Muffins are great, and so are Yorkshire puddings, but when you are craving for something crispy on the outside, yet airy and light on the inside, nothing can compete against a basket full of piping hot, oven-fresh popovers. For those of you who are wondering what popovers are, they are the American take on England Yorkshire pudding, and are rolls that are hollow on the inside, yet crunchy and butter-coated on the outside. Although many people try to make popovers in muffin trays, a dedicated popover pan is a must if you want to make the perfect popovers. Muffin trays and popover pans have significant differences between them, and a good popover pan is what makes your popover “pop”, giving it the elongated walls and the puffy structure at the top.
If you go out to the market, you will see that there are many different kinds of popover pans, and choosing the right popover pan can be as difficult as taking a pop quiz without any preparation. This is why we are here with the best popover pans that we have selected from the market, and their pros and cons so that you would not have to go out to buy one without full knowledge of the options that are available to you.Best Pick
The best pick for this list is this popover pan from Bellamain that has earned this position by offering a generous depth and a durable build that is good for heat conduction, giving you excellent results in baking popovers.
Budget Pick
Many of you might have not used popover pans before, and might be looking for low-cost popover pans that you can use as a trial. If you are one of them, you would be delighted to know the budget pick on our list, which is a professional grade popover pan from Chicago Metallic and provides you with non-stick, aluminized steel construction for a great baking experience.
Table of Contents
- Quick Comparison: Top 10 Best Popover Pans
- 1. Bellemain 6 Cup Nonstick Popover Pan
- 2. Chicago Metallic Professional 6-Cup Popover Pan
- 3. Nordic Ware Cast Aluminum Petite Popover Pan
- 4. Wilton Giant Cupcake Pan
- 5. Fox Run 4868 Muffin Pan
- 6. Fox Run 4754 Linking Popover Pan
- 7. USA Pans 6-Well Popover Pan
- 8. Anolon Advanced Nonstick Bakeware 6-Cup Popover Pan
- Things to consider before buying a popover pan
- Conclusion
Quick Comparison: Top 10 Best Popover Pans
Besides our best and budget picks, we have several other popover pans that are worth looking into, in order to have a wider variety of options for you to select your favorite one from. In the next section, we will look at the products including what we love and what we did not love so much about them.
1. Bellemain 6 Cup Nonstick Popover Pan
If you are doing everything right and your popovers are still not rising the way you want them to, then it would be high time you say goodbye to your old pan and look into this popover pan from Bellemain. This pan combines superior quality, performance, and user-friendliness in a way that is hard to come by.
The design of the pan would let any baker know that Bellamain understands the requirements for perfect popovers. The pan has six cups for making half a dozen popovers at a time, and the cups come with a generous depth of 2.25 inches which gives your popovers enough vertical space to rise high and become airy on the inside.
The pan also has an impressively effective nonstick surface which makes it possible for you to add just enough butter to add a rich flavor to your popovers and saves you from greasing your baking pan with an unhealthy amount of oil. The popover pan is also made of a dark charcoal colored steel, which helps it to absorb heat faster, making it more efficient at baking your popovers.
Pros
Cons
2. Chicago Metallic Professional 6-Cup Popover Pan
If you like baking muffins, Yorkshire puddings, and popovers, this is a versatile pan from a renowned brand that you can use to fulfill your multiple tea time bakery wishes. The pan comes with six wells that are deep and appropriately spaced out, making it an excellent bakeware for making great popovers.
For your popovers to be airy and evenly baked, the pan uses aluminized steel in its construction. Removing a puffed up pop over from the popover pan can be tricky, but not with this pan, which has been treated with silicone to make it nonstick and hence making it also easy to clean.
The durable build of the pan allows it to be washed in the dishwasher and to be used in the oven up to 450 degrees F.
Pros
Cons
3. Nordic Ware Cast Aluminum Petite Popover Pan
Even the most avid popover fans would want some variation in their popovers once in a while. And also, it is easier to munch on them as a light, healthy snack when the size of your popovers are small.
Keeping that in mind, the Nordic Ware, a brand that all of us know to make quality bakeware, have come up with this pan which lets you make adorable, bite-sized popovers, that are not only great for some quality tea time on your own, but also for parties, where you have to make a large number of popovers for a crowd.
This pan lets you make twelve popovers at a time, making it easier for you to make a dozen popovers in a short period of time. Since this pan has wells in a tray rather than a wire rack like many others, it has less chance of the batter dripping inside your oven, creating a mess.
We also love the fact that the pan has two handles at the sides so that you can safely move the pan into and out of the oven. Although the wells are on one pan, they have spaces underneath which maximizes the airflow around the wells to make the popovers swell and create soft, airy inside with a crispy outside.
Pros
Cons
4. Wilton Giant Cupcake Pan
Good things are better when they are bigger, and with that idea in mind, Wilton offers you with this pan for making jumbo-sized muffins, cupcakes, and popovers. With a depth of 1.75 inches paired with a diameter of 4 inches, each of the six wells on this pan will help you to make your popovers swell up and rise high, making them extra airy and puffy.
The pan has been made with aluminized steel which promotes even heat distribution to anything that you are baking. Not only can you bake your favorite treats using this pan, but you can also use this as a mold in the freezer to make ice cream cakes and mousse.
Pros
Cons
5. Fox Run 4868 Muffin Pan
If you have a large family or like to bake some extra popovers for your neighbors, then you would love this pan from Fox Run that helps you to make twelve popovers at a time.
We know that the name of this product is muffin pan, and not a popover pan, but if you have been researching on popovers, then you would know that many people use muffin trays to bake popovers.
And if you are one of the people who does not want to keep a single-purpose pan such as a popover pan, then this would help you to bake a wide variety of baked goodies such as muffins, popovers, Yorkshire puddings, cupcakes, etc. Apart from the higher baking capacity, this pan has an excellent durability, thanks to its lightweight yet sturdy stainless steel which resists rusting, warping, and scratching.
Pros
Cons
6. Fox Run 4754 Linking Popover Pan
If you have looked at the previous product from Fox Run, which was a muffin pan that can also be used to make popovers, and thought “Hmm, this looks nice but I do want a dedicated linking popover pan.”, then you are looking at the perfect product.
Since this is a pan that has been designed specifically to make the perfect popovers, it will give you superior results in making popovers compared to a muffin pan. The pan has a linking design, which allows air to circulate around the wells and cause the dome of the popovers to puff up and rise high, creating a crispy, and golden brown outer layer.
Pros
Cons
7. USA Pans 6-Well Popover Pan
USA Pans is a trusted bakeware company from Pittsburgh, and who else would know better about popover, which has originated in the United States? Another thing that we admire about this company is that it uses 65% recycled steel in making their bakeware, so if you are someone who cares about the environment then this is a great company to buy products from.
The popover pan made by USA Pans is a sturdy, professional grade popover pan which is perfect for home use as well as commercial heavy-duty purposes. The pan has been made with aluminized steel so it would make the pan heat up faster and more evenly, resulting in uniformly bakes popovers.
Another thing that we love about the pan is that it has been coated with Americoat, which is a special food-grade silicone coating which makes it very easy to release the baked popovers from the pan smoothly, without damaging the crust. The good news is that Americoat does not contain harmful chemicals such as PTFE's and PFOA's so you can bake popovers in this pan that is completely safe for your family.
Another innovative feature of this pan is the corrugated design of its body, which increases the strength of the body and gives it effective protection against warping, which means the pan will not bend easily and would serve you for a very long time.
Pros
Cons
8. Anolon Advanced Nonstick Bakeware 6-Cup Popover Pan
This popover pan from Anolon is a simple, linking style popover pan that helps you to make six popovers at a time. The special feature of this pan is that the design of the pan, which has open space on the frame allows heat and hot air to flow around each of the wells, giving you consistent results each time, with each popover.
The pan is safe to be used in temperatures of up to 450 degrees F, and so there is no risk in using it in a high heat oven, especially when a hot oven is one of the main requirements of a crispy, golden brown, puffy popover. The pan has been constructed using carbon steel, which is highly resistant to rust and corrosion and makes your pan last for a long time.
Pros
Cons
As you have seen above, popover pans can come in different designs and models, and it is not wise to make a decision before knowing everything you need to know about buying a popover pan that would be perfect for you. Hence we have put together the nitty-gritty details of how to choose your popover pan.
Things to consider before buying a popover pan
Six or Twelve?
Are you and your family a huge popover fan? Do you regularly bake popovers for a family gathering? These are some of the questions that would help you to decide whether you should go for a popover pan that lets you make six popovers at a time, or twelve.
A versatile muffin pan or a dedicated popover pan
If you are looking for a pan in which you can bake not only popovers but also other types of baked items such as muffins, cupcakes, and puddings, then you might want to go for a muffin pan. But if you want do not want to compromise the perfection of your popovers, then it is best to invest in a dedicated popover pan. The difference of a popover pan from a usual muffin pan is that the wells on the pan where you put in the batter are deeper which gives the popovers more space for rising up and to become puffy. Also, the wells are separated with a linking design with an open frame so the air and heat can circulate around the wells to bake the popovers faster. These special features of a popover pan give them an upper hand at making popovers compared to muffin pans.
Dishwasher safe or not
Popover pans involve the use of butter since it helps to give the popovers a rich flavor, but that butter can be the cause of a little trouble when you want to clean the popover pan. Most popover pans come with the recommendation for washing with hands, but if you want it to be done in a dishwasher, then make sure to go for the more rugged ones that can be safely washed in the dishwasher.