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Now you can enjoy New Orleans-Style Beignets without leaving the comfort of your home! If you’ve never enjoyed these soft and pillowy fried doughnuts before, you’re in for a treat. Because this is the best fried beignet recipe! Serve beignets warm, with plenty of powdered sugar!
Copycat Café du Monde Beignets
We’re heading to New Orleans for vacation today and I couldn’t be more excited to chill out in the big easy! Give me all the fried dough, boozy iced coffees, and gumbo, please and thank you!
But before we head to the airport, I’m popping in to share my favorite deep fried beignets recipe with you. Aka copycat Café du Monde beignets, which are the best in New Orleans.
They fry up crispy, chewy, and golden brown! And you serve the beignets warm, covered in powdered sugar, with piping hot coffee. Sweet enough to be dessert but we love making these for breakfast or brunch!
What is a Beignet?
To put it simply, beignets are square shaped pieces of dough that are deep fried and generously sprinkled with confectioners sugar.
- Leftovers taste ok at room temperature, but they don’t hold up well over time.
- The word beignet is French, and translates to fried dough or fritter.
- Unlike traditional doughnuts, they have a unique square shape.
- Texture wise, they’re crispy on the outside, with an airy pillowy soft interior.
- When it comes to taste, they’re not overly sweet. Which is why they’re served covered in lots and lots of powdered sugar.
- Best served hot, with a cafe au lait or cup of coffee.
- You’ll need a deep fry thermometer for this recipe. Because if your hot oil temperature is off, your fried dough will be too. This is the candy thermometer I use, and I love it. It costs me less than 10 bucks, and I’ve probably used it over a hundred times!
- To proof the yeast mixture, your warm water should be between 110 and 115 degrees (F). If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast cells, and if it’s too cold, the yeast will remain dormant and the dough won’t rise.
- This recipe requires bread flour. Bread flour is a high-gluten flour that has a tiny amount of barley flour and vitamin C added. The barley flour helps the yeast activate. The vitamin C increases the elasticity of the gluten and its ability to retain gas as the dough rises.
- The dough will double in size as it rests. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours so it has time to properly develop.
- Fry the dough working in batches. If you crowd the oil, the beignets won’t get crispy or golden brown.
How to Serve Beignets
- As soon as you see the fried dough has achieved a golden brown color, remove them from the oil.
- Transfer them to a paper towel lined baking sheet to absorb some of the oil.
- Once cool enough to handle, transfer them to a large platter.
- Cover with powdered sugar and serve beignets warm!
As mentioned a few times earlier, I don’t suggest saving these for a future use. They get soggy after a few hours. So they’re best eaten right after making!
More Beignet Recipes:
If you can’t make it to New Orleans this year to enjoy cripsy golden brown fried dough… give it a try at home! Full step-by-step recipe video in the recipe card below!
New Orleans-Style Beignets
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups warm water, between 110 and 115 degrees (F)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 7 cups bread flour
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 cups peanut oil, for deep frying
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- In a medium-size bowl, add the warm water, sugar, and yeast and whisk well to combine. Sit aside for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture has bubbled up and become foamy.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and evaporated milk. Beat in 3 and 1/2 cups of the flour until smooth. Turn the mixer to low speed and slowly pour in the yeast mixture (careful here – this mixture can splash up if added to quickly!); beat until smooth. Add in the butter and beat until incorporated. Finally, beat in the remaining 3 and 1/2 cups of flour and salt. Beat until dough is smooth and cohesive; about 2 minutes. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or up to 24 hours.
- Line a large rimmed baking sheet with three layers of paper towels, set aside.
- In a large enameled cast-iron pan, heat 4-inches of oil to 360 degrees (F). Remove the dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a 1/4-inch thick rectangle. Cut the dough into 2 and 1/2-inch squares.
- In batches, fry the dough until they puff up and are golden brown in color, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beignets to the prepared baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
- Dust with powdered sugar and serve at once!
My family on my dad’s side are Louisiana Mudd Cajun…. Being able to recreate Cafe Du Monde’s Beignets has been such an amazing pleasure. And Ashley you captured the essence of New Orleans and of home perfectly ….. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
i read somewhere that its not necessary to use a ton of yeast so i halved the amount in this recipe and let my dough sit in the fridge for over 24 hours so it wouldnt have a yeasty taste. it came out perfect( thought it took forever to rise) and the beignets taste amazing. its been a few years since ive had real beignets though …
im literaly cracking up at this im in 8th grade and i have to make these as a project i hope this does not happen to me
Very pleased with how well these turned out! I made the batter yesterday afternoon and fried them up this morning; about 16 hours proof time in the fridge. Wish I could post a picture, since they rose beautifully and looked like little pillows of heavenly goodness! Researched other recipes to compare for any hints to ensure good results. I really doubted they would turn out since I couldn’t find specific details of how the dough should appear or feel after following the recipe exactly. The dough was rather clumpy even after it rose overnight, and was actually weirdly dry on the inside in the morning. I resisted the temptation to put oil on the dough before putting it in the fridge the night before. I think it’s just one of those recipes you have to follow exactly. They turned out delightfully airy and flavorful, especially with coffee and OJ, just like we’ve experienced at Cafe Du Monde! They definitely puffed up better by allowing the dough to rest approximately 30 minutes after taking it out of the fridge prior to rolling the dough out, and then resting it again for at least 15 min. after cutting them into squares. I made sure not to overwork the dough, but just barely enough to form it into a neat ball for rolling; and also added only a scant amount of flour so it wouldn’t stick to the rolling mat; then made sure to roll it to the exact depth and beignet dimensions the recipe stated. I did add a couple teaspoons of cornstarch to the powdered sugar so it wouldn’t clump together. And it helped to even the browning and to puff them up, by continuing to spoon hot oil over each of them while frying. Lastly, I made sure to fry in very small batches, 3-4 at a time, which kept the oil at a more consistent temperature. I loved their subtle and delicate vanilla flavor, which was made to shine with the excessive amount of powdered sugar! Wish I’d had cottonseed oil to fry them in just to see if it would affect the taste at all. Overall, I LOVED EVERY BITE!
Great recipe. I went to 1/8” thick dough to get an open center to put a little jam inside.
Does this recipe freeze good for later?
What can you substitute the eggs for? What else can you use in place of them?
Hi Barbara, I’m sorry to say I do not have an egg substitute for this recipe.
We have a family member who would LOVE Beingets however he has an allergy to Peanuts.
Is it possible to substitute another frying oil such as Canola (rape seed).
Can you make them in an air fryer?
Thank you for this recipe. Have been looking for a good Beignet recipe since I moved from New Orleans. This has been the closest one. Love the Beignet!!! Miss getting them in shops in New Orleans. Homemade is always better.
Overall like the recipe and they turned out nicely (my son made them for the family), but I question the use of the standmixer paddle (rather than using the dough hook) for the entire procedure, especially after the 2nd addition of flour. I was in another part of the house but could hear the motor really struggling, and ran into the kitchen to have him switch to the hook.