Simple Homemade Sugar Donuts
Sugar Donuts – This simple homemade donut dough is made with flour, milk, egg yolks, yeast, and sugar, then the donuts are fried and dredged in sugar. This recipe is easy to make and produces a very indulgent little treat! Make it once and you’ll never use a different recipe for donuts. It’s soo good!
If you love these sugar donuts, you’ll also enjoy these 15-minute Ricotta Donuts, this Quick Fried Donut Recipe, and these Super Soft Donuts with Sugar Glaze.
Homemade Donuts
These homemade donuts are a classic recipe that I’ve been making since I was a little girl. It always makes me feel extra nostalgic when I make these.
As I saw my daughter waiting for me to fry the doughnuts, I remembered myself sitting at my grandma’s kitchen table, resting my head on the palms of my hands, watching her every move as the homemade donuts bubbled away in the hot oil.
Grandma would make a ton of them, making sure that everyone in her big family got to have as many doughnuts as they wanted.
Ripping a doughnut with my fingers today, and allowing my nose to inhale the aroma of a freshly fried homemade donut, I can’t help but miss her as I am reminded that in a month it will be 5 years since she left us for a better place.
Easy Donut Recipe
Making donuts from scratch sounds like an intimidating thing to do, but I assure you this is a very easy donut recipe. If this is your first venture into homemade donuts, this is a good beginner’s recipe to try.
Make sure to follow the recipe as outlined below. I’ve made this one more than a dozen times and never had an issue.
Honestly, the hardest part about making this easy donut recipe is waiting until they are cool enough to eat after being fried. They smell incredible and the wait is almost torture!
Yeast Donut Recipe
A quick note about yeast – I know a lot of people get nervous when working with yeast, but it’s really much more simple than it sounds. Without it, the donut would be much less airy.
In fact, whether or not you use a yeast donut recipe determines if you end up with a cake donut or an airy one. I much prefer the yeast donut to the dense cake donut personally—especially with the sweet, sugary coating!
Because this donut uses yeast, you’ll want to plan ahead a bit. The yeast donut recipe calls for about 2-3 hours of rising time total for the dough, so this is a good recipe to whip up first thing in the morning before everyone is up and ready for the day. If your family is anything like mine, it takes about that long for everyone to be up, showered, dressed and ready to eat anyways!
How to Make Sugar Donuts
For detailed recipe instructions, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Stir together warm water, sugar, and yeast and let rise for about 5 minutes.
- Mix together the rest of the sugar donut ingredients, including the proofed yeast. It’s best if you use a dough hook attachment to do this.
- Form the dough into a large ball and butter it to prevent skin from forming. Then put it in a covered bowl and keep it in a warm place until doubled in size.
- Roll out the sugar donut dough and use a 3-inch cookie cutter to cut out donuts.
- Let rise again for about an hour, until doubled or tripled in volume.
- Heat your oil and fry the donuts. Once they are cool enough, roll them in sugar.
- Eat and enjoy!
Try these other great pastry recipes:
Simple Homemade Sugar Donuts
Simple Sugar Donut - this easy dough is made with flour, milk, yeast, and sugar, then the donuts are fried and dredged in sugar. Very simple, but creates an indulgent little treat!
Ingredients
Combine together
- 2½ tsp active dry yeast
- 2 Tbsp warm water
- 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Mix with a mixer
- 3¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk warm
- 2 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 large egg yolks
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
For coating
- 1 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
How to make Simple Sugar Donuts
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Proof yeast: Stir 2 tbsp warm water, 1/2 tsp sugar & 2 1/2tsp active dry yeast in a tall glass. Leave to rise for 5-10 minutes or until doubled in volume and foamy. If it does not rise and foam up, discard the yeast and buy a fresh batch of yeast before you proceed with the recipe.
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Make donut dough: Mix together 3 1/4 cups flour, 1 cup warm milk, 2 oz room temperature butter, 3 yolks, 2 tbsp sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and the proofed yeast mixture in mixer on low speed, with the dough hook attachment until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes. Slightly increase the speed and knead for another 15-20 minutes or until the dough is tacky to touch. If you continue kneading past the point of smooth and stretchy dough, the dough will overknead and make doughy donuts, so keep a close eye on the dough.
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Shape donut dough: Pick up the dough, form it into a ball. Butter a large bowl (for proofing), place the dough ball back in the greased bowl, then grease the dough ball itself to prevent it from forming a crust.
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Proof: Cover with a clean kitchen towel, place in a warm draft-free place and allow to rise for 1-2 hours (depending on how warm it is) until at least doubled in volume.
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Cut out 5"x5" squares of parchment or wax paper.
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Punch down the dough, turn it out onto the greased surface (can use nonstick spray) and roll it to ½ inches thickness. Cut out as many rounds as possible with a 3 inch round cookie cutter and place 1 dough disk on 1 piece of prepared parchment paper. Keep re-rolling and cutting out as many donut disks as you can until all donut dough is used up.
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Cover cut out doughnuts with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise for 45 min to 1 hour or until doubled in size.
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Heat 1½ inches oil in a heavy pot (cast iron) to 350F. To fry donuts, drop several of them at a time and allow to become golden before turning to the other side, about 1-2 minutes per side.
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Transfer to paper towels or wire rack to drain. Let cool.
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Once the doughnuts are cool enough to handle, roll them in granulated sugar or powdered sugar.
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What flour do you use when making sugar doughnuts?
Great instructions….so would like to try this recipe soon. If I want to make filled donuts…when and how would I insert the filling? Ie..Jam vs Boston cream filling
I would just fry them as directed and after that make a slit on the side and fill with the filling through that slit with a piping bag.
Can I proof these in the fridge overnight? Should I proof the dough out of the fridge until it’s almost doubled in size then put it in the fridge? I want to be able to cook these early in the morning so having the dough done over night then just punching out the dough in the morning for the second proof would be much easier.
Hi Annelise,
You should proof, roll, then cut the donuts out and let them proof almost all the way, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Next morning, just deep fry.
Awesome, doughnuts are perfect, light, airy and I even left the dough sit over night in a fridge. I used maple sugar to dredge with cinnamon. Yum
I love the addition of cinnamon! great idea, Darren. Thank you for sharing!
This is very good and excellent explanation. Thanks.
I followed your directions exactly and these turned out amazing!! We will definitely be making them again! Thank you
That’s great! Love hearing that they turned out well!
Just tried making this recipe today. 1/3 the recipe because I didn’t want to risk having leftovers. I kneaded by hand as we don’t have mixer. Also used instant yeast. Donuts turned out really really well. A little burnt as I don’t have anything to measure oil temp and it was too hot. But overall very fluffy, airy and tasted great. They’re gone in 5 minutes.
Your list of ingredients at the top of the page do not include eggs. Thanks for wasting my time reading your long recipe only to get to the end and find eggs, which my kid is allergic to.
The egg yolks are seen on the picture right before the quick rundown of the recipe, also they’re in the list of the ingredients of the recipe card, as well as in the instructions of the recipe itself. Also, there’s a “jump to recipe” button at the top of the page which would’ve taken you directly to the actual recipe card with the precise recipe and ingredients if you chose not to read through the helpful tips in the post.
I did add the egg yolks to the first sentence of the post, to help other readers in the future though.
Reading is very essential you sounded so ignorant and illiterate in your comment. This recipe clearly state egg yolks in the 2nd part of the instructions. Before you comment on something get your facts straight and take your time to read. Smh some people. By the way this is by far one of the best Donut recipes I’ve used.
Amazing, I have made them two days in a row.
Just wondering, how is it the recipes fault you didn’t read all the way through it? It kinda sounds like a you problem for not reading the recipe…
Dee, did you make it? No! You just read the recipe! Did that trigger your child’s allergy? No!
You are such a Karen.
Hi Mirana
Do you have Baked Donuts recipe without using a pan?
Thank 🙂
hello, can i leave it proof overnight in the fridge or would that not work?
If you proof them overnight, you want to prove them until almost double, but not quiet. The dough won’t rise much in the fridge, so you need to pre-proof it before placing it in the oven. Do not overproof though before refrigerating or by the morning it will be way too inflated and might deflate and flop when you try to fry it.
Hello! I am so excited to try this recipe!! They look just like the donuts that my grandma use to make 40 years ago! I will never forget the smell of her kitchen when I got home from school. It’s a fond memory. Anyway….is there a certain oil that you should use for these? (Canola, peanut, lard)
Those are the best memories!
You can use any oil that has high smoking point. I use light olive oil, but canola oil or vegetable oil work well.
Hi
Why there is no salt on recipe?
I made the recipe and so fullfy but i think missing salt ?
Thanks for great recipe
Best regards
Hi!! Can i use fresh yeast instead of the dry yeast?
Yes, I just can not tell you how much of it to use in place of the dry yeast.
SALT!!!! I made this recipe for the first time in a while and completely forgot that it doesn’t call for any, but definitely needs it! You’d be surprised how much of a difference in taste it makes!
Can I sub the 2% milk for oat milk?
Yes
Can salted butter be used? Why do you have unsalted in your recipe?
Wont salt help the flavor?
Hi David,
I typically bake with only unsalted butter as that gives me an opportunity to control the amount of salt I use in the recipe. If you’d like to add salt to the recipe just add 1/4 teaspoon of salt in combination with unsalted butter.
I’m getting ready to try these and notice salt is mentioned in the yeast area of the ingredients but isn’t mentioned when to add it. People keep saying it needs salt which is listed but no mention of when to add. Please help
Hi Lisa, it’s added with flour.
The recipe was pretty easy. When I bought the yeast did fast rising. I was in hopes the proofing time would be faster.The dough need the couple of hours that the recipe calls for. Between the two proof times it will be a at least 3 hours. I put lemon zest and 2 extra tbs of sugar in the dough. Everyone loved them!
Hi! I made these today and they tasted good, but I had some issues and don’t know what I did wrong. I mixed in my kitchenaid and it was tacky. I proofed it and it doubled. When I dumped it out of the bowl, it was sticky and a little runny. I couldn’t use my cutter, it wouldn’t hold shape. I added some flour to be able to touch it, it was so sticky. I used a knife to cut it into squares, but it still wouldn’t hold shape. It rose (and spread), but it was stuck to the wax paper and parchment paper (I tried both). I scraped it off and a bunch stuck on the paper. It fried in clumps and tasted good, a little yeast taste.
I’d love to make this again. We have food allergies and I used oat milk and miyokos butter. My daughter wants doughnuts for her birthday. Please help
Hi Elaine,
thank you for providing so many details in your comments.
The fact that you mentioned that the donuts tasted a bit yeasty tells me that the dough might’ve overproofed. Proving the dough longer than needed (beyond the double, or triple in size at most) will sometimes destroy the gluten network structure of the dough and make it runny as you describe. If you were to overproof bread and then bake it, it wouldn’t bake tall and fluffy, instead, it would be flat and dense.
I have no experience with replacing the ingredients (oat milk, myokos butter), so that might’ve also contributed to the issues with the dough.
But if I was to redo the recipe, I’d make sure my dough comes together after kneading (add a little more flour if it doesn’t, until it does come together) and watch it as it proofs, so that it doesn’t overproof.
2tbsp warm water??
Yes, that is correct.
I made this recipe and without a mixer, I knead the dough by hand. It still worked perfectly. Except… I ended up with 31 3 inch across cutouts instead of 18
But hey! More donuts isnt ever a bad thing. Just dont know what I did as I followed the original recipe, and cut them out with a 3inch cookie cutter, and they were a bit more than 1/2 inch thick each!
How did you manage to knead the dough? I found it too sticky to do anything and had to keep adding flour
Hi Danya,
The mixer does a good job mixing softer doughs. The more flour you add the denser the donuts will be.
Your works are awesome
I just made these today for my sons birthday. They were so good! I doubled the recipe and dipped them in powdered sugar, cinnamon and sugar, glaze and chocolate ganache. Thanks for the easy recipe!
Made these for my kids and they loved them! They were fluffy and delicious. Thank you for this sugar donuts recipe
Glad you guys liked it! Thank you for sharing your feedback!
Was very easy,so light and fluffy, kids loved them. Definitely doing these again
Thanks Fran!
I never made donuts before, but was successful with this recipe (Thank you). I had a bit of a hard time with proofing due to temperature here as well as additional ingredients (rum, lemon rind, vanilla extract) but got it done. I did add additional sugar to the dough (double) and would suggest even a little more. Sugar is like salt though, everyone has a preference.
Note: next time I will pay closer attention to 350 temp (very important for sure), let my yeast rise a bit longer before adding to dough, add a bit more sugar, and definitely cut squares to transfer into oil). Thanks again!
Thanks .this is a nice recipe.
Could it be possible to baked them in the oven ?
Yes, but then they’ll just taste like dinner rolls 🙁 as the signature donut flavor comes from being fried in the oil.
I would recommend you use the Brioche Dough I have and make them in the donut shape, then dip in melted butter once out of the oven and then sugar.
Excellent explanation of a recipe I will enjoy using. Thanks!
Hey, are you able to share this recipe with ingredients measured in grams and mls please. I always have issues when I try convert them myself
Thanks
X
If you click “Metric” at the bottom of the ingredient list it should change it into the metric measuring system for you.
I have been searching for a good donut recipe for a long time. I’ve been disappointed by the ones I’ve tried until now. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I will be using this recipe from now on!
Used recipe as is but added two more Tbsp of sugar and vanilla. Didn’t take the full 15 minutes to knead into tacky dough and the first rise only took an hour (in oven with oven light on.)
Would add that they are best eaten while warm as they are hard to store. Not as tasty the second day.
These were absolutely amazing! I’ve tried so many donut recipes and this one is fabulous. It’s so light and airy and to die for. I made a couple of modifications, nothing crazy, more for my preference (added a total of 4 tablespoons of sugar to the dough, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract). My boyfriend took a bite and said “Marry me”…so I’ll call these “Marry Me Donuts” going forward lol 😉
I love this story! Thank you for sharing! Is “congratulations” in order? ❤️❤️❤️
Hello, just wondering would these work as ring donuts? Could I just stamp a hole out of the center? And do you re knead the dough after it proofs? I find that with most recipes if I don’t re knead after the first proof the doughnuts don’t rise
Hi Laura,
yes, you can easily cut out the middle and have ring donuts.
No, the dough should not be kneaded after the first proofing. The purpose of kneading is to develop the gluten structure in the dough. If the gluten structure was developed properly before the first rise, then there’s no need for kneading it after the proofing.
Just make sure not to OVERproof the dough or it will be too “yeasty” and alcohol smelling and won’t puff up properly when fried. See tips in the post on how to see when the dough was properly proofed and ready for baking or frying.
I’m by no means an advanced cook, but these turned out AMAZING I am so pleased with them. I don’t even have a mixer, so I hand kneaded the dough with a spoon as a dough hook. Will definitely do them again, highly recommended!
Awsome! Love hearing this!
I made these the other day and the dough was Amazing..and they came out very light and delicious. It’s a keeper.
My dough rose the first time but not in the second prodding after cut. They sunk. What happened?
It could be that they were over-proofed, meaning they went past the maximum point of extension and so they collapsed. It could also be that your oven temperature (for proofing) was hotter than 110F at which point the yeast is killed so it can not work anymore on raising the dough 🙁
Hey marina!
Sorry to Hijack this comment – but I made these today & I had the same sinking issue. Do you know what else it may be?
I made the recipe to a T, the only difference was I hand kneaded it. The first minute of combining it was super easy. But then I hand kneaded it until it was tacky / stretchy which only took a couple of minutes. It was super smooth like your photos but it was nice and tacky and all combined and stretchy. Then when proofing I had it sitting outside (no breeze) and was around 30 degrees Celsius outside for just under 2ish hours. It doubled in size which Is why I brought it in and I punched it, rolled it out & cut them into the 3inch circles & popped them on the baking paper to rise for another 1hr outside again (both times had a clean tea towel over them)
But after them being shaped – they didn’t double size again. They definitely did rise but no where near like your photos. Do you know why this may have been? And then I went to fry them and they sunk when I touched them. They still turned out delicious and rose a little bit whilst frying but I’d love to see what I can improve 🙂
Omg I meant to say it WASNT super smooth like your photos after hand kneading sorry
Pls can you give me chinchin ingredients an
Full recipe with ingredient amounts, and detailed instructions is at the bottom of the post, in the recipe card. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
I made these yesterday. No flavor,even with sugar on them.Then I added cinnamon to sugar that was all we tasted. Then I made frosting, my son thought they were blah,but he ate some anyway. This morning ,in a plastic bag ,they are hard . Will not make again.
Deborah, I’m Very sorry for your experience, for the hard donuts, try to crunch them like cookies or something.
your son must be very hungry to still have some. 🙂
love <3
You’ve got the right attitude, for sure! lol
Hi Deborah,
Sorry to hear things didn’t go as expected 🙁
Sounds like something went wrong, I’m just not sure where exactly. But the donuts are best eaten fresh, although they should not be hard the next day.
Made these yesterday. They were delicious but it did taste a little oily… I did transfer to paper towel after frying but still oily. Anything else that can be done? Could you also share what oil you used? Thanks ☺️
Hi Sarah, it sounds like the oil was too cold when frying. Next time make sure the oil is at 350F before adding the donuts. When the oil isn’t heated to proper temp before adding the dough it will absorb too much oil.
You can use neutral tasting and smelling oil. Good oils for frying include: light olive oil, vegetable oil, corn oil, or canola oil.
Very useful
please the dough didnt rise
what’s the cause
Could be that you either didn’t add the yeast at all, or it was too old and thus inactive.
Im looking forward in making this recipe , the only thing is can i use a hand mixer.
Hand mixer will work just fine, you just might mix it for longer to get to the same stage.
I followed the recipe but the actual doughnut is not sweet at all! It did taste sweet even after coding it with sugar… is it ok if add more sugar to the dough?
Hi Mahtab,
Yes, the donut is not sweet because coating it in sugar and having sweetness on the inside would make it too sweet. If you want to use less sugar on the outside, you can add some to the dough to make it sweeter.
Hey! I haven’t tried this yet but I think it’s gonna be great! Do you have to out the yeast mixture in the fridge or anything? Or do you just leave it out on the side?
Hi Jess,
you just leave the yeast at room temp 🙂
Hi 🙂 May I know if I can bake these instead of frying; and if so how will it do it. Like temperature, the time it needs to bake and is there anything extra I need to add to the recipe? Thank you
Hi Mathilda, you can bake it, but it would taste like a simple bun, not a donut. If you’re looking for something to bake in a donut shape that is going to taste really good, I would recommend you use this dough and cut out donut rings, bake them, then dip in the sugar glaze from this donut recipe.
Hi Marina, thank you for your advice. Also, is this recipe suitable for filling them with custard in the middle? Thanks
Hi Mathilda,
yes, you can fill them with fillings of your own choosing. The dough isn’t too sweet, but keep this in mind as you’re choosing the sweetness level of your filling.
Thanks a lot
Hi there, I really love the look of this recipe…but could I use water and butter/oil mix instead of milk? I am milk AND soya intolerant and NONE of the alternative milks agree with me either, so as you can imagine it’s a bit of a nightmare for baking.
Kind regards
Steph
Hi Stephanie,
yes, you can replace the milk with water. They would be a little more “plain” but not bad. Good luck!
Love the recipe
envy I made it,it’s was nice
I’ve made these donuts many times with many different topping/flavours and they are so good! Wondering if you’ve ever tried rising them overnight in the fridge? I would make them so much more if I could do that.
Hi Eryn,
I haven’t tried making them the night before but if I did try, I’d let them rise almost all the way (shaped), then refrigerate covered with plastic wrap and fry them the next morning. Let me know how it goes if you try this 🙂
I did everything and had the exact measurements for everything too but then my dough looked like it was over kneaded from the beginning. It was so tough and it kept breaking whenever I stretched it. I bought all the ingredients and even made sure that my yeast is completely fine. I tried it 2 different times and it happened on those 2 times.
Hi Monica, the amount of ingredients or proportions will not make your dough look overkneaded from the beginning. When you start kneading the dough will look chunky and not smooth, which is how it’s supposed to look since the gluten isn’t developed through the process of kneading yet.
The kneading is what makes it get to the proper consistency. If you expected the dough to look smooth both times before kneading, it makes sense that the recipe failed.
Very interesting
thank you for the recipe! Super good! Donuts turned out super soft, light, and airy. My family loves it!
Hello,
I’ve been using your recipe for years now! Today I made them because my boys have been BEGGING for them… I rolled out my dough and after about 10 donuts the dough is insanely sticky 🙁 What could have happened? I have quartz counters and we just moved into a new house, I didn’t know if the countertops could be the reason because they are colder than the normal laminate- I’m so bummed! I always make 4 batches and I’m terrified to roll out a new batch! They’ve been rising for now 2 hours and are ready to cut! But, thank you regardless for our families favorite donut recipe!
Hi, the sugar doesn’t stick to my donuts.
I tried rolling the donuts in sugar in 3 situations :
when it is hot
when it has cooled slightly
when it is totally cooled down
but none of them sticks ( only very little sticks)
What should I do?
I can think of two situations in which the sugar won’t stick. If you’re baking them, not frying or if the sugar granules are too big. do any of those situations apply? If the donuts are just out of the oil the wetness from the oil will make the sugar stick, that’s just how the physics work. Unless, of course the sugar is too coarse and is just too heavy (granules) to stay attached to the donut.
If all fails you can coat them in powdered sugar, that one will coat them for sure.
It tried the simple homemade sugar donuts two nights ago and I was very, very pleased. You gave a perfect recipe! I didn’t have a donut cutter but I used my Easter cookie cutters which got a little out of shape by the time I dropped them in to fry. Everyone enjoyed them. Thank You! I will keep making these and look forward to trying your other recipes. Maria
Thank you so much for leaving such wonderful feedback, Maria!
I also found the note on over proofing very helpful. I understand now why in one of my previous recipes the dough became hard. Maria
Okay so I made these to the exact recipe and they were awful. They tasted really bland and didn’t come out as big and fluffy as yours. Where did I go wrong? I notice in your picture that you have a lot more yeast mixture than I had. How have you managed to get a cup full with only 2tbsp warm water?
Thanks
Hi Kay,
Sorry to hear about your experience 🙁
I have a couple tips for you to make it work next time you try it.
The fact that you say your donuts didn’t come out fluffy means that your yeast was probably dead. This happens when the yeast is beyond it’s expiration date or has been stored improperly. The yeast ensures that the dough rises well and produces fluffy baked or fried results.
In the picture I have the amount of yeast listed in the recipe and if the yeast is good, that is how much it can rise. For the recipe to come out well you don’t need to let it rise that much before using it, but if you wait a little longer it will.
Keep in mind – When you work with yeasted doughs always go by volume not by time. This means that when the dough is set out to proof /rise you wait until it doubles in size, not when one hour or whatever the recipe tells you. Depending on the freshness of the yeast it can take more or less time, but always go by the volume, not by time. Even old yeast can produce good results, but it might take a lot longer to get to the proper volume.
Hope these tips help!
I just made these now and I am thrilled ! It’s my first time making doughnuts and they are perfection. I filled them with a little jam and dusted with sugar, my family have already eaten half Keen to make another batch soon and try with a vanilla custard filling. Thanks so much
Oh, jam and powdered sugar sounds perfect! So happy for your success!
Perfect recipe and instructions.though I didn’t do three egg yolks,instead I added two whole eggs and the resul was superb.texture of dough is amazing,taste after frying is also amazing.Million thanks for sharing I will post some pics on insta l