Blueberry Lemon Popovers Recipe

If you're a fan of contrasting textures and delicious treats that can be sweet or savory, you'll love popovers. Made with a flour, milk, butter, and egg-based batter, the proportion of ingredients causes the batter to steam and rise, creating an airy center. "I love popovers because they have a crisp exterior and a fluffy interior," Tasting Table recipe developer Jessica Morone says. Her blueberry lemon popovers are an absolute delight, and they're perfect for breakfast or dessert. Although their appearance is similar to a blueberry muffin, the consistency and taste are unique. 

"A local breakfast place serves mini blueberry popovers. I just love them, and I had to try something similar out at home," Morone says. Serve them as is, dust them with a bit of powdered sugar, or, as Morone recommends, "My favorite is to serve these with lemon curd, because it enhances the lemon flavor of these — lemon and blueberries are a perfect combination. You could also spread some blueberry jam on these, if you want, or try any other kind of fruit jam or spread that you like."

For the popover batter, you'll need all-purpose flour, salt, whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, unsalted butter (melted), large eggs (at room temperature), vanilla extract, lemon juice, lemon zest, and blueberries. You'll also need unsalted butter (cut into 6 pieces) for the popover pan.

This recipe is a great foundation for fruity alternatives. Morone suggests swapping the blueberries for other fruits: "These would be good with raspberries, strawberries, apples; really anything," she says. Just make sure that the fruit is a similar size to a blueberry, or cut it if it's bigger. 

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Add the flour, salt, milk, sweetened condensed milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest to a large bowl.

Whisk together until everything is combined.

Use a blender or an immersion blender to mix the batter until it is smooth.

Mix in about ¾ cup of the blueberries by hand.

Once the oven is preheated, add the pieces of butter to a six-piece popover pan.

Place the pan into the hot oven and heat for 2 minutes, until the butter is melted, then carefully remove the pan from the oven.

Fill the popover cups about three-fourths full with the blueberry batter.

Sprinkle the remaining blueberries on top of the batter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes without opening the oven door.

Reduce the heat to 350 F and bake for an additional 15–20 minutes without opening the oven door, until the popovers have popped and are golden all over. Serve the popovers as soon as they are cool enough to touch.

"I have so many special kinds of baking pans lying around, but I know that isn't reasonable for most people," Morone shares. If you're an avid baker, you might have a specific pan for every type of dessert. However, if you're working with minimal equipment, the success of your popovers does not lie in the pan. Morone says, "A popover pan will make popovers specifically with a tall base and a defined, popped top, but you can actually just bake these in a standard muffin pan."

Most people have one of these, and if you don't, you won't regret getting one — there are plenty of great uses for a muffin tin. Compared with a popover pan, which will produce six large popovers here, "The batter in this recipe will give you 12 popovers if you use a standard muffin tin," Morone notes. "Just cut down the baking time by 5 minutes for each stint. Or, you could use a jumbo muffin tin with the same baking time for six popovers."

Popovers require a delicate balance of prep and baking, and Morone lists a few key tips for success: "The first is to make sure the batter is at room temperature before baking it," she instructs, and notes that the simplest way is to start with room temperature ingredients. Temperature is also very important for popovers to rise into airy domes. "Make sure your oven is hot and at the right temperature before baking these, and don't skip the step of putting your pan in the oven to preheat — these things will help these pop up properly," she advises. 

Another extra step to ensure that your popovers stay perfectly crisp is to "poke a small hole at the top of the popovers once they are almost done to let out the steam, then bake them for a few extra minutes," Morone says. "This will help them keep their shape and not sink down."