We bring a classic recipe that we always love to prepare. Vanilla-glazed donuts. They are so soft that it feels like you’re biting a cloud. They’re sweet, packed with vanilla, and have that classic donut taste.

Donuts are one of my favorite desserts in the world. My husband always buys them for me because I’m always craving them, but I never have the time to prepare them at home.

This recipe has been tested, retested, and remade for years, and I think we finally reached perfection. With the perfect amount of sweetness, flavor, softness, and vanilla. The base for this recipe is very similar to the famous beignets.

Ingredients you will need

Most of the ingredients you will find in this list are also used in other donut recipes, like Nutella-stuffed, vanilla cream donuts, or even our pink Simpson-inspired donut.

• Milk: it needs to be warm at a temperature of 110F-115F (43C-46C). If the temperature is above 120F (49 °C), the yeast will be killed. Under 100F (38 °C), the yeast is sleepy. Very important to make sure the yeast is activated.
• Active dry yeast: this yeast is first activated with the warm milk and sugar. It’s one of the easiest yeasts to work with and my favorite. I use it in my Nutella brioche recipe.
• Sugars: We are using two different sugars for this recipe, granulated sugar and powdered sugar. One is to sweeten the dough, and the other is used to prepare a vanilla bean icing.
• Vanillas: we are using vanilla in two different forms, for the dough, pure vanilla paste, and for the icing, fresh vanilla beans. I love using fresh vanilla bean, like in our vanilla bean pistachio cheesecake.
• All–purpose flour: gives structure to the dough.
• Salt: balances the sweetness and also makes everything taste better. It increases the flavors.
• Butter: unsalted and room temperature butter! We use unsalted so we can have better control over the amount of salt that goes into the vanilla donut, and important to be soft to use so it can be easily incorporated into the dough.
• Sunflower oil: or a neutral oil. I prefer to use sunflower oil rather than canola or soy, but they are also options you can use.

Add to your list

Milk

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Active Dry Yeast

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Granulated sugar

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Vanilla bean

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vanilla bean paste

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All purpose flour

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salt

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Unsalted butter

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Sunflower oil

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How to shape donuts at home

To shape donuts at home, all you need is a round, larger cookie cutter and a smaller cutter, which can even be the back of your piping tip. This will create a hole in the middle. If you prefer, you can also use a round donut cutter, but it will create smaller donuts.

I prefer instead of working on the worktable laying a parchment paper on the table, and then I roll out the dough on top of it, this way you don’t have to add a ton of flour, the dough doesn’t stick to the table, and you don’t have to constantly move the donuts around.

Roll out the dough to about 0.35 inches (0.9 cm) thickness. This recipe will give you 6 donuts + donut holes, but if you have a smaller cutter, you can get more donuts. I just love big and thick old fashioned way donuts.

Tips for frying donuts

On every donut recipe I share, I like to mention some safety tips about frying because I think it’s very important and not talked about enough. Frying donuts can be very safe as long as you always pay attention to what you are doing around the oil and know how to act in case of an emergency.

1. Keep water AWAY from the oil, don’t have water close to it, as if water went on the oil, it will create a huge splatter and a fire will start.
2. Fire? Turn off the stove and cover it with a lid.
3. I like to prepare cute parchment papers that go under each donut so we can safely drop the donut into the oil without burning ourselves and getting hurt.
4. Donuts absorb oil, so it’s important to keep them in a rack with a tray under to collect the oil. If you left them in a plate, they would turn greasy and wet.
5. We keep the temperature between 347F (175 °C) and 374°F (190 °C). Every time you add a donut, the temperature will drop. I fry my donuts at approximately 356°F (180°C).
6. If the oil temperature is too high, the outside will burn, and the inside will be raw. If the temperature is too low, they will become very greasy.
7. The donuts should reach an internal temperature of 190F (88C). I poke every donut with the food thermometer to ensure it reaches the right temperature.

I know seeing so many temperatures can be a little overwhelming, but I’ll add them in order on the recipe card so you can just easily check them while you prepare the recipe.

How to make a vanilla bean glaze

For this donut recipe, we are preparing a homemade vanilla bean glaze, and it’s a good one. We have shared recipes made with a powdery sugar glaze similar to this one on our focaccia donut or maple.

What we want with our glaze is to achieve that mate crack when it air dries for 5-8 minutes. The donut mate crack is like a shiny fudgy brownie crack we all want to see.

To prepare the glaze, we only need three ingredients: powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla bean. Our classic glaze had lemon juice instead of milk, but so many people asked for a traditional glaze, so that’s what we did. Let us know if you want a lemon donut recipe in the comments!

Sifting the powdered sugar is optional when it’s a ‘just opened’ bag of sugar. I recommend you sift it when the bag has been open for slightly longer, and it has clumps inside.

All you need to do is mix the sugar with the milk, scrape two vanilla beans, and add them. You can use pure vanilla paste instead.

You will notice how a dry layer forms on top of the glaze after 5 minutes. That’s completely normal and will disappear once you mix it again.

Tools you need to make donuts at home

The list is similar to what you need for our swirl Nutella donut or Biscoff donuts.

• Stand mixer: You will need it to knead the dough. Use a dough hook, the one that looks like a wrinkled tail.
• Mixing bowl: You will need one to prepare the vanilla glaze.
• Whisk: to whisk the ingredients for the glaze.
• Cooling rack: to drain the excess oil in your donuts.
• Slotted spoon: to remove the donuts from the oil.
• Large pot: make sure it’s large and tall so you can fry the donuts without having to worry about the oil overflowing.
• Tray: to place under the cooling rack, it will collect all the oil.
• Parchment paper: to place the donuts on top for easy frying.
• Rolling pin: roll out the dough.
• Large cutter and a smaller one: you will need them to cut the donuts; you can use a donut cutter instead.

This one is optional but highly recommended: a dough proofer. We have used it in so many recipes, like our Nutella bombs, garlic rolls, or red velvet Nutella rolls.

Serving tips

Donuts are recommended to be enjoyed on the same day. This is the best way to eat them, and they will have the perfect texture and flavor.

Enjoy them warm, with a cup of coffee or a hot chocolate.

If you want to enjoy them at another time, I recommend that you freeze them.

How to store donuts

If you want to enjoy your donuts fresh, I recommend that you freeze them once they have cooled, the same day you made them. Whenever you want to enjoy them, remove them from the freezer and microwave them only until they are defrosted and slightly warm. If you microwave them too much, the icing will melt.  

This way, the donuts will always taste fresh!

To freeze: place the cooled donuts in a lined tray with parchment paper. Freeze for 4 hours and then transfer to a freezer container or bag. It stays safe in the freezer for 3 months; after that, it starts to get weird flavors and gets burnt.

We freeze our Nutella rolls, Nutella chocolate chip brioche, and even our Ferrero Rocher bun.

Make sure the donuts are cooled completely before you freeze them, or they will be covered in ice particles.

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