Yorkshire Pudding Recipe

Yorkshire Pudding is a cross between a dinner roll, popover, and souffle. It’s the classic English side dish at the traditional “Sunday roast,” as it’s the perfect gravy-absorbing companion. In the U.S., Yorkshire pudding is a hit at Christmastime, served with roasted beef or sometimes roasted chicken.

Note: The word “pudding” in the U.S. means dessert. However, a Yorkshire Pudding is a puffed pastry baked with meat drippings. It’s not airy and hard like a popover but more of a soft eggy side dish to the roast beef.

Named after the northern county in England, Yorkshire pudding was devised by cooks to make use of the fat that dropped into the dripping pan to cook a batter pudding while the meat roasted. The Yorkshire pudding was served as a first course alongside a thick gravy; the low-cost ingredients dulled the appetite so that diners would not eat as much of the more expensive meat in the next course.

Today, after the roast is finished, the beef drippings are added to the bottom of a large roasting pan or a large (12-cup) muffin tin. The heat of the oven (or fire) makes the pudding rise up and fat seeps in, so they puff up. The Royal Society of Chemistry of England says that “A Yorkshire pudding isn’t a Yorkshire pudding if it is less than four inches tall.” That might be a “tall” challenge but the idea is certainly to rise until puffed and golden brown.