Look no further! I have perfected the very Best Fried Grain Free Donuts your mouth has ever met. Preheat that oil and let’s get frying!
If you saw my post earlier this week, you know that I was rage frying, a new term I coined in the wake of people being selfish jerkholes and not staying home. I have been working through the stages of grief, and while I understand fully that’s what they are, I cannot help but be livid at people who are not only putting themselves and others at risk, but are also overwhelming hospital staff who are already wearing thin.
Ok, now that THAT’S out of the way, let’s chat about donuts. There are a lot of alleged paleo donut recipes out there, most of which are baked and more like muffins with holes. I’m not saying they’re bad, and I’ve made some similarly before. BUT… I’ll say that a real fried donut always takes the cake. Get it? I’ll be here all week at the Shoneys.
So my stress baking took a turn and this week I rage fried. After that moment, I went back yesterday and perfected the donuts so I could share them as an official recipe. It uses my braidable challah as the base as some of my newer recipes do, but there are a few different steps involved to make them donuts vs baked bread. I’ll also include an air fryer method BUT I need to let you know the texture is not nearly as delicious as when they are fried.
I recommend following the directions closely. You’ll get the best end result and if you’re like me, your rage will be gone. Everyone wins and there’s donuts to eat.
Best Fried Grain Free Donuts
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons organic powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 packets quick rise yeast
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons psyllium husk powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup potato starch
- 1.25 cups tapioca starch
- Avocado oil for frying
- 2 cups organic powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Start by combining the warm water, 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, and maple syrup. If your maple syrup is cold from the fridge, warm it just slightly.
- Stir in the active yeast into the maple/water mixture and set aside for at least 10 minutes or until it is activated and frothy
- While the yeast proofs, combine the flours, sea salt, nutmeg and psyllium husk powder in a separate bowl. Do not add any wet ingredients YET
- In a 3rd bowl, combine the eggs, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, and oil
- Once the yeast has bloomed, combine the mixture with the egg/oil mixture
- Whisk them together thoroughly
- Then pour wet ingredients into the dry starch mixture and stir QUICKLY
- The starches will start absorbing the liquid quickly and there will be lumps so the quicker you stir the easier will be to smooth the dough
- Once smooth, cover the bowl and set aside in a warm spot to let the dough rise. You will let it rise twice.
- The first rise is 30 minutes. After 30 minutes has passed, “punch” the dough down in its bowl and cover it once more
- The 2nd rise is 1 hour. Make sure to cover your bowl as the dough can dry out (don’t worry there’s a remedy to this if it does)
- Preheat the oil to low/mildly medium (around 240F). You do not want the oil too hot or it will cook the outside of the donut before the inside. Keep it low enough so you can leave the donut on each side in the oil for a few minutes to lightly brown and cook through.
- You can use a smaller saucepan to heat the oil so that you can use less. I recommend at least 1/2″ of oil or an inch.
- Take a couple tablespoons of dough and roll them with VERY OILED HANDS into a little “snake”. Seal the ends into a donut shape and set aside on parchment paper. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Let shaped donuts sit for about 10 minutes, they’ll rise a little more. Now lower one into your oil.
- Carefully flip it after a few minutes or when the underneath turns golden brown. Remove and place on a slotted rack to cool.
- Repeat with remaining dough, frying a few donuts at a time.
- Once all the donuts are cooked and cooled, mix together the 2 cups powdered sugar and the 4 tablespoons water, stir until smooth
- Dunk the cooled donuts until completely coated in the icing. Allow the glaze to harden on the donuts and repeat this step for a second layer of glaze if desired
- This will make 16-18 donuts. Uneaten donuts can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge and warmed the next day.
Can you use sweet potato starch in place of the potato starch?
Yes that should work fine!
Would cassava flour work in place of the potato flour?
This has potato starch so cassava flour would be too heavy. Amazon has potato starch in stock if you need some. Sweet potato STARCH would also work from an Asian grocery.
Thank you!
Could I use coconut oil instead of avocado for frying?
Yes you could!
Thank you!
Hi! Is there another sub for the potato flour? I don’t have potato or sweet potato flour :/
I’m not sure what subs would work.
This is a favorite labor of love around here. I made a double batch of a paleo pumpkin donut and I’m tempted to add the yeast mixture to see what happens
Thoughts?
Did you try it? Sounds delicious
Where are the air fryer instructions for this recipe or did I miss something?? Interested in that method even if texture is not the same 🙂
Well I lied. I ended up not including them because I didn’t like how hard they were. They were really dense. I’d have to experiment again to see if I could figure out how to make them less so.
Wow! I have been making donuts since I was a teenager, and these are way better than Krispy Kreme. Thanks so much!
No eggs listed in ingredients but they are in the instructions
They are there, 5th line down:
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons organic powdered sugar
1/2 cup warm water
2 packets quick rise yeast
3 eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons psyllium husk powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup potato starch
1.25 cups tapioca starch
Avocado oil for frying
2 cups organic powdered sugar
4 tablespoons water
Any thoughts on the best egg replacer for this one? I’m tempted to try apple sauce or aquafaba. TIA!
I really hesitate to say you can replace eggs. I think you will end up with a gummy mess 🙁
Can I use a vegan egg substitute for this recipe?
It really doesn’t work well without eggs. It’s very gummy unfortunately
I have a sugar intolerance, do you think powdered monk fruit would work in this recipe? Thank you so so much!
Yes it should!
What texture am I looking for?? After mixing everything up, it’s VERY wet. Will it thicken up as it rises? I’m also double-checking to make sure I didn’t miss something…haha
I used a almost equal mix of tapioca starch with arrowroot. They were fantastic. I just made one error and fried them in rapeseed oil which was a little overpowering in flavour. But the consistency of these doughnuts is amazing! Thank you so much for your effort in creating this recipe!
These look delicious! It calls for quick yeast but says to proof it… Is that correct? I thought quick didn’t get proofed. Should it be active yeast? Thanks for your help.
I did proof just to get a little extra fluff.
I tried these and it turned out to be more of a batter. I have no idea where I went wrong! I used it to make funnel cake and pancakes instead and they were great but totally not what I was going for. I substituted the psyllium husk with ground flaxseed. and my Tapioca says flour instead of starch. …