A fun southern favorite, this Beignet Recipe is a tasty, indulgent and homemade recipe that serves a crowd! Perfect any time of year they are a fun breakfast, snack or dessert!
My mom used to live in Mississippi for the longest time and she brought back so many amazing recipes with her and one being this Beignet Recipe.
She frequented New Orleans a lot and obviously visited Cafe Du Monde quite a few times while living down there, so the Beignets were one recipe that we would always keep making.
That is one thing that I loved about my mom living in the south, is that the food was amazing and that being from the north I get to experience some of the authentic recipes that she brought back with her.
Now I can’t attest to the “authenticity” of this Beignet Recipe, it was one that she learned to make while living down there and one that we continue to make today.
They are light, fluffy, covered with powdered sugar and absolutely amazing. You can literally eat these any time that you want, we usually have them for breakfast or dessert.
I love a good Beignet, always have. Unfortunately we do not have any place up here in Minnesota that really makes them, so I’m so happy that we have this recipe!
Some of my other favorite pastries or donuts we have on our site include: Glazed Sopapilla Bites, Cherry Danishes and Lemon Baked Donuts.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- With pantry staple items, this is an easy recipe to put together.
- This makes a large batch!
- You can serve these however you like, powdered sugar, dipping sauce, etc.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE AT BOTTOM):
Warm water
Active dry yeast
Granulated sugar
Eggs
Whole milk
Vanilla
All-purpose flour
Salted butter
Vegetable oil, for frying
Powdered sugar
HOW TO MAKE A BEIGNET RECIPE, STEP BY STEP:
- Pour the warm water into a medium size bowl. Whisk in the yeast and sugar and allow it to sit for 5 – 10 minutes to proof, it should become slightly foamy.
- Whisk in eggs, milk, and vanilla.
- Mix in ½ of the flour, then the melted butter, then the rest of the flour. Knead the mixture with your hands until the dough is smooth. If it is too sticky, you may want to add more flour, a Tablespoon at a time.
- Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a damp towel and leave it undisturbed in a warm place. Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size (1-2 hours).
- Roll out dough to ¼ inch thick. Cut into 2 ½ inch squares.
- Heat oil in a large pot to 370 degrees. You should have at least 2 inches of oil for the deep frying.
- Deep fry the beignets in batches, don’t crowd. They should pop up when you put them in the oil, or the oil is not hot enough. Spoon the oil over the tops of the beignets as the bottoms are frying. Make sure to turn them over so they are golden (not brown) on both sides. It will only take 1-2 minutes per side.
- Drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
- Sprinkle generously with powdered sugar and serve hot.
WHAT ARE BEIGNETS?
Beignet is French for fritter or donut. They originated in france where they are made mainly out of choux pastry and raised with steam, hollow on the inside and light and fluffy.
They then were popularized in New Orleans which uses a yeast based dough, which we do with these and are fried. Still light and fluffy and hollow on the inside, and covered in powdered sugar.
WHY DIDN’T MY BEIGNETS RISE?
First, check the expiration date on your yeast. If you notice that the yeast doesn’t froth up when you dissolve it in the warm water with sugar, then your yeast will not work.
Also, be sure that the water you are dissolving the yeast in is warm but not too hot, if it is too hot it will kill the yeast, but if it is too cold it will not activate the yeast.
We aim for our water to be around 110 degrees F when using active dry yeast, using a kitchen thermometer helps with this.
CAN I MAKE THESE AHEAD OF TIME?
The dough itself may be made ahead of time. You can put it into the refrigerator as soon as it is mixed. (You don’t need to leave it in a warm place to rise, it will rise in the refrigerator if you leave it at least overnight.)
And you may leave it in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Once you fry the beignets, they are best eaten right away.
WHAT ARE THESE TYPICALLY SERVED WITH?
Usually they are dusted with lots of powdered sugar, you can also serve with a powdered sugar based dipping sauce or a chocolate sauce as well.
They are also great with some hot chocolate or a cup of coffee.
HOW TO STORE:
This Beignet Recipe is really best fresh but they will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Or you can place them in a freezer container (without powdered sugar) where they will keep for 1-2 months.
Let defrost in the refrigerator or on the countertop overnight and slightly warm up in the microwave then top with powdered sugar.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- Make sure that your water is between 100-110 degrees F.
- Make sure you use active dry yeast and not instant.
- You can use any milk that you want, we just like to use whole.
- You can use a stand mixer to mix the ingredients together if you would rather not do it by hand.
- These can be made ahead, see my tips above.
- Serve with dipping sauces if you’d like.
- These can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
- Other oils can be used to fry in such as soybean, peanut, corn or sunflower, you want an oil that is well suited for high heat.
- Using a candy thermometer is great to make sure your oil keeps a consistent temperature.
If you want that perfect recipe that you can eat for breakfast, a snack or dessert then you absolutely have to make my Beignet Recipe ASAP!
If you like this recipe you might also like:
If you’ve tried this BEIGNET RECIPE or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!
Beignet Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup warm water 100-110 degrees F
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- ½ cup whole milk room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 4 cups all-purpose flour possibly a little more
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter melted
- 4 -8 cups vegetable oil for frying
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Pour the warm water into a medium size bowl. Whisk in the yeast and sugar and allow it to sit for 5 - 10 minutes to proof, it should become slightly foamy.
- Whisk in eggs, milk, and vanilla.
- Mix in ½ of the flour, then the melted butter, then the rest of the flour. Knead the mixture with your hands until the dough is smooth. If it is too sticky, you may want to add more flour, a Tablespoon at a time.
- Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a damp towel and leave it undisturbed in a warm place. Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size (1-2 hours).
- Roll out dough to ¼ inch thick. Cut into 2 ½ inch squares.
- Heat oil in a large pot to 370 degrees F. You should have at least 2 inches of oil for the deep frying.
- Deep fry the beignets in batches, don’t crowd. They should pop up when you put them in the oil, or the oil is not hot enough. Spoon the oil over the tops of the beignets as the bottoms are frying. Make sure to turn them over so they are golden (not brown) on both sides. It will only take 1-2 minutes per side.
- Drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
- Sprinkle generously with powdered sugar and serve hot.
Notes
- Make sure that your water is between 100-110 degrees F.
- Make sure you use active dry yeast and not instant.
- You can use any milk that you want, we just like to use whole.
- You can use a stand mixer to mix the ingredients together if you would rather not do it by hand.
- These can be made ahead, see my tips above.
- Serve with dipping sauces if you'd like.
- These can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
- Other oils can be used to fry in such as soybean, peanut, corn or sunflower, you want an oil that is well suited for high heat.
- Using a candy thermometer is great to make sure your oil keeps a consistent temperature.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
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