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Smoked Gruyère Popovers with Thyme

Smoked Gruyère Popovers with fresh thyme and smoked Gruyère cheese are insanely good. Crispy yummy on the outside, cheesy amazing on the inside with soft holes and hollows of popover perfection to catch all the melted butter. Popovers with Gruyère and thyme are smoky-savory, rich and tasty delicious.

Gruyere popover with thyme in popover tin

Why this recipe works

I love popovers. Like, love love. Like, every time I make a batch I literally eat them all and I do it on the regular. My traditional popovers recipe is far and away one of the best food successes of my life, and my other popovers recipes build off that.

These pillowy-flaky, smoky-savory, herbed popovers are my best yet. They truly are. It’s the Gruyère cheese. This creamy cheese gives these popovers a texture and flavor that is surprisingly perfect.

popover on wire rack
popover in popover tin

About the ingredients

First we have standard popover ingredients: eggs, milk, flour, salt, and butter. Make sure the eggs and milk are room temperature, this is required for maximum popover puffage.

I also only ever use kosher salt and unsalted butter (those are hard food rules for me). Large eggs and all-purpose flour are appropriate for this recipe too.

After those ingredients, there are fresh thyme and smoked Gruyère cheese. If fresh thyme is not available, use dried but use 1/3 as much because dried herbs are more potent in flavor and aroma. Find smoked Gruyère cheese in the section with the specialty cheeses. My Walmart carries it as well.

Lastly, you will want cooking spray (or butter) to grease the popover pan. which cooking spray you use isn’t so important, but I myself use olive oil cooking spray.

7 small white bowls with popover ingredients labeled

How to make Gruyère Popovers

For all the extra details and tips and tricks for perfectly puffed popovers, see my classic popover recipe.

For the Cliff notes version, the key to the best popovers is thusly:

  • Start with all ingredients, especially the eggs and milk, at room temperature and not cold. To speed things up, submerge the eggs for 10 minutes in warm tap water and gently microwave the milk.
  • Measure the ingredients accurately, especially the flour.
  • Mix up the batter until smooth using a whisk, then let the batter rest while the oven heats.
  • Heat the popover pan for a couple minutes.
  • Heat the oven to 450°F. Divide the batter into the tins of the popover pan.
  • Put the batter to cook at 450°F for 15 minutes.
  • Then without opening the oven and letting the heat out, reduce the heat to 350°F and cook another 15 minutes.
  • Remove popovers from the oven and pierce with a knife to allow the steam to escape. Popovers are best eaten fresh.

The key to popovers is making the puff happen. This recipe includes cheese which is extra weight in the batter, so my “popovers rules” are especially important.

Having the ingredients at room temperature, preheating the popover pan, the proper design of the popover pan itself, and letting the batter rest so the flour can absorb the liquid better – these are all the tricks of the trade for making light and airy popovers.

These tricks work because they all help make the steam happen within the batter quickly. This steam is what makes the batter puff up. So follow the rules above and use a quality popover pan, and you will have the best popovers of your life every time.

cheese added to popover batter
popover in popover tin

FAQs

Can this recipe be made without a popover pan?

Yes, simply use a regular 12 muffin pan. They will of course be smaller (and there will be 12 of them) but they will be crisp and tasty as well.

Can regular Gruyère cheese be used instead of smoked?

Sure, or you can use smoked Gouda.

3 popovers on wire rack
open popover to show hollow inside
Gruyere popover with thyme in popover tin

Smoked Gruyère Popovers with Thyme

Smoked Gruyère Popovers with fresh thyme and smoked Gruyère cheese are insanely good. Crispy yummy outside, cheesy delicious inside with soft holes and hollows of popover perfection to catch all the melted butter. Gruyère popovers are smoky-savory, rich and tasty amazing.
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Gruyère popovers, smoked Gruyère and thyme popovers, smoked Gruyère cheese popovers
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Authur: Erica
Servings: 6 popovers
Calories: 235kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 2 large whole eggs room temperature, lightly beaten
  • 1 ½ cup milk room temperature
  • 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp kosher salt
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
  • 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
  • 2 oz smoked Gruyère cheese shredded
  • cooking spray

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 450°F.
  • While the oven is heating: in a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, flour, salt, butter, and thyme. Whisk until smooth. Allow the batter to rest while the oven finishes heating (~10 to 15 minutes). Stir in the cheese.
  • Add the popover pan to the oven to heat for 2 minutes.
  • Remove the preheated pan from the oven and spray with cooking spray. Add the prepared batter to the popover tins filling, dividing evenly between the tins.
  • Bake at 450°F for 15 minutes until puffed and golden. Without opening the oven, reduce oven temperature to 350°F and cook an additional 15 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven and pierce the tops with a knife to allow steam to escape. Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Calories: 235kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 86mg | Sodium: 181mg | Potassium: 142mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g

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