Brown Butter and Sage Popovers

These popovers are buttery, light and airy and are better than any dinner roll. These are fool proof, easy to make and the perfect side to your holiday table.

The Deets:
Despite looking intimidating, popovers are actually a simple combination of a few ingredients: flour, milk, eggs, salt, and butter. These popovers don’t require a special pan and can be mixed by hand. I added some herbs and a pumpkin butter for a festive twist, but these are so good just on their own.

The key to a successful popover:
Make sure that your pan is hot before you pour in the batter, don’t overfill your cups with batter, and don’t open the oven while baking. That’s it! They are so much easier to make than bread or a dinner roll and they are so buttery, airy and delicious. In my opinion, I would stay away with recipes that have too many added ingredients to the inside of the popovers. The more you add, the more I found the popovers to become dense and lose their puff. I opted to add pumpkin and sage to the butter I added, versus inside the popover to get the best of both worlds.

Do I need a popover pan?
Listen, if you have one, great! But I never use one, and these popovers always come out great. As long as you have a simple muffin tin, these will puff up, and turn into a gorgeous popover.

The Sage Pumpkin Butter:
I love making different kinds of butter because I feel like it can add a little extra to whatever you are cooking. For these, the butter melts with a few sprigs of sage, and then is combined with a little pumpkin puree. This allowed me to get a seasonal twist without adding to the inside of the popover and ruining its airy integrity.

Brown Butter & Sage Popovers

Print Recipe

Ingredients

The popovers

• 1 3/4 cup milk
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 3 tbsp sage butter
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp everything but the bagel seasoning (+ more for topping)
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp finely chopped herbs (a mixed rosemary, sage and thyme)
• Butter for your muffin tin 

The sage brown butter

• 8 tbsp butter
• a few sprigs of sage
• 1 tbsp pumpkin puree 
• flaky sea salt

Instructions

• If you are making sage butter, follow steps 1 & 2. If youre using regular butter, skip to step 3. Make your sage butter by melting butter in a pan. Add in sage and stir consistently. As butter starts to foam, keep stirring until it is nicely browned and caramelized. Remove 3 tbsp of the butter and set aside. This will be used for making your popovers. 
• Add the rest of the butter to a bowl and remove the sage. Whip over another bowl filled with ice until it hardens, about 3 minutes. Before it gets too hard, add pumpkin puree and combine. Wrap in parchment paper and place in the fridge until it fully hardens. Top with flaky sea salt.
• Meanwhile preheat oven to 425. Generously butter muffin tin (or popover tin). Place milk in a microwave for about 30 seconds, just to remove the chill.
• Whisk eggs into the milk, along with your flour, melted sage butter, parmesan, everything but the bagel seasoning and herbs. Whisk or use a hand mixer until everything is smooth and combined. The batter should be very liquidy. 
• Place muffin tins in the oven for 2 min. Remove and add batter to each cup, about 3/4 of the way to the top. Bake for about 20 min or until golden brown. Remove and brush with more sage butter, and top with flaky sea salt, everything but the bagel seasoning and thyme. Serve with more of the pumpkin sage butter and enjoy!

Video