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Best Donut Holes (Homemade Donut Recipe)

The best donut recipe, for delicious homemade donut holes. Serve with a variety of sauces and glazes to make a fun donut bar!

Hello again, and welcome to the latest installment of “my crazy life.”

Lol jk. That’s not what we do here. We discuss recipes, and blogging, and beauty, and all that fun stuff.

So welcome to the latest recipe:

Best Donut Holes

Disclosure: Product links may be affiliate, which means I get a commission if you click through and purchase. This does not affect the price of your item.

Today we will be discussing donut holes. The best kind. Thus the title best donut holes. But you figured that out already, right? Good job, you.

Technically, this recipe can be for donuts or donut holes. I’m just super lazy, and have no interest in rolling out donut dough, and cutting donut shapes, and rerolling the donut dough scraps, and cutting more donut shapes, and… It’s so much easier to just take a blob of donut dough, roll it a bit to smooth out the edges (we need to pretend we tried a little bit, right?), and call it a donut hole.

If you want to be fancy and make real donuts, but don’t have time or patience to shape them, you can try this really cool donut dough dispenser to make perfectly shaped donuts each time!

I’ve tried a few other homemade donut-slash-donut-hole recipes, and none ever came out that great. Like, my kids didn’t even want to finish them. And I was like hello? Donuts? With glaze? What can be bad? But apparently, they could be bad.

But that’s not this recipe. This donut holes recipe I made for the first time last year, and my whole family agreed that we struck gold. Donut gold. Donut hole gold. Donut hold?

Safe to say, this is the best homemade donut hole recipe. Dare I even say, the best donut hole recipe ever? 

Anyway.

Equipment you may need

  1. As mentioned above, you can use this handy dandy donut dough dispenser to make perfectly-shaped donuts in no time.

2. I generally just fry these donut holes in a deep saucepan, but a deep fryer would be a great help here. This one from Hamilton Beach is very reasonably priced and has 4 stars on Amazon with over 1000 reviews. That’s a lot of people who are happy with this product.

One thing to note with deep fryers: I have had deep fryers in the past that started shooting out flames because they weren’t cleaned properly and oil got on the heating element and caught fire. This Hamilton Beach deep fryer is able to be taken apart to be cleaned, which should avoid that issue. (Surprisingly, many deep fryers have an oil basket that can’t be removed, so how are you supposed to get the oil out and clean it safely?)

In addition, this Hamilton Beach deep fryer has a few other safety features: the outside will remain cool to the touch, no matter how hot the oil inside gets; and the power cable is magnetic and will snap off the fryer if something gets caught on it, so the fryer won’t tip over and spill hot oil everywhere.

3. If you aren’t using a deep fryer to fry these donuts, make sure you use tongs to fry and flip the donuts in the frying pan. They really make the whole frying process so much easier.

I can keep on yammering, but since the point of this post is the recipe for the best donut holes, and not updates on my crazy life (as mentioned above), let’s get down to business (to defeat… the huuuunnnss…)

Here we go:

Best Donut Holes Recipe

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1/2 cup warm water
4 1/2 tsp dry yeast (2 packets)
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup (113 g) butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 cups flour
oil for frying

Method

1. Sprinkle yeast and 1 tsp of sugar over the warm water, and allow it to sit until foamy.

closeup shot of fully proofed, foamy yeast .

This is what the yeast should look like when it’s fully proofed and foamy

2. Meanwhile, warm the milk and butter over medium-low heat until butter is melted and small bubbles start to appear on the surface of the milk.

Closeup shot of milk and melted butter mixture in a pot on the stove.

3. Put the sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Pour melted butter and milk over the sugar and salt, and mix until the sugar dissolves.
4. Allow the milk-butter-sugar-salt mixture to sit for a few minutes to cool off, if necessary. (It should still be warm, but not hot.)
5. Add 2 cups flour, eggs, and the yeast mixture to the milk mixture, and stir to combine.
6. Add the remaining 2 cups of flour and knead for a few minutes until a soft dough forms. Add a bit more flour if dough is too sticky (but not too much. It’s ok if the dough is a little sticky.)

Donut holes dough in a yellow bowl.

Donut dough, before rising. Look how tiny it is!

While waiting for the dough to rise, why not check out some free online classes from CreativeLive? They cover all sorts of topics, so you are sure to find something that strikes your fancy.

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7. Cover the dough and let it rise until doubled, around 1 hour.

Risen donut dough in bowl .

And here’s the donut dough after rising. See how much it grew!

8. Form small balls of dough, and let them rise for another 40 min to an hour.

Rows of formed donut holes sitting on parchment paper.

All the little donut holes in their nice little rows, before rising a second time

Rows of shaped donut holes sitting on parchment paper, post-rising

And here’s the donut holes after they rose!

9. Heat oil in a deep saucepan or pot. Fry the donut holes for a few minutes on each side, until lightly browned.

Donut holes frying in a frying pan, before being flipped.

See the little donut holes, sizzling in a pan… (why yes, that is a quote from a song my 5-year-old sings…)

Donut holes frying in a frying pan, flipped over so the browned side is showing.

Here’s the donut holes once they’ve been flipped! (Use tongs to flip them & save yourself burns and feelings of failure)

10. Let cool, and dust with powdered sugar or your favorite glaze

A white bowl full of glazed donut holes.

And here are the finished donut holes! I served them with a few bowls of glazes/toppings, and let everyone dip and glaze how they liked.

Check out some other delicious desserts!

Double Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Whole Wheat Tahini Cookies
Homemade Cinnamon Buns
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Oatmeal Cookies

Or try something savory!

No Vodka Vodka Sauce
Hot Dog Stir Fry
Honey Garlic Fried Chicken
Homemade Mozzarella Sticks
Meat Lasagna
Chocolate Hidden Vegetable Pancakes

Pin this recipe for later!

Best donut holes pinterest image 1.
Best homemade donut holes pinterest image 2.
A white bowl full of glazed donut holes.

Best Donut Holes

Yield: 40 donut holes (approx)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Rising Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 25 minutes

The best donut holes recipe, for delicious homemade donut holes. Serve with a variety of sauces and glazes to make a fun donut bar!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 4 1/2 tsp dry yeast, 2 packets
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup butter, 113 g
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 cups flour
  • oil for frying

Instructions

  1. Sprinkle yeast and 1 tsp of sugar over the warm water, and allow it to sit until foamy.
  2. Meanwhile, warm the milk and butter over medium-low heat until butter is melted and small bubbles start to appear on the surface of the milk.
  3. Put the sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Pour melted butter and milk over the sugar and salt, and mix until the sugar dissolves.
  4. Allow the milk-butter-sugar-salt mixture to sit for a few minutes to cool off, if necessary. (It should still be warm, but not hot.)
  5. Add 2 cups flour, eggs, and the yeast mixture to the milk mixture, and stir to combine
  6. Add the remaining 2 cups of flour and knead for a few minutes until a soft dough forms. Add a bit more flour if dough is too sticky (but not too much. It's ok if the dough is a little sticky.)
  7. Cover the dough and let it rise until doubled, around 1 hour.
  8. Form small balls of dough, and let them rise for another 40 min to an hour. Alternatively, use this awesome donut dough dispenser to form perfectly shaped donuts.
  9. Heat oil in a deep saucepan or pot. Fry the donut holes for a few minutes on each side, until lightly browned.
  10. 10. Let cool, and dust with powdered sugar or your favorite glaze.

Notes

Nutrition information is an estimate and is provided for informational purposes only. If you have any specific dietary needs please consult with your healthcare professional. 

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 40 Serving Size: 40 donut holes (approx)
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 81Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 83mgCarbohydrates: 11gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 2g

This Post Has 28 Comments

  1. Jeff

    These were incredibly easy to make! My only issue is that I wish they were just a tad more donut-like (though that might’ve been my fault), and definitely sweeter. Other than that, I’d definitely recommend.

  2. Angela

    I love donut holes. And this look like an easy and delicious recipe. I’ll be pinning this so I can try it later. Thanks for sharing!

  3. 0546 numara

    I always used to read article in news papers but now as I
    am a user of web therefore from now I am using net for articles or reviews,
    thanks to web.

  4. F L

    These were sooo good

    1. Bee - Bites 'N Pieces

      Great! Glad you enjoyed!

  5. F L

    Donuts? Yum!!!

  6. GiGi Eats

    THESE look sensational! Donuts are so damn good – I DROOL for them!!!

    1. Bee - Bites 'N Pieces

      They really are sensational!

  7. Melanie

    oh yum!! I need to give these a try for Christmas morning!

    1. Bee - Bites 'N Pieces

      Enjoy!

  8. Shannah

    These sound great and will take your word for them being the best. I’ve tried other recipes too and they just weren’t that great.

    1. Bee - Bites 'N Pieces

      Yeah, other recipes I’ve tried were pretty disappointing. These aren’t disappointing, though!

  9. Denise

    Those sound delicious! Totally giggling over your comments about not cutting them out, but still looking like you tried.

    1. Bee - Bites 'N Pieces

      Glad you enjoyed 🙂

  10. Justine

    Definitely going to try this during Xmas! They look good and the recipe seems easy enough! Thanks!

    1. Bee - Bites 'N Pieces

      You’re welcome! Enjoy!

  11. Alexandra Cook

    Another delicious recipe! Thank you so much for sharing – yum!

    1. Bee - Bites 'N Pieces

      You’re very welcome!

  12. Jenny

    These look delicious and remind me of what my dad made when I was little. He would sprinkle with powdered sugar. I think I could make this!

    1. Bee - Bites 'N Pieces

      Thanks! You definitely should give it a try!

  13. Phill Slater

    These look delicious. I’ll give the recipe a try.

    1. Bee - Bites 'N Pieces

      Thanks! I hope you enjoy them!

  14. Dawn

    Oooh, these look so good! Now I’m hungry, thanks a lot! 😜

    1. Bee - Bites 'N Pieces

      You’re very welcome! 😉

  15. Bernadette

    Yummy! Will definitely be trying this soon. I love donuts !

    1. Bee - Bites 'N Pieces

      I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

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