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Easy Mandazi Without Yeast

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Author: Imma

Easy Mandazi Without Yeast is a time-saving take on the classic East African beignet. Enjoy the warm spices and fluffy texture you’d expect from regular mandazi. However, it comes together much quicker and easier with self-rising flour or baking powder. 

Dipping a soft and decadent mandazi in caramel sauce

What excites me about this easy mandazi recipe is freshly grated coconut, cardamom, and nutmeg. I was never a fan of cardamom until I tried this recipe. Now, it’s a pantry staple, and, in the right recipe, it’s delicious.

Mandazi might not be figure-friendly, but boy is it a delightful indulgence. That’s why I have three (now four) recipes: OG mandazi, soft mini mandazi, and baked mandazi.

This easy mandazi is the super quick yeast-free version with self-rising flour or baking powder and is ready in no time. Can I get a thumbs-up? Thank you. 😜

Content…

What Is It?
Recipe Ingredients
How to Make It
Recipe Variations
Tips and Tricks
Make-Ahead Instructions
Serving and Storage Instructions
What to Serve
More Addictive African Pastry Recipes to Try
Enjoying insanely delicious easy mandazi that comes together quickly

What Is Mandazi?

Mandazi is a popular East African street food somewhere between a doughnut and a beignet. The warmly spiced and traditionally yeasted dough with coconut milk and fresh coconut delivers a beautifully soft texture. They’re highly addictive, so be warned!

Recipe Ingredients

  1. Flour – Get out that pantry staple: all-purpose flour. A touch of baking powder is a fast leavening agent for this low-maintenance dough. If you have self-rising flour, you can use that instead. Just skip the baking powder.  
  2. Sugar and Spice – Mandazi isn’t super sweet, so just a touch of sugar will do to sweeten up the dough. Crushed cardamom and grated nutmeg or cinnamon complement the coconut flavor for a warm, cozy taste.
  3. Coconut – Coconut milk moistens the dough, while coconut flakes throughout make it decadent.
  4. Butter adds richness to the overall flavor of these pastries.  
  5. Egg – Add one egg to the mandazi dough for soft and fluffy results. 
  6. Oil – You’ll need a neutral-tasting oil with a high smoke point to fry the mandazi.

How to Make Easy Mandazi Without Yeast

Make the dough and shape it

Make the Dough

  • Dry Ingredients – Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, sugar, cardamom, and nutmeg in a large bowl. (Photo 1)
  • Wet Ingredients – Gently add the liquid ingredients: eggs, butter, and milk. Combine until the mixture comes together and the dough is smooth. (Photos 2-3)
  • Roll out the dough into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Cut into bite-sized pieces or triangles like in the picture. (Photos 4-5)
Shape the pastry and fry it

Fry the Mandazi

  • Heat Oil – Add vegetable oil to a large saucepan until it’s at least three inches deep (about 5 centimeters). Too little oil will result in flatter mandazi. Heat over medium until it’s 350℉ (180℃).
  • Fry the mandazi until golden brown, 3-5 minutes, depending on the size. (Photo 6)
  • Serve – Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Serve warm.
Freshly fried and ready to enjoy, easy mandazi without yeast is fast

Recipe Variations

  1. Use yeast. If you aren’t in a hurry, you can certainly use yeast instead of baking powder. I’m using baking powder in this recipe as a time saver.
  2. Customize the spices. Feel free to spice these up however you want to. Warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg are great for sweet mandazi. Or leave out the sugar and use savory spices for a savory snack.
  3. Easy mandazi without frying. To avoid fried foods, arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprayed with a little cooking oil. Bake them for 10-12 minutes until they turn golden brown. Or you can spray them lightly with oil and air fry them at 350℉ (180℃) for about 10 minutes.

Tips and Tricks

  1. An electric coffee grinder crushes the cardamom seeds with minimal effort. Or you can use mortar and pestle, which is effective but requires a little more energy. 💪
  2. If the mandazi dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour. If it’s too hard, add a little bit of water. The dough shouldn’t be too sticky when touched, but it’s better to err on the side of less flour than more flour.
  3. If you think three inches of oil sounds like overkill, it isn’t. Too little oil will result in flatter mandazi. We want them nice and tall and fluffy.

Make-Ahead Instructions

Like most fried foods, these mandazis taste best fresh out of the frying pan. To save time, make the dough the night before, cover it, and keep it in the fridge. Then bring it to room temperature before you fry it the next day.

Serving and Storage Instructions 

Serve mandazi warm, dusted with cinnamon sugar, or drizzled with caramel sauce.

Refrigerate leftover mandazis in a sealed container for up to 3 days. For best results, reheat them a bit before finishing them off. I like using the toaster oven or air fryer, but a few seconds in the microwave would also work. 

Dipping 2 easy mandazis in decadent caramel sauce for a soul food treat

What Goes With Easy Mandazi

This African snack goes beautifully with a chai latte, but you could also serve it with cold drinks, like a blended Thai iced coffee. Dipping them in caramel sauce or drizzling them with luscious rum sauce is heavenly. 😇

More Addictive African Pastry Recipes to Try

  1. Puff Puffs
  2. Sambusas
  3. Koeksisters
  4. Chin Chin
  5. Accra Cassava

This blog post was originally published in February 2015 and has been updated with additional tips and beautiful photos

Dipping a soft and decadent mandazi in caramel sauce
Print

Easy Mandazi Without Yeast

A time-saving take on the classic East African beignet. Enjoy the warm spices and fluffy texture you'd expect from regular mandazi. However, it comes together much quicker and easier with self-rising flour or baking powder.
Makes about 32 mandazi
4.95 from 17 votes
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 35 minutes
African
Servings 8

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Ingredients

  • 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour (plus more as needed)
  • 2½ teaspoons (12g) baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (2-3g) salt
  • ¼-⅓ cup (50-60g) sugar
  • ½ teaspoon (1g) ground cardamom (grind cardamom pods in a spice or coffee grinder for the best flavor)
  • ½ teaspoon (1g) freshly grated nutmeg or ground cinnamon
  • 2-3 tablespoons (10-15g) grated coconut or coconut flakes
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 tablespoons (42g) melted butter
  • ½ cup (120ml) evaporated milk or coconut milk
  • warm water as needed
  • vegetable oil for deep-frying
  • powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar to sprinkle (optional)
  • caramel sauce (optional)

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients until well combined: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, sugar, cardamom, and nutmeg.
  • Gently add the liquid ingredients: eggs, butter, and milk. Combine until the mixture comes together and the dough is smooth. If the dough is too sticky, add a little bit of flour. If it's too hard, add a little bit of water. The dough shouldn't be too sticky when touched, but it's better to err on the side of less flour than more flour.
  • Roll out the dough into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Cut into bite-sized pieces or triangles like in the picture.
  • Pour vegetable oil into a large saucepan until it's at least three inches deep (or about 5 centimeters). Too little oil will result in flatter mandazi. Heat over medium until the oil is 350℉ (180℃).
  • Fry the mandazi until golden brown, 3-5 minutes, depending on the size. Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Serve warm.

Tips & Notes:

  • An electric coffee grinder crushes the cardamom seeds with minimal effort. Or you can use mortar and pestle, which is effective but requires a little more energy.
  • If the mandazi dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour. If it’s too hard, add a little bit of water. The dough shouldn’t be too sticky when touched, but it’s better to err on the side of less flour than more flour.
  • If you think three inches of oil sounds like overkill, it isn’t. Too little oil will result in flatter mandazi. We want them nice and tall and fluffy.
  • Please remember that the nutritional information is a rough estimate, doesn’t include the toppings, and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 4mandazi| Calories: 461kcal (23%)| Carbohydrates: 56g (19%)| Protein: 8g (16%)| Fat: 23g (35%)| Saturated Fat: 8g (50%)| Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g| Monounsaturated Fat: 5g| Trans Fat: 0.3g| Cholesterol: 39mg (13%)| Sodium: 346mg (15%)| Potassium: 143mg (4%)| Fiber: 2g (8%)| Sugar: 9g (10%)| Vitamin A: 209IU (4%)| Vitamin C: 0.4mg| Calcium: 146mg (15%)| Iron: 3mg (17%)
Author: Imma
Course: Appetizer, Dessert/Snack
Cuisine: African
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Comments & Reviews

  1. Priscilla says

    Awesome and easy recipe! I left out the spices coz I’m not a fan and used buttermilk instead of coconut milk and they turned out awesome! Thanks for a great recipe

    Reply

  8. Robin says

    Can I use ground cardamom instead of crushed? All new to me but my friend made these and now I want to try. Thank you 🙂

    Reply

  10. Ann says

    5 stars
    made this tonight with my 8yr old son..and could not have been easier.love the mandazi.perfect recipe even for basic cooks like me. Asante sana

    Reply

  11. Jessica says

    The recipe reads all purpose flour but can I replace that with the self rising flour? I wasn’t sure about that. Also if I use self rising flour is the baking powder still needed? I wasn’t sure.

    Reply

      • imma africanbites says

        Hi. My apologies. I seemed to have overlooked this one. Yes, you can replace all-purpose flour with self-rising and just omit the baking powder and cut back on the salt, depending on preference. Hope this helps.

  12. Mayumi says

    Hello Imma. The mandazi came out perfectly. Once my family took the first bite they couldn’t get enough. I used a little less baking powder though and it worked. I’m definitely recommending this recipe to all my friends. Thanks a lot.

    Reply

      • Shyla Samson says

        5 stars
        Hi Imma!
        I love your recipes! I made your mandazi yesterday and we loved it. I have one question on the recipe however: I see the need for 1/2 cup of warm water but dont see when or how that should be used in the recipe on the instructions part. Can you let me know when and how I should be using the 1/2 cup of warm water? Thank you! I love the recipe and want to do it right!

      • ImmaculateBites says

        Thanks Shyla, I have updated recipe to make it clearer.The 1/2 cup water is use as needed.

  14. Kerubo says

    Way over in the Australian Outback, I was just longing to make tasty manadzi, having not made them for a long time. I hopped onto the internet, hoping for just the right recipe n Lo, n behold, I handed on your website.

    How grateful I am for your exquisite little tasties, easily made n vey entertaining for all who put their hands forward to catch a piece.

    What is Christmas without mandazi…!!!

    God bless you.

    Reply