Easy Fried Yeast Donuts
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This Easy Fried Donut recipe makes soft, fluffy yeast donuts with a golden crust and cinnamon sugar coating. Bakery-style donuts made from scratch at home.
For a classic style cake donut? Try my cake donut recipe. Or, for crackly, Old Fashioned Sour Cream Donuts, this one will delight your taste buds. And, these 3-ingredient baked pumpkin donuts are the most perfect baked donut around.
Why This Recipe Works
Easy to make — This easy donut recipe is so simple. The thought of making donuts may seem like way too much work, but I promise that it really is way more simple than you think! Most of the time spent on these fluffy homemade donuts involves letting the dough rest or rise.
Tastes and smells divine — You should make this yeast donut recipe for no other reason than to fill your house with the smell of fried dough and cinnamon and sugar. First you smell the donuts, then you taste them, and we all know how heavenly a bite of a freshly made donut can be!
Donut holes — Love the little donut hole bites made by extracting the hole from the middle of the round donut? Fry those babies up too! Plus, I have it on good authority that the donut holes contain zero calories.
Soft & Fluffy — Not only do these taste and smell amazing but they also have that perfect donuts from scratch texture and bounce. You’ll want to sink your teeth into the soft fried dough again and again. Maybe just go ahead and make a second batch, just in case.
Ingredients
Instant yeast — Instant yeast (also called rapid-rise or quick-rise) is a kind of yeast that blooms quickly, speeding up the dough rising.
Sugar — Granulated white sugar goes into both the dough and is used to roll the donuts in along with cinnamon after frying.
Flour — I use an all-purpose white flour. I have not tried to make this easy donut recipe with any other type of flour.
Egg Yolk — You only want to use one yolk in this fried donut recipe. The yolk gives the donut a nice yellow color and adds denseness to the dough as well.
Milk —Any milk you have in your fridge will work in these cinnamon sugar donuts.
Vanilla —At their base, the homemade yeast donuts should have a slightly vanilla flavor.
Butter — I almost always use unsalted butter but salted is okay too.
Oil —Use a neutral-flavored oil with a high smoke point to fry these donuts, like canola, peanut, or vegetable oil.
Cinnamon —You’ll make a mixture of cinnamon and sugar in which to roll the just-fried donuts around in to coat.
Here’s How You Make Fried Donuts
- First, whisk the yeast, ½ tsp of sugar and the warm water together. Set this mixture aside for 5 minutes or till the yeast has dissolved and the water begins to bubble.
- While the yeast is doing its thing, mix together the flour and salt in the bottom of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.
- Add the egg yolk, milk, and vanilla to the yeast mixture and whisk it all together again. Add the wet ingredients to the dry in the stand mixer/mixing bowl, combining the dough together with a fork.
- Add the dough hook to your stand mixer and let the dough mix together for 5 minutes, adding the room temperature butter. Scrape the dough down the sides of the mixer as you go, if needed.
- The dough should be wet and sticky at this point. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to double in a warm place for about 2 hours.
- Once doubled, scrape the dough onto a well-floured work surface and pop any air bubbles. Roll the dough into a ¼-inch thick flat shape.
- Cut out the donut shapes using a large round cookie cutter and a small round cookie cutter for the hole. Add the scraps together to cut out new donuts or fry up the holes and scraps separately.
- After all the donuts are cut out, add them to a floured tray and again cover with plastic wrap and let them rest another 30 minutes.
- While those are resting, heat 4 inches of oil up in the bottom of a large heavy bottomed saucepan or casserole dish to 360°F.
- Mix together the cinnamon and sugar in a shallow tray and set aside.
- Work in batches to cook the donuts, adding them to the oil and taking them out with a slotted spoon. Fry each donut for 2-3 minutes a side, or until they are deeply golden. Once removed, put them on a paper towel lined plate to soak up any excess oil for about 30 seconds, then roll them around in the cinnamon sugar coating.
FAQs
Instant yeast is dehydrated, granular yeast that rises very quickly. It doesn’t require “blooming” in warm water (though you can still let it bloom if you like). You can mix it right into dry ingredients. This is good for quick-rise recipes as it can reduce rise times by up to 50%.
Dry yeast, on the other hand, is a larger granule and a dormant form of baker’s yeast and needs to be bloomed in warm water before being added to dry ingredients. It is used most often in making leavened bread.
In addition to the classic cinnamon/sugar mixture, you can also dip your donuts into a glaze, dip them into a vanilla glaze (like the one used in my Mixed Berry Pizza with Vanilla Glaze) and then add sprinkles or mini chocolate chips (or any topping you want, really).
You can also fill them with jelly, cream, or custard using a piping bag on cooled, whole, round donuts (no holes).
Really you can top or ice or dunk your donuts in any combo you want!
The best oil to choose for these donuts is one that has a high smoke point and a neutral flavor. Oils like canola, vegetable, or peanut oil all work well to bake a light, fluffy donut without a weird aftertaste. You can also use vegetable shortening or lard if you prefer, while coconut oil works as well, the flavor will be a little richer and it will have that slight coconut taste.
Expert Tips + Tricks
- These fried donuts are best eaten the day they are made, but will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container on the counter.
- Want to add jelly? Simply cut rounds of dough (do not add holes). Once they are fried and coated in cinnamon/sugar, poke a hole in one side of the doughnut with the handle of a wooden spoon, and then use a piping bag to pipe your choice of preserves into the middle.
- Be careful not to overmix the dough or you’ll end up with overdeveloped gluten which will make your donuts tough instead of light and fluffy.
More Recipes to Try
- Fried Scones (aka: Utah Scones) – the ultimate warm, nostalgic comfort treat.
- Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread – the ultimate bakery style treat at home.
- One Hour Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls – pure bakery indulgence at home.
When you make this recipe, snap a photo and tag me on social – I love connecting with you and seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Easy Fried Yeast Donuts
Ingredients
For the Donuts
- 1 heaped tsp instant yeast
- 2 tbsp + ½ tsp sugar
- ¼ cup warm water, (approx. 110 F)
- 1 ¼ cups flour, plus extra for dusting
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 ½ tbsp milk
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp butter, at room temperature
- oil, for frying
For the Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Whisk together the yeast, 1/2 tsp of sugar and the warm water. Set aside for 5 minutes until the yeast has dissolved and the mixture is bubbly.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the flour and salt in the bottom of your stand mixer bowl.
- Whisk the egg yolk, milk and vanilla into the yeast mixture, and pour it into the flour mixture. Bring together into a rough dough with a fork.
- Fit the dough hook and knead the dough for 5 minutes, gradually adding the butter and scraping down the sizes if needed. You should be left with quite wet, sticky dough.
- Cover the stand mixer bowl with food wrap and leave in a warm place for 2 hours until the dough has at least doubled.
- Scrape the dough out onto a very well floured surface and knock out any air bubbles. Using a well floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 1/4 inch thickness.
- Use your largest and smallest cookie cutters to punch out doughnut shapes: you can bring the dough together and roll it out again to get more doughnuts out of the scraps.
- Transfer the doughnuts to a well floured tray and cover with food wrap. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat at least 4 inches of oil in the bottom of a large, heavy bottomed saucepan or casserole to 360F, and in a shallow dish mix together the sugar and cinnamon for the coating.
- Working in batches and using a slotted spoon to transfer the dough to the hot oil, fry the doughnuts for 2-3 minutes on each side until deeply golden. Once puffed and cooked, transfer them first to a kitchen paper lined plate, then roll them in the cinnamon sugar coating about 30 seconds later. If you transfer them straight to the sugar without removing any excess oil you’ll get an uneven coating, but if you allow too much of the excess oil to soak into the doughnuts, the sugar won’t stick properly.
Notes
- These doughnuts are best eaten the day they are made.
- To make jelly doughnuts, cut out rounds of dough without holes in the middle. Once coated in sugar, create a hole in one side of the doughnut with the handle of a wooden spoon, and use a piping bag to pipe your choice of preserves into the middle.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tiffany, your Easy S’mores Donuts on Le Creme de la Crumb are such a fun and indulgent twist on classic campfire flavors! I love how these quick and crispy treats bring together gooey marshmallows, melty chocolate, and crunchy graham crackers — perfect for summer desserts or sweet snack cravings. Your simple steps and minimal ingredients make them ideal for any home baker. Can’t wait to try making these s’mores donuts myself!