Easy Beignet Recipe! (Fried dough) (2024)

FAQs

Are beignets the same as fried dough? ›

Beignets – Traditional New Orleans fried dough covered in powdered sugar and served fresh from the fryer. These chewy, yet airy sweet treats are best served with a cup of hot coffee.

Your cooking oil should be at 370 degrees Fahrenheit. We use cottonseed oil at the Cafe Du Monde, and we recommend you use cottonseed oil. However you may use any vegetable oil you wish. Remember that the temperature of the oil will drop when you add the beignet dough to the oil.

When deep frying, it's important to carefully maintain the temperature of your oil. If it gets too hot, your beignets will burn on the outside and remain raw inside. If it's too cold, the beignets will stay flat instead of puffing up, absorb too much oil, and become heavy and greasy rather than light and crispy.

New Orleans-style beignets: New Orleans-style beignets are made from an enriched yeast dough — similar to a doughnut — that contains milk, butter, and eggs for color and texture. New Orleans-style beignets also wear a much thicker coat of powdered sugar than their French counterpart.

Italians 🇮🇹 have several different names for this delicious fried dough, such as pizza fritte, fried doughnuts, zeppole, or sfinci. Fried pizza dough is made in a variety of ways, depending on where you live. These fluffy delicious bites of heaven will have you and your guests begging for more!

It is then kneaded and allowed to rise before being shaped into a pizza and baked. Fried dough, on the other hand, is typically made with flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. It is then mixed with water or milk and fried in hot oil until golden brown.

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.

Heat 3/4” of oil to 360°F in a 10” electric frying pan, or 10” skillet set over a burner. An instant-read thermometer is a help, as you watch the oil slowly, then more quickly reach frying temperature. The dough will rise just a bit as you wait for the oil to heat.

If you want to prepare the dough ahead of time, you can do a slow rise in the refrigerator overnight. Then you can roll it out and cut the beignets. Since the dough will be cold, let the cut beignets come to room temp for about 30 minutes before frying.

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.

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.

Authentic French Quarter beignets should be lightly golden, square, a little hollow, and downright fluffy. And with this recipe and careful frying, your homemade beignets can be just as memorable.

a fritter or doughnut.

New Orleans beignets are different from the classic French beignet in that they are made with yeast to help the dough rise. French beignets, meanwhile, are a choux pastry, a pastry that relies on moisture content instead of yeast to facilitate rising. Today, beignets are considered the official donut of Louisiana.

The texture of a good beignet is also juicier and the individual doughs balls are less splintered than the funnels of a funnel cake. A beignet looks more similar to a powdered donut than a funnel cake.

Variations of fried dough can be found across cuisines internationally; however, the origin of the term beignet is specifically French.

Doughnuts are usually deep fried from a flour dough, but other types of batters can also be used. Various toppings and flavors are used for different types, such as sugar, chocolate or maple glazing. Doughnuts may also include water, leavening, eggs, milk, sugar, oil, shortening, and natural or artificial flavors.

This recipe is similar to the modern one for fry bread (or frybread), a version of which has been a key part of Navajo tribal tradition since the 19th century. Other cultures have their own names for this crispy/tender treat, including frogs, beaver tails, elephant ears, and pizza fritta (made with yeast).

Beignets only have a single rise, unlike doughnuts, which have a second rise after they are cut out. Instead, beignets go from the initial rise to cutting and frying in pretty quick succession. Once fried, they are coated, and I mean absolutely covered, in powdered sugar.