This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Melt-in-your-mouth homemade donuts are utterly addicting and absolutely worth the effort. Everyone loves these homemade donuts!!
Whether it’s for breakfast or just a treat, these are sure to knock off anyone’s socks! Best served warm, these goodies are right up there with our Homemade Cinnamon Rolls!
We Love Grandma’s Famous Donuts!
This donut recipe is an ALL-TIME family favorite. Whenever it gets cold or rainy, one of us kids is bound to text or call my mom and kindly ask if she’s up for making some Homemade Donuts.
She’s made them for decades and taught me how to make them, and I am so glad because they cannot be beat!
Why we love them:
- Simple. There are several steps to make these donuts, but we promise you they are still quite simple.
- Flavorful. They’re soft, warm, covered in a delicious glaze and just melt in your mouth. They are beyond delicious.
- FAMOUS! These donuts are famous in our family, and they are so good, we love to make them in the winter, especially around Christmas (along with our Old Fashioned Donuts)!!
Ingredients
- rapid rise yeast – use an equal amount of active dry yeast.
- lukewarm water – the warm water should be around 105-120°F.
- milk – I use 2% but whole milk or 1% milk can be used
- shortening – room temperature
- sugar
- salt
- cinnamon & nutmeg – or an equal amount of Pumpkin Pie Spice
- eggs
- all-purpose flour
- powdered sugar sifted
- vanilla extract
How to Make Donuts
- YEAST. Dissolve yeast in ¾ cup luke-warm water. Set aside. Heat 2 cups milk in microwave for 2-3 minutes.
- WET INGREDIENTS. While milk is heating add shortening (room temp) to a large bowl. Pour hot milk over it and whisk until mixed (there will still be some clumps). Add salt, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir well with a wooden spoon. Add 4 eggs and mix well.
- DRY INGREDIENTS. Add yeast mixture to batter and mix. Add 2 cups of flour and mix with a wooden spoon. Mix well. Add 2 more cups and mix. Add 2 more cups and mix. At this point, the batter should not be runny and resemble dough. Add 1 more cup of flour, give or take ½ cup.
- Mix just until dough is smooth.
- KNEAD. Gently knead dough on floured surface until it is not sticky to the touch.
Rise + Fry
- RISE. Place the soft dough into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl and let rise for 1 to 1½ hours at room temperature. Dough should be about double in size when done.
- CUT + RISE AGAIN. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to about a 1 inch thickness. Cut the donuts out using a doughnut cutter as closely as possible. Save the middles for doughnut holes.
- Move donuts and holes to a clean surface. Cover and let rise for 1 to 1½ hours at room temperature.
- FRY. Once the donuts and holes are done rising, fry them in a large frying pan, deep fryer, or Dutch oven with vegetable oil until golden brown. Let drain on a cooling rack.
Cooking Variations
- Bake donuts.
- Place on a lightly greased cookie tray and brush the tops with melted butter. Bake for 12-14 minutes, rotating donuts halfway in between.
- Air fry. The finished texture may be different from an oil-fried donut.
- Working in batches, place some donuts into the basket making sure they are not touching.
- Close the air fryer, set to 350°F and fry for 5-8 minutes. Length of time will depend on the size of your donuts. For donut holes fry for 3-4 minutes.
The Donut Glaze
While donuts are frying make your donut glaze.
- MIX 7 cups powdered sugar with ⅔ cup water and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Add donuts to glaze as soon as they are done frying and make sure both sides are covered.
- GLAZE. Place on a plate or wire rack to let excess vanilla glaze drain.
Glaze Variations
- Chocolate glaze. Add a bit of cocoa powder to this glaze for a chocolate version.
- Sprinkles. Add any kind of sprinkles or toppings.
- Frosting. If you want more of a frosting, we recommend using less milk.
- Fill your donuts. Do not punch out the center. Make and fry as directed, and then insert your filling of choice (pudding, jelly, Nutella) into the side of the donut when it has cooled.
- Cinnamon sugar. Simply sprinkle or dip into a cinnamon sugar mixture.
storing info
- Make ahead of time. Make them up until step 5. Cover and refrigerate until the next day. When ready to fry, let them come to room temperature and rise for an hour.
- STORE. Homemade donuts will dry out if not stored properly. Place donuts in an airtight container. Store at room temperature for 1-2 days, in the refrigerator for 5-6 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
For More Breakfast Treats:
Homemade Donuts Recipe
Melt-in-your-mouth homemade donuts are utterly addicting and absolutely worth the effort. Everyone loves these homemade donuts!!
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 tablespoons rapid rise yeast
- ¾ cup lukewarm water (110-115 degrees F)
- 2 cups milk
- ½ cup vegetable shortening, room temperature
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 4 large eggs
- 7 – 7½ cups all-purpose flour
- vegetable oil, for frying
Donut Glaze
- 7 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- ⅔ cup water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the dough. Dissolve yeast in luke-warm water. Set aside.
- Heat milk in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.
- While milk is heating, place shortening in a large bowl. Pour hot milk over it and whisk until mixed (there will still be a few shortening clumps).
- Add sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well with a wooden spoon or the mixer whisk attachement. Add eggs and continue to mix, then stir in yeast mixture.
- Add 2 cups of flour and mix with a wooden spoon. Continue to add flour 1-2 cups at a time until the batter is no longer runny and is smooth.
- Place dough on a clean, lightly floured surface and gently knead dough until the surface is not too sticky to the touch. The dough should be very soft, but not so sticky that you cannot handle it fairly easily. Place the soft dough into a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl and let rise for 1-1½ hours at room temperature. The dough should be about double in size when it's ready.
- Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to a 1-inch thickness. Use a 3½-inch donut cutter to cut donuts out, cutting as closely as possible together and saving the middles for doughnut holes. Move donuts and holes to a clean surface, cover and let rise at room temperature for 1-1½ hours.
- Make the glaze: Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Once the donuts and holes are done rising, fill a large frying pan with 1½ inches vegetable oil and heat to 365-380 degrees F. Working in batches, fry the donuts and holes until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side for donuts and about 2 minutes per side for donut holes.
- Remove each donut from the oil and immediately transfer to the bowl with the glaze. Turn to make sure both sides are coated, then place on a wire rack over parchment paper to let excess glaze drain. Repeat to make the remaining donuts.
Video
Notes
-
- Make ahead of time. You can make donut dough ahead up until step 5, then cover and refrigerate until the next day. When ready to make the donuts, let dough come to room temperature and then rise for an hour.
- Filled Donuts. If you want to fill your donuts, cut whole circles instead of punching out the holes. Make and fry donuts as directed, then use a piping bag to insert your filling of choice (such as pudding, jelly or Nutella) into the side of each donut when it has cooled.
- Baked Donuts. Once donuts are done rising, you can also bake them instead of frying. Place donuts on a lightly greased baking sheet, brush the tops with melted butter and bake at 375 degrees F for 9-12 minutes. Glaze as directed above while donuts are still warm.
-
- STORE. Homemade donuts will dry out if not stored properly. Place donuts in an airtight container. Store at room temperature for 1-2 days, in the refrigerator for 5-6 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1donut, Calories: 396kcal, Carbohydrates: 79g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 5g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.5g, Cholesterol: 24mg, Sodium: 172mg, Potassium: 101mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 33g, Vitamin A: 58IU, Vitamin C: 0.004mg, Calcium: 34mg, Iron: 3mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was delicious. I made several variations (glazed, raspberry filled, lemon curd filled, brown sugar & Cinnamon bear claw) for different members of the family and all were a hit.
Perfect!! Happy they were a hit! Thank you!
Hi LUNA,
Thanks so sharing your recipe! Looks delicious and would love to try to make it. However, when I watched your video, I didn’t not see that you have added the eggs in your Dough, but there should be ADDED 4 EGGS in your recipe. So, could you please clarify if we need to add eggs or not?
Thank you very much! Hope you and your family stay healthy during the pandemic crisis!
Take care,
Hosuni
Yes, you do..so sorry…add the eggs after the sugar, cinnamon, salt, & nutmeg 🙂 Enjoy!!
What can we use to substitute for the shortening?
I haven’t tried using anything else, but you could try butter or see what google would suggest.
At first when I mixed together the shortening and milk, the shortening curtled. Is that normal? anyway, when I finished mixing the dough together, It turned out just fine. It is totally worth the wait for these AWESOME doughnuts. I will totally use this recipe again!
Not usually, but I am glad they turned out 🙂 Thank you!
Holy Moly these are good! Thanks for the recipe. Sometimes you just need a good donut!
You will love these homemade donuts. They do take a little more time but truly worth the wait. Theres nothing like a fresh homemade donut!
This looks like the saMe recipe my MIL uses and my husband LOVES! Seriously, he’ll eat 10! I think ill use all your tips to try them here at home and SURPRISE him. Thanks for posting!
These are the best doughnuts ever!!!
Ok, I could eat way more than I should of these! They are so good & soft & that glaze is perfect!
I don’t see what temp to fry these at? Am I completely missing it somewhere? I don’t fry very often, so have no clue on my own.
No worries. You can fry them on medium low to medium. If they start browning too fast, you can always lower the temp 🙂 Good luck!