Easy Beignet Recipe | How to Make Beignets (2024)

Tessa’s Recipe Rundown

Taste: Simple sweet perfection. Feel free to add any flavors you want! A little drizzle of honey, caramel, or chocolate takes these to a whole new level, although that wouldn’t be very authentic. Who cares about authenticity if it’s delicious?
Texture: Golden brown and slightly crisp on the outside, ultra soft, fluffy, and pillowy on the inside.
Ease: Surprisingly easy, just requires some patience and clean up. Don’t let the dough or deep frying scare you away! I’ve included so many tips below.
Appearance: This just looks like what you’d be welcomed to heaven with, right?!
Pros: Bring New Orleans right to your kitchen.
Cons: So bad, but so good.
Would I make this again? Oh yeah. Best beignets ever.

How to Make Beignets

What are Beignets?

The word is French and basically translates to doughnut or fritter. This recipe makes New Orleans-Style Beignets which are made from a simple yeast-raised dough that’s cut into squares, deep-fried until golden brown, and generously coated in powdered sugar. What’s not to love?!

What’s the Difference Between a Donut and a Beignet?

They’re very similar with just a fewstylisticdifferences. Most simply, beignets are shaped into squares instead of round donut shapes, and they’re coated in powdered sugar instead of glazed or iced.

You’ll see this beignet recipe uses evaporated milk instead of whole milk (classic to most recipes for doughnuts) to yield an extra fluffy and tender texture. It also uses bread flour, which has a higher protein content and therefore will develop a stronger network of gluten when the dough is kneaded. This helps create those big puffy squares so each bite is extra fluffy inside.

Ingredients for Easy Beignets:

• Granulated sugar– Just enough to sweeten, add moisture, and help the beignets brown while frying. Don’t skip this!
• Instant yeast – Learn about the differences between active dry and instant yeast here.
• Eggs – 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk for extra tenderness.
• Fine sea salt –I prefer sea salt, but you can also use table salt.
• Evaporated milk– This helps create a rich, tender, and fluffy texture and makes this beignet recipe more pantry friendly!
• Vanilla extract – To enhance the sweet flavor and aroma.
• Bread flour– The extra protein helps to create more structure for ultra-thick and fluffy beignets.
• Unsalted butter – Make sure to use butter that is completely softened to room temperature.
• Oil, for frying – This recipe uses vegetable or canola oil because most people have these on hand, but if you want to get really authentic, try and find cottonseed oil! It has a high smoke point of 420°F, and it’s what Cafe du Monde uses.
• Confectioners’ sugar –It isn’t a beignet unless it’s covered in confectioners’ sugar, aka powdered sugar!

How to Make the Beignet Dough

Beignet dough is super easy to make, especially if you’re using a stand mixer. If you don’t have one, you can always knead by hand. A few tips:

• Whatever you do, don’t skimp on the rising time. For most kitchens, it’ll take at least 2 hours to properly double in size, possibly even 3 to 4 hours. This is because this is an enriched dough. The extra fat and sugar in the dough recipe will slow down the rise time.
• 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.

Can You Make Beignets Ahead of Time?

Yes! You can make the dough ahead of time and fry later when you’re ready. Here’s how:

1. Make the dough as written up until the point of rising.
2. Cover well with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
3. The dough will continue to slowly rise in the fridge.
4. Let it come to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe as written.

How to Shape Homemade Beignets

1. On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a large rectangle about 1/4-inch thick.
2. Use a pizza wheel, pastry cutter, or sharp knife to cut out squares of dough.
3. For small beignets, cut 1 1/2-inch squares. For larger beignets more like Cafe du Monde’s, cut out 3-inch squares. Adjust the frying time to the size of the squares.
4. Be sure to keep the rest of the dough covered while frying so it doesn’t dry out.
5. Whatever you do, do not overwork the dough as this will lead to tough beignets. Just be gentle!

How to Fry Beignets

In order to create beignets that are airy and fluffy inside and perfectly browned without being greasy on the outside, we’re using oil that’s slightly hotter than normal. Cafe du Monde apparently uses ultra-hot oil at 380°F, but this recipe calls for oil at 360°F so as to keep everything safe. Oil temperatures can fluctuate quickly, so it’s important to keep an eye on it and adjust your stove heat frequently.

It’s important to be accurate here! I always always always use a deep-fry thermometer for both safety and convenience. This deep-dry thermometer is only $10 and works great – I’ve used mine dozens and dozens of times! It’s super important to watch the temperature the entire time and adjust your stove as necessary to maintain it.

How Much Powdered Sugar to Use For Beignets

The key here is to take the amount of powdered sugar you think you’ll need, and double it! You really can’t dust too much powdered sugar here for a more traditional-style NOLA beignet! Use a very large, deep bowl or even a paper bag to help coat your beignets in powdered sugar, without causing a huge mess.

How to Serve Beignets

• Serve as fresh as possible.
• Beignets start to harden and go stale even after just a few hours.
• A batch of beignets goes perfectly with a cup of coffee – or a café au lait, just like they serve in New Orleans!