Before I moved to Louisiana, I had no idea how big of a deal Mardi Gras is here. Um, yeah, my kids are out of school. My friend Becky in New Orleans has a kid who’s out for 10 days. 10. During the last few years, I’ve really come to love Mardi Gras (lots of fun, very little work on my part–totally my kind of holiday!), so the kids and I were pretty bummed when our parade got rained out on Saturday. To make up for it, we watched The Princess and the Frog, made Beignets (pronounced ben-yays, JUST in case you might be wondering), and I stopped just short of throwing beads and plastic cups at my kids and my cat.
I love this recipe because these babies are not just super, super delicious, but they are so easy, the dough can be made the night before and refrigerated, and they only require one short rise.
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Whole milk
- Granulated sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Table salt
- All-purpose flour
- Active dry yeast
- Warm water
- Egg
- Peanut oil – For frying.
How to Make Beignets
- You’ll start by heating some milk, sugar, salt, and oil on the stove top until bubbles form around the edges of the pan. You’ll also get some yeast blooming in water and sugar.
- That all gets mixed up with some flour and and egg to make a soft dough that will stick to your fingers.
- At this point you can either refrigerate the dough for later or continue to the next step.
- When ready to cook, you’ll turn the dough out onto a floured surface, roll it out, and cut it into rectangles, then let them rise for few minutes while you heat your frying oil.
- After the dough has risen, you’ll pop the beignets in the hot oil, a few at a time, until it’s puffed and golden on both sides, flipping half way through.
- When all of your beignets are fried, place some powdered sugar into a fine mesh strainer and generously dust the beignets with the powdered sugar. By “dust,” I’m talking light piles of powdered sugar, not some pansy smattering of powdered sugar. This is a messy operation.
- Eat them immediately while they’re hot!
Storing and Other Tips
- These are best eaten right away! You can still keep them around for a couple of days (or can you?) in an airtight container at room temperature. Just make sure they’re completely cooled before storing.
- Watch that oil temperature carefully! It’s really easy to let your oil get too hot which will result in the outside of your beignets getting overcooked while the middle remains raw. If it’s too low, they will soak up oil and become soggy. Use your candy thermometer and make sure you adjust the heat on your stove as needed to keep the heat steady.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can make the dough ahead of time and store it in the fridge for up to 24 hours if needed. When ready to fry, roll out your dough and allow the beignets to rise for 45-60 minutes before frying.
You can also make them ahead of time and store for up to 24 hours before serving. Do not dust with powdered sugar until ready to serve and make sure they are completely cool before storing.
Pretty much, but they have a few specific qualities that set them apart. They are puffy and soft in texture, whereas a lot of doughnuts are a little more dense or chewy. Beignets are traditionally topped with powdered sugar only and doughnuts can have a much larger variety of glazes, icings, and fillings.
Watch your oil temperature carefully and adjust your heat as needed. If the oil cools too much the dough will absorb too much oil. If it gets too hot, they will brown too quickly and the inside won’t cook.
Beignets
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 5 tablespoons sugar divided
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 3 ½ – 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 scant tablespoon dry active yeast
- ½ cup warm water about 105℉
- 1 egg
- peanut oil for frying
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine the milk, 1/4 cup of the sugar, vegetable oil, and salt. Heat over medium heat until small bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Remove from heat.
- While the milk is heating, combine the yeast and remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar with the warm water. Allow to stand for 10 minutes or until it’s very bubbly.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the heated milk and 2 cups of flour. Mix, scraping the bowl occasionally, until smooth (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and mix until well-combined. Add the yeast mixture. Add enough flour to make a soft dough that slightly sticks to your finger.
- At this point, you can either place the dough in a bowl sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and cover with a piece of sprayed plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough up to 1 day or you can roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Either way, when you roll it out, roll it into a large rectangle about 1/4″ thick. Using a pizza wheel, cut the dough into about 3″x4″ rectangles. Slightly separate the dough pieces and cover with a clean cloth. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.
- When the dough has about 15 minutes left to go, heat 2-3 inches of peanut oil in a large skillet or saucepan to 325℉ (just use a candy thermometer). When the oil is heated, fry the dough pieces for about 90 seconds-2 minutes per side or until they are golden. Carefully remove from the oil and allow to drain on a paper towel-lined baking sheet.
- Place some powdered sugar in a fine-mesh strainer and sprinkle the powdered sugar generously over the beignets. Serve immediately. Makes about 24-30 beignets.
Notes
- These are best eaten right away! You can still keep them around for a couple of days (or can you?) in an airtight container at room temperature. Just make sure they’re completely cooled before storing.
- Watch that oil temperature carefully! It’s really easy to let your oil get too hot which will result in the outside of your beignets getting overcooked while the middle remains raw. If it’s too low, they will soak up oil and become soggy. Use your candy thermometer and make sure you adjust the heat on your stove as needed to keep the heat steady.
Questions & Reviews
Love, love, love, LOVE the new design! And I can’t even express how much I’m enjoying the cookbook, too.
I absolutely love your new look, but then again I loved your old look too! I just wanted to let you know that I tried to print the recipe by using the lone ‘print recipe’ button above the recipe and nothing printed up (well I got a sheet with the date and your web address on it, but surely not the recipe). I tried it twice with the same result. I then tried the ‘print recipe’ button next to Kate’s picture and that worked just fine. I’m sure it was something I did, but just in case it wasn’t (which would be amazing) I wanted to let you guys know so you would be on top of it! Thanks for all of the wonderful recipes!
Heather, it might not work with some browsers. If you have another web browser installed on your computer, try that. If it doesn’t work, the Print Friendly button (the one you used) should still work, it’s just not quite as pretty! 🙂
These look amazing, just like your new site design, I love it all!!
Carlee
I just popped over to check out the new blog design and, although I love it, I have to say the heart-shaped lemon slice in your graphic doesn’t make much sense. If that was on a fork, how on Earth could anyone manage to hold the fork and take a bit out of the side of it like that? Shouldn’t the bite be on the other lobe of the heart? Not criticizing, mind you, just curious . . . I noticed it IMMEDIATELY, but then, maybe I’m just picky and overly-observant: )
The GOOD news is that there aren’t any heart-shaped oranges, so it’s probably a moot point. 🙂 No, really, it was just supposed to be cute and light-hearted. 🙂
These sound great and I’ve wanted to try making them since I saw that movie too. I just wish my kids liked the movie a little better so I could watch it more often. Ü I think we might have the same friend Becky—did she move from Des Moines? Can’t wait to give these a try. Dinner for tomorrow is planned!
Ha! Yep, totally the same Becky!
Yay! It’s me!! 🙂 Love this recipe, Kate!
YUM! These look very similar to the scones I grew up eating. In fact, we just had them last night. I got your cookbook last week and tried your Smokey Bean Soup with Ham and Bacon last night as well. My husband is actually not a big fan of bean with bacon soup from a can, but he loved this! Thank you!!
I’m also trying your dinner rolls tonight, and I’m excited! I am really starting to love working with dough, thanks to your recipes and tips. (And I’m not afraid of it anymore!) I accidently dripped a little water on the page while mixing the rolls together, though, and immediately felt really sad because I usually like to keep special things really nice and new. But then I realized that rippled and tattered pages are a sure trademark of a tried and true favorite cookbook!!
Totally loving the cookbook and new website!!!
I have been waiting forever for you to change up your site to make the recipes easier to find. I LOVE your site and have made ever so many delicious things from it!! Thanks a million! (And my mom always raves about your baked potato soup!)
I love beignets and I love, love, love the new website, great job on it!
I’ve been thinking of making beignets since I saw them on the Princess and the Frog! Ha ha Having never lived in the South, I had never heard of them before that. This recipe makes them look really doable. I think I’ll pick up some peanut oil this afternoon when I hit Safeway.
I LOVE beignets!! My mom used to make them when I was growing up and then I got to eat one at Cafe du Monde in The French Quarter years ago. Then I made them for book club a few years ago. I totally didn’t even realize it was Mardi Gras tomorrow, but I will definitely be mixing up a batch of these tomorrow now!!!