Toad in the What Now? This British Classic Deserves a Spot in Your Dinner Rotation

With juicy sausages nestled in crisp, tender Yorkshire pudding, covered in plenty of gravy, toad in the hole is a British classic worth recreating at home.

An optional step of resting the batter overnight yields a more flavorful Yorkshire pudding with a dramatic rise.
Store-bought or homemade beef drippings (tallow) give the Yorkshire pudding and gravy rich, savory notes.
Lightly caramelizing red onions for the gravy adds a touch of sweetness to the sauce.

Outside of the United Kingdom, British food hasn’t always had the best reputation—it was viewed by many as bland, beige, and boring. Fortunately, people have caught on to the charms of British fare, and discovered that the UK is home to some of the world’s finest fish and chips, banoffee pie, and sticky toffee pudding. I, too, used to turn my nose up at certain British foods. Thanks to my English partner of nine years, though, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the dishes I once made fun of, including toad in the hole, a beloved meal in the UK. The dish is essentially a giant Yorkshire pudding filled with juicy sausages and smothered in a rich red onion gravy. It’s not entirely clear how the dish got its quirky name, but many Brits claim it’s because the sausages look like toads peeking out of their burrows.

The first time my partner made toad in the hole for me, I was ready to snub it. The entire meal was unfamiliar, brown, and beige, and, frankly, unappealing to me. But after my first bite, I understood the hype. It was hearty, comforting, and deeply savory. Plus: How could I say no to a dish loaded with gravy?

I like to think of toad in a hole as a weeknight version of a rich and cozy roast dinner, which typically consists of a large cut of roast beef or lamb, mashed or roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and gravy. Like a classic Sunday roast, toad in the hole comes with Yorkshire pudding and gravy, but instead of slow-roasted meat that takes several hours to cook, you have crisp, juicy sausages that are ready in a quarter of the time. Here’s how to make it.

Getting the Yorkshire Pudding Right

Rest Your Batter

A Yorkshire pudding is similar to an American popover: It's a light, eggy batter that bakes up soft and slightly chewy, yet remains crisp around the edges, with a deep well in the center for holding gravy. Made with milk, eggs, and flour, the batter can be baked in a muffin tin or popover pan for individual puddings or poured into a skillet or roasting dish for a single large pudding, which is how it’s traditionally done for toad in the hole.

To make my toad in the hole, I use a scaled-down version of former Serious Eats editor Kenji’s Yorkshire pudding recipe, which produces tender, puffy puddings ideal for soaking up gravy. For the best rise and flavor, Kenji recommends letting the batter rest for at least 30 minutes and up to three days. He stresses that longer is better: This extra time transforms proteins and starches in the dough and also allows just enough gluten to develop, giving the batter strength and elasticity to rise in the oven. Compared to puddings made with batters that aren’t rested at all, a well-rested Yorkshire pudding—one that has sat in the fridge for at least eight hours—is pleasantly chewy and deeply delicious, with a more nuanced flavor.

Use the Right Fat

Besides letting the batter rest, it’s also crucial to use the right kind of fat. Part of why Yorkshire puddings are so delicious is that they’re cooked in a generous amount of fat. Traditionally, British cooks use beef drippings (or tallow) to impart a rich, meaty flavor and crisp texture to Yorkshire puddings. As Kenji mentioned in his recipe, “the more highly saturated your fat is (that is, the more solid it is at room temperature), the crisper your puddings come out.” For that reason, I recommend using beef drippings. If you’re not big on the idea of beef fat, clarified butter or ghee are excellent options and give the puddings a luxuriously rich flavor.

While you may be tempted to use butter or olive oil, neither is ideal for making Yorkshire pudding. The milk solids in butter make it prone to burning in a hot oven, which can leave an unpleasant, bitter flavor. Olive oil gets a bad rap for being unsafe to cook with at high temperatures (which Serious Eats editorial director Daniel has since disproven!), but that’s not the reason I would avoid it here. Olive oil’s low saturated fat content will prevent your Yorkshire pudding from crisping up properly. Likewise, neutral oils that are low in saturated fat will likely result in soft, limp puddings, and let’s be real: No one wants a soggy pudding.

How to Make a Stellar Gravy

Unlike a leg of lamb or a beef rib roast, which have plenty of fat that renders over several hours, sausages won't yield enough drippings or pan juices to use as the base for a gravy, which is why the classic gravy for toad in the hole is made from a base of lightly caramelized red onions. The onions are cooked until they're soft, enhancing their sweet, umami notes, but still have a bit of pleasant bite.

My recipe includes a splash of red wine, which isn’t an addition in most British versions, but gives the sauce depth and acidity. Once the wine has cooked off, I coat the onions with a touch of flour, add the beef stock, then simmer the gravy until it's thick enough to coat a spoon.

The Best Sausages to Use

British sausages affectionately and colloquially known as bangers are the best sausages to use for toad in the hole. As Serious Eats contributor Doris Lam touched on in her Scotch egg recipe, there are several key differences between British and American sausages. As she notes, unlike American sausages, which are typically made with ground meat, fat, and seasonings, British sausages are made with coarser chopped or minced pork, fat, and seasonings, and a breadcrumb filler that gives them a softer texture.

While bangers are a favorite in British households, they can be challenging to find in the US. Your best bet is to visit your local butcher, but if you can’t find them, opt for a mild pork sausage, such as a breakfast sausage. They're usually seasoned with sage and have a similar flavor profile to a classic banger. Just be sure to avoid maple-syrup flavored sausages, which will be much too sweet for the dish. Bratwurst and even mild Italian sausages will also work in a pinch, but won’t provide you with the classic toad-in-the-hole experience. The most important thing is to opt for a fatty pork sausage, which will provide the best flavor and texture. Generally, the more fat a sausage contains, the more flavorful it'll be.

Putting It All Together

Once you have your pudding batter, gravy, and the sausages, all that's left to do is assemble it. The first step for assembly is browning the sausages. In British recipes, this is often done in the oven using a large roasting tin. This works well, but fat from the sausages tends to spit out of the pan all over the inside of the oven, which can result in a lot of smoke—and a big mess to clean up. To avoid that, I like to start the sausages in a very hot cast iron skillet on the stove. Cooking the sausages over high heat allows the Maillard reaction—a series of chemical reactions that occur when heat transforms proteins and sugars, resulting in more complex flavors—to take place.

Browning the sausages in the skillet can also result in a lot of splattering oil; to minimize potential messes and burns to yourself, you can partially cover the pan with a lid or use a splatter screen. Once the sausages are browned and crisped on all sides, you'll pour then the batter into the scorching-hot pan—this heat is essential to achieving a dramatic rise in your pudding batter. Carefully tilt the pan to distribute the batter around the sausages, then bake until the pudding is puffed up and deep golden brown.

A toad in the hole is gloriously lofty as it emerges from the oven, but will quickly deflate as it cools down. If you have guests, encourage them to watch as you remove the pan from the oven. The drama fades quickly, but your friends will likely never doubt British food ever again.