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Beth’s Famous Glazed Yeast Donuts are light, fluffy, easy to make, and done in just a few hours with a rich and creamy glaze to go on top.
[I’m updating this post from 2009. You GUYS I have been at this a very long time.] This recipe is from my sister-in-law Beth who is a fabulous cook (she’s a professionally trained chef actually!). I remember her and my brother coming down from Idaho at Christmastime to visit us in our tiny 600 square foot apartment in Provo, Utah. They were newlyweds and I didn’t know Beth well. They came down to ice skate and she made these amazing donuts for us. I took a picture and wrote up the recipe and have made it time and time again for years and years after.
Fast forward almost 10 years, I’m lucky enough to call Beth my neighbor as well as my friend. She doesn’t like to fry things very much, so we have this deal now that she makes the dough and cuts the donuts and then she shows up at my house and I fry them up. We make this recipe by our joint effort a few times a year and it’s so special to me.
I have other homemade donut recipes for you too: Apple Cider Donuts, Light and Fluffy Glazed Sourdough Donuts, and Pumpkin Donuts. Give them a try!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s made from a standard yeast bread dough.
- It is made from simple ingredients.
- The glaze adds the perfect finish to the fluffy goodness.
Ingredients
For the dough
- Instant Yeast
- Water
- Lukewarm Milk
- Sugar
- Salt
- Eggs
- Shortening or Melted Butter
- All-Purpose Flour
- Canola or Vegetable Oil for frying
For the glaze
- Butter
- Powdered Sugar
- Vanilla
- Hot Water
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
How to Make Beth’s Famous Homemade Donuts
Step #1. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening or butter, and 2 cups flour. Beat until combined, then mix in remaining flour.
Step #3. Place cut donuts on a lined baking sheet. Let rise 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, make glaze.
Step #2. Cover and let rise til doubled. Pour onto floured surface and roll out to 1/2″ thick. Cut with a floured donut cutter.
Step #4. Heat vegetable in a cast iron skillet. Slide donuts into oil, cook to golden then flip to other side. Remove from oil. Dip into glaze, then place on a cooling rack in a baking sheet.
Recipe FAQs
Beth and I use a mixture of melted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and a liquid to thin it out (in this case water, milk and cream also work well). I think the butter really makes the icing great instead of just a milk and powdered sugar icing. You can make a chocolate glaze by adding 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa to the powdered sugar and adjusting the water or milk as needed.
These donuts are also great tossed in powdered sugar or a cinnamon and sugar mixture. If we are frying them up for a party I’ll often make chocolate and vanilla glaze AND powdered sugar and sugar cinnamon donuts so that people have a lot of choices.
Expert Tips
- The dough should be very soft but not overly sticky. It’s ok if it’s a bit tacky, but if it’s sticking to your hands and won’t come off, you need a bit more flour.
- To scald the milk I just stick it in the microwave and get it nice and hot. But be sure to let it come down to around 110 degrees F. If you add the milk to your yeast mixture while the milk is too hot you can kill your yeast which will ruin the recipe.
- Don’t have a donut cutter? I LOVE these biscuit cutters and the largest one with the smallest one as the hole works great for this recipe.
More Bread Recipes to Consider
Yeast Bread Recipes
Instant Yeast vs Active Dry Yeast — Quick Baker’s Lesson
Yeast Bread Recipes
Garlic & Parmesan Italian Breadsticks {Twisted Breadsticks}
Snacks
Big Soft Pretzels
Homemade Bread
100% Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Beth’s Famous Glazed Yeast Donuts
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 2 tablespoons instant yeast
- 1/4 cup water, 105-115 degrees
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk, scalded, then cooled
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup shortening or melted butter
- 5-6 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 quarts canola or vegetable oil for frying
For the Creamy Glaze:
- 1/3 cup butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 4-6 tablespoons hot water
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in warm water in a medium bowl, let rest for 10 minutes.
- Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening or butter, and 2 cups flour.
- Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in remaining flour until smooth.
- Cover and let rise until double, 45-90 minutes. (Dough is ready when indentation remains when touched.)
- Turn dough onto floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour. Gently roll dough 1/2-inch thick with floured rolling pin.
- Cut with floured doughnut cutter.
- Place cut donuts on a parchment or baking mat lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until double, 20-30 minutes.
- While the cut doughnuts rise, make the creamy glaze – heat butter until melted. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency.
- Heat vegetable oil in deep cast iron skillet to 355 to 365 degrees F (use a thermometer here, it makes all the difference!).
- Slide doughnuts into hot oil with wide spatula. Turn doughnuts as they rise to the surface. Fry until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side.
- Remove carefully from oil; drain on a double layer of paper towels.
- Dip the hot doughnuts into creamy glaze, then set on cooling rack set inside of a rimmed baking sheet to collect the drips.
- Best enjoyed warm with friends.
Notes
- The dough should be very soft but not overly sticky. It’s ok if it’s a bit tacky, but if it’s sticking to your hands and won’t come off, you need a bit more flour.
- To scald the milk I just stick it in the microwave and get it nice and hot. But be sure to let it come down to around 110 degrees F. If you add the milk to your yeast mixture while the milk is too hot you can kill your yeast which will ruin the recipe.
- Don’t have a donut cutter? I LOVE these biscuit cutters and the largest one with the smallest one as the hole works great for this recipe.
- If you don’t love glaze, these donuts are also great rolled in cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in December 2009 and has been updated, rephotographed, and re-shared in December 2018.
Just …wow! These are sooo good!
These doughnuts are really good but this is my first try and they seemed heavy and denser what did I do wrong.
They might needed to rise longer or your oil temperature might have been too low…
Yummiest wow I’ve made donuts before but I think by far that this recipe is the best one yet thank you Kari kettrick
Thank you for being here Kari! So glad you liked them as much as we do!
Would you mind sharing your chocolate frosting and vanilla glaze recipes for the donuts, thank you!
Is there a difference not using instant yeast?
Just don’t use sourdough, but more commercial yeast will work just fine.
My family loved these donuts!!! And the Creamy Glaze is AMAZING!! I put it on my hand held apple pies, drizzle it over coffee cakes and chocolate bundt cakes… any baked items that needs a little sweetness.
Thank you for sharing your recepe..
This was great recipe. This was my first time making donuts and they turned out well.
Thank you
Made these this evening. They were phenomenal!! I only used half the dough, the rest is in the fridge. I’m hoping it will keep until tomorrow so I can make another batch.
Can the donuts be baked instead of deep fried? Thanks!