Perfect Vegan Yorkshire Puddings - Tall, crispy, golden sides, soft and slightly gooey bottoms, and a deep hollow just waiting to be filled with tasty gravy! And there's a gluten-free option. Perfect for enjoying with roast vegan beef and all the trimmings!
Wanna know something? This Vegan Yorkshire Pudding recipe officially breaks all recipe testing records. I have been working on this recipe, on and off for well over a year in a desperate attempt to make my Vegan Roast dinners great again and I finally cracked it!
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Are Yorkshire puddings vegan?
Traditional Yorkshire Puddings are not vegan because they contain eggs and milk.
The milk part is easily replaceable with any plant-based milk (or water as is the case with my recipe) but just like with vegan quiche, the eggs are much harder to substitute. They have a unique job when it comes to Yorkshire Puddings, and unlike in other kinds of vegan baking, a couple of flax or chia eggs in their place will not act in anything like the same way.
Even the magical aquafaba (liquid from canned chickpeas) struggled a bit with this job.
But I finally did it and these Yorkshire Puddings are, I am pleased to say, vegan!
I grew up eating Yorkshire Puddings every Sunday while growing up in England, and was a Yorkie master before I turned vegan, so I know what I'm talking about. But, if I am completely honest, this recipe I am sharing with you today is delicious, and very similar to a traditional Yorkshire Pudding, but it is not exactly the same. This is something I really struggled with and I nearly didn't share it for that reason. As with most of my recipes though, I share my recipe testing on my Instagram stories.
People were literally going crazy there wanting the recipe, but I still didn't feel confident about it.
The whole premise of my blog, A Virtual Vegan, is that I want the recipes I share here to be amazing with no compromises. With this recipe there is a compromise because it is not the same as the non-vegan equivalent. That's why I wasn't completely sure that I should share it.
So, how did I decide I would?
I Googled "Vegan Yorkshire Pudding" recipes, and I printed out every single one there is on the internet and I made them all. All of them. Every. Single. One. Multiple times. My house was seriously like smoke central for 3 days.
And you know what I found? None of them were any good. They were all cake-y, squat and not well risen, and none of them had a proper hollowed out bowl shaped inside for holding gravy and they didn't really have crispy outsides. Or not consistently anyway. Even the recipe from Sainsbury's that everyone seems to rave about. You can find it here if you want to check it out.
And most importantly of all, none of them really tasted that great.
That's when I realized that my Vegan Yorkshire Pudding recipe was actually pretty good. Much better than any of the others and it deserved to be let loose out in the wild.
So here it is!
Ingredients
Perfect Vegan Yorkshire Puddings are not difficult to make at all, but you must follow the recipe exactly. There can be no substitutions at all. Believe me, I have tried every combination of ingredients and methods possible, and to get the best result you cannot change a thing.
Here is what you need:
- You will also need a muffin pan. You cannot use a shallow Yorkshire pudding pan for these. It must be a muffin pan and it must be metal and not any other material or they will not work. Don't use your very best muffin pan because the smoking hot oil tends to not be too kind to them and it's pretty impossible to clean them up perfectly after. I have an old cheaper pan like the one above that I use just for Yorkshire Puddings and not much else.
- A medium-sized mixing bowl
- A jug for pouring the batter into the pan quickly and easily
- And a balloon whisk
I also highly recommend that you weigh the flour when making this recipe. Cup measurements are not accurate enough to get the best results.
If you really do need to use cups, spoon the flour into the cup then level off the top with a knife without compacting it or shaking it down. By doing it like this you will get roughly the correct amount. If you scoop the flour up into the cup, you will end up with much more than is needed and it will affect the outcome of the recipe. Digital scales are available at most grocery stores now for around $10 to $15. O they are easy to purchase from online stores like Amazon. They are a great investment and are so worth having!
What you need to make them gluten-free
Yes! Finally a decent gluten-free Vegan Yorkshire Pudding! You can safely replace the all purpose flour in this recipe with more chickpea flour. It works like a dream. In fact they turn out even lighter. But they do have more of a chickpea flour flavour which isn't unpleasant but worth mentioning. I did try some other gluten free flours, including oat flour instead, but they didn't work nearly as well.
How to make vegan Yorkshire puddings
Ok, so now you've got what you need, here's is how it's done:
STEP 1 - Preheat the oven (very important!)
STEP 2 - Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
STEP 3 - Mix the wet ingredients together in a jug.
STEP 4 - Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
STEP 5 - Mix together well.
STEP 6 - Pour the batter into the jug and leave to rest.
STEP 7 - Pour oil in each well of a muffin pan, coat the sides, and place in the hot oven until quite literally smoking. The trick to successful Yorkshire Puddings, vegan or not, is smoking hot oil!
STEP 8 - Work super quickly and pour the rested batter into the smoking oil and get the pan back in the oven as fast as humanly possibly. Now is not the time to get distracted.
STEP 9 - Watch through the oven door as they grow before your very eyes!
Please note that when making these Vegan Yorkshire Puddings, you need to use a muffin pan or a popover pan. Both have deep wells. A traditional shallow Yorkshire Pudding pan will not work well.
Serving Suggestions
Yorkshire Puddings are traditionally served with roast beef and of course I had to make a vegan beef recipe so this was possible. You can also serve them up with my Vegan Turkey Roast and you'll be onto a winner!
They are also great with my Vegan Meatloaf and Gravy, Crispy Roasted Potatoes and steamed veggies, or with my Vegan Instant Pot Portobello Pot Roast, but any meal that has copious amounts of gravy involved will do. They work incredibly well with vegan sausages, mashed potato and gravy.
My grandparents always used to cook extra, so that leftover puddings could be eaten for dessert. They were reheated and served up with Lyle's Golden Syrup and clotted cream. Again, not very vegan, but if you were to omit the mustard or Kala Namak in my recipe, you could do something similar. Lyle's Golden Syrup is something that's really popular in England and it's a really unique product. I've never seen anything like it here in Canada, except in the English aisles in some supermarkets where it is imported from England. It is vegan and it is a sweet toothed persons dream.
So for a vegan Yorkshire Pudding dessert, serve up the hot puddings with either Golden Syrup (if you can get it) or maple syrup then top with whipped coconut cream in place of the clotted cream. Totally indulgent, not very good for you, but so amazingly delicious!!
If you try this recipe, let me know how you like it by leaving a comment and rating below! And be sure to join my mailing list for more deliciousness!
Recipe
Perfect Vegan Yorkshire Puddings
Author:Ingredients
- 75 g / ½ heaping cup all purpose flour ,(plain flour in the UK). SEE RECIPE NOTES FOR GLUTEN-FREE OPTION
- 75 g / scant ⅔ cup chickpea flour , also sometimes known as garbanzo or gram flour
- 2¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric , OPTIONAL - helps to give the puddings a nice yellow colour.
- scant ½ teaspoon dijon mustard , ¼ teaspoon of Kala Namak can be used instead if you prefer but mustard gives the best flavour.
- ¾ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 6 tablespoons / 90 mls aquafaba , (the liquid from a can of chickpeas)
- 360 mls / 1½ cups water
- oil for pan , mild olive oil, vegetable oil or sunflower oil. Melted refined coconut oil is also ok but do not use virgin or unrefined coconut oil.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218 °C) and have a shelf set about 3/4 way up with an old baking tray on it. It must be preheated with the oven and is there to catch any oil spillovers when you are cooking the puddings.
- In a medium bowl, add the all purpose flour, chickpea flour, baking powder and salt and whisk them together. As I mention in my post, I highly recommend weighing the ingredients for optimum results.
- In a jug, combine the mustard, apple cider vinegar, aquafaba and water and whisk them together.
- Pour the combined liquids into the dry ingredients and whisk together until smooth and bubbly. Pour into a jug to make pouring quick and easy, then leave to rest for 10 minutes.
- While the batter is resting, prepare your muffin pans. They must be metal pans and not ceramic and they must be muffin pans and not shallow Yorkshire pudding pans. If you use a pan with shallow wells they will not work. Add enough oil to give a depth of about 3mm, then swirl it around in the pan so it goes up the sides. For my muffin pans that is about 1¼ tablespoons for each well. Don't be tempted to use less as the batter won't get hot enough when you pour it in and that will mean that you won't get nice bowl shaped Yorkshire Puddings. Put the oiled muffin pans in the oven on the old baking tray that preheated in the oven, for 10 minutes. By then they should be absolutely smoking hot. That's what you want. If you don't see smoke rising from them if you open the door to peek, leave them a minute or two longer.
- You need to work very quickly now. Make sure your jug of batter is right next to you as you open the oven. Very quickly, but very carefully, remove the muffin pan from the oven, making sure to close the door to keep the heat in.
In a long, thin stream, pour the batter into the hot oil in each well of the pan. You need to fill them nearly to the top. The oil will rise above the batter (that's what makes gives you the bowl shape puddings). Stop pouring once the oil is just about level with the rim of the well. You need to do this really quickly because you need to keep the heat in the pan for the puddings to work well. As soon as the wells are all full, put the pan right back into the oven and shut the door quickly. You should get 6 to 8 Yorkshire Puddings from the batter. - Cook the puddings for at least 30 minutes, but maybe up to 35 or 40 minutes until really golden and crispy and until the insides have dried out to your liking. I like them a little gooey inside and 30 minutes will get them there. If you prefer them a little dryer, turn the oven down and let them cook a little longer. Do not open the oven door, not even for a quick peek until you are past 25 minutes of cooking.
- Remove the puddings from the oven and serve immediately.
NOTES
IMPORTANT - You must follow this recipe exactly. There can be no substitutions at all, except maybe mustard for kala namak which I suggest above. Everything else must remain the same. Believe me, I have tried every combination of ingredients and methods possible, and to get the best result you cannot change a thing.
ALSO IMPORTANT - As stated in my post, when making these Vegan Yorkshire Puddings, you need to use a metal muffin pan or a popover pan. Both have deep wells. A traditional shallow Yorkshire Pudding pan will not work and any pan that is not metal will not work.
LEFTOVERS - If you have leftover puddings, they can be refrigerated and reheated in a hot oven (425°F/218 °C) for 3 to 4 minutes until hot.
TO FREEZE - They freeze perfectly. Make them, put them on a wire rack to cool then lay them out on a parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking tray. Pop the whole thing in the freezer uncovered. As soon as they are hard remove and put them in containers or freezer bags. Then pop them on a baking tray straight for the freezer on 425°F/218 °C for about 10 minutes to heat through.
Krishna says
These taste so delicious (we make the gluten free version!) - my only problem was there seemed to be a lot of oil left at the end (I did measure correctly) and some of the bottoms got stuck, so I’m assuming the oil wasn’t hot enough to start? Thank you 😊
Melanie McDonald says
Glad you're enjoying them! It could well be that the oil wasn't quite hot enough. It should literally be so hot it is pretty much smoking. It could also be the pan (or a combo of both). I have one pan which they always get stuck in so it's worth trying another if you have one, or picking up a new cheapish one. I never recommend using a really good expensive pan for these as the heat an oil ruins it. Hope that helps!
Allison says
Delicious! Everyone loved them. Thank you
Mark says
Had four gos at these now and once all the kit is lined up, they are unbelievable.
My hack is to pre-heat the tin on a pizza stone in the oven and remove both for the filling stage. It may or may not have been The Sainted Delia who said to get your oil 'as hot as you dare' and for me this accomplished that relatively safely. A work of alchemy, perfect vegan Yorkshire puddings should not exist, yet here they are.
Holly says
I made these and was super happy with the result! Could this recipe potentially be used to make a Dutch baby if used in one larger pan? Thanks!
Victoria says
Thank you so much for creating and sharing this recipe. I absolutely love Yorkshire puddings but it’s really hard to get hold of vegan ones. I’ve made this recipe twice and they turned out brilliantly and were really delicious! I followed the instructions both times. My mum has even made them too, and had the same results. Thank you!
Danielle says
Made these for the first time tonight, they have turned out really well! They started to form a dip while cooking, then they all rose but then dropped again, so I had to create the well with the back of a spoon. (not sure what I did wrong) maybe not enough oil or something. I tasted 2 of them, they were a really good alternative, obviously they don't taste like traditional puds or get as big, but I am very impressed. Maybe I will get better at making them in time, well done for coming up with a decent alternative for Yorkshire puddings.
Chuck says
I cannot believe that people give 1 star because they are unable to replicate the instructions or have success. I'm gonna give you 5 for all the hard work and research that obviously went into this and for all the other 5 star ratings for those that followed it exactly.
Well done for a totally inspirational recipe. I will pop another note in when I've had a go.
Melanie McDonald says
Ah, thanks Chuck! I appreciate your support. I hope you enjoy the recipe when you get to try it!
Sally UK says
Where is the oven temp. & cooking time for this recipe?
Melanie McDonald says
Everything you need including oven temperature, cooking time is there (in detail) in the printable recipe card.
Dana says
I'm just attempting your recipe and wondered if your celsius temperature (for the UK) was conventional top/bottom heating, or convection?
Melanie McDonald says
All of my recipes are tested with the convection/fan turned off so are for a traditional/regular oven and all stated temperatures are for a regular/conventional oven. Always assume that recipes online and in books (unless they specify otherwise) are giving you the recommended cooking times and temps for a traditional oven. Most recipe developers won't use convection/fan and in the rare event they do they will clearly state that.
I definitely don't recommend using convection/fan for anything that needs to rise (bread, cakes, this recipe (Yorkshire puddings), muffins etc) because you won't get the best results. It's best to turn that function off and bake with the traditional oven settings.
Hope that helps!
Jane says
Mine didn’t rise?
Louise says
Can I make these in an air fryer? I don't have a traditional oven.
Melanie McDonald says
I've never tried it.
sharon says
Hi - I know you've said no substitutions, but I wonder if you tried the recipe with FINE matzo meal?
Melanie McDonald says
That definitely won't work. There cannot be any substitutions in this recipe or it won't work. The chemical makeup of the chickpea flour is extremely important. Matzo meal isn't similar at all. It's basically just flour and water.
Tom says
I have tried this recepie 3 times now, following it exactly.
Every time they end up like a cake with loads of oilnit it,
I've tried increasing the oil to make the middle sink on the second attempt and tried increasing the temperature a little for the third attempt, same results every time, no idea what is going wrong.
Lynda says
Goodness gracious!! Finally a decent vegan Yorkshire pudding recipe. I think I love you!! 🤣
Julie says
Greasy and horrid. Back to the drawing board for me unfortunately 😔
Lin says
Hi Melanie! You are right - not exactly original flavour, but sooo good!!!!
Jill masters-Holmes says
Jill from Norfolk
I Tried out yorkshires and very impressed indeed! The best vegan yorkshires I’ve ever had. I followed the recipe exactly as it was written (which is unusual for me!) and I cooked them in the aga and they were perfect in about 30 minutes. They freeze very well and equally as delicious when warmed from frozen. They looked just like the ones on the picture.
Brent says
Wow was very sceptical I'm not vegan but wanted Yorkshire pudding but no flour had a bag of chick pea flour it works beautifully