Copycat Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
A copycat recipe for Krispy Kreme doughnuts – they’re light, airy and covered in a barely-there glaze.
We are a house divided when it comes to doughnuts… I’ve never, ever gravitated towards them as a breakfast indulgence or a dessert, never quite being able to stomach the taste of fried dough (the same holds true for funnel cakes, as well – what’s wrong with me?!). My husband, however, loves doughnuts and although we really don’t have them often at all, he’ll sometimes say that he’s craving Krispy Kreme. The problem? The Krispy Kreme shop that was near where we live closed years ago and there are none nearby.
A couple of months ago, he saw that it was national doughnut day and the craving hit… he asked if I would be able to make a copycat version of Krispy Kreme doughnuts at home. I never turn down a challenge, so I started doing my research!
As it turns out, there are approximately eleventy billion recipes for copycat Krispy Kreme doughnut recipes on the Internet. Shocking, right?
I sifted through a ton of them, and the majority had roughly the same ingredients with minor changes here and there. Then, I read the comments and reviews. Almost every single one was split 50/50 between “oh my gosh these taste JUST like Krispy Kreme!” and “oh my gosh these taste NOTHING like Krispy Kreme”. The pressure was on.
Not being a connoisseur myself, I read through tips and suggestions and came up with this recipe… of particular note is that I used instant yeast to keep the dough light and ensure a nice rise, and used water instead of milk to keep a lean dough.
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On a Sunday morning when the stars aligned and I woke up early and Joseph slept in, these were gracing our kitchen counter by 8:30am. I waited with bated breath for my husband’s verdict… he loved them! He said they were super, super, super close to Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and was thrilled. Score!
He said that in the past, he would reheat cooled Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the microwave for 8 seconds and it was just perfect, like they were hot from the conveyer belt, and he said the same held true for these. So those are the official reheating instructions :)
If you love doughnuts, this is a must baking project!
Watch How to Make Krispy Kreme Doughnuts:
Copycat Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
Ingredients
For the Doughnuts:
- 2¼ teaspoons (2.25 teaspoons) instant yeast
- ¾ cup (187.5 ml) warm water
- ⅓ cup (66.67 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- ¼ cup (56.75 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2½ to 3 cups (340 to 425 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 to 4 cups (552 to 736 g) vegetable shortening, for frying
For the Glaze:
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar
- ¼ cup (62.5 ml) water
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the Doughnuts: Combine the yeast and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Let stand for 10 minutes.
- Add the sugar, salt, butter, egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract and 2½ cups of the flour. Knead on low speed until a dough begins to form. If the dough is quite sticky, add more flour a tablespoon at a time until a soft, tacky dough forms. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl, but not the bottom.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft-free spot for 2 hours.
- Gently press to deflate the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
- On a floured work surface, roll the dough out to a ½-inch thickness. Using a doughnut cutter (if you don’t have one, use one larger and one smaller round cutters) dipped in flour, cut out the doughnuts and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. (You can roll any leftover dough scraps into balls for more doughnut holes.) Cover with a clean dish towel and allow to rest for 1 hour.
- Line a large rimmed baking sheet with a double layer of paper towels and place a wire cooling rack on top.
- When ready to fry, heat the vegetable shortening in a large cast iron skillet (or other wide, heavy-bottomed skillet or pot) to a maintained temperature of 360 to 370 degrees. Gently lower the doughnuts into the oil, being careful not to overcrowd the pan (I cooked in three batches). Cook until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Carefully remove the doughnuts from the oil and place on the cooling rack. Repeat until all of the doughnuts have been fried.
- Make the Glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, water and vanilla extract until smooth. Working one at a time, dip each doughnut into the glaze, flip to coat the other side, and return to the cooling rack. Allow the glaze to set for about 15 minutes, then serve.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Tried it and love it!!! Soo soft and airy…a repeat for sure!
Thanks for sharing!!
These were amazing and tasted just like Krispy Kream. I made the raspberry filled as well as the icing filled. I also made some in the air fryer and some I cooked in io==oil. The ones cooked in the oil were much better and softer than the ones in the air fryer. The air fryer made the dough really hard. This recipe is a keeper, and we will use it many more times. Thank you for sharing.
I made these today. Taste and texture is similar to Krispy Kreme but not the same. Still absolutely light, airy, and so good! I used lard to deep fried instead of vegetable shortening. Next time, I plan to use vegetable shortening just to see if the frying dough surface is any different. This is still a great base recipe for your light and airy doughnuts!
They are easy to do. Just take patience with proofing and frying time.
Interestingly enough, you’re missing a key ingredient to make those true KK donuts, mashed potatoes. Turns out, that’s one of their main ingredients, mashed potatoes! Google it!
My mom had a donut shop in Baltimore in the 30s, and she made hers from potatoes, so they would have been very similar to KK. I know she said people would line up on the sidewalk waiting on them to open in the morning, and she made donuts all day! Maybe they were that similar? Who knows!
Try making them with mashed potatoes and see what hubby says then!
Interesting comment about adding mashed potatoes. Are you saying mashed as if ready to eat potatoes? Or mash a couple of potatoes and add to dough? would you please clarify your comment? And quantity of potatoes or recipe.
Thank you!
You can’t mash uncooked potatoes so either have to cook then mash or used already made.
Betty Crocker Instant homestyle mashed potatoes – it is plain potato flakes (NOT Idahoan which has milk etc included); i’ve seen dried potato flakes added for tenderness in nsome dinner roll or bread recipes, replacing flour with 1/2c per 2c flour (ie 1/3c potato + 1 2/3c flour, adjusted)
Tried this recipe yesterday and it was a big big hit! These doughnuts are soo much like Krispy Kreme :) and my family is very impressed with these cuties. :)
It takes quite a while to refrigerate and rest the dough but the wait worths it!! The texture and the taste are definitely over the top. Thank you for sharing this!
Family is very impressed w/this recipe. Begging for more. They were light,fluffy as claimed to be. Making more tomorrow😊 I made the dough in my bread machine,for the mixing,kneading and rising. Transferred to bowl for overnight,fried the next day! Delicious!
Can I triple the recipe?
I have tried so many recipes and finally finally found the one that truly tastes like Krispy Kream! Thank you so so much and the helpful video is awesome !
My family absolutley loved it ! This shall now be our staple “go to ” sweet for sure!
Would 6 hours in the fridge be fine?
I only got 8 doughnuts,where not light followed receip,think need more time out of fridge before cutting didnt raise
Ok, so the doughnut itself was ok! But the consistency of the doughnut was horrible, it tastes like the the texture of bread! And the glaze with the doughnut together, tasted horrible! But I wouldn’t recommend this recipe to anyone with obsessed with trying the Krispy Kreme recipe.
You clearly aren’t an experienced baker! Because this recipe I’ve made over and over and never ever have I had the texture of bread. This dough is so light and soft. You probably added far too much flour and too much yeast. Here in this recipe you must weight the ingredients
I agree. I use my kitchen scale as accuracy is important!
I’ve always had trouble with the second rise- however when I put a bowl with boiling water at the bottom of my cold oven and do the 2nd rise in there my doughs have done beautifully! I am currently waiting for the 3rd rise of this recipe and am very much hoping they come out well…. Crossing my fingers! 😖😖😖
I’ll make this recipe for my family. Here at home everyone loves donuts! What a kindness to share your recipe!
bestest homemade doughnut recipe!
I don’t usually write a review, but this time I had to!
made this yesterday for iftaar(fast breaking) and they turned out super soft and airy on the inside and crispy from the outside. totally a hit for me. have tried so many recipes from last year, but none of them turned out like this one.
this is going in my recipe book right now:)
thank you so much for sharing!
Followed recipe exactly using Gold Medal AP Flour. Rolled dough to ½” but get only 7 donuts. Where am I going wrong?
Was very hopeful. And they are very good. Followed instructions to the T.
Glaze is very close.
Donuts flavor is not right. Not bad just not KK.
Tips from my first cooking..
Use a good quality wax/parchment paper.
Because after all your time waiting to get to the end… sticking to the paper means you disturb the yeast the more you handle it.. making for some smaller and deformed donuts.. the ones not disturbed are airy and light and huge compared to the ones that kinda stuck and had the be pulled off. Making them a little chewy instead of airy.
I might fiddle with the recipe if I try it again, but as the poster stated.. there are. A million and 1 copies out there.
On the perfect ones.. not KK caliber but better than DD.
One of the best donuts ive ever had!
I had NEVER made donuts in my life. I started my journey with another recipe, but then found this one, later the same day. The first one was great, though it was a heavier cake like consistency, and NOT what I wanted. Then I found this one!
One of my fears when thinking about baking is Yeast. But this recipe calmed my nerves, and now I’m a fearless user of yeast!!
These donuts were EVERYTHING I wanted. Light, melt in your mouth, yummy, goodness!!!
I have made several batches and give them out to friends and family, who can’t wait for more!!!
I think the secret is letting the dough rise as much as this recipe calls for. Though I have sped up the process by setting the dough on top of my convection oven that’s set to 170 degrees. This cuts rising time in half. I always check the dough several times while it sets in the fridge for 8 hours (another commenter said he had the blob all over his fridge the next morning), make sure you check and kneed once or twice, then rewrap. Otherwise, follow the directions above and ENJOY!!! These truly are the copycat Krispy Kreme you dream about ❤
Would baking it make it airy too ?
Hi Blaire, I have never tried baking these.
I made these and they were awesome! My boyfriend loved them, we’re going camping this weekend and I plan to bring a batch of these with us, am I able to leave the dough in the fridge for more than one day or will that affect the outcome?
Thank you for the recipe! Amazing donuts:)
Hi Jan, So glad you enjoyed these! I would say 2 days would be the max.
Great! Haven’t had Krispy Kreme in a minute – so I can’t say it’s the same thing but the best homemade donut I’ve tasted!
I’ve made these about times and they’re fantastic every time! I would like to note for my Canadian friends these are pretty darn close to Timmies Honey Dip, and definitely will satisfy if you’re craving their donuts! Except these are better cause they are fried ;)
OMG! Yummy!! Very very close to the real thing. Used canola oil to fry as I didn’t have any shortening on hand. But were still absolutely delicious! Thanks so much for sharing. Will definitely be on my rotation for sweets!
I loved the donuts!
Total disaster. Leaving them to prove for 2 hours resulted in dough that smelled pretty alcoholic. Against my better judgment, I went along with the “wrap in plastic wrap and put in refrigerator” idea, which as I thought made no sense because the dough continued to expand and busted out of the tightly-wrapped plastic! Luckily, I saw it when I was randomly looking in the fridge about an hour in, or I would’ve awakened to a doughy mess to clean. Undeterred and hopeful, I pressed the mass back down, took off the plastic, and put it all back into the kitchenaid bowl; covered that with wrap and put into the fridge overnight. Woke up to a flat, very alcoholic smelling bread, continued anyway. The next part I’m leery on is the 1/2 inch roll-out: WAY too big. I measured exactly 1/2 inch and ended up with 4 and 3/4 doughnuts. Anyway, unwilling to let it go, I fried and coated these things, and…surprise, they tasted like alcohol fritters. I’m with the other reviewer in saying this is too much effort for something like this, even if they *did* turn out.
Sounds like you used way too much yeast. When working with yeast,the dough generally has a sort of an alcohol odor… tbh I think it smells like sweet corn, if your yeast is good. But anyway, of course it continues to rise a little in the fridge, but the cold slows those little guys down a bit. — since your dough had no issue with the rising part (clearly) then I’d have to say you might have mis-measured, or try it with half the amount.
Yeah you definitely used way too much yeast. Also making homemade desserts such as raised glazed donuts like this is totally worth the effort. There’s a lot of real baking that takes a long time and totally worth the effort. The comment about it not being worth the effort when a person is sharing a recipe on their site it’s uncalled for. I will say though someone who is not much of a baker trying this for the first time could be very daunting especially somebody who isn’t used to baking with yeast.
These look amazing, definitely should try them
Can I use an air fryer with this?
Hi Lilly, I’m not sure, as I don’t own one, but if you try, let me know how they turn out!
I just used an air fryer for a different donut recipe. (Wasn’t a fan of the flavor, going to try this one next) but the air fryer worked pretty good. I cooked them at 350 for 3.5-4 mins
Hi Jamie! Did you turn them over half way through the cooking time? Thanks!
I have made these about 4 times.. Better than all the other recipes I’ve tried.. Maybe its the extra yolk.. Making a huge batch this week, giving them a festive look and making up gift boxes for friends we are unable to see due to social distancing.. Thanks for sharing
I love Doughnuts so much you must you try it
A little known fact – there is actually very little sugar in the dough of a KK doughnut. If you ask, you can get one off the line before it gets covered in sugar and the dough by itself is horrible.
Can I substitute use salted butter for unsalted?
Yes, no problem!
Thanks for this recipe! It’s the easiest I’ve come by 🙂 I wonder if I can substitute shortening instead of butter and just fry the donuts in oil? Would love your input!
Hi Daisy, It may change the taste/texture a bit, but both of those should still work!
I make doughnuts all the time and while I get pretty decent results… Your absolutely right.. These are pretty similar to Krispy Kreme..
Anyway.. Absolutely delicious.
I used 2 1/2 cups of flour so reduced water to 1/2 cup..
Thanks for sharing