Cornmeal popovers are light, crisp, and just a little rustic, with golden edges and a hollow center that's practically begging for butter. This easy popover recipe adds a touch of cornmeal for a slightly sweet, nutty flavor that makes them perfect with soup, roast chicken, or a drizzle of honey at breakfast.
Table of Contents
❤️ Is this cornmeal popover recipe for you?
This recipe is perfect if:
- You love classic popovers but want a little Southern flavor
- You want something easier than yeast rolls
- You need a quick bread side dish for soup or stew
- You like crispy outside + airy inside breads
Skip it if:
• You want something you can make hours ahead
• You don't have a popover pan
• You're looking for dense cornbread instead
🧾 Ingredients
This recipe uses simple pantry ingredients, which is good news if you're standing in the kitchen right now wondering whether you need to put on pants and go to the store.
- Flour: The backbone of the whole operation. Nothing fancy, just good old all-purpose flour doing the heavy lifting.
- Butter: For greasing the pan and making everything taste like you went to Southern culinary school.
- Eggs: These are what give popovers their dramatic puff and airy middle. Basically the hot air engineers of the recipe.
- Cornmeal: The little Southern twist that adds a nutty flavor and keeps these from being just another polite, but boring, popover.
- Salt: Just enough to keep everything from tasting like disappointment. Again.
- Water: A little extra liquid to help create steam, which is the secret behind those big hollow popover centers.
- Milk: Adds richness and keeps the batter smooth and creamy.
- Buttermilk: A splash of tangy goodness that gives these popovers a little Texas twang.
Popovers are simple, but they're a little dramatic about how they get there. This quick cheat sheet covers tips, variations, storage, FAQs, and the small things that make the difference between sky-high popovers and sad little pancakes.
📖 Recipe
Easy Cornmeal Popovers Recipe
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup milk, room temperature
- ⅓ cup buttermilk, room temperature
- ⅓ cup water, room temperature
- ¾ cup flour
- ¼ cup cornmeal
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Use 2 tablespoons of the butter to generously grease popover pans.
- Pulse the cornmeal in a blender or food processor until very fine.
- Mix the cornmeal, flour, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
- Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.
- Whisk together the eggs, milk, buttermilk, and water in a bowl.
- Gradually stir the cornmeal mixture into the egg mixture.
- Add the melted butter and whisk until smooth.
- Let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Put the empty, buttered popover pan in the oven for 5 minutes.
- Carefully remove it and pour about ¼ cup of batter into each well.
- Put in the oven immediately - bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the popovers are puffed and golden.
- Turn the oven off.
- Slit the tops of each one with a knife to let the steam escape and return to the oven for a few minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Remember that the popover pans need to be steaming hot when you add the batter. This is what gives them the distinctive, thin, crispy crust and causes them to rise high and light.
- Do not use lowfat anything.
- Always grease the pans with melted butter.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
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🔪 Instructions
This batter takes about five minutes to mix. The oven does the rest of the work while you stand there feeling smug.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, and salt. Nothing fancy here. Just the dry ingredients getting acquainted.
- In a larger bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients until smooth. Add the dry mixture and stir it in until everything's combined and behaving itself.
- Pour in the melted butter and whisk again. This is where the batter starts looking glossy and promising.
- Spoon the batter into the good and hot popover pan, slide it into the oven, and let the heat do its dramatic little puff-up performance.
😱 what could go wrong
Popovers are simple, but they can be a little dramatic. Here are the usual culprits if things go sideways.
🥚 Popovers didn't rise
The pan probably wasn't hot enough. That blast of heat is what makes them puff up tall.
🥚 Dense or heavy texture
Cold ingredients or overmixing the batter can keep them from getting light and airy.
🥚 They collapsed
This is normal once they cool, but cutting a small slit in the top after baking helps release steam and keep them crisp.
🥚 Pale popovers
Your oven temperature may be running low. Popovers need good heat to get that golden crust.
👩🍳 FAQs
The 6- and even 12-cup muffin tins are shorter. However, popover pans or cups are made deeper, which forces the batter up. This creates the airy, hollow inside we love so much.
Also, some popover pans are formed with what looks like a wire rack (as opposed to a solid pan) surrounding each cup. This allows better air circulation around each popover.
For perfect popovers, it sure is! Letting the batter rest allows the gluten in the flour to relax. As a result, your popovers are lighter and airier, rather than chewy and dense.
Nope, not this recipe! Easy cornmeal popovers (and, any popovers, really) are best served straight out of the oven. This way, they're still fluffy on the inside while perfectly crisp outside.
📚 Related recipes
If you love these cornmeal popovers, there are a few other breads in my kitchen that deserve a spot on your table, too. Crusty Cornmeal Torpedo Rolls have that same rustic cornmeal flavor but in a chewy roll that's sturdy enough for thick burgers or a serious deli sandwich. They're the kind of bread that makes an ordinary sandwich feel like a proper meal.
For something a little more old-school, Old-Fashioned Irish Soda Bread is always a good choice. It's quick, easy, and full of that cozy, traditional flavor that's perfect with butter and jam. And if you're a fan of those classic breakfast nooks and crannies, English Muffin Bread delivers them without the fuss of making individual muffins. It takes about an hour from start to finish and makes toast that soaks up butter like it was born for the job.
Stephanie says
These look delicious!
Rose mary Clute says
I only have the silicone pop over pans
Will that work?
Marye says
Hi Rose mary - I've never used them but I'm sure they will.
Sue says
This does bring back wonderful memories. Nothing like Zodiac Room. I still cannot go shopping with some make up, nice jeans and coordinating shirts, sweaters. Cannot wear sandals with a good pedicure.
Marye Audet says
Isn't it funny how it sticks with us?
Shashi at RunninSrilankan says
Ha - Marye, I love your candor regarding your self-pumping dilemma, I'm not a lad but a lady and would still volunteer to come help you pump your gas if you sent me back with a dozen or two of these popovers!
Marye Audet says
🙂 LOL! It's a deal. 😉
allie says
Hi Marye- I absolutely HATE putting gas in my car too. I guess I was born in the wrong century. Or at least decade. I always thought I'd be a stay at home mom who volunteered with the PTA. Yeah, well things change. 🙂 Your popovers are to die for. I absolutely love the addition of cornmeal.
Marye Audet says
Thanks Allie!