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This homemade beignets recipe is the real deal! Pillowy centers, crisp golden edges, and that signature snowfall of powdered sugar. After careful testing and technique-driven steps, this recipe is designed to fry up light, airy, and consistent every single time. If you’ve ever wanted café-style New Orleans beignets at home, this recipe delivers every time!
If you love beignets, you have to try these Nutella Beignets and Brioche Dinner Rolls!
Every time I’m in New Orleans, the very first place I go is Café du Monde – no hesitation, no debate. Those hot, crispy beignets paired with a steamy café au lait, it’s pure heaven!
So, since I don’t live in the Big Easy (sad face), I set out to recreate New Orleans–style beignets right in my own kitchen.
You see, beignets aren’t simply fried dough with sugar. They’re pillowy, crispy little treats with a soft, airy center and just enough sweetness to make you close your eyes on the first bite.
My beignet recipe captures this at first bite. With a little bit of love and patience, you’ll bring a little of New Orleans right into your own home.
Recipe Highlights: Beignets Recipe
- 🥣 Prep Time: 3 hours (up to 24 hours if proofing overnight)
- 🎂 Cook Time: 20 mins
- 🕛 Ready In: 3 hours and 20 mins
- 👥Serves: About 25 beignets
- 🍰 Cook Method: Quick yeast dough fried to golden perfection!
- 🥣Flavor Profile: Fried sweet dough with soft airy center and crispy outside!
- ⭐Difficulty: Moderate
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Table of contents
Key Ingredients
(full list of ingredients can be found in the recipe card)
- Bread Flour and All-Purpose Flour – this flour combo gives you the best of both worlds: structure and chew from bread flour, plus tenderness from all-purpose flour. The result? Beignets that stay pillowy inside, and don’t collapse after frying.
- Active Dry Yeast is what makes beignets light and airy. It creates gas during fermentation, giving the dough lift, flavor, and that classic soft, fluffy interior.
- Sugar lightly sweetens the dough, feeds the yeast for a better rise, and helps the beignets brown beautifully in hot oil.
- Milk Powder adds richness without extra liquid, enhancing browning, softness, and giving the beignets that bakery-style flavor.
- Nutmeg and Cinnamon – just a pinch adds warmth and depth, giving beignets that traditional New Orleans bakery aroma without tasting overtly spiced.
- Buttermilk brings tang and tenderness, helping soften the dough while balancing the sweetness and enriching overall flavor.
- Vanilla Bean Paste adds warmth, depth, and those gorgeous vanilla flecks – making the dough smell as good as it tastes.
- Salted Butter adds richness and flavor while helping create a soft, tender crumb. Using salted butter also balances the sweetness and enhances every other ingredient. You can also use unsalted butter if you prefer.
Substitutions and Variations
- If you don’t have bread flour – don’t panic! You can use all purpose flour instead, they’ll still be perfectly soft but won’t be as chewy.
- No buttermilk? Here’s my guide on how to make buttermilk at home! Simply combine lemon juice or vinegar with whole milk and voila, you’ve got buttermilk!
- Add a filling! My nutella beignet recipe, for example, gives you an idea! You can add a filling like peanut butter or chocolate ganache to make these even more decadent!
- Milk powder is an excellent addition to the dough for flavor and texture. If you don’t have any, simply omit it. They’re still be delicious!
How To Make Beignets
Step 1: Bloom the yeast: Combine yeast, warm water, and a little sugar and let it sit until bubbly, then whisk in the eggs, egg yolk, vanilla bean paste, and buttermilk.
Step 2: Mix the dough: Combine dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, add the yeast mixture, and use the dough hook attachment to mix until a shaggy dough forms. then add butter gradually until fully incorporated and the dough becomes smooth and elastic and no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl. Transfer dough to a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
Step 3: Roll it out: Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface, cut beignets into squares,
Step 4: Fry it up! Fry in hot oil until slightly puffed and golden brown on all sides. Drain briefly on a wire rack, then generously dust with powdered sugar while warm.
Pro Tips for the Best Beignets
- Monitor the temperature of your oil with a candy thermometer or deep fryer thermometer. Monitoring the oil temperature is crucial to preventing the beignets from browning too quickly (too hot) or becoming too greasy because the oil isn’t hot enough. Keep the oil between 350-375 degrees F.
- Place beignets on paper towels or a wire rack after frying to let any frying oil drip off. This prevents the beignets from becoming greasy too.
- Fry in batches to prevent overcrowding the pot – it’ll prevent the beignets from cooking properly and will also lower the temperature of the oil. I like to use a dutch oven and fill with about 4 inches of oil. This allows me to fry 3-4 at a time, giving the beignets several room to cook evenly.
- Drain excess oil, then load up on powdered sugar! Dust the beignets with powdered sugar while they’re hot so it melts slightly and clings like magic.
- Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the beignets. This will offer the cleanest edges and will prevent the dough from tearing.
Recipe FAQs
The ingredients for beignets and donuts are quite similar, however, the quantities differ. This differences in these quantities make it so that beignets aren’t as dense as donuts. Donuts tend to have a more dense crumb where beignets are more light and pillowy.
I would say that the only down side of beignets are that they taste best fresh out of the oil. They don’t keep very well. Per my experience, they can certainly be reheated (about 10 seconds in the microwave) but they don’t have the same texture as when they’re fresh out of the oil. But! They will keep for about 3 days… they just taste best on day one.
Beignets being sold in threes was popularized by the founder of Cafe Du Monde – noting that one beignet is never enough and three is the perfect amount for sharing.
Use a neutral oil with a high smoke point like vegetable oil, canola oil, or peanut oil. You want clean flavor and consistent heat.
You can, but they won’t be traditional beignets. Baked versions are more like rolls or buns—still tasty, just not that iconic crispy-outside and fluffy interior.
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New Orleans Style Beignets
Equipment
- Dutch Oven or Large Pot
- Pizza Cutter or Sharp Knife (to cut the beignets)
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
- 1/2 cup Water, (warm, about 105-110 degrees F)
- 2 1/2 cups Bread Flour
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 2 tbsp Milk Powder
- 1/2 cup Sugar, (+ 1 tbsp for the yeast mixture)
- 1 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste , (or vanilla extract)
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 2/3 cup Buttermilk
- 1/2 cup Salted Butter, (room temperature)
- 5 cups vegetable oil, any neutral oil with high smoke point
- 2 cups Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, warm 1/2 cup of water in the microwave for about 20 seconds, until lukewarm. Add 2 1/4 tsp of yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar and whisk together. Allow yeast to bloom and become bubbly and puffy for about 10 minutes. Then whisk in eggs, egg yolk, vanilla bean paste, and buttermilk. 1/2 cup Water 2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast 2 Eggs 1 Egg Yolk 1 tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste 2/3 cup Buttermilk
- In a stand mixer, add bread flour, all purpose flour, milk powder, remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, kosher salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Pour the yeast mixture into dry ingredients and mix the dough together with a rubber spatula, just until a shaggy dough begins to form. Attach the dough hook attachment, knead on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until the dough comes together, then begin adding butter about 2 tbsps at a time, ensuring the butter is fully incorporated prior to adding more. 2 1/2 cups Bread Flour 2 cups All Purpose Flour 2 tbsp Milk Powder 1/2 cup Sugar 1 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt 1/2 tsp Nutmeg 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 1/2 cup Salted Butter
- Once the butter is all added, increase mixer speed to medium high speed and continue to mix for 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl.
- Spray a large mixing bowl with oil (or cooking spray), and place the dough in the greased bowl. Allow dough to rise in a warm place (or in the oven with the light on) for about 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.
- Once dough has risen, begin heating oil in a large dutch oven pot to 350-375 degrees F. 5 cups vegetable oil, any neutral oil with high smoke point
- Punch down the dough and place onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll dough out until it's about a 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into 3×3 inch squares. Add the beignets to the hot oil. Turn every 30 seconds, cooking until golden brown, for a total of about 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the beignets from oil and let them cool for 2-3 minutes, then sprinkle with powdered sugar using a fine mesh sieve. 2 cups Powdered Sugar
Notes
- Monitor the temperature of your oil with a candy thermometer or deep-fry thermometer. Monitoring the oil temperature is crucial to preventing the beignets from browning too quickly (too hot) or becoming too greasy because the oil isn’t hot enough. Keep the oil between 350-375 degrees F.
- Place beignets on paper towels or a wire rack after frying to let any frying oil drip off. This prevents the beignets from becoming greasy too.
- Fry in batches to prevent overcrowding the pot – it’ll prevent the beignets from cooking properly and will also lower the temperature of the oil. I like to use a dutch oven and fill with about 4 inches of oil. This allows me to fry 3-4 at a time, giving the beignets several room to cook evenly.
- Drain briefly, then load up on powdered sugar! Dust the beignets with powdered sugar while they’re hot so it melts slightly and clings like magic.
- Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the beignets. This will offer the cleanest edges and will prevent the dough from tearing.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These came out so good! Way easier to make than I thought, thanks!
Thank you, so glad to hear!
Made these last week for Mardi Gras. They were perfectly crispy and airy. Better than cafe du monde!!
Woohoo!
Being from Utah (land of jello salad and freeze dried meals), I’ve never had the pleasure of eating a beignet. Luckily for me that has now changed. My kids and I made these without any issue and smothered them in honey and powdered sugar á la Princess and the Frog. I’ve never fried dough before so I had a bit of a learning curve with getting the temp of the oil right, but once I got that down each beignet turned our fluffy and soft. I loved that the ingredients for these were fairly simple and things I usually have on hand. We will for sure be adding this recipe to our tried and true favorites.
Omg yay! This makes me so happy! I love that you added honey and powdered sugar on top like princess and the frog, that’s so fun! Thank you for review 🙂
Wow! These beignets brought back so many memories for me! I’ve had some amazing beignets in my time, these were up there with them!
These beignets are so fluffy and so good! I could not stop eating them! Thanks for the great recipe!
I’ve been itching to visit New Orleans lately and your beignets transported me back without leaving my house. Thank you!