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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!
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?)