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Now you can have 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 beignet recipe!
Beignets Recipe
We’re heading to New Orleans for vacation today! And I’m SO ready for it. But before we head to the airport, I’m popping in so I can share these beignets with you. And while I can’t say they’re exactly as good as the ones they serve at Café du Monde (aka the best beignets in New Orleans), I can say they’re pretty darn close. So yeah, I guess you could say this is my copycat Cafe du Monde recipe!
They fry up crispy, chewy, and golden brown! Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm!
What is a Beignet?
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. They’re best served hot and are best paired with a cup of coffee, or café au lait!
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Tips and Tricks:
- First things first: you need a deep fry (aka candy 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’s less than 10 bucks and I’ve probably used it over a hundred times!
- To proof the yeast mixture, your 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.
- Because beignets are best eaten hot, I highly suggest serving these as soon as possible! Once they’ve sat, they become soggy and unappealing.
- 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, and the vitamin C increases the elasticity of the gluten and its ability to retain gas as the dough rises.
- The dough does need to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours. The good news? It can be made up to 24 hours in advance!
- You should also know this recipe makes a TON of beignets, so I suggest having friends over to help you eat them all 😉
- Finally, don’t skip the confectioner’s sugar! Without it, the beignets are quite plain. To make “dressing” the beignets an easy affair, place them in a paper bag – a few at a time – with a generous amount of sugar and shake for a few seconds. Be sure to have paper towels nearby too… as there’s sure to be a little mess!
Serve these warm, with extra powdered sugar and strong coffee. And enjoy!
If you try this recipe for New Orleans-Style Beignets, let me know what you think! Leave a comment below, and don’t forget to snap a pic and tag it #bakerbynature on instagram! Seeing your creations makes my day ♥
More Beignet Recipes:
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!
Mine came out beautiful and my family loved them!!
I need to see the inside when they’re done hehe. I tried them at four different places in Nola and the best we’re very chewy instead of light like a donut. Recipes without bread flour I will not make!
Can I cut the recipe in half? I don’t need to feed a crowd
Yes, of course!
I’ve had them in New Orleans and they are so good so I think I might try this recipe ✌️✌️
Can you fry them in an air fryer? I’m addicted to mine and always trying new things. I love beignets, and did fry first ones in oil, but…lol. Small kitchen and space and was wondering about air fryer. Maybe brush oil on and cook at 340°? For about two min? I’ll have to try. I was just curious if anyone else had tried it.
I tried to air fry them (coated with oil before and midway through at 335 F…. took about 6 minutes before I gave up on the air fry method ) and they were very hard on the outside (too dry and thick for a beignet ). I ended up doing a deep fry and I saw them puff up into their should-be form and the rest is history.
For those who cannot have eggs, I used 6 tablespoons of Just Egg and they turned out perfect!
How long does it take for the yeast mixture to rise?
What can I substitute the peanut oil with
Can I use vegetable or sunflower oil?
Can you freeze them or the dough
I don’t recommend it.
can you freeze this dough?
Approximately how many does the recipe yield?
I cut the recipe in half and used half of that and it made 10. I would say the full recipe would make 40! Still used a full packet of yeast for 1/2 recipe, and it turned out fine.
If you cut the recipe in half and it made 10 …how can a full recipe make 40?
She cut the recipe in half , then cut the half in half. So she basically made 1/4 of a batch. 10 per 1/4 batch would equate to 40 total if the full batch was made.
Or she made bigger Beignets.
I’m single so I’m cutting it in half, too. Also so I don’t waste,ingredients the firet time if they don’t turn out. Let’s face it, fried dough lumps in powdered sugar aren’t an everyday heathy choice, but sometimes ya just need it. They seem to have lots of big community and family centered events in NOLA so it makes sense for their recipes to be bigger. Especially since these are better right out of the fryer, what would I do with all the cold extras? No room in my freezer. Thanks for saying how many it makes.
Why would you complicate your life with live yeast?
Why not?…if you truly love to bake! Fresh bread, hot rolls, cinnamon rolls, and these beignets are wonderful right out of the oven.
(P.S. Ever try making rolls with ‘dead’ yeast?)