Indulge in a heavenly treat with this Fried Sugar Donuts recipe! Made with simple ingredients like flour, sugar, and butter, these fluffy and decadent donuts are deep-fried to golden perfection and coated in a generous layer of sweet, crunchy sugar.
Heavenly Fried Doughnut Recipe
Everyone loves donuts (or at least they should), but have you ever had a warm, freshly made donut? They are next level. Homemade donuts are tender and melt-in-your-mouth good.
I did A LOT of test work with this recipe to ensure it is perfect. And at the risk of sounding arrogant, I’m here to say I succeeded. These homemade fried donuts are an atypical but fun dessert that your family is sure to love. I cannot wait for you to try them!
Fried Donut Recipe ingredients
Most of my recipes have some wiggle room, but if you’re looking for a delightfully chewy and tender donut you cannot substitute any of these ingredients. Doing so will lead to a tougher donut and no one wants that!
- Milk – Milk adds fat to the dough making it softer.
- Dry active yeast
- Butter – Melted butter also adds fat to the dough, making it pillowy soft.
- Granulated Sugar – The sugar acts as a tenderizer and interferes with the gluten in the flour, leading to a tender crumb and soft texture. That’s why you’ll find more sugar in this dough than a typical bread dough.
- Salt
- All purpose flour – I specifically developed this recipe to utilize all purpose flour because I know that is what most home chefs have on hand. You’re welcome.
- Oil – I like to use an oil with a high smoke point and a neutral flavor profile like peanut oil. Vegetable and canola oil will also work well, but do not try to use olive oil here!
What is the best oil to fry donuts?
You’ll want an oil with a high smoke point. Something like peanut oil, avocado oil, sunflower oil, or canola oil. Avoid olive oil.
How to Make Fried Donuts
- Warm the cup of milk in the microwave until about 100° F.
- Pour half of the milk into the bowl of a stand mixer, along with the yeast and 1 tsp of sugar.
- Stir to combine and allow the yeast/milk mixture to sit for 5 minutes. At 5 minutes, the mixture should be frothy and bubbly.
- Once the mixture is frothy, add the remaining milk, melted butter ,granulated sugar, salt and 2 cups of flour.
- Knead until fully combined.
- Slowly add in the remaining 1/4-1/2 cup of flour until the dough cleans the side of the bowl, is tacky to your finger but doesn’t stick if pulled away quickly.
- Knead for an additional 5-7 minutes.
- Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for 1 hour.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, turn onto a lightly floured surface.
- Gently press the dough out into a rectangle and then use a donut cutter to cut your donuts out of the dough. Cut the leftover dough into small portions for bite sized donuts.
- Cover with plastic wrap or a cloth and allow to rise for an additional 30-45 minutes.
- Once the dough has finished rising, pour 2-3 inches of oil in the bottom of your pan.
- Heat the oil until 350°. The best way to know your oil is hot enough (and not too hot) to fry is by using a thermometer.
- Fry the donuts at 350° for about 1 minute on each side or until golden brown on each side. Do not overcrowd the pan to ensure donuts cook evenly.
- When they are golden brown, let the donuts rest on a cookie cooling rack that is placed inside of a cookie sheet to catch the oil run-off.
- Repeat with remaining dough.
- When the excess oil has dripped off of the donut, shake your donut in granulated sugar to coat the donut and enjoy!
What is the best temperature to fry donuts?
I like to have my oil hovering around 350° F, this fries them slowly enough so that they are cooked through but they outside won’t burn.
How to store leftover Homemade Fried Donuts
My first recommendation is to eat the donuts immediately! But if that’s not in the cards for you, donuts can be eaten within 12 hours before losing their softness. Just store your donuts in an airtight container at room temperature. If you really need to, you can also freeze the donuts for up to 2 months.
Deep Fried Donuts FAQs
Make sure your oil isn’t too hot! If your oil is too hot, the outside will fry but the inside will remain doughy.
Fried donuts are sometimes called donuts, doughnuts, beignets or or crullers.
In a donut mood? Check out these recipes!
Deep Fried Donuts (Homemade Fried Donuts)
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk divided
- 1 1/2 tbsp dry active yeast
- 4 tbsp butter melted
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus a little extra, as needed
- oil to fry in peanut oil, vegetable oil and canola oil are all great options.
Sugar Coating
- 2 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Warm the cup of milk in the microwave until about 100° F. Pour half of the milk into the Bowl of a stand mixer, along with the yeast and 1 tsp of sugar.
- Stir to combine and allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes. At 5 minutes, the mixture should be frothy and bubbly.
- Once the mixture is frothy, add the remaining milk, melted butter, granulated sugar, salt and 2 cups of flour.
- Knead until fully combined.
- Slowly add in the remaining 1/4-1/2 cup until the dough cleans the side of the bowl, is tacky to your finger but doesn’t stick if pulled away quickly.
- Knead for an additional 5-7 minutes.
- Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for 1 hour.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, turn onto a lightly floured surface.
- Gently press the dough out into a rectangle and then use a donut cutter to cut your donuts out of the dough. Cut the leftover dough into small portions for bite sized donuts.
- Cover with plastic wrap or a cloth and allow to rise for an additional 30-45 minutes.
- Pour 2-3 inches of oil in the bottom of your pan. Heat the oil until 350°.*
- Fry the donuts at 350° for about 1 minute on each side or until golden brown on each side. Do not over crowd the pan.
- When they are golden brown, let the donuts rest on a cookie cooling rack that is paced inside of a cookie sheet.
- Repeat with remaining dough.
- When the excess oil has dripped off of the donut, shake your donut in granulated sugar to coat the donut and enjoy!
Kathy says
Hi Karli,
Wanted to know if I could make this recipe and make them cream filled instead of putting a hole in the middle?
I love your recipes and didn’t know if the recipe had to be different?
Thanks
Erica says
Made these this donut recipe this morning. Directions were easy to follow, this was my first time trying to make fried donuts. Getting the oil just right and stable was a challenge but by the second batch I was getting the hang of it. Thanks for a great recipe.
Lisa Black says
Karli, I do not have a stand mixer 🙁 will a handheld mixer work?
Karli says
You totally could! Instead of using a donut cutter with a hole in the middle, just cut out a circle (or rectangle) from the dough and fill it after frying.
Larisa Grace Tardiff says
These turned out Delicious!!!!!!!!! I made them with my little niece and nephews and we had a blast. If you’re cooking for more than a few, I recommend doubling the recipe lol. The family inhaled these as if they’ve never had a donut before. I used my deep fryer and a out 45 seconds, then flipped for another 45 seconds. Mmmm they were amazing. I’m going to make another batch soon, especially now that I know how EASY and DELICIOUS it is. Thank you for the recipe!! I made some awesome memories with my Littles making these!