Toad in the Hole
Occasionally it occurs to me that I don’t make Toad in the Hole often enough. Ever, really. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s essentially a pan of baked sausages into which you’ve poured a Dutch baby or Yorkshire pudding-like batter in the middle of cooking, when the pan gets really hot and the sausages are half done. It’s about as easy as dinner gets, and as you can imagine, it would be as well suited to breakfast or brunch… you could, in fact, top it with fried eggs and splatter it with hollandaise and bring the whole pan to the table to feed everyone.
Tonight, I had an event, and so popped this in the oven while I was getting ready to leave the house. It took approximately three minutes longer than opening a box of something frozen to pop in the oven – as much time as it takes to stir together some milk, flour and eggs – and you can adjust the quantities of each depending on how many you have to feed. Bump up the eggs, milk and flour for a more dramatic rise, boost the sausages, use smaller ones, or fewer batter (2 eggs, 3/4 cup milk and 3/4 cup flour is my usual Dutch baby ratio) in a smaller skillet if you’re only feeding one or two. In fact, eons ago I used to make little individual toads – they were in my second cookbook, Grazing – made with half sausages stood upright in muffin cups (mini ones, even, with breakfast-sized sausages!), the batter poured around it like a Yorkshire pudding. Salty sausage and puffed crispy bits? Yes, please… with grainy mustard.
Toad in the Hole
AuthorJuliePreheat the oven to 425F.
Place the sausages in a 9x13-inch (or similar sized) baking dish. Drizzle generously with some oil and bake for about 15 minutes, until the sausages are starting to cook through and the pan is nice and hot.
Meanwhile, whisk together the milk, flour, eggs and salt - the mixture should have the consistency of heavy cream. Pour into the pan, around the sausages, and return to the oven. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until the batter is puffed and deep golden. Serves 4-6.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425F.
Place the sausages in a 9x13-inch (or similar sized) baking dish. Drizzle generously with some oil and bake for about 15 minutes, until the sausages are starting to cook through and the pan is nice and hot.
Meanwhile, whisk together the milk, flour, eggs and salt - the mixture should have the consistency of heavy cream. Pour into the pan, around the sausages, and return to the oven. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until the batter is puffed and deep golden. Serves 4-6.
Hi Julie,
Branden here from Vancouver, BC. Thank you for the “Toad In The Hole” recipe! It’s one of those comfort dishes we North Americans might no be familiar with. Personally, the last time I had this dish, was several years ago visiting friends in Liverpool. Therefore, it’s time to take a run at it this weekend.
Kindest regards,
Branden Haynes
Awesome to hear it Branden!
Ghhnnnn. How long does it take to cook a tenner in the whole
Sounds good, however I’m curious about there not being any baking powder or soda in the tecipe…..does it not require this to get some “puffiness” to the batter?
Nope! All the leavening comes from the egg, like Yorkshire pudding!
I often make a Dutch baby, but haven’t make the toad in a hole in years. Perhaps I’ll make this Christmas morning. It’s fast & easy, but looks spectacular when you place it on the table.
Right? Me too! And yes – great idea for Christmas breakfast!!
Well you read my mind Julie – I was looking through Grazing just last week and came across Mini Toad-in-the-Hole. We used to make it frequently, with veggie sausages, and I had to add a note in the index under T because I could never remember to look in the M section. Thanks for the second reminder. Love that book!
So funny! and thanks! 🙂
Where are the best places in Calgary to buy sausages from for this recipe?
Do you serve it with any kind of sauce?
In our family of British heritage, Toad in a Hole is an egg cooked in a hole cut in a slice of bread and pan fried.
Your recipe, which looks fabulous!, is Pigs in a Blanket in our household.
Just love toad in the hole. So comforting
Looks delicious! . Can’t wait to try these!
https://coolkitchenutensils.com
We’re like Barbara …. those are the names we have too!
My Cornish grandmother cooked a variant of this, but not with sausages. She used thin flank steak, about half inch/centimetre thick and cut square, and about 4 inch/10 cm long, (possibly a bit thicker). Cooked mostly, so starting to brown, in a Pyrex dish with a bit of beef dripping or lard/shortning to grease the dish, and then the batter added. The idea that the rather tougher and cheaper cut of flank would caramalized a bit, and then the cooking inside the batter would’ steam’ it to be tender, hence being relatively thin squared slices. We always enjoyed this twice over the sausage version.
This looks super delicious.
Browned first in the Pyrex dish while it was heating up in the oven to the required high temp, and the rendered beef fat used to coat the inside of the dish before adding the batter,, the strips steamed/baked to perfection when the batter was poured in on top. The use of beef fat/ drippings in a glass pan ensured a crisp glazed bottom and a non-stoggy pudding. (Much the same way that using a lardy pastry with just a bit of suet ensures a Cornish pasty is crisp, flaky and very solid on the outside but velvety inside. Other fats or shortnings can be used in all varieties of baking, savory and sweet, but that particular combo made both the Yorkshire and the meat perfection.
Yum! that sounds fantastic!
Can this be made ahead of time and warmed up? I have a work potluck coming up with foods from around the world and with my mum being from England I wanted to make this but not sure how it would hold up for the next day?
Honestly, I’m not sure either… leftovers tend to be kind of soft and spongy, not high and crisp like it is straight from the oven…
Honestly, I’m not sure either… leftovers tend to be kind of soft and spongy, not high and crisp like it is straight from the oven…
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