Easiest Tapioca Flour Popovers – Gluten-Free

For the easiest, most foolproof and tasty, bready yet gluten-free side, these tapioca flour popovers are a must-try. All eaters will enjoy these golden-brown bites. Popovers are delicious with soup or stew, or as a snack. And they are so quick, you’ll wonder why you never made them before!

Popovers are the same as Yorkshire pudding but baked in individual cups, thus the popover pan. The popovers should be hollow in the middle, and in researching these popovers I learned that typically the hollow is filled with meat.

When I was growing up, my mother would make large pans of Yorkshire pudding, swimming in butter – to go with roast beef. It was one of my favorite dishes, and I’m delighted to find this GF version.

Gluten-Free but doesn’t taste like it

Here’s the highest praise the gluten-free baker can imagine. I made these to go with a big batch of soup. Upon tasting her first popover, my daughter-in-law said with disbelief, are these gluten-free?

All I can say is, if you’re missing bread, try popovers! 

The secret to the texture is the smoothness of tapioca flour. Tapioca has the same effect in my Brazilian Cheese Bread recipe, though I blend in some cassava flour there for extra fiber.

What gluten-free flour blends work for tapioca flour popovers?

In addition to tapioca, you will also use some gluten-free flour blend. Many of these blends already contain tapioca or another very fine starch, for extra lightness. 

I have tried both Better Batter or Cup4Cup and both were excellent. The author of the recipe I modeled mine on said not to try bean-based flour blends, and I haven’t. 

Can tapioca flour popovers be made vegan?

This recipe contains three eggs, so it’s certainly NOT vegan. I have not tried these gluten-free popovers with any egg replacer, so the recipe is vegetarian as-is. If I do try it with an egg replacer I will update the post and let you know.

The recipe is dairy-free but you can use dairy milk. Whole milk (full-fat) works best.

The coconut milk in the carton works better in this recipe than canned because the consistency of coconut milk in the carton is less thick, more like dairy milk.

What kitchen appliance is best to blend the popover batter?

I love food processor recipes! My Cuisinart does a terrific job of mixing the batter and bringing it to the froth you need so that you get airy popovers. 

You can use a blender too. An advantage of the blender is that it’s easier to pour the batter into the cups of the popover pan since the blender has a pour spout. A high-powered blender can also be easier to clean. 

Popovers predate both machines, of course, and if your arm is strong, you can use a whisk to beat this popover batter to the necessary froth. 

Do I need to preheat the popover pan?

Heat relationships are so important to these popovers that you preheat the oven and the pan before you start mixing the batter. I measure out all the ingredients in advance so that once I have placed the oiled popover pan into the preheated oven, I only need to add the ingredients to the food processor in the right order.

The preheating time is just about what it takes to blend the ingredients. 

Then once the five minutes of preheating are up, I whip the pan out of the oven, pour the popovers into the cups, and place the pan back in the oven.

What can I bake these in besides a popover pan?

A popover pan is a pretty specialized piece of equipment, for sure. If you don’t have one, pour the batter into a well-oiled muffin tin. As the muffin cups are smaller, you’ll get more but smaller popovers – about 10-12 instead of 6.

Kitchen tip: MCT oil (see this page) is the best I’ve found for oiling baking pans and muffin cups. I use MCT oil even if my bakeware is non-stick. MCT works even better than the coconut oil it’s derived from. 

Other gluten-free baked goods on A meal In Mind

How to Make Brazilian Cheese Bread

Almond-Flour Biscuits; 5-Ingredient

Low-Carb Nut and Seed Bread; Paleo and Gluten-Free

Coconut oil pie crust; gluten-free and vegan

Flourless Oatmeal Coconut Milk Pancakes

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread; Gluten-Free Libby’s Copycat

If you make this or any of the recipes on A Meal In Mind, please let me know! Or if you like the recipe, leave a comment, rate it, post pictures on Facebook or Twitter. Hashtag a photo #amealinmind on Instagram.  I’d love to see what you come up with. Thank you so much!!

Beth

I’m sharing this recipe to Fiesta Friday # 373 this week, co-hosted by Angie @ FiestaFriday and  Diann @ Of Goats & Greens

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5 from 5 votes

Easiest Tapioca Flour Popovers - Gluten-Free

For the easiest, most foolproof and tasty, bready grain-free side, these tapioca flour popovers are a must-try. All eaters will enjoy these golden-brown tasty bites. Delicious with any soup or stew! And they are so quick, you'll wonder why you never made popovers before!

Course Snack, Side Dish

Cuisine British

Keyword Gluten-Free side dish, gluten-free bread, tapioca flour bread, Yorkshire pudding, easy side dish, popover recipe, food processor recipe, quick bread

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 22 minutes

Servings 6 popovers

Equipment

• Popover pan or large muffin tin
• MCT Oil
• Food processor or blender

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk (from carton, see note) or oat or dairy milk
• 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt or a bit less if you plan to put salted butter on these
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/4 cup gluten-free flour blend I use Better Batter or Cup4Cup
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder gluten-free
• 3 - 5 teaspoons Coconut oil or other high-smoke-point cooking oil about 1 tsp of MCT oil per well

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425 F, depending on your oven (415 F worked best in mine, even at high altitude). Assemble ingredients.
  
• Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of oil to each of 10 muffin cups or 6 popover cups. Place pan in the oven for 5 minutes to heat the oil. While the pan and oil are heating, add eggs, milk and salt to the bowl of a food processor (or blender).
  
• Blend until bubbles form on the top, about 30 seconds. Add flours and baking powder and blend until creamy, about a minute, scraping sides as needed with a spatula.
  
• Once the pan with the oil has heated, carefully and quickly remove the pan from the oven and close the oven door.  Pour the batter evenly into each cup. Each cup should be about 1/2 full (1/3 full for muffin tin).
• Immediately place pan back in the oven and bake for 22 - 24 minutes until golden brown. DO NOT open the oven door while baking. Remove popovers from the pan right after baking and place on a cooling rack.
  
• Allow popovers to cool for at least 5 minutes before trying to open them - they can release a bit of steam. I know you just want to butter and eat them!!
  

Notes

Tip: to measure flour, lightly fill the measuring cup with a spoon and level off with a knife

This recipe at one time in its history was based on dairy milk. Coconut milk from a carton is more similar to its consistency than canned. If you are including grains in your eating, full-fat oat milk works great. 

Every oven is different; in mine the best temperature is 415 F for popovers that are done in the center and not too browned on top. Keep in mind I'm at high altitude and your popovers may bake better at, say, 400 F. 

I have used both better batter and cup4cup in this recipe. www.onlyglutenfreerecipes.com, from whom I've adapted this recipe, says not to use bean flour blends and I pass that recommendation on to you. 

Nutrition information can’t be guaranteed accurate, as it represents information entered as approximations into the nutrition calculator, which doesn’t contain all food items. It can, however, give you an estimate of the nutritional values.

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