Homemade Donuts are a quick and easy treat the whole family will love. This is a yeast based donut recipe that is completely beginner friendly. This Homemade Donut Recipe yields a classic fluffy inside and crisp outside.
Homemade Donuts
Homemade Donuts were a classic dessert at my house when I was growing up. Sunday afternoons are meant for treats like homemade donuts, am I right?? (HINT: the answer is yes. 😉)
Making Homemade Donuts is one of our family’s favorite activities. Sometimes I totally cheat and use canned biscuits, but these from scratch Homemade Donuts are so. much. better. They are a smidge more time consuming, but totally worth it when I happen to have the extra time in my day.
My kids love helping, the rolling, cutting, frosting, sprinkling.. 😉 all completely kid friendly tasks!
How to make Homemade Donuts (from scratch!)
Let’s talk about the donut dough. This is a yeast dough, but it is extremely simple! Totally beginner friendly. I’ll take you through it all, step by step.
First, let’s proof the yeast. This means we are going to mix the yeast with some warm water and sugar and wait 5-10 minutes until it is frothy and bubbly. This tells us that the yeast is alive and kicking! If after 10 minutes it hasn’t bubbled up at all, through that batch out and try again. It is important to make sure your yeast is alive and bubbly or else the dough won’t rise at all. The picture below shows the yeast proofed correctly.
Once the yeast is proofed, melted butter, milk, sugar flour and salt will be added to the bowl. Use the dough hook on your stand mixer and let the mixer do the work for 10 minutes. Set a timer, walk away and let it do the work! The dough should be soft, but not so soft it sticks to the sides of the bowl.
If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can knead the dough by hand. You will get quite the work out, but it is definitely possible! Knead until the dough is elastic and smooth.
Now, we will let the dough rise until double. I like to use my Instant Pot to rise the dough quickly. If using the Instant Pot, turn the Instant Pot onto the Normal YOGURT setting and allow the dough to rise for 15-30 minutes.
If you do not have an Instant Pot or don’t have the yogurt button, allow the dough to rise on the counter top until double is size. Approx. 1 hour.
Roll the dough out until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Now it is time to cut out those donuts! I used a round cookie cutter and a piping tip to cut out the centers. Get creative and use what you have in your pantry! A soda pop lid works great, too!
You can also get creative with the shape of your donuts- I love using heart cookie cutters for Valentines Day!
Cut out the donuts and then allow the donuts to rest and rise for about 15 minutes before heating your oil over medium high heat until it reaches 370°.
Once the oil is hot, carefully drop each donut into the oil. Fry on each side for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until golden brown. Once the donut has been fried on each side, take the donut out and place on a paper towel covered plate. Repeat with the remaining donuts and donut holes.
What to put on the Homemade Donuts (glaze, icing, frosting.. oh my!)
There are so many options and different ways to top your homemade donuts. Plain glazed, chocolate iced, vanilla frosting.. So many options!! I’ll include quick recipes for them all below.
Donut Glaze
- 1/4 cup butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 tbsp milk
- Mix all ingredients together in a stand mixer or with handheld beaters until smooth.
- Immediately glaze the donuts after frying by putting the donut into the bowl of glaze and flipping it around a few times.
Chocolate Donut Icing
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp milk
- Mix all ingredients together in a stand mixer or with handheld beaters until smooth.
- Immediately Ice the donuts after frying by dipping the top half of the donut into the bowl of icing. You can spread extra Icing onto the donut if desired. (I usually do. 😉)
Vanilla Donut Icing
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp milk
- food coloring
- Mix all ingredients together in a stand mixer or with handheld beaters until smooth.
- Immediately Ice the donuts after frying by dipping the top half of the donut into the bowl of icing. You can spread extra Icing onto the donut if desired.
- Stir in the food coloring, if desired.
How long will my Homemade Donuts last?
Homemade Donuts are best eaten as soon as possible. They are best eaten within the hour. If they all won’t be eaten within the hour, they will stay fresh up for 24 hours. I suggest popping them into the microwave for 8-10 seconds before eating them if they aren’t super fresh. Either that or take some around to your neighbors, I do this often and people seem to like it. 😉
Why are my Homemade Donuts tough?
First, because there are not preservatives or dough conditioners added to the dough, it is natural and expected for the donuts to become dense and tough the longer they sit.
If the donuts are tough from the get go, look into your proofing time or the amount of flour you used. If there is too much flour added your donuts will be tough. The dough also may need to proof a bit longer or your oil may not be hot enough. Experiment with these changes and give it another try. 😊
What kind of oil is best to use for homemade donuts?
I always use peanut oil. Peanut oil has a very high smoke point, which means you can heat it up to 370° easily without it burning, making your donuts taste and smell bad. Another option would be canola oil, but I prefer peanut oil over canola.
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Homemade Donuts
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 3/4 tbsp dry active yeast
- 2 tbsp sugar divided
- 1/2 cup warm milk
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- peanut oil for frying
Instructions
- Add the warm water, yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes or until bubbly. If the yeast isn’t bubbly, it isn’t active and the donuts will not work. Repeat this step with new yeast until it is bubbly.
- Add the remaining sugar, melted butter, milk, salt and flour to the stand mixer. Turn on LOW and allow the stand mixer to knead the dough for 10 minutes.
- The dough should be very soft, but shouldn’t stick to the sides of the bowl at all.
- Allow the dough to rise until double. (1 hour on the counter) If using the Instant Pot, spray the liner with non stick spray and then let the dough rise in the Instant Pot on the Yogurt NORMAL setting for 15 minutes.
- After the dough has doubled, punch down and roll the dough out until it is 1/2 inch thick.
- Cut the donuts out of the dough (I used a cookie cutter and piping tip). Knead the scraps together and repeat until all of the dough has been used.
- Allow the donuts to rise for 15 minutes and then start heating your oil.
- Heat your oil over medium high heat until it reaches 370°.
- Fry each donut in the hot oil for approx. 1 minute on each side or until golden brown. (this will depend on how hot the oil is.) Repeat until all donuts and donut holes are fried.
- Let the fried donuts rest on a paper towel covered plate while the rest of the donuts are being fried.
- Immediately glaze or frost the donuts (see recipes in post above).
- Best eaten within the hour. If waiting longer, the donuts are best if microwaved for 8-10 seconds first.
Notes
Nutrition
Cooking with Karli says
I would use the standard yeast for this recipe. That is what I have the most success with, thanks Heather!
Karli Bitner says
Hi Candice, Frying is not recommended in the Instant Pot unfortunately.
Natasha says
My son is allergic to peanuts and other nuts what other oil could I use?
Dorothy says
Can you re use left over frosting? Thanks
Karli Bitner says
You could use canola or vegetable oil!
Karli Bitner says
Sure! You can store it in the fridge for a few weeks.