How to Make Brioche Donuts – Soft, Buttery & Fried to Perfection

Get ready to make a dozen of the most sumptuous, fluffy brioche donuts right in your own kitchen with this easy-to-follow recipe! Made with a classic enriched dough I perfected during my time in pastry school, these donuts are light, buttery, and irresistibly tender. Whether served warm for breakfast, as an afternoon treat, or dressed up for dessert, they’re guaranteed to bring smiles with every bite.

If you’re new to brioche, I can confidently say you’re in for a real treat. The brioche donut dough is enriched with both eggs and butter, which yields a supremely tender crumb and deliciously rich flavor. In fact, it’s also the basis for my chocolate cream donuts, brown butter cinnamon rolls and my classic raspberry pecan babka. 

Try making vanilla custard donuts, lemon donuts or bavarian cream donuts if you're looking for more delicious brioche recipes!

⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe 

• Simple Ingredients, Big Flavors: With ingredients like whole milk, egg yolks, and cinnamon sugar, this brioche donut recipe transforms simple ingredients into a delicacy that’s a delight to the senses. Add in a dash of lemon zest or vanilla sugar for an extra zing!
• First-Time Baker-Friendly: Never made homemade donuts before? No worries! This step-by-step guide ensures a straightforward process, making this brioche recipe perfect for first-timers. The windowpane test will help you know when your enriched dough is just right.
• Customizable Fillings: The best part about this recipe? Make it your own! Choose from a variety of fillings like chocolate, strawberry, or even something fruity like a blackberry cream. Whether you’re a fan of classic donuts or something more adventurous, there’s plenty of room for creativity.
• Versatile Cooking Methods: No deep fryer? No problem! While you can deep fry these donuts in a large pot with inches of oil, this recipe also includes adjustments for an air fryer. Plus, you can repurpose any leftover dough for fluffy French toast the next morning!

🍴Ingredients 

Despite being something of a lengthy and moderately challenging recipe, these brioche doughnuts require fewer than 10 ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Granulated Sugar - You surprisingly don’t need much sugar for the actual brioche dough, just enough to feed the yeast and bring it out of hibernation. Save a little extra for giving your donuts some sparkle.
• Active Dry Yeast - Yeast is a living organism, so you’ll need to proof it before starting to make sure it is still viable. Store your yeast in the freezer to extend its shelf life.
• All-Purpose Flour - This is the best option for the lightest, fluffiest doughnuts, so try not to replace it.
• Eggs - You’ll need plenty of eggs for the brioche donut dough and homemade passionfruit curd to make the cream filling. Make sure they’re at room temp for the easiest incorporation.
• Salt - Salt can actually kill the yeast if it is too high of a concentration, so make sure to not add it to the mix until you’ve added the AP flour as a buffer first.
• Unsalted Butter - Look for butter that is labeled organic, grass-fed, and/or cultured for the best flavor.
• Neutral Oil - Any neutral-tasting oil with a high smoke point is great for frying donuts. I suggest using palm oil (sustainably sourced, of course!) or canola oil, but peanut, vegetable, corn, or grapeseed oil will all do the trick. Head on over to my guide for choosing the right oil to fry donuts for more information!

📖 How To Make Brioche Donuts

Step 1: Proof Yeast. Mix together the warm water, sugar and yeast together in your stand mixer’s mixing bowl. Let this mixture rest undisturbed for 5-10 minutes until you start to see bubbles start to form on the surface.

Step 2: Knead Dough. Add the flour and eggs to the active yeast mixture using the paddle attachment. At this point, switch to using the dough hook attachment and knead for 6-8 minutes before adding salt and butter one tablespoon at a time. Continue kneading with the dough hook for another 5-8 minutes until the dough passes the window pane test.

Step 3: First rise & overnight rest. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and allow to proof for 1.5 to 2 hours covered in plastic wrap. You’re looking for the dough to have about doubled in size before moving on to the next step. This overnight rest of about 12-14 hours is essential in order to develop flavor as the dough continues to ferment slowly within low temperatures.

Step 4: Shape & second rise. After the dough has rested overnight, it’s time to start shaping! Divide your dough using a sharp knife or a bench scraper into even 65-gram pieces. Gently degas each piece by pressing on top of the ball with the heel of your hand before forming into a tight boule. Let the dough sit undisturbed in a warm spot to proof until they have doubled in size for about 1.5 -2 hours.

Step 5: Fry Prep. Approximately twenty minutes before the doughnuts have finished their final proof, it’s time to start heating your frying oil!  Grab a large Dutch oven or your preferred container for frying. Add the oil, ensuring that you have at least 3 inches of height from the bottom of the Dutch oven to the top of the oil.

Step 6: Fry time! I always do a “test” doughnut before moving on to the remaining doughnuts. Fry the test doughnut for 2-3 minutes on each side before removing it from the oil with a slotted spoon and placing it on a cooling rack lined with paper towels. Then, coat in sugar before letting cool completely.

Fill Doughnuts

Pierce the doughnut with the tip of the piping bag (or use a knife to assist if you’re using a homemade piping bag) and fill the center of the doughnut until it feels heavy. Add a dollop of passion fruit pulp as garnish. Repeat with remaining donuts. Enjoy!

⏲️ Substitutions & Variations

While these brioche doughnuts are spectacular, there are always plenty of ways to switch things up to work with your own flavor preferences or ingredient limitations. Here are a few ideas to get your wheels turning in terms of fillings:

• Try a different curd. Folding curd into freshly whipped cream is one of the quickest ways to level up your donut-filling game. Instead of using lemon or passion fruit, try making lemon, lime, grapefruit, rhubarb, or cranberry curd. It’ll work with any tart fruit you can think of! You can also add an extra layer of flavor to your curds by adding aromatic ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, or mint.
• Keep it simple with vanilla whipped cream. Vanilla cream donuts are a classic for a reason: they’re amazing! If you go this route, try using vanilla paste instead of extract in your whipped cream; the tiny black flecks are supremely attractive.
• Flavor your sugar. Pulverize freeze-dried fruit to add a bit of color, or use citrus zest or even flavor extracts to add another dimension of taste to your doughnuts.
• Try making these donuts using my chocolate chip brioche recipe, and let me know how it goes!!

Bavarian Cream Brioche Donuts

Lemon Cream Donuts

👩🏻‍🍳 Expert Tips

• Eat ‘em while they’re fresh! Technically, you can store unfilled doughnuts in an air-tight container in a dry, cool space for up to three days. This being said, I would highly recommend baking and enjoying these filled brioche doughnuts rather promptly after frying! Doughnuts are best straight from the fryer as they can dry out quite quickly.
• Don’t forget to proof your yeast. If the yeast/water/sugar mixture doesn’t start bubbling and foaming within 10-15 minutes, your yeast is dead. Don’t make the mistake of forging ahead anyway; the brioche dough will end up hard as a rock.
• DON’T skip the overnight rest. The dough continues to ferment slowly overnight within the low temperatures, which is essential to developing flavor.
• Use either an electric fryer ~or~ a thermometer to consistently check the oil’s temperature. It can raise and lower as you move through the frying process. Keep a close eye on the temperature to ensure it stays at 340ºF for even and consistent doughnuts.
• Be prepared before you start frying! After the second rise, this recipe moves quickly, so have your thermometer, a plate lined with paper towels, and your sugar coating ready before you begin frying.

❄️ Storing

I highly recommend eating the donuts the same day they’re made as they tend to dry out quickly. However, if you do have leftovers, you can store the unfilled doughnuts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Pastry cream will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 5 days.

Strawberry Cream Brioche Donuts

Passion Fruit Cream Brioche Donuts

💭 Recipe FAQs