Best Beignets Recipe (2024)

Jump to Recipe

This website may contain affiliate links and advertising so that we can provide recipes to you. Read my disclosure policy.

Best Beignets Recipe is a light, fluffyFrenchdoughnut that are cut into squares and puffed up when fried in oil and then end by sprinkling with powdered sugar or dipped inchocolate syrup. The best pillowy-soft and fluffy breakfast to wake up to!Best Beignets Recipe (1)

Easy to Make Beignets Recipe

These popular mini beignets are pillow-y soft and fluffy gems that are found in New Orleans especially during Mardi Gras. I love how cute and mini they are plus simple to make. Beignets are homemade and made from scratch. First making the beignet dough then frying it in oil. Once cooled off we like to sprinkle powdered sugar over top and dip them in chocolate syrup dipping sauce.

Beignets are a smaller version of a donut. The inside of the beignets are a little more puffy with a soft middle. These beignets are SO delicious and won’t last long. If I could make these everyday, I totally would! They are light and fluffy and just melt in your mouth. They do take a little bit longer to make because the dough does need to rise, but they are worth the wait.

What is a Beignet?

Beignets are a French pastry known as an English fritter. They are a pastry made from deep-fried dough that are cut into square shaped pieces. Then sprinkled generously with powdered sugar. It is best to serve them hot and are usually paired with a warm drink. These are known to be a breakfast or a dessert.

What is the Difference between Beignet and a Doughnut?

Both beignet and doughnuts have a lot in common but a few things that keep them apart. Beignets are a French doughnut that is made up with yeast, sweetened dough, squared cuts and then fried. Then dusted with powdered sugar. They are known to be light, airy like and pillowy pastries. Whereas a doughnuts are different by shape and texture. Doughnuts contain more eggs compared to beignets that leave them having more air pockets in them. Both are delicious and taste amazing with their differences.

Beignets Ingredients:

The ingredients are simple to make these beignets recipe. It is best to have fresh ingredients, especially the active dry yeast. This will help the dough rise properly and keep the beignet dough fluffy when fried. These are best made right away and are served hot or warm. Any kind of dipping sauce or syrup is delicious for these beignets.

  • Water:Lukewarm water is best to help activate the yeast.
  • Active Dry Yeast:Make sure your yeast has not expired and it is active.
  • Sugar: This will help activate your yeast but it also gives the beignets a sweeter taste.
  • Egg: Large egg is preferable and beaten. An egg will help bind the dough together.
  • Evaporated Milk: Thick, rich and creamy milk for your beignets to become that pillow soft and doughy inside.
  • Flour:I found that bread flour works the best but all purpose flout will work too.
  • Salt:Just a pinch!
  • Vegetable Oil: For Deep-Frying the mini beignets.
  • Powdered Sugar:Sprinkle over top the beignets once they are fried.
  • Chocolate Syrup: Dipping the delicious beignets in.

How to Make Beignets:

You can’t go wrong with this recipe! It is easy to make with a few steps that are time consuming. Don’t let that hold you back though! They are worth every minute of waiting for the dough to rise. Once the dough rises it only takes a few minutes to deep fry the beignets in oil. These are best served hot and with powdered sugar over top to sweeten the beignets.

  1. Activate the yeast:In a large bowl add the warm water and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes until it starts to proof.
  2. Whisk together:In another bowl whisk together the sugar, eggs, and evaporated milk. Whisk the egg mixture into the yeast mixture.
  3. Mix until it becomes dough:In a separate bowl add the flour and salt. Add the flour mixture one cup at a time to the yeast mixture until the dough starts to come together.
  4. Knead the beignets dough:Remove the dough from the bowl and lightly flour your surface. Knead until the dough becomes smooth and shape into a ball. Add it back to the bowl and cover and let it rise in a warm place until doubled 1-2 hours.
  5. Fry the beignets:Preheat oil in the deep fryer to 350 degrees. Roll the dough into a large rectangle and cut into 2 inch squares. Carefully drop each square into the oil and let it get golden brown on each side 1-2 minutes. Remove with a metal spider strainer. Let the beignets cool and toss in powdered sugar. Serve with chocolate or caramel sauce if desired.

Best Beignets Recipe (2)

Dipping Sauce for Mini Beginets:

Choose your favorite dipping sauces for the square pastries. My favorite is chocolate syrup or my homemade salted caramel syrup.

  • Raspberry Sauce
  • Strawberry Syrup
  • Peanut Butter warmed up

Tips For Making The Best Beignets

  • Lukewarm water: The water should be between 110 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit for lukewarm water. If the water is too hot it will essentially kill the yeast and if it is too cold the dough won’t properly rise. It is best to have it lukewarm for the beignets to rise.
  • Test your yeast: If the yeast did not start to froth up after dissolving the yeast into the lukewarm water, it is best not to continue with the dough. Unfortunately, your dough will not rise since the yeast was not active.
  • Instant or Rapid Rise Yeast:Instead of using active dry yeast, instant or rapid-rise yeast will also work. This will eliminate dissolving the yeast in the lukewarm water. Skip the step and mix the yeast directly into the dough.
  • Raising the doughquicker:To speed up the dough rising process, turn your oven on to the lowest degree, usually about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Either leave the beignets dough on top of the oven and let rise or turn off the oven and place the beignet dough into the oven and the dough will rise quickly.
  • Double therecipe:When planning to make these for a crowd, this beignets recipe can be doubled.
  • Hot oil:Make sure your oil reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit before adding the mini beignets dough in the oil. Always try one first to make sure. These beignets will fry quickly 1 to 2 minutes per side if the oil is hot.
  • Candy thermometer:If you have a candy thermometer on hand this is best to use to know your oil is hot enough while frying the beignets.

More Delicious Breakfast Recipes:

  • Secret Ingredient French Toast Recipe
  • Best Ever German Oven Pancakes
  • Delicious Cinnamon Roll Pancakes Recipe
  • Belgian Waffles
  • Perfect Crepes

Best Beignets Recipe (3)

Pin this now to find it later

Pin It

Best Beignets Recipe (4)

Save

PinPrint

Best Beignets Recipe

5 from 1 vote

By: Alyssa Rivers

Best Beignets Recipe is a light, fluffyFrenchdoughnut that are cut into squares and puffed up when fried in oil thensprinkled with powdered sugar or dipped inchocolate syrup. The Best breakfast to wake up to!

Prep Time: 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 People

Ingredients

Instructions

  • In a large bowl add the warm water and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes until it starts to proof.

  • In another bowl whisk together the sugar, eggs, and evaporated milk. Whisk the egg mixture into the yeast mixture.

  • In a separate bowl add the flour and salt. Add the flour mixture one cup at a time to the yeast mixture until the dough starts to come together.

  • Remove the dough from the bowl and lightly flour your surface. Knead until the dough becomes smooth and shape into a ball. Add it back to the bowl and cover and let it rise in a warm place until doubled 1-2 hours.

  • Preheat oil in the deep fryer to 350 degrees. Roll the dough into a large rectangle and cut into 2 inch squares. Carefully drop each square into the oil and let it get golden brown on each side 1-2 minutes. Remove with a metal spider strainer. Let the beignets cool and toss in powdered sugar. Serve with chocolate or caramel sauce if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 229kcalCarbohydrates: 47gProtein: 6gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 213mgPotassium: 83mgFiber: 1gSugar: 20gVitamin A: 45IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 35mgIron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!

Best Beignets Recipe (5)

About Alyssa Rivers

Alyssa Rivers is the author of 'The Tried and True Cookbook', a professional food photographer and experienced recipe-developer. Having a passion for cooking, her tried and true recipes have been featured on Good Morning America, Today Food, Buzzfeed and more.

Read More About Me

More Ideas

Desserts

Marry Me Cookie Bars

45 mins

Desserts

Lemon Tiramisu

3 hrs 6 mins

Cake

Carrot Cake Roll

5 hrs

Best Beignets Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my beignets not fluffy? ›

Do not add too many pieces to the oil or else the oil temperature will drop and your beignets will be fry up flat. They will not puff up. The only other reason the dough does not puff up would be if you rolled the beignet dough too flat. Try rolling the dough a little thicker.

What oil does Cafe du Monde use for beignets? ›

If it isn't, the beignets absorb too much oil and the powdered sugar melts when served and the beignet is greasy, sticky, and a hot, sweet mess of soggy dough. Cafe du Monde fries their beignets in cottonseed oil, even though most recipes call for vegetable oil.

How sticky should beignet dough be? ›

If it's not too sticky to knead, knead it on a floured surface or with the dough hook; if it's still pretty sticky, add another 1/2 cup flour. Knead until it's smooth and elastic, yet still tacky. Put the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and let rise for 1 1/2-2 hours.

What is the secret to beignets? ›

Tips for MAKING Your Fluffy Beignets:

Be sure that you oil is NIICCE and hot. We had our oil even 20 degrees hotter than the box called for and this really seemed to help the dough puff. Try to keep that oil temperature as even as possible!

What makes beignets puff up? ›

You can also allow the dough to rise overnight in the fridge. The rising time is important because it helps create a beignet that is light, puffy, and pillowy once fried.

How much powdered sugar does Cafe du Monde use in a day? ›

The worker said they replace the powdered sugar machine each hour with 50 lbs of sugar. So 50 lbs x 24 hours = 1200 lbs of sugar.

Why do beignets come in threes? ›

At that time, beignets were generally called “French Market doughnuts,” something Fernandez rectified in 1958 when he rebranded them “beignets.” Asked why beignets are always served in threes, Roman had a very simple explanation: “My grandfather always sold them in threes, so that is what we still do today.”

Are beignets supposed to be doughy in the middle? ›

Are beignets supposed to be doughy? On the inside, beignets should be light and fluffy, like a regular fried doughnut. If your final product is doughy, the oil might have been too cool when you added the beignets, causing them to absorb oil and become doughy.

What flour does Cafe du Monde use? ›

Enriched wheat flour, enriched barley flour, milk, buttermilk, salt, sugar, leavening (baking powder, baking soda, and/or yeast), natural and artificial flavoring. Do you use eggs in your beignet mix? We do not use eggs in our mix.

How many pounds of powdered sugar does Cafe du Monde use? ›

Do you know how many pounds of powdered sugar the famous Café du Monde in New Orleans goes through? To keep their famous beignets completely loaded with powdered sugar, they use approximately 5,000 lbs every week!

Can you leave beignet dough out overnight? ›

Can I let it sit overnight? Absolutely, most recipes call for an chilled overnight rest. The dough rolls out better when it's cold too. They don't need an overly long rise time before frying in the morning.

Why are my beignets raw on the inside? ›

Why are my beignets raw in the middle? Oil that's too hot will quickly brown the beignets before the centers have a chance to cook. Make sure to check your oil temperature, and reduce the heat if your beignets are browning too quickly.

Why are my beignets hollow? ›

Finally, the beignets made from dough that rested two hours and then was rolled, cut, and fried had more of a hollow center — light and airy and perfect for filling with Nutella etc, if you'd be so inclined.

Can I save beignet dough? ›

If you're not using the dough right away you can store it in the fridge for up to 48 hours. Make sure to fry the Beignets in batches and don't overcrowd the pan or the oil will cool down too much. Beignets are best served hot or warm straight after frying they don't taste nearly as good the next day.

What texture should beignets be? ›

Beignets are different than doughnuts in a few ways. First, the dough is made with a single rise. This creates a chewy texture rather than a fluffy one. Because of this, the doughnuts taste best hot from the fryer.

How do you make beignets soft again? ›

Reheat the beignets in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds or in the oven at 350 degrees F for 3-5 minutes to serve them warm. You will just want to add a fresh dusting of powdered sugar before serving. They won't be quite as good as fresh, but still pretty darn good.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Tyson Zemlak

Last Updated:

Views: 6022

Rating: 4.2 / 5 (43 voted)

Reviews: 82% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Tyson Zemlak

Birthday: 1992-03-17

Address: Apt. 662 96191 Quigley Dam, Kubview, MA 42013

Phone: +441678032891

Job: Community-Services Orchestrator

Hobby: Coffee roasting, Calligraphy, Metalworking, Fashion, Vehicle restoration, Shopping, Photography

Introduction: My name is Tyson Zemlak, I am a excited, light, sparkling, super, open, fair, magnificent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.