Pillowy Fried Vegan Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts with Yeast
These plush, pillowy cinnamon sugar doughnuts are fried to golden perfection and finished with an irresistibly sweet cinnamon sugar coating!! With a hint of nutmeg for that classic bakery flavor, you don’t need any eggs nor dairy to make these golden fried doughnuts- so yeah, they’re vegan, and you’d never know!
Tell me about these pillowy cinnamon sugar doughnuts:
If you’re craving a soft, plush fried doughnut that tastes like you went straight to the apple orchard or the most quintessential New England bakery, but you need it vegan (aka no eggs, no dairy), then oh, BOY, do I got you!!
I used to avoid frying doughnuts for years because it just seemed like such a hassle (which is why I do have a fantastic quick baked cinnamon sugar donut recipe!), but oh my gosh it’s so fun once you learn (and easy too! Let me show you!).
These fried cinnamon sugar doughnuts are pillowy soft, fried to a golden perfection on the outside with warm, aerated centers that just melt in your mouth with the cinnamon sugar coating!
And they’re all vegan- no eggs, no dairy, and to be honest, because we’re using a hint of nutmeg in the dough, you wouldn’t be able to tell if these came from a professional doughnut shop or your home kitchen- they’re THAT good (and that easy!).
Two notes about this enriched dough:
🍞 This dough really does work even though it’s 100%. Yep, I promise you. We’re swapping in dairy free yogurt for eggs, dairy free milk for milk, and vegan butter for butter. That’s really it! The yogurt is actually a fantastic swap for eggs, especially when you use a Greek-style (which contains a bit more protein) because in my testing, I’ve found that produces near identical results to that of using eggs.
And the only reason I say near identical is because obviously there will at times be user error. But from what my taste testers have said (even the non-vegan ones!), no one could tell the difference between classic cinnamon sugar doughnuts made with eggs and butter and this vegan version!
🍞The dough will look messy once you add in the butter…and then it will come together! As if by magic! I sort of compare it to when you’re cooking with cornstarch. You add it in and nothing is happening (seemingly) for a noticeable amount. And then all of the sudden, you have a thick custard. This vegan cinnamon sugar doughnut dough is sort of the same in that sense!
Once you add in the vegan butter, the dough will go from shaggy to almost weird, thick cake-batter-like dough. You keep mixing (or kneading with your hands). And all of the sudden, it’s back into traditional dough shape, but looks more like a slightly tacky, rounder dough ball.
My point is, don’t panic when you get to this stage. It happens to me every single time. You just trust the process!
Overview: how to fry homemade doughnuts:
For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.
My best tip for frying:
Use a candy thermometer. For years, I avoided buying one (another gadget to keep in the kitchen, ugh!). Instead, I would use the “trusty” dip-the-wooden-spoon-in-the-hot-oil trick (it is a thing!). But honestly, it wasn’t giving me consistent results. (Ie, I would occasionally burn a doughnut or two because I wasn’t realizing how hot my oil was getting while I was trying to maintain its temperature!).
Using a candy thermometer ensured I was keeping the oil at exactly between 350-365F. This was helping me get those more consistently golden (NOT burnt) fried doughnuts that look gorgeous in a coating of cinnamon sugar.
⏰ Using the thermometer, you can reliably cook the doughnuts for 1-2 minutes and know that they’ll be thoroughly cooked through based on their color. (In my non-thermometer days, I would occasionally accidentally burn a doughnut but it would somehow still be undercooked on the inside. ICK!).
Don’t skip the extra coating of vegan butter! 🧈🌱
So with most coated doughnut recipes, you just dip the doughnut straight into the coating (in our case, cinnamon sugar), and the doughnut magically appears evenly and beautifully coated.
In all of my testing for this recipe, I could not consistently get the cinnamon sugar to coat the doughnut unless I added a quick brush of vegan butter post frying.
And it actually worked greatly to the flavor of the cinnamon sugar doughnuts, because we get a bit more richness from the butter! Less mess and frustration, and better taste? Say less!
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
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Pillowy Fried Vegan Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts with Yeast
- Prep Time: 30
- Proofing: 120
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Pastry
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Dairy-Free, Vegan
Description
These plush, pillowy cinnamon sugar doughnuts are fried to golden perfection and finished with an irresistibly sweet cinnamon sugar coating!! With a hint of nutmeg for that classic bakery flavor, you don’t need any eggs nor dairy to make these golden fried doughnuts- so yeah, they’re vegan, and you’d never know!
Ingredients
Yeasted Doughnut Dough:
- 1 cup (240 mL) dairy-free milk, heated to 110F
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar, divided
- 2 tsp (8 g) dry activated yeast
- 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup (57 g) dairy-free yogurt, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (113 g) salted vegan butter, room temperature
- 3 cups avocado or sunflower oil, for frying
Cinnamon Sugar Coating:
- 3 tbsp vegan butter, melted
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Prep: Please read through all instructions before beginning. Grease a medium bowl with a neutral cooking oil, and set aside. You will need two doughnut cutters (3-4” for the large and about 1” for the small). Alternatively, you can use a large cookie cutter with similar measurements and a large frosting piping tip.
- Bloom the yeast: In a separate large bowl, combine the warmed dairy-free milk, 1 tbsp granulated sugar, and activated yeast. Mix with a wooden spoon, and cover, placing in a warm area to activate for about 7-10 minutes. The yeast should begin to foam and smell yeast-like (similar to beer).
- Make the dough: Once the yeast is activated, you’ll make the dough. In a large bowl or using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, add in the dairy-free yogurt, remaining sugar, vanilla extract, and bloomed yeast mixture. Mix on medium speed to combine. Then add in the flour, nutmeg, and sea salt, until a very shaggy dough forms, about 3-4 minutes. Finally, add the vegan butter, and begin to mix again on medium speed. It will look sloppy and almost batter like for a second, but as the butter continues to incorporate, it will turn back into a dough. Once the vegan butter is incorporated, turn the speed of the stand mixer onto high, and allow the dough to be kneaded in the bowl for about 5-7 minutes, or until soft and pliable. The dough might still be slightly tacky, but should not leave globs of dough on your finger tip. The trick is to knead the dough until it passes the windowpane test.
- First proof: Place the dough ball into the medium sized greased bowl. Cover with a clean dish towel and place in a warm area (ideally above 80F) to rest for about 60-120 minutes, or until doubled in size. While the dough is proofing, line two baking sheets with 8-10 5” squares of parchment paper. You will place each doughnut onto the parchment squares separately for the second proof.
- Shape the dough: Once the dough has doubled in size, lightly flour a clean surface, and place the dough onto the surface. Gently roll out the dough to be about 1 inch thick or slightly thicker. Then take your large doughnut cutter and start cutting as many doughnuts as you can, removing each round and placing it onto a piece of parchment paper. Then take your small doughnut cutter (or frosting piping tip), and press into the center of each circular dough shape to remove the centerpiece. That will be your doughnut. You can either keep the center doughnut holes to continue to proof or you can re-integrate it back into the scraps of the remaining dough to make even more doughnuts. Gather the remaining dough scraps and repeat until you get 8-10 large doughnuts or until you run out of dough. With a 4″ cookie cutter, I usually get around 8 doughnuts with 10-12 doughnut holes.
- Rest: Cover the baking sheets of doughnuts and place in a warm area again to rest until almost doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes.
- While the doughnuts are resting: With 10-15 minutes remaining of resting time, pour the oil into a large saucepan with walls and heat the oil until it reaches about 350-365F, keeping it steady at that temperature for frying. Use a candy thermometer for accuracy. Set aside a cooling rack with parchment or paper towel underneath to sop up excess oil.
- Fry the doughnuts: When the doughnuts are ready, take the edges of parchment paper carrying one doughnut and place it onto the slotted spoon. Lower the doughnut into the oil with the parchment on (and then you can use kitchen tongs to remove the parchment paper once the doughnut has released from the paper!). Fry the doughnut on one side for 1-2 minutes or until golden on the bottom. Then flip the doughnut using the slotted spoon to fry on the other side for an additional 1-2 minutes. Make sure the oil temperature is remaining between 350-360F. You can place more doughnuts in a time if your pan can hold it, as long as the temperature remains steady. Remove the fried doughnuts with the slotted spoon, and place them onto the cooling rack. For doughnut holes, fry the doughnut holes all together at the end for 90 seconds total, stirring every so often to allow them to flip.
- Brush and coat: Once all doughnuts have been fried, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon. Then brush each doughnut one at a time with the melted vegan butter. Dip into the cinnamon sugar mixture, submerging it completely and coating it all around. Remove from the sugar and place back onto the cooling rack. Repeat for each doughnut.
- Serve and enjoy! Serve the doughnuts immediately warm and enjoy! I recommend eating these doughnuts fresh the day you made them, but if you do have leftovers, they can be stored at room temperature covered for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months.
Notes
Cinnamon: You can also swap in an equal amount of pumpkin spice blend for a varied spice flavor!
Baking vs. frying: These will not rise the same way if you bake them vs. frying. I recommend for best results to fry!
