Ultimate toad in the hole

Ultimate toad in the hole

An indulgent favourite comes bursting to life in this luxurious recipe - everyone loves a good toad in the hole

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Cook time

Cook 40 mins

  1. Video tutorial: Making gravy

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to fan 200C/conventional 220C/ gas 7. Sift the flour and a make a well in the centre and crack in the egg. Beat lightly,then gradually pour in half the milk and water, beating all the time to form a smooth,thick batter. Continue for 2 minutes,then stir in the remaining liquid. (The batter can be made several hours ahead of time, although contrary to popular opinion it is not improved by standing.)
  2. Wrap a bacon rasher around each sausage then put them, spaced apart, in a large roasting tin (preferably metal). Scatter over the onion and drizzle with oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the bacon and sausages are starting to colour and the onion is tinged brown at the edges.
  3. Remove from the oven and quickly pour the batter over the sausages. Return to the oven for a further 35-40 minutes until the batter is crisp and well risen.
  4. Meanwhile,make the gravy. Heat the vegetable oil in a small pan, add the onion and fry gently for 5 minutes until softened and lightly coloured. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the mustard, Worcestershire or soy sauce and stock and bring to the boil, stirring. Simmer for 15 minutes, then taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Serve the toad with cabbage or broccoli and lashings of gravy.

Per serving

625 kcalories, protein 30g, carbohydrate 35g, fat 42 g, saturated fat 13g, fibre 2g, salt 4.08 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2003.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 21-40

  • 25 February 2009

    jadeyc1 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I was a little bit worried about soggy batter (after reading all the reviews!) so I only added half an onion....It was lovely & the batter was perfect, not soggy at all. Very quick & easy to make and very filling. Served with cheesy mash - delicious!!

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  • 26 March 2009

    Laura Emmott rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    very good recipe. me and my partner really enjoyed it. i used a glass pyrex dish as i hadnt got a metal baking tray, it didnt stick. i will definitely make this again.

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  • 27 March 2009

    Akkward rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    loved it! made double the quantity for 5 of us and it all vanished!! will definetly make this one again. mmmmm yum!

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  • 07 May 2009

    BeccaBryant rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I cooked this for my friends for a dinner party and the all loved it! Even someone who wasn't fond of sausages almost licked the plate clean! Lovely meal. I served with calconnon and gravy! Highly recommended!

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  • 21 May 2009

    Emma commented on this recipe

    I'm going to try this soon and hope that I have success. I will make sure I use a metal baking tray and also make sure that the oil is very, very hot before I pour in the batter - I'm guessing this should prevent the soggy bottom problem. No onion will will join my toad in it's hole as I don't like them anyway. I'll let you know how I get on.

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  • 22 May 2009

    C Shaw rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    Not overly impressed with this dish. The onions that went in with the sausages burned to the bottom of the batter, the batter didn't rise much and was overly dry. I did like the gravy which I think would work brilliantly with any sausage dish. I would reduce the amount of english mustard and add a little wholegrain just to give it a slightly mellower flavour. Will continue to make toad in the hole but the only thing I'll be following from this recipe is the gravy.

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  • 29 May 2009

    Kayleigh1987 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    My first ever attempt at cooking toad in the hole (using a different recipe) was a complete disaster, but using this recipe, it came out perfect first time. I find it works better if you don't use a stainless steel roasting tin. I used a stainless steel tin the second time I tried it and it came out with a soggy bottom.

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  • 16 June 2009

    Emma rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    sausages wrapped in bacon was nice, but the batter only went slightly crispy on the very outer edges, rest was unedible.

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  • 26 July 2009

    Chris.Suarez rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Yummy

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  • 01 August 2009

    Colin Hunt rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    Hi I'm with everyone else. Given that this is the first hit that comes up when you google "toad in the hole recipe", you'd expect a decent toad in the hole! The soggy mess and under cooked sausages were massively dissapointing. We left it in anm extra 25 minutes and still it wasnt cooked. I reccommend you find another recipe or order a pizza. Thanks for ruining my evening bbc food!

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  • 09 August 2009

    Food Pixie rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    Sadly for me this wasn't the 'ultimate toad in the hole' but the ultimate disaster. I even followed all the user tips and left out the onion in the batter mix but the result still resembled 'egg pudding' under the crunchy batter top, despite leaving it in for an extra 10 mins in the hope that the batter would cook through. I felt the batter mix was too thin despite following the recipe to the letter. I'm not sure I'll risk making it again but if I did, I would use more flour (or less liquid) and I would place the dish at the bottom of the oven as the top cooks quickly and the bottom is a soggy mess. I hope you have better luck with it than I did.... :(

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  • 19 August 2009

    Bradders rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    This was meant to be a lovely anniversary meal for my husband but it ended up being a complete disaster. I have never seen a toad in the hole that looks this bad. The batter didn't rise and looked totally inedible. I won't use this recipe again and can't believe people have been successful with it as I followed the recipe to the letter. Back to Mr Rhodes' recipe I think, that actually works.

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  • 23 August 2009

    plebism rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    I think my cooking skills let this down, or I should say my oven - I don't think it was hot enough and hence a crispy out with yuk almost liquid batter in the middle. Otherwise - was easy to prepare etc so will try again - maybe Ill practice just baking the batter a few times

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  • 06 September 2009

    Paul commented on this recipe

    Not surprised some people are dissatisfied with this. The flour is about 50g short, and leave the water, just milk. Maybe add another egg.

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  • 06 September 2009

    Paul rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    Shame I have to give it one star. This really should be a very simple 'nothing can go wrong' recipe. 300ml of milk, 150g of plain flour and 2 eggs will give you perfect batter. Fry the sausages off a bit first. Some recipe's deserve to be taken off this site, and this is one of them.

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  • 16 September 2009

    MsMe commented on this recipe

    to give it its due, the recipe is not a total disaster. the gravy is good, its identical to a delia smith recipe ive been using for years. the only problem is the batter. i like to put my oven on a lower heat too, because it makes a nice spongey springy pudding. the batter quantities given ware a bit off, there is too mush liquid. generally i use twice the quantity of fluid to flour, and one egg per 75g flour (this weight of flour is perfect for two large portions).

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  • 17 September 2009

    sabre commented on this recipe

    i have no idea what went wrong. i followed the recipe to the letter, and the batter was just a sloppy mess in the bottom of the tray. it didn't rise at all !!! are you sure that you are meant to put water in batter mix ? thankfully the sausages were fine. can someone please give me some idea as to where i went wrong.

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  • 22 September 2009

    Butterflies commented on this recipe

    I loved the soft onion in the batter or toad. Such a lovely change! I did not have a soggy bottom but loved the soft parts I use wholemeal flour - batter was fine, just a little dry as I tend to forget things I'm cooking. I need a timer - fastened to me! As for sabre - I think you used 300 ml milk and 300 ml water. The receipe is 300 ml liquid in total - 1/2 milk : 1/2 water.

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  • 22 September 2009

    Mrs Pork Chop commented on this recipe

    This was awful! It looked like gruel in the middle yet still managed to be burnt to the bottom of the tin. I managed to salvage a bit of crispiness from round the edges but overall very disappointing. There was not even a hint of it rising! The only consolation was I got delicious sausages in onion gravy instead!

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  • 08 October 2009

    aurum commented on this recipe

    The WORST batter mix I've ever made! I've had better results making it up as I went along. The batter was soggy on the inside whilst burning on the outside so I dropped the heat. Still soggy so I upped the heat again. The sausages were cremated, the bacon had changed at an atomic level into something akin to construction material and the disgusting batter was stuck to the pan and still soggy in the middle. Dame Delia I shall never foresake you again!

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Cook time

Cook 40 mins

Ingredients

FOR THE BATTER

  • 100g plain flour
  • 1 egg
  • 300ml equal mixture milk and water

FOR THE TOAD

  • 8 rashers streaky bacon
  • 8 good-quality pork sausages
  • 1 onion , thinly sliced
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil

FOR THE GRAVY

  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 onion , thinly sliced
  • 2 tsp plain flour
  • 2 tsp ready-made English mustard
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce
  • 600ml chicken or vegetable stock
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Per serving

625 kcalories, protein 30g, carbohydrate 35g, fat 42 g, saturated fat 13g, fibre 2g, salt 4.08 g

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