I grew up eating Puff Puff, a popular traditional West African deep-fried dough that I adore down to this day, which means when it comes to fried doughs, I have pretty high expectations.
That said, during my first Mardi Gras experience in New Orleans, I got to try a heavenly bite of the magical light as a feather fried dough generously covered in powdered sugar that is the New Orleans beignet. 😍
From then on, Cafe du Monde’s beignets (and beignets in general) have had a special place in my heart.
What is a Beignet?
Beignets are sweet treats you’ll find almost every patisserie in New Orleans. Essentially, they are a cross between a donut and a fritter.
Dubbed as the official state doughnut of Louisiana, these rectangular treats are deep-fried, pillowy, light, and puffy doughnuts made with a yeasted dough and just the right amount of sweetness with a dusting of powdered sugar.
Recipe Ingredients
Below are the main ingredients that you’ll need in making these popular doughy delights.
- Yeast – An ingredient that makes our pastry light and airy, but use warm water to activate it.
- Evaporated Milk – This shelf-stable milk has been simmered until about 60 percent of the water content evaporates and then canned. It’s slightly creamier than fresh milk but has less fat than cream. (See my guide on how you can make Homemade Evaporated Milk.) Any regular milk will work fine if in case you wish to substitute the evaporated milk, but it won’t be as flavorful.
- Sugar – This kitchen staple is ideal for making all kinds of pastries.
- Egg – This binder is pivotal to the texture of many baked goods, beignets included.
- Vanilla Extract – Give your pastry a flavor boost with this ingredient. And you can make one at home, too. Go check out my Homemade Vanilla Extract recipe.
- Flour – Perfect for sweet and savory dishes alike, all-purpose flour is the main ingredient in most pastries.
- Butter – Creamy and flavorful, butter is a key ingredient bakers use to give their goods a delicious taste and texture. You can substitute butter with vegetable shortening, but I prefer the texture and the buttery notes in my beignets.
- Corn Oil – Replace corn oil with any other flavorless oil to fry your beignets. Peanut oil is pretty good, though.
How to Make Beignets
Prepare the Dough
- Activate the Yeast – In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine lukewarm water and yeast. Let the mixture do its job for about 5 minutes or until it’s dissolved and looks a little frothy. (Photos 1-2)
- Add the Liquids – Lightly whisk evaporated milk, sugar, salt, egg, and vanilla extract. Add it to the yeast mixture.
- Mix in the Flour – Mix in about 2 cups flour and continue mixing with a hand or dough mixer. If using a stand mixer, mix for about 1-2 minutes. (Photo 3)
- Now the Butter – Finally, add melted butter and mix until the dough is sticky but smooth. Add in additional flour (if needed) to make a soft dough. (Photo 4)
- Knead the Dough – Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 1-2 minutes.
- Let it Rise – Place the beignet dough in a greased bowl, turning once to coat it. Cover loosely with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 2 hours or until doubled in size. (Photos 5-6)
- Punch the dough down and remove it from the bowl.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about ¼ – 1/3 inch thick. (Photo 7)
- Form the Beignets – Cut the dough into 1 1/2 to 2″ squares using a sharp knife or pizza cutter. (Photo 8)
- Let it rest for about 10 minutes before frying.
Fry the Beignets
- Patience – Working in batches to not crowd the oil, fry the dough squares until puffy and golden brown. (Photos 9-10)
- Drain – Remove them from the oil, making a pit stop on a paper towel to soak up any extra oil.
- Dust with Powdered Sugar immediately.
- Serve and enjoy!
Tips and Tricks
- Oil should be at 375℉/190℃ when frying. Any cooler and the beignets will take longer to cook and absorb more oil (not good 😬). Any hotter and the outside can burn before the inside is cooked through.
- When mixing the yeast and water, keep in mind that the water should be somewhere between 110℉ and 115℉/43-46℃. Any hotter and the water will kill the yeast cells; any cooler and the yeast won’t activate. Your beignets won’t rise and get that classic melt-in-your-mouth texture in either situation.
- Beignets taste best fresh, and this recipe makes for about 35-40 2-inch beignets, so invite some friends over and share this delicacy along with some strong coffee and good conversation. 😉
Make-Ahead Instructions
If you make your beignet dough ahead of time (up to three days), you can keep it in the fridge and fry them when you are ready.
Pro Tip: Just make sure your dough comes back to room temperature for about 30 minutes before frying.
Serving and Storage Instructions
Serve beignets piping hot, fresh out of the frying pan. Don’t forget to dust them with a healthy coat of powdered sugar and make a pot of Luzianne coffee.
Store beignets in an airtight container on your countertop at room temperature. They should keep for 2-3 days.
Reheat beignets by popping them in the microwave for 10 seconds. If you’ve got a few extra seconds, try reheating them in your countertop convection oven to get that crispy outer layer back.
FAQs
Although nothing compares to a perfectly deep-fried beignet, you could bake them if you’re trying to cut back on fat. Simply make the dough as the recipe says, preheat your oven to 400℉/205℃, then bake your beignets for about 12 minutes or until golden brown. Dusting them with extra powdered sugar makes up for not frying them. 😉
Doughnuts and beignets have different shapes and textures. Doughnuts are round, while beignets are square. In addition, donut dough has more eggs, which results in a pastry with more air pockets than beignets. Both are fried, and both are absolutely delicious. 🤤
What Goes with New Orleans Beignets
I like to follow up a spicy meal, like this African spicy oxtail stew or Asun with these sweet pastries because I find it really rounds out the meal.
Definitely serve beignets with a hot drink. Two of my faves are the chai tea latte or a pumpkin spice latte. Usually, I dial back the sweetness of my hot drink to balance the pastry’s sweetness better.
More Fried Comfort Food Recipes to Try
Watch How to Make It
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”f6rrNboF” upload-date=”2019-09-18T07:55:46.000Z” name=”New Orleans Beignets” description=” Beignets – These New Orleans doughnuts are the best! Soft, pillowy and light just like the ones eat at Cafe du Monde but taste even better! You can’t beat Homemade.” player-type=”collapse” override-embed=”false”]
This post was first published in February 2017 and has been updated with new photos and additional content.
Beignets (New Orleans)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (180 mL lukewarm water
- 1 .25-ounce packet (7 g) active dry yeast
- ½ cup (125 mL) evaporated milk
- ⅓ cup (66 g) sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) vanilla extract
- 3 ¾ – 4 cups (469-500 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons (42 g) butter, melted
- corn oil (or any flavorless oil), for frying
- powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine lukewarm water and yeast. Let the mixture do its job for about 5 minutes or until it's dissolved and looks a little frothy.
- Lightly whisk evaporated milk, sugar, salt, egg, and vanilla extract. Add it to the yeast mixture.
- Mix in about 2 cups flour and continue mixing with a hand or dough mixer. If using a stand mixer, mix for about 1-2 minutes.
- Finally, add melted butter and mix until the dough is sticky but smooth. Add in additional flour (if needed) to make a soft dough.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 1-2 minutes. Place the beignet dough in a greased bowl, turning once to coat it. Cover loosely with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 2 hours or until doubled in size.
- Punch the dough down and remove it from the bowl. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about ¼ – ⅓ inch thick.
- Cut the dough into 1 ½ to 2" squares using a sharp knife or pizza cutter. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before frying.
- Working in batches to not crowd the oil, fry the dough squares until puffy and golden brown.
- Remove them from the oil, making a pit stop on a paper towel to soak up any extra oil.
- Dust with powdered sugar immediately. Serve hot with café au lait and enjoy!!!
Tips & Notes:
- When mixing the yeast and water, keep in mind that the water should be somewhere between 110℉ and 115℉/43-46℃. Any hotter and the water will kill the yeast cells; any cooler and the yeast won’t activate. Your beignets won’t rise and get that classic melt-in-your-mouth texture in either situation.
- You can substitute butter with vegetable shortening, but I prefer the texture and buttery notes of my beignets.
- You can make the dough the day before and fry them in the morning. Just make sure you let it rest for about 30 minutes at room temperature before frying.
- Oil should be at 375℉/190℃ when frying. Any cooler and the beignets will take longer to cook and absorb more oil (not good). Any hotter and the outside can burn before the inside is cooked through.
- Any regular milk would work fine if you wish to substitute the evaporated milk.
- Corn oil or any flavorless oil is excellent for frying these beignets.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used in the recipe.
Anne Olson says
Oh my! These are delicious! Since I am new to any kind of yeast baking, I made sure I did not over flour the dough this time but followed your instructions to leave it sticky. But not too sticky that I couldn’t work with it.
I was scared my inexperience would cause them to not turn out right but they turned out fabulously! Thank you for this recipe and the steps you included!
I have one question for you. Can I use bread flour in these? I recently bought bread flour only to find out that most bread recipes do not use bread flour. Much to my surprise!
I would like to make these again and use this bag of bread flour. What is your advice?
Immaculate Bites says
Thanks so much for your feedback, Anne! Glad you loved this. Yes, you can use bread flour, 1:1. Enjoy!
Isabel Barber says
Had a beignet today for first time. Live in Mich, and had one inFrankenmuth, a touresty town. My gr-daughter bought some there and said they had a dip for them. She said there were several kinds but was rediculously expensive so wouldn’t buy any. I am planning on making them this week and if you know of any dips, would like them also. Your picture looks a better than their’s.
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Immaculate Bites says
Hi Isabel! Would love to know how my Beignets recipe turns out for you 🙂 Unfortunately, I don’t have a recipe for a Beignet dip, but if you want to fill/stuff this beignet with chocolate or jam or cream, you can do so. Just use a piping bag of your filling of choice and poke the side of the beignet with the tip of the piping bag and press the filling in. Enjoy!
Lula says
I would just heat up some heavy cream and melt some caramels (probably even ratio of each) into it to make an easy and delish caramel sauce – And/Or instead of caramels, can also let some good quality chocolate chips sit in cream that’s been heated with a little sugar and a pat of butter – after the chocolate suits in the hot cream a few minutes, stir until it’s all melted into make a super luxurious, saucy ganache! And/Or lookup a nice creme anglais recipe to pair with it. My fav is just dipping into some cafe con leche!! Yum! CAN’T WAIT to try this recipe, it sounds perfect! TYSM for sharing. I used to live in NOLA and miss beignets dearly. I haven’t found a good enough recipe yet, but I have a feeling this one will be a keeper!
Amina says
Hi Lula, sure you can try it and you would love it. Happy New Year!
Cat says
These are amazing! They came out perfect the first time, and we make them for all the birthday breakfasts in our family! I love a lot of Immaculate Bites recipes!
Immaculate Bites says
Woohoo! Thank you, Cat! I hope you’ll also try my Banana Bread Muffins, too. Perfect for birthday breakfast or snack 🙂
Atika says
My children loved it – it was fluffy and soft! The evaporated milk really was a game changer. This recipe is definitely a keeper! Thank you!
Immaculate Bites says
Woohoo! Thank you, Atika! I hope you you can also give Snowball Cookies a try 🙂
victoria holtzman says
Hi great recipe! Quick question, when making the dough the night before should I fully prepare it (cut it to size and everything) or should I leave it as a ball after its fully risen? Thanks!
Immaculate Bites says
Hi Victoria! You can fully prepare it, just don’t forget to let it rest at room temp before frying. Enjoy! 🙂
Tamie says
Hi, do you have the recipes for flavored ones such as chocolate filled and so forth?
Immaculate Bites says
Hi Tamie! I don’t have flavored beignets but you can stuff fillings, if you prefer. You can add fillings into the beignets after cooking them. Just use a piping bag with tip and fill it with your choice of stuffing. Then you can poke at the side of beignet with the tip of the piping bag and press the filling in. Enjoy! 🙂
may hawkins says
Can you stuff them
Immaculate Bites says
Hi May! Yes you can add fillings into the beignets after cooking them. Just use a piping bag with tip and fill it with your choice of stuffing. Then you can poke at the side of beignet with the tip of the piping bag and press the filling in. Enjoy!
Haileigh Torres says
This recipe was amazing! I didn’t have evaporated milk but regular milk worked just fine. My sister and I love your recipes!
Immaculate Bites says
Wow! Thank you for sharing that, Haileigh! 🙂
Sampriti says
This recipe is so easy to follow. The beignets were divine – soft, fluffy and just perfect. If anyone’s looking for a good beignet recipe , look no further
Immaculate Bites says
Thanks so much, Sampriti! 🙂
Kat says
Perfection! This was my first attempt at beignets, or any fried dough. Although you walk us through your recipes step by step and your videos are amazing, my cooking skills aren’t as advanced as yours and I shy away from any recipes that require deep frying. However, I love beignets and they are hard to find in Las Vegas, so I decided to give it a try and I’m so glad I did. I followed your recipe exactly and they turned out just perfectly. I fried them the morning after I made the dough and my family couldn’t have been more excited. What a treat! Thank you so much.
Now that I have a wee bit of confidence, I may actually try your Krispy Kreme recipe.
Alexa says
I accidentally used a little too much oil when putting it in the bowl to rise and my dough never rises or doubled in size, is this still okay??
Immaculate Bites says
Hi Alexa! The oil prevents crust from forming on the dough while proofing them, it doesn’t really affect how the dough rise. To help you with proofing the dough:
1. Give it more time to rest, because active dry yeast works slower than instant dry yeast.
2. If making next time, you can proof the yeast first using warm water before adding to the dough mixture. Make sure that the water is not hot as it will kill the yeast which will cause a “dead dough” or a dough that didn’t rise.
3. To put the dough that didn’t rise in good use after doing 1 and 2, I suggest to just make it into a biscuit or rolling it out thinly to make a flat bread.
I hope this helps! Let me know how it goes 🙂
Immaculate Bites says
Yes, Kris, instant dry yeast would be okay.
Kashara says
With using the instant yeast we wouldn’t use the water to activate the yeast, would that make a difference in the recipe?
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Kashara!
It really does not make that much of a difference when using active yeast.
Kiareliz says
I was wondering if I could make the dough without a stand mixer because I don’t have one and will it effect the batter?
Immaculate Bites says
Hi Kiareliz! You can make the dough by hand, no effect 🙂
Regina Chan says
We love these soooooo much! My 15 y.o says it’s 11 out of 10!!
Immaculate Bites says
Yay!!! Thank you!
Kelly says
I’ve made this recipe many times and it always comes out great! I love how easy and beginner friendly it is. The only change I’ve made is it seems like every time I usually need a good 1- 1.5 additional cups of flour than the recipe calls for. Not sure if I’m just doing something wrong but before I add more, the consistency is usually more of a batter until I add more flour. But it always works out! Also, I’ve made this recipe when I had no eggs in my house by swapping with unsweetened applesauce and they still came out awesome! Love this one.
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Kelly. It seems to work out just fine on my end. Can you please double check your measurements?