighter and crisper.

These individual Yorkshire puddings hit the spot perfectly. They are easy to make and virtually foolproof. You can cook the mixture in a 20–23cm (8–9 in) solid round cake tin, but you wont get quite so much crispy crust.

A little History of the Yorkshire Pudding

A recipe for Yorkshire pudding first appeared in 1747 in the bookTheArt of Cookerymade Plain and EasybyHannah Glasse and was a copy of an earlier recipe known as dripping pudding (its easy to see why that name didn't catch on) which had been cooked in England for centuries.

These original puddings would have been much flatter than the puffy modern version we have come to know and love. Traditonally they would have been served as a course in their own right. Either as a cheap starter and filler to reduce the appetite for the more expensive and limited meat portion of a meal, or indeed as a meal in themselves.

Tips for making perfect Yorkshire puds

There does seem to be a bit of a myth surrounding Yorkshire puddings suggesting that they are difficult to make. As such I know quite a few people who then rely on a well known shop bought product to come to the rescue, and these are just a pale imitation of the real thing.

From just flour, eggs, milk and water you can knock up a batch of these golden beauties in minutes, then its just a case of baking them in a really hot oven and hey presto you too have Yorkshire puddings to be proud of. Just follow a few simple guidelines and you will never be reaching for a packet of ready made puddings again.

The ingredients

Flour

Always use plain flour (all purpose flour). It may seem strange but if you use self-raising flour (self-rising flour) you will actually get a pudding that is flatter and heavier.

Eggs

I use large eggs for this recipe and have not noticed any visible difference in the end results of the puddings using them cold from the fridge or at room temperature.

Milk

For all my recipes I do not specify which type of milk to use unless it makes a difference to the end result, preferring to leave it as a matter of choice for the users. But this is one recipe where the type of milk used does make a difference as I have found Yorkies made with full fat milk tend to be heavier and flatter.

After much experimentation, I have now found what I believe gives the best results. So for this recipe, I use a mixture of milk and water and used semi-skimmed milk as I think this is what most people have for general consumption.

If you use skimmed milk then I would use 225ml (8floz) of milk and no water and if using full fat milk I would reduce the milk to 100ml (3½floz) and make up the remaining 125ml (4floz) with water.

Oil

Traditionally the yorkshire pudding would have been cooked with dripping which is presumably where the original name came from. My mum always cooked hers in dripping and she always had a bowl of in the fridge and this will give the Yorkshire pud a deeper savoury flavour.

However I now prefer to use vegetable oil (I use cold-pressed rapeseed oil) but you could also use sunflower or corn oil. I find one teaspoon in each muffin cup the ideal amount.

How to prepare yorkshire pudding batter

Using a large mixing bowl, place the flour and salt together then make a well in the centre and add the eggs and about half of the milk and water mixture. Using a balloon whisk begin to beat the eggs and water together and as you do so, gradually let the flour become incorporated into the wet ingredients and beat until smooth.

Then slowly whisk in the remaining liquid. If you add all the liquid at the begining it will tends to splash around the bowl and becomes difficult to mix without any lumps.

Alternatively you can whizz all the ingredients together in a food processor or blender. Again I find this work best if you do not add all the liquid to begin with.

Cooking the puddings

Transfer the batter to a jug so that you can pour it into the tins quickly before the tin cools too much.

Once the puddings are in the oven try not to open the oven door before the puddings are cooked and definitely not in the first 15 minutes of cooking, or they will slump.

Do I need to rest the Yorkshire Pudding batter before cooking?

Some will argue that you must rest the batter before cooking , some even suggest as long as 24 hours, but really who thinks that far ahead!

I can only say that when whisking the batter by hand, I have found little discernible difference between leaving it resting for 30 minutes, an hour, or using it straight away (I can't say I have ever tried waiting 24 hours!)

However I do let it rest for 30 minutes or so on the ocassions I have made it in a food processor or blender

So my preferred method is: Once the meat is done I then turn up the temperature of the oven and make the batter while the oven comes up to the higher temperature. Next I pop the tin and the oil into the oven and let the batter rest for 5-10 minutes until the oil and tin are really hot. Then I quickly pour the batter into the tin and bake until golden.

How to make easy Yorkshire Puddings Step by step