Are you missing Krispy Kreme style donuts in your gluten free life? Have I got a treat for you! You’re gonna FLIP over these incredible gluten free yeast donuts that are so much like Krispy Kreme, you’ll think you’re cheating on your gluten free self!!
We no longer have to sit and salivate when gluten-eating people around us bite into a soft, fluffy Krispy Kreme donut because we can have our very own!!
I don’t know about you, but back in my pre-gluten free days (what I like to call BC, before Celiac), I rarely ate donuts. Sure, I’d have my share way, way back when I worked outside the home and someone would bring donuts into the office. Or when there was a special occasion like my kids having a slumber party of sorts (more than one kid staying overnight). Then I’d down a few donuts no prob and not think twice about it.
But like I’ve said before (especially with my cinnamon rolls), when we’re told we can’t have something, we want it even more (or at least I do). And since developing this recipe, I haven’t made donuts every single weekend. But I definitely like having the option to make them whenever I want.
The Simple Steps for Making Gluten Free Yeast Donuts
When I first made these donuts, it was for a friend whose husband has Celiac. She used to buy my pizza crusts from me and I was experimenting at the time with donuts. When I thought I had perfected them, I gave her a batch of donuts with the pizza crusts.
She later called me and said both she and her husband couldn’t tell my donuts weren’t Krispy Kreme. In fact, she said they both thought they might have been BETTER than Krispy Kreme! I couldn’t believe it!! My little ‘ole gluten free donuts better than Krispy Kreme? That was the ultimate compliment!!
You might think making your own donuts is super time consuming. I’m here to tell ya it can be done in just minutes of hands-on time!
The Dough
Great gluten free donut making begins with a batch of my cinnamon roll dough. Keep a batch of this in your refrigerator for any time the passion to make something yummy strikes. It’s easy to work with and can be split in half if you only want to make a dozen donuts at a time. Which really is all you should make at a time, unless you’re feeding more than a family (donuts are best when they’re very fresh).
Roll out the dough to 1/2-inch thickness and use a donut cutter like this one or two different sizes of biscuit cutters to cut out your donuts. You can also use one biscuit cutter to make a round donut that’ll be perfect for filling!
Cover the donuts with plastic wrap and set them in a warm, draft-free location to rise for about an hour. They should be about doubled in size.
Frying Gluten Free Yeast Donuts
Frying can be messy, but it’s truly the best way to get a copycat Krispy Kreme donut. When I researched it, I found that Krispy Kreme fries their donuts in vegetable shortening, so that’s what I use. However, you can also use vegetable oil, canola oil, or any other kind of neutral oil (flavorless).
Bring the oil to proper frying temperature for donuts. I’ve done a lot of research on this subject as well. When I tried to fry my donuts at the temp the entire internet told me to, they were way too dark. Maybe it had something to do with the gluten free dough, but regardless, 375 degrees F wasn’t gonna cut it for these donuts. So I bumped it way down to 325-330 and that was perfect!
Making the Glaze
What makes this glaze unique is that it includes melted butter. The butter in the glaze makes it a little richer, which is what I feel Krispy Kreme’s glaze is all about. It helps keep the glaze slightly soft instead of drying to a hard covering on a soft donut. It cracks only slightly, exactly what I remember from a Krispy Kreme donut!
Combine all the glaze ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to incorporate. Drop warm donuts into the glaze and let dry on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet to catch drips. I will sometimes double dip the donuts if I want an extra dose of glazy goodness 🙂
Can I Air Fry These Donuts?
The answer you want to hear is…YES!!!! These donuts “fry” beautifully in an air fryer! Check out my post for air fried yeast donuts for all the deets on how to do it.
Topping and Filling Ideas
You can leave these donuts as big, beautiful glazed donuts and call it a day. And they’ll still be so good, you won’t care about a thing in the world. But if you have the time and want to delve a little further into the donut making world, go crazy with some different fillings and toppings like these:
- Jelly–to thicken up store bought jelly, put it in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow it to simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until reduced by about 1/3. Let it cool completely.
- Creme–I don’t mean whipped cream (that would just melt into a puddle when added to the center of a warm donut). I mean stable vanilla creme filling, like the one I use in my Hostess style cupcakes. This is basically the same filling used in donut shops like Krispy Kreme and Dunkin.
- Pie filling–crack open a can of gluten free pie filling and spoon it into a decorating bag (or plastic baggie with the corner cut off).
- Chocolate glaze–the fudge icing, also from my Hostess style cupcakes, will work great as a chocolate glaze.
- Granulated sugar–simple granulated sugar surrounding a jelly donut is SO GOOD!!
- Cinnamon sugar–fill a donut with apple pie filling and roll it in cinnamon sugar. YUM!!
What are you waiting for? Get a batch of my special dough going and make up these donuts pronto. You won’t believe how easy they are to make, but you REALLY won’t believe they’re gluten free 🙂
Incredible Gluten Free Yeast Donuts
Ingredients
- ½ recipe ultimate gluten free cinnamon roll dough
- oil for deep frying (canola, vegetable, or melted shortening)
Glaze
- 2 cups (250 g) powdered sugar
- 4 tbsp (½ stick or 56 g) butter
- 4 tbsp (60 ml) whole milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour blend, sugar, baking powder, yeast, psyllium husks, and salt and whisk to combine. While mixing on low speed (using the dough hook OR the beater), slowly pour in the milk and then add the butter (the butter can either be very soft or melted, but not cold). Finally, add the eggs.
- Increase the speed to high and beat for 5 minutes. It will be very sticky and look like a thick cake batter. This is normal. It will change consistency when it's properly chilled.
- Cover the dough and allow it to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1-2 hours. Your rising time will depend on the temperature of your proofing area. A great trick is to turn your oven on to the lowest setting (mine is 170° F). Let it heat up briefly (a couple of minutes only) and then turn it off. Put your dough in the turned off oven and leave it there until doubled in size.
- Place the dough in the refrigerator to chill thoroughly, preferably overnight, but a minimum of 4-6 hours. It's so much easier to work with when it's properly chilled. To cut this time in half, put the covered dough in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator and knead on a well floured surface until smooth*** (see notes below for alternative). Roll dough out until it is about ½-inch thick. Cut the dough with donut cutter dipped in flour, or biscuit cutter to make fillable donuts. Reroll scraps. Place donuts and holes on parchment squares on a baking. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm, draft-free area until about doubled in size.
- When donuts are almost completely risen, heat the oil or shortening in a deep fryer or large heavy duty Dutch oven to 320-330° F. Carefully lower donuts, only a few at a time, into the oil, parchment and all (especially if they're sticking to the parchment). Use tongs to remove the parchment from the oil. Fry for 1-2 minutes on each side.
- Remove donuts from the oil and place onto a wire rack set over a baking sheet or a piece of waxed paper to catch drippings. Glaze or garnish and fill as desired. Donuts are best eaten fresh, but will keep for a day, well covered, and can be heated very briefly in the microwave (15 seconds or so).
For the Glaze:
- In the microwave, melt butter with milk in a one-quart measuring cup or bowl. Add powdered sugar and vanilla, whisking constantly until a pourable consistency. Dunk donuts in glaze as desired.
To Fill
- Take a chopstick or something similar (the end of a wooden spoon or a long, skinny decorating tip) and puncture a hole on the side of the donut. Wiggle and move it around to create more space to fill the entire donut. Fill with jelly, vanilla creme glaze, or anything else you'd like (see other suggestions within the post itself).
Notes
These donuts were originally posted in January 2019 and have been updated with new pictures, a video, and new tips and information.
These were easy and delicious! I even had forgot that I had the multi grain bread flour in the container and used that🤦♀️ they did great! We sub the regular sugar with date sugar and swerve as my little is a type 1 diabetic but the dough still rises and they puff up just the same🥰 thank you for sharing your recipes!!!
OMG! These are the best donuts I’ve EVER eaten! Bravo!!! And thank you!!
Awe, so glad you liked them!!!!
Wow! I have a son who is vegan and gluten free and his class is visiting a local donut shop. So I made these for him so he could also have donuts with his class. To make them vegan I used 6 Tbsp aquafaba for the eggs and I substituted garbanzo bean flour for the whey protein in the flour blend (same grams). They are incredible!! The rise on these was amazing. They feel and taste like the best gluten donuts! I feel like I hit the jackpot!
That is awesome, Blaire!!! I’m absolutely thrilled to know these work vegan as well!
I made this recipe once and enjoyed how it turned out, but I realized that I did it wrong because I spaced (my 4 year old was also helping which complicates thinking while cooking) and used all five of the cups that I made in my attempt to try Kim’s gluten-free bread flour mix. I decided it’s too confusing for me to have a recipe in a recipe in a recipe printed out, and so I afterward wrote out the gram measurements assuming that this recipe needs half of the cinnamon roll dough ingredients and 3.5/5 (fraction) in grams of the 5 Cup flour mix ingredients. Here are the recipe ingredients that my calculations gave me:
(For flour)
100 grams potato starch
87.5 tapioca starch
26.25 grams tapioca flour
26.25 grams whey protein isolate
5.25 grams xanthum gum
(Rest of recipe)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 plus 1/8 tsp baking powder
12 grams instant yeast
1Tbs psyllium husks
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cups milk
3/4 stick butter
1 egg lightly beaten
I’m in the middle of making these donuts and I’m so excited! I’ve made the cinnamon rolls before and they were the best. As I was remaking the cinnamon roll dough I remembered a few challenges I encountered. The cup and gram measurements in the recipe were pretty off for me….the grams were about a half cup less than the cup measurements. I decided to go by grams thinking they’re more precise. When I added the liquid to my dough it wasn’t like the initial cake batter texture but much thicker. I read in the cinnamon roll comments that someone said they added milk until the texture was more like Kim’s pictures because they used a milk substitute and assumed it was some discrepancy with using an alternative milk. I didn’t use any substitutes but still added milk until the texture matched the picture and that was helpful in getting the texture and properties of the dough I expected. I’m not sure why I didn’t get the right texture the first time. I read all the comments and tired to avoid any mistakes. 🤷♀️
Hmmm. I’ve always measured everything by weight (grams) and not cups, but when I first created my flour blends, I used my measuring cups to give an estimate as to how many grams are in one cup. My cup yielded 140 grams, but I don’t trust cups as much as grams so I always go by grams. Maybe it’s a component of your flour blend that is off, such as a brand that isn’t quite the same texture as what I use. I found that when I had to substitute one brand of tapioca starch with the one I’m used to (Anthony’s) because of supply issues, it was very grainy and terrible and none of my baked breads were having the usual results.
Do these donuts use psyllium husks? The cinnamon roll recipe has it as an ingredient but I dont see anywhere in the instructions to add it. Just want to make sure I dont mess up when I make them!
I’m so glad you caught that! Yes, they are supposed to and I left it out of the instructions.
Thanks so much for alerting me! It has been corrected 🥰
I have not tried them YET but they look like just what I want. Thank you so much for your recipes and for giving us options!
I have a question: How would I make these into chocolate donuts? Do I just add cocoa?
I am going to try them tomorrow so wish me luck!
Oh my goodness… thank you for sharing this recipe! It’s been years since I’ve had a yeasty, fried donut. YEARS!! I nearly cried when I ate this, it was so delicious. My husband who can eat gluten even loved them (is that a good thing? Lol) I did use JUST egg as a substitute, since I am allergic to eggs. They turned out fantastic! Can’t wait to make some cinnamon rolls next!
Awe, yay!!!! I’m so glad you liked them! I’m also thrilled JUST egg worked as well for your egg allergy. That’s awesome 🥰
I love you, and my husband says he loves you too. You just made two Celiac people incredibly happy and over the moon. THANK YOU!
OMG thank you for all of your hard work in creating this recipe!!! These were so incredibly delicious.
Hi! Not sure what I did wrong, made your flour to the T, and allowed to chill dough overnight. It proofed beautifully and had the buttercream look. When I went to knead it and roll out, it was SO sticky I couldn’t even get my hands on it as it stuck everywhere and had to keep adding more flour but I’m worried that’s what caused it to be so tough and dense. The donuts have more thick bagel like texture and very dense. Could also be I fried too long but feels more like it is the flour. How could I fix this because not sure I would have been able to roll them out and cut them without adding so much but maybe should have been okay with the sticky and not assumed it shouldn’t have been?
So I just read on one of your other posts that you stated that using Bob’s red Mill rice flour can cause this issue… So that’s likely what caused this… But unfortunately I was dumb and made a 20 cups of this flower blend before I realize that… Is there anyway I can adjust the blind do you think to help counteract this problem or other recipes that I can use it for that won’t create such a tough dough? Or a way to add to it to make it better?
Oh, yes, that’s why I state “superfine white rice flour” in the flour blend table and give a link to where you can find it. Bob’s Red Mill is not superfine and is very gritty. Having said that, you may be able to adjust each of the recipes by reducing the liquid, but how much I’m not sure. I would start with about 1/4 cup (60 ml) and adjust from there.
I got the right ingredients now – but sad I have this huge flour blend to waste now 😭 going to try it with new blend tomorrow. But hoping I can figure out something that works with the old blend.
This dough is voodoo! Just kidding, no evil here! I am an experienced baker and even had a GF home bakery business for almost 2 years. I have NEVER worked with such a BEAUTIFUL GF dough!
I have cut out 6 long johns (from 1/2 batch) to be filled and frosted. They’re resting now and I’m so excited to try them. Seriously, I haven’t been this excited for a recipe in quite a while – are you looking for a new BFF?! 🙂
THANKS for all your (I know to be) hard work in formulation and then to freely sharing with all of us!
Awe, thank you so much!! Your kind words mean so much to me 😍😍😍
These were delicious. The dough was easy to work with after letting it rest in the fridge. That recommendation was clutch. I left it for over 12 hours but the dough did not seem to be harmed. They puffed up beautifully and were crisp on the outside and pillowy perfect on the inside. They were amazing even without the glaze. I ate way too many of them. After learning that I could not have wheat, I missed donuts the most. Thank you for helping me get a donut fix. The ones from the freezer section at my local Sprouts can’t hold a candle to these.
Awe, I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I had a small list of things that I missed when I first was diagnosed with Celiac and donuts was at the top. Then my list grew longer as time went on, haha! It’s the things you can’t have that you miss the most sometimes 🙂
Hi..the recipe for the cinnamon rolls states it takes psyllium powder but the recipe for the donuts says nothing about psyllium powder. Just want to clarify.
Thanks
Thank you so much for this recipe!!
I made my family and I some delicious donuts last night, and although it took most of the day to make, for rising time and stuff, they were definitely worth all the effort. I am Gluten free and have been most of my life, but the one thing I miss is donuts and these hit the spot! Thank you so very very much for this! I will definitely make them again!
Awe, yay!!!!! It’s my pleasure! I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed them 😍😍😍
Made these tonight. Even though I didn’t let them prove long enough (they were a little dense), these were so good they made my celiac husband cry. They were amazing!!!
Thank you for your tireless efforts to make a perfect donut!
Awe, I’m so glad your husband liked them! Tell him I know how he feels 😍
Thank you for this recipe! I have loved donuts since I was a small child. My favorite are the yeast raised donuts with glaze or frosting. Finding recipes for gluten free yeast raised donuts has been nearly impossible. I’ve missed donuts. It was the one thing I just wasn’t finding a good recipe for or even a bakery that made them. This was so good!
The last thing I’ve been on a search to recreate is something called Indian Fry Bread. It’s used to make tacos. The GF fry bread recipes I’ve tried have been heavy or don’t puff up. My hope is renewed that I might be able to figure out a successful version now that I’ve tried your recipes.
Thanks so much! I’m so glad you liked the donuts!
I’ve had fry bread before and you’re not the first person to mention it to me. I’m trying to think of any of my recipes that will work as a substitute for it right now, and can’t really think of one. But I DO have it on my list of many things to attempt to make gluten free so eventually I’m sure I’ll get it 🙂
Hi Kim!! I love your work!
This recipe is killer! I have never worked with such wonderful dough! Felt like I was working with the real deal! It’s been so long since I’ve felt that lol.
I definitely forgot to weigh my whey protein and add it to my first mixture. I carried on with the recipe & found the dough was amazing still & everything went pretty good. The only thing was they didn’t brown when I fried them. They stayed the same colour & just “parched” up on the outside is the best to describe it. I even turned the temperature up higher & tried leaving them longer. No browning. I am currently waiting for my dough to finish chilling and was curious if perhaps using canola oil is a problem too?? I hope it’s just the missing whey that threw it. Thank you so much!! <3
Hi, Colesey and thanks so much for your kind words!!
Yes, I do believe not having the protein powder would make a huge difference in both the texture of the donuts and the color. If you eventually make the dough with the whey protein, you’ll be amazed at how much better the donuts are 🙂
Currently have cut donuts and waiting for 2nd rise. I didn’t really feel like my dough doubled in size the first time so I’m a little nervous.
How long does the other half of the dough last in the fridge?
No more than 3 days because of the eggs in the dough.
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
No donuts (gluten free or not) keep very long and are best eaten fresh. But they can be reheated in the microwave for a few seconds to refresh them.
This looks so good! It can be hard to find gf recipe for fried doughnuts!
These were simply AMAZING! My 2 teenagers “these taste like normal donuts”, my husband “I don’t like donuts”, one bite of these and the comment was “leave me the rest” haha. These are going to me made again for sure.
Hahaha!!! That’s great, Mary! I love hearing stories like this one 😍😍😍
Thank you, Kim! My sister has not had a donut in 4 years since developing IBS and these made her, and the rest of the family, so happy! As a note, I used almond milk in the recipe as we also have a lactose intolerant family member and they turned out great!
So glad your sister (and the rest of your family) could enjoy great gluten free donuts 🙂
I am not quite finished with the donuts… but I have a question!!! Is it bad to stir the dough while it is in the refrigerator????
Not at all. You’ll eventually have to knead it when it comes out so it won’t ruin anything.
Awesome!!! Thank you
Kim, I just wanted to express my heartfelt THANK YOU for sharing your tried and true recipes. I have had a lot of gluten free baking fails over the years, following recipes that promise light, airy gluten free creations, only to be severely disappointed by the taste and texture. I had accepted that gluten free baking just wasn’t going to be as good as the ‘real’ thing… until I made YOUR recipes! I haven’t had a donut in over ten years and making these has seriously changed my life and I am forever grateful!
Awe, thanks so much, Kelsey!! You are too kind 😍😍😍
I loved this recipe!
So I was diagnosed with celiac back in 2010 and haven’t experienced working with a dough like this in so long — it was such a treat! Directions were very straight forward, recipes for the flour blends are fabulous, and I am so excited to try more of your recipes. I’ll admit, I tried making yeast dough one other time back in like 2015 or something (for cinnamon rolls) and it was a complete disaster, so I was a little hesitant trying again but I’m so happy that your recipe turned out to be such a masterpiece.
I actually halved the dough and used half for cinnamon rolls (amazing) and half for donuts! I have an allergy to casein as well, so I made the recipes vegan and I’m going to do more experimenting because look and texture wise the donuts turned out AMAZING, but flavor wise there is a strange aftertaste that I need to pinpoint but that’s definitely from the vegan tweaks and not the original recipe!
Just wanted to make sure I left a review because it is well deserved, and to comment what I used to see if maybe someone knows the answer to my aftertaste problem — and also once I figure it out I will comment on my post with an update 🙂 but the vegan alternatives I did were: Country Crock plant butter, oat milk, JUST Egg, and then I used Hemp protein in the bread flour blend!
So I’m 99.9 percent sure it’s the hemp protein, so if anyone has any suggestions for a vegan protein to use please let me know! Unfortunately I can’t do too much soy, and JUST Egg is one of the only soy products I don’t react to so I’d like to avoid using soy protein if I can!
I just had another reader state that he used hemp protein and found the same aftertaste. Have you checked out the pumpkin seed protein that I linked to on my flour blends page? Here’s the link: https://amzn.to/34WE1Co
I did! It actually caused me to go down a rabbit hole of a bunch of vegan protein options and how to diy them at home with my spice grinder, so I’m going to try a few things and I’ll be sure to comment how everything goes!
I love your recipes and have had success with the Cinnamon rolls. I just find my dough very sticky. I like the video you posted. should I be adding that much more flour to get the ‘smoothness’?
It’s less sticky if you leave it in the fridge overnight. But don’t be afraid to add more flour to make it smooth enough 🙂
Unfortunately, this recipe did not work well for me. After cutting and proving the doughnuts, the texture of the dough was so soft that I could barely handle them to get them into the fryer. When I did, the super-soft dough started absorbing grease faster than it cooked. The result was a doughnut so greasy that it was transparent about 3/4 of the way through rendering them inedible. The bite or two I took proved that they were a nice texture and taste, but unfortunately, too greasy to eat, I wonder if I over proved them?
Very well could be. Did you use my flour blend? You saw from the video how the texture is supposed to be?
Yes, I used your blend. Yes, I saw the texture the donuts were supposed to be at each step. They were good after the first prove. They were good the next day when I took them out of the fridge to roll and cut, but by the time the hour of proving was done they were super fragile . As soon as I dropped them in the oil and pulled out the parchment they started absorbing oil like a sponge.
Then they probably were over proofed. I would try again, Charmaine. Maybe only proof them for 30 minutes this time. I’m crossing my fingers they’ll work for you this time 🤞
After reading every single comment, I am beyond excited to make these donuts. One question: can i use egg whites instead of the powder? Thank you for sharing your recipes <3
Instead of the whey protein powder? You’d need to reconfigure the entire recipe by reducing the amount of liquid in the dough. A better option would be to use egg white powder/meringue powder/egg white protein powder. Check Amazon. They have a lot of those special types of powders that aren’t made from milk.
Amazing! They taste amazing! But At 350 my donut gets almost immediately very dark. Never a light gold, instead its a dark caramel colour. By about the 30 second mark. Does this ever happen to you?
If I went lower, they didn’t cook properly inside.
Hmmm. What type of oil are you using? I would turn your temp down by maybe 25 degrees and then fry them a little longer.
Hi Kim — I REALLY want to make these, but am hesitant given all I have is a handheld mixer. Any new tips for using one with this recipe?
Hi, Laura! I think you could get away with using a handheld mixer. Does yours have the dough hook attachments? Even better if it does. Also, there’s a dough whisk that I’ve been meaning to try but haven’t gotten around to it yet. This should also work if you can mix the dough vigorously with it: https://amzn.to/3oNM0db
Wonder if you could use this recipe for dutchies?
I had to look up Dutchies to see what you meant and I do believe this dough could be made into square donuts with raisins, if that’s what you’re looking for.
These are genuinely amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing!
It’s my pleasure! Thank you!!!
Turned out really good. I used Kims bread flour as recommended. The dough didn’t seem to rise much but it definitely did poof a little after 2 hours. Then after chilling overnight and cutting donuts they rose a bit when I proofed them but not as much as in your pictures. Maybe I didn’t roll it thick enough? Luckily I think the baking powder makes it also poof in the fryer. Very soft donuts!
I tend to rise my dough in a fairly warm environment. I turn my oven on to the “warm” function, which I believe is 170, and then turn it off and stick my dough in the oven. This really helps get a good rise on both the dough for the initial bulk fermentation and also for the shaped donuts before frying. I think people are often afraid to put their dough in a warmer environment for fear of killing the yeast, but I have yet to kill any of my yeast using this method, and my dough/bread always rises significantly.
Wow! Just wow! These doughnuts are spectacular! Just like Krispy Kreme and better than anything GF you can buy here in old Blighty. You are a genius, Kim, thank you soo much! Not only are the doughnuts amazing, but the glaze is sensational too. Perfection!
Wow, Mariam!!! Thanks so much for such a wonderful comment! I truly appreciate it 🙂
Oh my golly gee! Donuts!! Actual, real, fluffy DELICIOUS donuts!!!! I do wish you would increase the stars available for rating your items, thinking a thousand would be about right!!
Oh my gosh, Gillie!!! You are too kind, but thank you a thousand times for this wonderful comment 💓
My teenage daughter was diagnosed with Celiac Disease 3 years ago and the food she misses most is Krispy Kreme donuts. We have tried every product and recipe we could find with disappointing results until finding your recipe. A godsend! The sheer joy on my daughter’s face when she tried her first donut was priceless to us, thank you! We’ve also made a filled version with a marshmallow fluff cream mixture that was delish. Just tried your cinnamon rolls, too, and they are amazing! One question, what size donut cutter do you use?
Hi, Jeannie! Thank you so much for your kind words!! And I understand your daughter’s emotions with the donuts. I think I might have cried when I first made them, haha!
I use a 3-inch donut cutter. This is the one I have: https://amzn.to/31kkk4Z
I have no idea how you did this….but these donuts were EVERYTHING to both my 20-year-old son and my (recently diagnosed) 24-year-old nephew. My son was diagnosed at the age of 13, and I have tried anything and everything, either making every recipe I found or (even worse) purchasing any GF version of his favorite gluten filled treats so that he wouldn’t have to “miss out”. While some options we came across or made were “good” the non GF peeps in the house wouldn’t ever say they were “spot on”….until yesterday when these donuts came out of the fryer. They were so good, I literally packed half of them up and drove them over to my nephew for him to have while they were still warm. THANK YOU for all your work with this recipe and all the others. You have made 2 celiac boys VERY happy!
Oh my gosh, Amy! I’m so happy I could make your son and nephew happy through baking (or in this case frying), haha! Being Celiac myself, I totally get the difference between something being “good” and “spot on” and that’s why I never give up when creating my recipes, because I refuse to settle for “good”.
Thanks so much for your kind words 🙂
These tasted so great! however my dough was so soft i wasn’t even really able to shape it after the first rise . In the end i just scooped it out into the hot oil which worked a treat but I’m unsure if i should add more flour to the mix initially? or what texture it should be?
Hi! Did you refrigerate it after the first rise? It’s supposed to be refrigerated overnight so it makes the dough so much easier to roll out. Unless you choose to pipe the donuts from a piping bag. The dough is similar to yeast dough, which is able to be kneaded until smooth on a well-floured surface. If it hasn’t been refrigerated long enough, it will be way too fluid and sticky to work with by hand.
This recipe was absolutely amazing!!! 8/5 stars!! The glaze was also incredibly delicious! And the dough is actually dough!
Some other gluten free donut recipes have given me a big ball of mush, or a batter, which just looks so unappealing, and another recipe I tried looked good but ended up tasting just like a vanilla cake instead of a donut.
This recipe created beautiful dough! And even more beautiful doughnuts! Super excited to try out more recipes!
However,I did not follow the recipe exactly because I used a stored bought all purpose gluten free flour blend instead of creating the blend myself (because I was lazy hahaha) however even with the store bought one, the donuts turned out so delicious! Mine were a little on the denser side but I believe that is due to my own laziness of buying the already mixed flour. So I’m determined to do this recipe again with the correct flour mixture and I’m looking forward to them turning out even better!!
Thanks so much, Lizzy!!! I really appreciate your comment! And I can’t wait for you to try them with my flour blend. They are so light and fluffy, you seriously may question whether they’re gluten free or not, haha 🙂
Hi Kim, is it possible to make these donuts chocolate? Would you just add cocoa to the dough mix?
Good question! I think that would work, maybe substituting 1/2 cup of the regular flour with cocoa. Otherwise, the dough will end up dense I think.
Thank you. I will give it a try and let you know how it turns out.
I made the chocolate yeast donuts replacing 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup cocoa. I did not put the hole in the center. They came out delicious. I glazed them with chocolate glaze. The next time I make them, I am going to make a simple mousse and fill the inside with it.
Yay!!!!! I think I’ll go ahead and put that in the post, in case anyone wants to try chocolate! Thanks for testing it out, Nancy 🙂
Another outstanding recipe, Kim! I can’t tell you how glad we are to have found your blog! I have multiple tabs open of recipes I want to try and am desperate for you to publish a bread cookbook. I’m ready to resell the other one I’ve purchased. These donuts were we’re heavenly! I made a chocolate glaze and a vanilla glaze (adding a 1/2 c. Of cocoa powder and 1 square of baking chocolate to your recipe for glaze while still warm). Oh my goodness. Words cannot convey the amazingness. My 4-year-old was covered in chocolate and sprinkles but not a crumb of donut was left. I will never look longingly as a DD or KK donut again!
Awe, yay!!! Thanks so much for your kind words! I’m so happy you’re happy 🙂
I’m going to attempt making these tonight. It’s my daughter’s birthday tomorrow and I know she’ll be thrilled if these turn out! I myself am not celiac and live in a small town without access to much for gluten free flours etc so I’m using what I have on hand which is a gluten free flour mix that I’ve been very happy with for other baking I’ve done. Have you ever tried making these with buttermilk? I love the flavour buttermilk brings to my muffins or loaves. Or I also have skim milk in the house. Which one would you suggest might be better?
Also for the future, should I want to freeze and save for another day, would you freeze the bowl of dough after the first rise or roll and cut out and freeze the doughnuts themselves, ready for proofing and frying?
Hi, Karen! I think the buttermilk would work great!! And you could freeze the dough as a whole, but if it were me I would cut the donuts out before freezing. Place them on a baking sheet to flash freeze for about an hour and then they won’t stick together if you place them in a large ziptop type bag.
I hope your daughter loves them 🙂
I decided to go with the skim milk as I thought the buttermilk might be too heavy, but maybe next time I’ll try and then compare. Just glazed them and they turned out AMAZING!! My celiac daughter is going to be so happy! Thanks for this great recipe!
Awe, yay! You’re so welcome!! I hope she loves them 🙂
These were amazing! I made the recipe and flour blend exactly, but I halved it because I would eat through a dozen doughnuts way too quickly….
Also, I used fresh baker’s yeast instead of active or instant yeast, just doubled the amount as is necessary with fresh yeast (so the amount of yeast was as written, 24g, and all the other ingredients halved).
I recommend thoroughly oiling your parchment paper for the doughnuts’ second rise as I did not oil mine enough and they were a bit tricky to remove. They still fried perfectly though, and re-shaped themselves in the oil.
I cannot wait to make these again! Thank you for a lovely recipe!
Thanks so much, Eliana! A trick I just found out about that might work also is to cut the parchment into squares and drop the donut and parchment into the oil. The parchment then slides right off and can be taken right out of the oil with tongs or a spider or whatever you’re using to flip the donuts. I’m going to try this next time I make donuts 🙂
Add all the stars any of your recipes have recieved and multiply that by a million and that’s how many stars you deserve! These donuts are giving me life….! 😻
Oh my gosh! You are too kind!! Thank you so much for this wonderful comment. It made my day 😍😍😍😍😍
We deep fried these over the camp fire last night. Let me tell you they are the absolute best. Until these, the closest I have come to a good gluten free donut is an apple fritter. Since I have had celiac since I was 3 these donuts add another first time food to my list at age 23 haha. Thank you Kim. Your bread recipes are revolutionary and I hope they make you as famous as you deserve to be. 🙂
Oh my gosh, Sal! You are way too kind!! Thank you so much for the comment. I’m just trying to have things I was used to before my diagnosis, so I’m very glad that I can share those things with people like yourself 🙂
Hello Kim, this recipe I am DYING to make because my family misses Krispy Kreme sooo much! We have one problem-an allergy to tapioca…I’m bummed. Is there anything we can substitute for the tapioca starch? I know it won’t be your flour exactly and may change the outcome, but something tells me that this is such a successful recipe, and I really want to try it. I wanted to ask this on your cinnamon roll dough page but couldn’t find the comment link. I have been baking gluten free for 12 years and made and used all types of flours (which is how I found out about the allergy to tapioca) and at this point can tell a good flour mix by seeing the ingredients. Even if I can’t use this recipe I will pass it on to ones I know that can! Thanks for your hard work!
Hi, Lee! I think you could probably use arrowroot in place of the tapioca. It’s not all that much tapioca in the scheme of things anyway so I don’t believe a substitution will change the dynamics of the flour blend as a whole.
Good luck and please let me know how it goes 🙂
I used the all purpose mix of flours by mistake, and made half a batch of doughnuts, and six cinnamon rolls… and they were both amazing! My partner, who can eat gluten, told me the doughnuts are the best he has ever had. I agree- they are even better than my old days of having gluten! I’m also happy this worked with brown rice flour, as it’s all I had on hand. Thank you for making these recipes available to us!
Wonderful!! Glad you liked them 🙂
Hey!
Thanks so much for this recipe. Made the donuts for my son’s birthday and they turned out great! I’ve made your cinnamon rolls before and also had wonderful luck making those. I wanted to let you know that I did not make the dough the night before and I did not have time to refrigerate after proofing. Because the dough was runny due to lack of time on my part, I put the dough into a piping bag and piped it into a donut pan. I then baked in the oven. They were absolutely perfect! I baked for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. If some of your readers are short on time, this is for sure a great option! I saved half of the dough to make something else later and would like to maybe make the cinnamon rolls and then freeze them. If I were to go about this would I just make them to the point of baking and then freeze them? What would you recommend for unthawing?
Hi, Lauren! I’m so glad you had a great outcome with both the cinnamon rolls and donuts!! It’s funny because when I first made the donuts, I didn’t refrigerate the dough and it was too soft to roll out so I also piped it from a pastry bag, but into a donut shape onto a piece of parchment. Then I froze those for a few minutes before frying. But I was looking for something that would be more like a true yeast donut complete with rolling it out and shaping and then letting it rise, like Krispy Kreme. But this is definitely a great alternative for those who don’t want to or don’t have time to refrigerate the dough!!
You sure can freeze the cinnamon rolls!! Check out the notes on the recipe card for the cinnamon rolls. It lists exactly how to do just that 🙂
I have honestly never enjoyed a gluten free recipe more. Thank you so much for bringing us donuts back! I actually also used your bread flour recipe to make super successful gf pasta/raviolis!!!! Thank you again <3
Oh, thank you so very much!! I am so glad you liked the donuts 🙂 And yay to you for the gf pasta as well. I have a pasta recipe that I’ve been meaning to post, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. I love when my recipes or flour blends can bring joy to people 🙂
How far in advance do you think I could make the dough? I was thinking of making a double batch and splitting it up. Half for donuts one morning and then cinnamon rolls maybe the day after. Does anyone have insights on if the dough would be okay, after 48 Hours in the fridge instead of just overnight? Christmas and many gluten free guests:)
Oh, yes, it will last at least 3 days, maybe even longer. I wouldn’t go past 5, though, because of the eggs in the dough.
I made the donut shapes /dough balls (for filled donuts) and froze the ones I didn’t fry between pieces of parchment paper in a freezer bag. I was making one-off donuts in my air fryer for months! I need to make this recipe again.
I would like to make these, I’m just wondering something. All I have right now is regular yeast, not rapid rise. How would I go about using that instead of rapid rise yeast?
Hi, Ashley! From what I understand, if you use active dry (regular) yeast, you will need to add 25% more, which I think is 6 grams more, if my calculations are correct. So it would be 30 g of yeast, and you should be able to add it to the dry ingredients as per the recipe.
Hope this helps!
Hi, this recipe sounds amazing and I would love to try it. However, I don’t deep fry. Do you think it would be possible to bake the doughnuts? And, if so, could you recommend a temperature and length of time to bake them? Thank you.
Hi, Janice! I’ve never tried these baked as they’re really meant to be fried. I would suggest checking out a baked donut recipe and see what they use as the temperature and then going from there. I wish I could be more helpful. I’m just not familiar enough with baked donuts to give you a confident answer to your question.
Can I make jelly donuts with this recipe?
Absolutely!! I haven’t tried jelly, but I’ve made some filled with cream and they were fabulous. Just use a round cutter (like a biscuit cutter) instead of the donut cutter. You may have to fry one first to test how long it takes until the inside is completely done.
Wow! Brilliant I’ve tried other recipes and the donuts taste like muffins. But these are very good. Followed recipe completely. Only issue I had is no donut cutter but I shaped with my hands and also had a little trouble transferring into the oil after they were left to rise. But brilliant taste and texture. Used some of the dough to make cinnamon rolls. I am loving your recipes this is the third one I have tried now. Well done!
Thank you so much!!! I’m so glad you’ve had wonderful success with my recipes so far 🙂
Oooops any not abby
And OR not out
Stupid auto correct
Mine turned out really heavy and tough. I followed the recipe exactly. They rose beautifully but has the texture of a bagel or pretzel when fried. Abby thoughts out suggestions would be really appreciated. 3 members of my family have celiacs and REALLY miss krispie Kremes😢😜
Hi, Natalie! I’m so sorry they didn’t turn out well!! They are definitely not like a bagel when fried. I’m trying to figure out what happened, but I’d have to go over it step by step with you. When making the bread flour, did you use all the ingredients I suggested, or were there any substitutions? How was the dough when you were working with it?
Was it supple and fairly smooth, or dense? Did you go through the first rise and allow it to be properly chilled before beginning? When you let the doughnuts rise, they should be super light when you pick them up to put them in the fryer. Were they light or heavy? Was your oil temperature high enough? It should be about 350 degrees. Anything much lower or higher could affect the outcome.
Please don’t give up! These doughnuts truly are so soft and airy, just like Krispy Kreme (I just made some the other day and they were heaven!). Most of the time when someone says my recipes haven’t turned out (fairly rare), it’s because of a substitution somewhere in the gf bread flour blend. Let me know what happens.
I used EVERYTHING as written. Maybe my floor was old ( even though I just bought it) I’m not giving up. In fact I’m trying it again as I type. Thank you so much for your reply
You are welcome. That’s what I’m here for, to make sure you have success with my recipes! I will send good gluten free baking (or in this case frying) vibes to you 🙂
It was glutinous sweet rice flour, but since I was already committed I went ahead with it and they still turned out pretty well, but I imagine they’ll be even better with the proper ingredients! Thanks for the recipe, he loved them!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad he loved them. When you get the right flour, you’ll see such a difference in how easy it is to work with and the end results will blow your mind!
Thanks for trying my recipe 🙂
I enjoyed making these donuts. I didn’t have rapid yeast so I proofed the yeast in the called for milk with 1 tsp of honey then mixed it in . I used Namaste flour blend. I would for sure make the dough a head of time. The only thing I would change is making sure I don’t roll the dough to thin.
My husband has celiac and has severely missed a good fried donut, so thank you for this recipe! I haven’t fried these yet, but I made the dough last night and it’s currently in my fridge. I have 2 questions though: I had in my pantry something like”gluten white rice flour” which confusingly enough IS gluten free and from the ingredients is simply fine white rice flour. My dough turned out really sticky and stretchy, and I was wondering if that was how it was meant to be. I’m frying it either way, but in case they don’t turn out I just want to know if that’s the reason! (I tend to be a pessimist. 😂)
My second question is much simpler: could I freeze the dough either before or after the first proofing?
Hi, Amanda! By chance, was the flour in your pantry “glutinous sweet rice flour?” If so, that’s not the same as regular white rice flour, or superfine white rice flour. That may be why your dough is so sticky. It is a little sticky when you first pull it out of the fridge, but if you have the right ingredients, kneading it with as much extra gf flour blend as needed will make it smooth and supple.
As for freezing, it can be frozen. I would do it after the first proofing. It may deflate a bit after being frozen, but shouldn’t make much of a difference.
Hope this helps, and I hope your husband likes the donuts!! (if they don’t turn out, I would suggest trying to get the ingredients I list in my flours page and try again).
You have me so hooked. I cannot believe the big poofy rise in this dough. I,v made the kolache’s, cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, and the bread. I had made a Reuben last week with the white bread, but will make your new recipe for “mock rye” soon.
Keep up the y
tasty work… I love ya,
Denise M
You’re too kind, Denise! I’m so glad you’re having fun baking your way through my blog!! You’re gonna love the mock rye bread. I think I’ve had about 6 Reubens since I baked the bread. Lol!
This is a really solid recipe and I love that you did the measurements in grams. There were a few confusing parts though, that I just had to wing on. It was difficult flipping between the cinnamon roll dough recipe and this recipe. Then the part about letting them proof for 2 hours and then chill for 2 hours (overnight) then back to proofing for an hour. Also the recipe states that you should use “flour” your surface but doesn’t specify with what kind of flour. In the end, my donuts turned out really amazing! Thanks for the recipe. Kind regards! 🙂 -D
Hi, Dana! I am so sorry it was confusing and I totally understand. When I first started the blog last year, the cinnamon roll recipe was one of my first posts and it was an amateur post. I really appreciate the feedback because that’s why I’m here–to help you all recreate my recipes–and if you can’t understand them, you can’t recreate them! I’m going to work on both of these posts (the cinnamon rolls AND the donuts) in the next week to get them more user friendly.
Thanks again for the feedback, and thanks also for visiting my blog and trying my recipes 🙂
I am still unclear about the proving thing. The cinnamon roll dough requires proving before refrigeration. So, If I am to use it in this recipe, should I do that proving, refrigerate it and then prove again as instructed in this recipe? Or do I take the cinnamon roll dough straight from the mixer to the fridge and simply do the one prove described in this recipe.
You make the cinnamon roll dough as per the instructions in that recipe, up through refrigeration. So you need to let it proof 2 hours (or until doubled) before putting it in the fridge. Then you proceed with the donuts by taking the dough out of the fridge, rolling it out, etc. You will proof the donuts before frying them.
Hope this makes sense!
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
Hi, Vanessa! Just like regular gluten donuts, unfortunately they don’t keep too long. However, you can put them in the microwave for a few seconds (10-15) and they’ll “freshen up” a bit the next day or two 🙂
These are soooo good! If you’ve ever had Kristy Kramer Donuts, your gonna love these!
Hahaha! Do you mean Krispy Kreme? Lol! And thanks, mom!
Get in my belly❤️
I wish I could have made these for ya’ll when you were here! Maybe next time.
I made the all purpose instead of the bread flour will it work the same for the doughnut?
No, unfortunately it won’t work the same.
Have you ever tried Bob’s Red Mill one to one GF flour? Any idea if this flour would work for this recipe? I use it in most of my recipes. Your recipe looks amazing!!!
Thank you!! I’ve tried it in other recipes, but not this one. The reason I developed my own bread flour blend is because I didn’t get the results I wanted (mainly texture) from the store bought blends. While you may get satisfactory results, they just weren’t what I was looking for.
when I was home in January my Celiac 98 year old father asked if I had ever made GF donuts. The next time I came in, it was with a batch of these already shaped and frozen. Thawed overnight, let rise and fried them up. Dad’s reaction “MMMMMmmmm”. He had two fresh out of the oil before his dinner. Less than 2 weeks later my dad died. Thank you Kim for making it possible for him to have his donuts.
I am so, so sorry for your loss 😢 I literally had tears stream down my face as I read this. It is such an honor that my donuts were able to make your dad happy in his last days, and I wish you and your family much sympathy and all the best 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰