To make donuts is not difficult, as long as you find the best oil to fry donuts. You know, the worst part is having to eat a donut that’s too greasy and looks rancid! And the reason might be that your donut is fried with the wrong type of oil!
The reason for this is that your donut is fried with the wrong type of oil! The overall taste and texture of this famous donut will be ruined.
Don’t worry; this article shows you how to choose the most suitable oils to make donuts and specific ways to get the most flavorful batch of them. Let’s jump in!
What Is A Donut?
Donuts have long been a favorite dessert and snack food for many people, regardless of their ages. Those are colorful treats with cute round shapes with a signature hole in the middle and various flavors.
There are plenty of reasons for the holes in donuts, but today, most people just think of them as a signature feature of these sweet treats.
With its ring shape, soft spongy texture, and eye-catching decorations and shapes, the donut attracts people to enjoy it from the first bite. Plus, there’s a wide collection of donut types to suit everyone’s taste!
This is first considered a dessert, but then the creative bakers have transformed donuts with many different kinds of food, including savory.
There’s a story behind the name donut. As you may hear, the donut is also known as “doughnut”, combining the word “dough” which means the dough is kneaded and processed, and “nut” refers to the nuts used in the donut.
After a time, people use “donut” to call this round donut short. However, there are still many places that call this donut “doughnut”.
To talk about donut history, it wasn’t until 1920 that Adolph Levitt invented the first donut machine in New York City, and it was thanks to this donut machine that this delicious food became known to many people. Today, you can make these treats at home with a high-quality donut maker.
What if you don’t want to invest in a dedicated donut maker or donut pan? Well, the good news is there are ways to make donuts without a donut pan. That said, the process will take a bit more effort.
According to the culinary industry report, more than 10,000 donuts are produced annually in the US. This number shows that the attraction of donuts is still powerful over time.
Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme are among the most well-known donut chains in America. Many people love Dunkin’ Donuts for its menu and prices, which are affordable and delicious.
Although not as big as Dunkin’ Donuts, Krispy Kreme also has excellent menu prices. More importantly, the donuts are made in-house, thus retaining their freshness and flavor at all times.
How To Choose The Best Donut’s Frying Oil
There are some principles that you should note to choose the best oil for donuts. Keep reading to learn more.
Oil’s Flavor
The oil’s flavor is one of the most noteworthy factors you should pay attention to. Your donut’s overall taste can be ensured only when you get the oil with the right sweet flavor.
During frying, any intense flavors are not suitable to be imparted into the donuts. Therefore, just choose the type of oil as light and neutral as possible. You can try tasting the oil to determine its flavor for the most exact answer.
Oil’s Smoking Point
The temperature required to fry donuts is around 345–390 degrees Fahrenheit. That means you must choose the oil with corresponding high smoke points to prevent flashing and turning into something toxic.
The best oils for frying donuts must have a smoking point of at least 400 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure you are safe eating your donuts. Besides, to get the perfect donuts, the stability of your oil is crucial – the higher the flashpoint, the more the stability.
Oil’s Form
One cooking oil can have many forms due to the production method, and the most seen types of oil are refined vs. unrefined. For frying donuts, consider choosing the refined form. The refined oils have undergone filtering, bleaching, and heating processes.
Thanks to this, refined/expeller-pressed oil gains the highest smoke point and can be used for high-temperature cooking methods, such as sautéing, searing, stir-frying, and deep-frying your donuts.
Oil’s Color
If you choose a cooking oil with dark color, it can end up turning your donuts into something dark after a long frying time. For this reason, you may want to reflect on oil that has the color as light as possible or even colorless for the best.
Oil’s Price
To fry donuts, you must use the deep-frying method. That means you need to replace a large amount of oil eventually. Therefore, if you do not want your donuts to cost you an arm and a leg, you should consider choosing an affordable oil to fry them.
Discover the best and safest oil for deep-frying at home!
Best Oil Brands To Choose From
Here are some big brands in the USA market. They all have various types of cooking oil with distinctive characteristics. So you need to depend on your need to choose a suitable type. But no matter what type you pick, these names below are high-ranking ones.
Healthy Harvest
It is an American brand that has been operated since the 1990s to offer high-quality oils to the market. Made with organic and non-GMO ingredients, their products are proud to provide you with a healthy lifestyle, especially in cooking and eating.
Pompeian
Pompeian might be a familiar name to many of you since this is a long-standing brand with more than 100-year experience in producing culinary oils. Their products are best friends in the kitchen to ensure your meals have more flavors and depth.
La Tourangelle’s
La Tourangelle’s products are made in France and California with the highest-quality ingredients and appropriate technologies. Some products are created from hand-picked components to ensure the best artisan oils with distinctive flavors.
Nutiva
Colavita is another ideal name to consider with a wide selection of oils, especially coconut oil and red palm oil. You can also find other healthy food items at Nutiva, like super seeds, plant and MCT protein, and more.
The Noteworthy Oils For Frying Crispy Donuts
This part will provide detailed oil varieties you can use for frying donuts with their pros and cons. You can base on that information to consider which one is most suitable for your treats.
1. Refined Safflower Oil
Safflower oil is produced from the safflower plant seeds. To extract this cooking oil kind, safflower seeds are crushed, pressed, and treated with chemical solvents. Safflower oil’s flavor is discrete and mild to keep the natural taste of food during frying without imparting any foreign taste.
This cooking oil contains a rich amount of monounsaturated fats, omega-6 fatty acids, and vitamin E. The benefits that safflower oil brings are abundant for health and skincare. Its color is also light which will not darken your donuts during frying.
The most common type you can find on the market is the high-oleic expeller pressed safflower oil. This cooking oil can stand very high heat due to the rich in unsaturated fats, so it is usually used for deep-frying, like French fries, chips, and donuts.
One more reason is the high smoke point of safflower oil, around 266°C/510°F. Compared to the commonly used cooking oil, this oil has the highest smoke point over canola and sunflower oil (2) .
To choose an excellent safflower oil among all, Hollywood Expeller Pressed Safflower Oil is worth considering. Although the overall price of safflower oil is a bit higher than other common cooking oils, it is still affordable, and you should try it once because of all the benefits it brings.
Let’s find out what benefits safflower oil can bring to your health!
2. Fractionated Palm Oil
Palm oil is extracted from the oil of palm fruit. Unrefined palm oil is sometimes called red palm oil because of its reddish-orange color. This comes from antioxidants called carotenoids, including beta-carotene. Fractionated palm oil will have a whitish color in solid form.
Like coconut oil, palm oil is semi-solid at room temperature. However, its melting point is significantly higher, at 235°C/455°F, due to the different fatty acid composition. Because of this characteristic, it is one of the top oil choices when it comes to stir-frying or deep-frying.
Its high smoke point and the stability at high heat makes it an excellent alternative to shortening. In addition, you might also see palm oil in cosmetic or pharmaceutical products.
All the calories in palm oil come from saturated fat. Remarkably, this saturated fat in palm oil helps it set up well on the donut surface. Thanks to that, the glazes, powdered sugar, or other toppings you want to add can easily adhere to your donut.
Its flavor is considered earthy and savory, sometimes with a palm scent. You can feel its taste like carrots or pumpkin. However, after fractionating, it is almost tasteless. Palm oil is also one of the economical oils, accounting for a third of vegetable oil production globally.
Palm oil is sometimes blended with other oils to enhance functional attributes, such as adjusting melt points, changing flavor profile, or altering crystallization. Essential Depot Palm Oil will be an excellent choice to start with your donuts – not hydrogenated, healthy, with a great saving capacity.
3. Interesterified Soybean Oil
Soybean oil is currently one of the most popular and trusted cooking oils extracted from natural soybean seeds. It’s one of the best substitutes for peanut oil. In addition to cooking, soybean oil has many more uses and advantages, making it indispensable for homemakers.
Soybean oil is often encountered in interesterified, extracted through hot pressing, and refined from natural soybeans with high nutritional content, beneficial for health with more than 60% unsaturated fatty acids content.
This oil is light yellow with a light and neutral taste. You can consider soybean oil as a good oil donut maker because it only gently imparts a clean flavor without much effect. It will also result in lighter-colored donuts that look better than other oils.
With a high smoke temperature of about 234°C/453°F, soybean oil won’t turn your donuts into something bad as quickly. However, this oil is only suitable if you plan to eat your donuts right away. If not, it can become greasy, making all the toppings fall off after a while.
You can try using Nutrioli Pure Soybean Oil as a neutral flavor and multi-function oil for donuts or other frying purposes.
4. Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil
For frying donuts, you might love to use canola oil. It tastes even lighter than sunflower oil, with an extremely neutral and mild flavor. That means it will not impart any foreign taste into your dough.
Refined canola oil may be the most popular option in cooking, especially deep frying. You can use this oil for baking your donuts thoroughly in the fastest way due to the high flash point of 204°C/400°F. This helps remain the beautiful golden color on the outside.
The best thing is canola oil has the lightest color among all the cooking oils. For that reason, even if you deep-fry your donuts at low heat for longer, they will not be darkened at all.
Furthermore, canola oil is made directly from flowers, which is much more affordable than other seed oils. Canola oil is always available worldwide, and you can find it at any store. Start with Healthy Harvest Canola Oil to see how well it works on your donuts.
However, you should keep in mind that canola oil is only good when you plan to eat your donuts immediately, as the donuts may turn greasy, making all toppings fall off after a while. This is caused by the unsolid feature of canola oil at room temperature due to the less saturated fat level.
Canola oil is made through a complicated process. See how it is!
5. Refined Sunflower Oil
By pressing the sunflower seeds, people get sunflower oil. Sunflower oils are usually made under a refined form; hence, the natural strong flavor and color are gone, leaving the light color almost tasteless with a mild fragrance.
Therefore, you can rest assured that no unique flavor will be imparted into your donut dough and create something strange. The light color of sunflower oil also helps you fry your donut for longer without changing its beautiful yellow color.
To talk about the ability to handle the high-temperature deep frying, refined sunflower oil is the best with an absolutely high smoke point, 232°C/450°F. For this reason, this type of oil is usually used for many frying purposes, including deep-frying donuts.
The best thing about sunflower oil is its price – so affordable for a considerable amount required for deep-frying. Healthy Harvest Non-GMO Sunflower Oil can be an ideal choice among many sunflower oil brands with its high quality and reasonable price.
6. Refined Peanut Oil
Refined peanut oil undergoes refining, bleaching, and deodorization. These processes remove the allergenic parts of the oil. Restaurants often use this oil to deep-fry foods to develop a crisp texture, including donuts.
This is because peanut oil has a high smoke point of about 232°C/450°F and is absolutely stable when deep-frying at high temperatures. This oil is famous for deep frying because of its neutral taste.
Compared to other vegetable oils in deep-frying, peanut oil causes fewer off-tastes. Fortunately, the nutty flavor of peanut oil contributes so well to the taste of donuts and other baking products.
Unlike the natural dark golden brown color, refined peanut oil has a light golden color that is suitable for long-time frying. For a good option among peanut oils, Happy Belly Peanut Oil is an economical choice for a large number of donuts.
How to make donuts perfectly? Let’s find out now!
Which Oils/Fats You Should Not Use To Fry Your Donuts?
Maybe you’ve used the oils/fats below to fry donuts before, and you feel fine! But really, you should avoid them when you know the reasons that I will list below. The bad oils are:
Flavored Oil
Don’t misunderstand that a flavored oil is oil mixed with other flavors. I am talking about the natural flavor imparted from the very plant that makes the oil. When it comes to flavor oils, I mean both refined and unrefined.
Refined Flavored Oil
In addition to the above refined oils that are suitable for frying donuts, there are still some types of refined flavored oil you should avoid. That’s because they have a more intense color than most refined oils, which can cause your donuts to turn black before they’re fully cooked.
What’s more, no matter how much bleaching and processing some refined oils go through, their inherent flavor still lingers. Typically you can think about many familiar oils such as avocado oil, sesame oil, grapeseed oil, olive oil, coconut oil, etc.
Despite their extremely high smoke temperatures, these oils are not suitable as they will impart weird flavors to your donuts. Not to mention there are some oils that have been refined, but the smoke point is still quite low and not suitable for deep fry.
Unrefined Flavored Oil
You can see that most unrefined oils have a specific flavor. This is because they don’t go through too much bleaching and processing to remove the taste and give it a neutral flavor. This taste can impart to the donut dough during frying, and some flavors will really not match.
Since it is less processed, the color of unrefined oil is retained very obviously. That causes your donuts to go brown too quickly on the outside while the inside isn’t cooked yet. To cook the center evenly, the outside may be too black and have a burnt smell.
In addition, the low smoke point is a big minus point of unrefined oil. They usually only have smoke temperatures between 250-350F, and this makes them really unsustainable for deep frying. It also costs more than refined oil and will cost you a fortune to fill the pan.
Butter
The worst candidate you could choose for frying donuts is butter. Why? The flashpoint of butter is extremely low, only about 250F, and you certainly cannot keep your cake safe in terms of appearance, taste, and nutrition when choosing to fry with butter.
Second, you’ll have to melt loads of butter to fill your deep frying pan! And you know, butter doesn’t come very affordable, so it’s definitely not a wise choice.
Moreover, butter also has too much of a flavor and intense golden color, all of which will impart to the donut dough and cause it to deteriorate.
Vegetable Shortening
This isn’t exactly an oil, but it’s fat used for frying purposes. It stays solid even if you don’t keep it in the fridge, and if you are thinking of margarine right now, you’re right.
Since this fat is always solid, it will take time to melt it before frying the donuts. That is the first minus. Moreover, it is difficult to preserve and also spoils faster than frying oils. Plus, it’ll cost you a lot more to melt down enough liquid to fry all of your donuts.
The most important thing, vegetable shortening is really not good for frying at high heat. Simply because it tends to burn and turn brown when exposed to excessive heat, and these unflattering colors and burnt smell will linger on your donuts – not tasty at all.
Essential Principles To Fry The Best Donuts Ever
You absolutely must avoid a few things if you don’t want your batch of donuts to go wrong. Here are a few things to notice in order to get the perfect donut the first time.
Adjust The Temperature Of The Oil When You Fry
When you fry, the oil temperature will sometimes increase and decrease. Each time a new batch of donuts is added, the oil temperature will decrease, so you need to increase the stove temperature to maintain the correct frying oil temperature.
On the contrary, the oil temperature will increase when there is no donut dough inside, so you must quickly add a new batch of donuts to equalize the temperature right away. Remember to use a thermometer to keep your temperature steady at all times.
Do Not Fry The Donuts At Too Low A Temperature
When frying donuts, you must follow an appropriate temperature to fry just right, cook evenly from the inside out and not be mushy.
Too low a temperature will not help prevent your donut from burning; on the contrary, it will cause the donut to lose its crispness and absorb more grease.
Do Not Use A Too-Small Pan/Pot
After being put in hot oil, donuts will swell and take up more space in the pan than you think. So, if you don’t want the hot oil to spill out or get into trouble, you should choose a pan/pot that is big and deep enough.
I recommend it to have a capacity of at least two liters, even if your purpose of frying donuts is not that much. One fantastic suggestion that I tried was the Dutch oven.
This kind of pan is made of dense material that retains heat very well, helping to stabilize the oil temperature while frying, making the donuts cook more evenly. It seems to be made for frying donuts with room for four donuts at a time.
Use The Right Amount Of Frying Oil
The level of oil you use in frying the donuts will affect their quality. The oil will continuously seep into the dough, which means the amount of oil is constantly changing. You need to make sure to add oil to cover all the donuts, never leaving the pan lacking oil.
However, you also must not put too much oil because it may spill or shoot hot oil jets that make you unsafe. Always keep a moderate amount of oil submerged!
Do Not Forget To Use A Thermometer
If you are not a true connoisseur of cooking, you cannot check the frying oil temperature yourself with a wooden spoon like our grandmothers and mothers. Fortunately, today we have cooking thermometers. Why not use it to have the best batch of donuts?
The best temperature for frying donuts is between 345°F and 390°F. Handy thermometers with easy-to-read temperature markings will tell you when your oil is too cold or past the smoke point to adjust the temperature back to normal. You can easily find one in any store!
Do Not Forget To Drain The Oil From Your Donuts
The rule here is to drain the donut twice after frying. Because only then can the donut become brittle after being cooled and coated. You put the donut in the mesh basket on the first drain to let the oil flow through a significant amount.
Then, you put the donuts on a plate covered with paper towels to drain a second time, to absorb all the remaining oil. Finally, move everything to the cooling rack and start coating. This step is essential if you want to keep the delicious taste of the donuts longer.
What Can You Do With Oil After Frying Donuts?
The amount of oil you use to deep fry donuts is certainly not small. Throwing it away would be a waste. Don’t worry; I have a way to help you save it for later use, as long as you know how to store it after frying it properly. Try these steps:
Step 1: Wait For The Oil To Cool Down After Frying
After you’ve finished the last batch of donuts, take them all out and let the oil sit in the pan. Wait until it cools completely and prepare for the next step.
Step 2: Strain Any Debris Out Of The Oil
Prepare a cheesecloth or strainer with a fine mesh strainer to strain the oil. They will filter out all the debris you don’t want in the oil and avoid contaminating the oil when you reuse it later. It also helps the oil not to degrade or smell.
Step 3: Put Strained Oil In Airtight Container
Put the oil you have filtered into a container with an airtight lid (it can be glass or plastic). Finally, you just need to store it in a cool place and away from a source of heat, possibly the refrigerator. Reuse this oil for frying donuts, and you should not use it for other purposes!
Step 4: Dispose Of Excess Oil Properly
If you’ve reused your oil 2 to 3 times, you should think about throwing it away as it’s no longer good for your health.
Don’t flush it down the sink as it will clog your drain and cause serious environmental pollution. Instead, throw it in a trash bag or right in the bottle and let the garbage disposal plant help you later.
How To Fry Tasty Donuts: Excellent Recipe To Try
You are not obliged to go to the store; you can make your own attractive donuts yourself at home in two simple ways below. Check out how to do it now!
Ingredients For Making Donuts
- Fresh milk 190 ml
- Sugar 5g
- Yeast 5g
- Wheat flour 400g
- Powdered sugar 40g
- Salt 2g
- Melted peanut butter 65g
- 1 chicken egg
- 1-liter cooking oil
How To Make Donuts
Step 1: Make Yeast Mixture
Put 100 ml of fresh milk at 40 degrees, 5g of sugar, 5g of yeast in a bowl, mix well, leave for 10 minutes for the yeast to ferment.
Step 2: Prepare Dough for Donuts
Mix up all the dough ingredients, add the mixture in step 1, mix again until the dough is smooth. Knead by hand for about 20 minutes until the dough is really smooth.
With this step, you can also use a food processor to save time and effort. After kneading, cover the bowl with food wrap and incubate for 1 hour at room temperature.
Step 3: Shape the Donuts
Use a rolling pin to thin the dough to about 8mm-1cm. Then use a round frame to press on the surface of the dough. Shape the donut and a smaller round frame to create the inner circle.
Step 4: Fry The Donuts
Fill the aluminum pot with oil, let the oil boil, then turn to medium heat, then deep-fry the donuts until they are cooked evenly and golden brown. Take it out and put it on a plate lined with oil-blotting paper.
Step 5: Decorate the Donuts
While the chocolate is still hot, you can use shredded chocolate, colored nuggets, and roasted almonds to decorate as you like. So the colorful donuts are also finished.
Other Fantastic Donut Recipes To Try This Weekend
Besides the typical recipe, donuts are so diverse in ingredients, flavors, and making methods. Pick up one recipe from the ones below to try for a great batch of donuts!
Classic Homemade Cake Donuts
Some classic fried cake donuts are what you need for this weekend! This dessert is sweet with the signature taste of vanilla glaze. Everything is, even more, satisfying with the crispy skin and soft center with each bite. And making it is quite simple, too!
You will definitely love this recipe with the secret of a moister donut!
Apple Donuts
Apple donuts have a fluffy texture that will impress you right at the first bite. The mild aroma of apple combines so well with the fatty donut dough, bringing the best eating experience! In particular, you can minimize the ingredients in this recipe if you love the simplest!
Yeast Donuts
Make your donuts billow out like a ball with some yeast! Each cake is so light and fluffy after frying. You can try many favorite fillings to change the taste. The combined sweet taste will absolutely satisfy you!
Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
This recipe is both good as an appetizer and dessert! You can make some cinnamon sugar donuts in just 20 minutes with some simple ingredients. The result is absolutely tasty with the cinnamon fragrant and the buttery donuts!
Your family and friends will love these tasty little donuts!
Old Fashioned Buttermilk Donuts
Try some nostalgia with some old-fashioned buttermilk donuts! Some tips and tricks will make them double crunchy on the skin and double soft in the center. The buttermilk helps the donuts rise so well and also adds a particular buttery taste to the overall delicious cakes.
Notes To Make Donuts More Attractive
To make the tastiest donuts, you must know some interesting tips below:
- Choose new ingredients with a new expiry date, especially fresh eggs, to determine the hatchability and quality of the donuts significantly.
- Use good quality oil and butter.
- It is recommended to sift the flour to make the dough smooth.
- Mix the dough in the right proportions between the ingredients and in the proper order. The mixing speed and kneading technique also affect the quality of the donuts.
- It is necessary to heat up the oil before frying the donuts.
- When making at home, you can adjust the sweetness to taste.
- In addition to the deep-frying method, you can use the oven baking method to cook the donuts if you don’t like too much oil.
Let’s see how to make donuts without a deep fryer!
The Best Way to Store Your Donuts Properly
Is the preservation of donuts different from other fried and baked goods? Actually, it’s not that complicated. You better keep a few notable things in mind as follows:
How Long Do Donuts Last?
Because donuts are fried or deep-fried, they have a relatively long shelf life. You can store them at room temperature from 3-4 days, even up to 7-14 days. If you want to preserve your treats longer, consider freezing the donuts. With proper technique, a freezer will keep them edible for months!
How To Store Donuts
There are several methods to keep your donuts fresh, but here’s a simple one. You should store the donuts in a food container covered with a fresh slice of bread in the box. Or you can use a sprig of celery (washed and drained) inside the box instead of a slice of bread.
This method will help the donuts retain their crispiness, absorb moisture and prolong their shelf life.
Note: When you see that the slice of bread becomes hard, take it out and replace it with another new piece of bread!
FAQs
You may love to learn about many issues around donut frying oils. Let’s see what they are and how the questions are answered.
Choose Your Best Oil And Start Frying Donuts!
Donuts are a favorite cake of every age. You just need to roll up your sleeves, choose the right oil and make a big donut party. The suitable oil not only helps you make crispy and tasty donuts but also keeps your health from negative issues!
Therefore, why not like, comment, and share this post for everyone to know the successful key of frying donuts? I bet your friends will be thankful when they find this helpful information. And now, let’s go make some donuts!
References
- En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Stir frying – Wikipedia.
- Anon, 2020. Cooking with fats and oils: Can they withstand the heat? Kendall Reagan Nutrition Center.
- Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Trans fat. US Food and Drug Administration.
