Our Best Doughnut Recipes (2024)

Credit: Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall and Kady Wohlfarth; Prop Styling: Kay Clark

Whether you serve them for breakfast or dessert, we've got doughnuts to satisfy any sweet tooth.

EC: Apple Cider Hazelnut Doughnuts for Your Fall To-Eat List

Apple Cider Hazelnut Doughnuts Recipe

In New England, it’s traditional for cider makers to use freshly pressed juice to create the region’s beloved sweet and tangy treat: apple cider doughnuts. In this version from Ellen Jackson’s Portland Farmers Market Cookbook, reduced cider is replaced with applesauce, and the still-warm apple doughnuts are dunked in a cider and applesauce glaze. Adding hazelnut (a.k.a. filbert) meal to the batter gives this doughnut recipe a distinctly Northwest twist. The hazelnut doughnuts come from Barb Fouke, filbert farmer and owner of Oregon’s family-run orchard Freddy Guys Hazelnuts (99 percent of the country’s crop is grown in the state—who knew?). The nuts from Freddy Guys Hazelnuts are processed into ground meal for a new take (and a heart-healthy boost) on homemade doughnuts, like this nutty, all-American gem.

Apple Cider–Glazed Hazelnut Doughnuts

Ingredients

Variations

Orange Sour Cream:Substitute 4 tablespoons zest (from 2 oranges) and ½ cup puree from whole oranges for the applesauce, increase the sour cream to 1 cup, and decrease the nutmeg to 1 teaspoon. Make a glaze with 2 cups confectioners’ sugar and 2 tablespoons orange juice.

Pumpkin:Substitute ½ cup pumpkin puree for the applesauce and increase the sour cream to 1 cup. Reduce the nutmeg to 1½ teaspoons and add 2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1½ teaspoons ground cloves. Make a glaze with 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, and ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon.

Excerpted fromPortland Farmers Market Cookbook: 100 Seasonal Recipes and Stories that Celebrate Local Food and Peopleby permission of Sasquatch Books. Copyright © 2016 by Ellen Jackson. All rights reserved.

Sour Cream Doughnuts

Sour Cream Doughnuts Recipe

The doughnut pan is a must. This $10 investment is worth a lifetime of healthier, oven-baked doughnuts. Find them at various kitchen stores or at amazon.com.

sweet potato cake doughnuts

Sweet Potato Cake Doughnuts Recipe

Mary-Frances Heck knows what the, uh, heck she's doing in the kitchen, and some pretty big-deal publications agree. The much-loved chef, editor, and writer has created recipes for Bon Appetit, Saveur, Cooking Light, Lucky Peach, and plenty of your other favorite food magazines, and for her newest solo effort, she's focused on just one ingredient: the humble sweet potato. Heck's new book, Sweet Potatoes: Roasted, Loaded, Fried, and Made Into Piescelebrates all the delicious possibilities of this versatile superfood. We've grabbed the recipe for her easy-bake cinnamon-spiced, orange-glazed cake doughnuts that'll make any morning just sweet as can be.

Sweet Potato Cake Doughnuts

These crunchy cake doughnuts come together in a snap and are so delicious. Roast a couple of extra sweet potatoes the night before you want to make the doughnuts, and the dough will come together quicker than a bowl of cereal.

This puree is part of a well-stocked freezer, as it can be adapted endlessly in many recipes or eaten as a quick, nukeable side dish. By cooking the sweet potatoes without salt, you end up with a versatile base ingredient that can be dressed simply with butter and salt, or added to many baked goods and sweets.

Reprinted from Sweet Potatoes. Copyright © 2017 by Mary-Frances Heck. Photographs copyright © 2017 by Kristin Teig. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.

EC: Red, White, and Blueberry Doughnuts with Tie-Dye Glaze

Red, White, and Blueberry Doughnuts with Tie-Dye Glaze Recipe

What's more American than doughnuts? In the spirit of America and progress and freedom, we give you this new take on a whole-grain doughnut—baked (not fried) and made with white whole-wheat flour. Pipe out your own doughnuts for a fun Fourth of July treat with fewer calories and grams of fat than any traditional variety. We're using a tie-dye glaze to add a fun patriotic touch to these fluffy bites, but you could keep it simple with a few sprinkles on the glaze. The tie-dye glazing technique is easier than it seems. Simply make a glaze, drop some natural food dye into the mix, swirl with a toothpick, and drizzle onto baked treats. The ribbons of color will create a rippled, tie-dye effect for your modernly patriotic get-together.

Red, White, and Blueberry Doughnuts with Tie-Dye Glaze

This story originally appeared onCookinglight.com.

doughnut hole croquembouche video hero

Doughnut Hole Croquembouche Recipe

The classic French croquembouche is a cone-shaped pile of cream puffs bound together with threads of caramel. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect show-stopper for your holiday brunch table? In theory, a croquembouche absolutely magical, but in execution, if you’re not a pastry chef you may be in over your head. Luckily, we’ve got you covered. The answer is doughnut holes.

Instead of spending hours filling cream puffs, stick doughnut holes (go ahead and buy them from the store—who cares!) into a cone. Nestle pieces of crispy bacon in the exposed bits to cut the sweetness and add a pop of color. Save the sugar spinning for your final in pastry school drizzle the whole thing in a simple brown sugar sauce, then if you’re feeling especially festive, wrap a strand of thin lights around the croquembouche. Don’t let anyone eat it until you get a round of applause.

Doughnut Hole Croquembouche

Glazed Doughnut Holes 16x9.jpg

Air Fryer Glazed Cake Doughnut Holes Recipe

Few things in life are better than a warm, fresh doughnut, but it’s no secret that deep frying at home is a pain. Save yourself a mess (not to mention, some calories/fat) by breaking out the air fryer for these cakey glazed doughnut holes.

Lemon-Black Sesame Seed Doughnuts image

Lemon-Black Sesame Baked Doughnuts Recipe

If you need a break from rainbow-smattered sweets and unicorn-coated everything, these deliciously dark doughnuts are exactly what you’re looking for. A bright lemony glaze balances the warm toasty flavors delivered by black sesame seeds for a balanced, not-too-sweet doughnut. Being an oven-baked doughnut, this recipe is perfect for the first-time doughnut maker or anyone who’s not trying to spend their Saturday morning cleaning up a deep-fry station in their kitchen. We used black food dye to intensify the darkness of these doughnuts, but feel free to leave it out if you’d prefer. Beyond being an incredibly tasty way to boycott rainbow foods, these black sesame doughnuts are the perfect treat to whip out for Halloween.

cider-donuts-maple-tahini-glaze

Cider Doughnuts with Maple-Tahini Glaze Recipe

Mindi's Doughnuts and Easy Raspberry Sauce

Mindi's Doughnuts and Easy Raspberry Sauce Recipe

Serve these sweet treats with a side of tart raspberry sauce to craft the perfect flavor combo.

Matcha Baked Doughnuts

Matcha Baked Doughnuts Recipe

These bright green baked goods will give you all the delight of a doughnut without any of the regret afterwards. Baking makes thesevegan doughnuts delicate and soft without excess oil and the matcha has a range of health benefits.

EC: Doughnut Holes with Sugar Glaze and Whatever Toppings Make You Happy

Doughnut Holes with Sugar Glaze and Whatever Toppings Make You Happy Recipe

If you were known to hog a box of Dunkin’ Donuts’ Munchkins as a child, you’ll just love this homemade doughnut holes recipe. When the box is empty, licking the sugar off your fingers is all fun and games—until everything gets sticky and icky. These doughnut holes on a stick mean no mess on-the-go, and Matt Armendariz, author of On a Stick!, appreciates that. Rising and rolling are part of the recipe here, but don’t let deter you from making doughnut holes from scratch. No doughnut devotee wants to miss this sweet treat with soft, dough centers and perfectly golden, greasy crusts. Coat the doughnut holes in whatever your heart desires—shredded coconut, multicolored sprinkles, or chopped peanuts.

Doughnut Holes with Sugar Glaze and Toppings

Ingredients

Excerpted fromOn a Stick!by Matt Armendariz. Reprinted with permission from Quirk Books.

EC: Rose Pistachio Doughnuts Are Steeped in Middle Eastern Tradition

Rose Pistachio Doughnuts Recipe

Rose and pistachio are an underrated power couple (at least in American cooking) that might possibly be better than the classic peanut butter and jelly combo. Yup, I said it. Fight me. One bite of these rose pistachio doughnuts and you’ll understand exactly why I feel that way. To prove my point, I pulverized fresh, shelled pistachios are pulverized into a flour and worked into the batter with cardamom and rosewater. Once they cooled, I coated the baked cake doughnuts in a subtly sweet, baker-miller-pink rose glaze and dusted it with ground pistachios and fresh rose petals. Now you’re getting it.

The inspiration for these pistachio rose doughnuts comes from my Middle Eastern background, specifically Syrian and Lebanese. Persians, Indians, and Middle Easterners are known for cooking with rose and rosewater, which you might only associate with Turkish Delight and that’s OK. The starchy sweet, also known as lokum, usually accompanies coffee. Although I love it and respect it, I prefer to have my coffee with doughnuts. You, too, can add the sweet scent of rose to your morning with this baked doughnut recipe.

Some of the ingredients might sound foreign to you if you’re not used to Middle Eastern food, but I promise they’re not hard to find. Rosewater and cardamom powder are sold at specialty markets, and sometimes available at nationwide grocery stores like Whole Foods. Look for fresh edible rose petals at your local farmer’s market, or order them online with overnight shipping from Gourmet Sweet Botanicals or Marx Foods. But do not pass over this recipe if you don’t have fresh rose petals on hand. The rose flavor mostly comes from rosewater; the petals are just a drop dead gorgeous garnish, so you could live without it.

Make a big batch of these delicately floral and nutty baked doughnuts and share them with your loved ones over homemade Turkish coffee.

Rose Pistachio Doughnuts

Ingredients

P.S. These cake doughnuts taste much, much better a day later once the icing has seeped into the dough.

P.S.S. If you leave the doughnuts out to sit overnight, the rose petals will dry out and look even prettier than before.

EC: Make Entenmann’s-Style Doughnuts, Never Buy Boxed Again

Entemann's-Style Cake Doughnuts Recipe

You might wonder why you should bother making Entenmann’s doughnuts when you can just buy them. Totally valid question. That blue-and-white packaging has a certain nostalgic appeal, as do the sweet treats inside, so, I concede that these aren’t the same as the ones get in the box. They’re even better.

These are your favorite doughnuts, but with fewer ingredients, all natural, hardly processed. Boom.

The dough recipe, used in both the Rich Frosted and the Crumb-Top varieties, is on the wet and tender side, so don’t be shy about flouring your work surface and the top of the dough, especially during the cutting process.

The glaze for this doughnut is similar the original but different–with slightly more chocolate flavor and slightly less wax-like consistency. If you don’t plan to fully enrobe the doughnuts with the glaze, make a half batch. Or, make a whole batch and keep it on hand in the fridge for other purposes, like topping ice cream or eating with a spoon.

Entenmann’s-Style Cake Doughnuts

Rich Frosted Doughnuts

Crumb-Top Donuts

EC: 20-Minute Baked Matcha Doughnuts

20-Minute Baked Matcha Doughnuts Recipe

Invest in a doughnut pan and you can whip up a batch of these earthy baked goods in just 20 minutes. The forever-trendy Japanese green tea powder matcha is packed with antioxidants, and studies show it can reduce stress, boost metabolism, lower cholesterol, and even lower the risk of cancer. Its bright, emerald color shines in these soft, cakey donuts, which are coated in a simple, sweet, powdered-sugar glaze. With a quick clean-up and no oil splattering all over your kitchen, you won’t miss the deep-fried version.

Homer Simpson would approve.

Baked Matcha Doughnuts

Ingredients

EC: Brownie-Filled Doughnut Holes Are Game Day-Approved

Brownie-Filled Doughnut Holes Recipe

Sheila G. Mains, author of Sheila G's Butter & Chocolate, knows her brownie-filled doughnut hole recipe is perfect for late breakfasts on Sunday mornings when neighbors stop by to watch football. Why? No plates or forks required. If someone asks what they are, just say offhandedly, “Oh, plain old doughnut holes.” Then watch your guest’s face light up as they take their first bite and the fudgy brownie flavor fills their mouth. Guaranteed high-fives all around. Because the brownie filling is egg-free, it doesn’t need to baked and can be licked right off the spatula. Touchdown.

Brownie-Filled Doughnut Holes

Ingredients

Brownie Filling

Excerpted fromSheila G's Butter & Chocolate: 101 Creative Sweets and Treats Using Brownie Batterby Sheila G. Mains. Copyright © 2016. Published with permission by Kyle Books.

Neapolitan Donuts

Neapolitan Doughnuts Recipe

This recipes makes 3 cups of each flavor of frosting, if that ends up being more than you need to Neapolitan1 dozen store-bought doughnuts,you can save the leftover icingsfor dipping other store-bought baked goodslike brownies or crispy rice treats.The idea is to make theNeapolitan Icingflavors, then dip to your heart's content. (If you really want to get fancy, make one of our homemade doughnut recipes, let them cool while you prepare the frostings, and then dip them.)

These icings will start to stiffen as they sit. They will be good for1/2 hour after you mix them up. If you want to make them in advance and use them later, place them in a bowl and lay a damp paper towel directly on the surface. And then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature. If necessary, whisk in an additional 1-2 Tbsp. hot water to recapture proper consistency.

Cake Doughnut Breakfast Sandwich

Cake Doughnut Breakfast Sandwich Recipe

This super-easy breakfast sandwich from Food & Wine’s Paige McCurdy-Flynn can be made in less than 10 minutes in the microwave. The sandwich is fantastic with a dash of hot sauce too.

EC: Make PB&J-Stuffed Doughnuts in Just 15 Minutes with This Simple Hack

Ryan Scott, former Top Chef contestant and author of One to Five, is hooked on this place in San Francisco called Bob’s Donuts. People especially like to go to there late at night (and occasionally when they’re drunk) since it’s open all day, every day. Their crumb donuts and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are both serious vices of Scott’s, so this is his mashup of two of his sweet obsessions together in one epic, easy-to-make treat: peanut-butter-and-jelly-stuffed doughnuts. With the help of this canned biscuit hack, you’re only 15 minutes away from sweet indulgence. “These are why I wake up and wonder why I can’t see my feet,” Scott jokes.

mr-sufganiyot-holiday

Sufganiyot Recipe

Sufganiyot is an fluffy, jam-filled donut typically eaten on Hanukkah. The tender dough is justsweet enough, similar to a beignet.