Old Fashioned Buttermilk Donuts

Plain, glazed, and powdered sugar donuts on a wire rack.

5 from 1 vote

These Old fashioned Buttermilk Donuts are crispy on the outside, ultra-fluffy on the inside, and are covered in a simple but delicious vanilla glaze. Easy to make and perfect for a few or a crowd.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Chill time1

Total Time1 30

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Servings: Donuts

Calories: 268kcal

Author: Cynthia Christensen

Equipment

Ingredients

Donuts

4 tablespoons butter melted
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg freshly grated if possible
¾ cup buttermilk
6 cups oil for frying

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar sifted if lumpy
4 tablespoons milk warmed
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make donut dough

Place 4 tablespoons unsalted butter in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high until melted. Set aside to cool.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, with a whisk or a hand mixer, combine the melted butter and the sugar. Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing each one completely before adding the next one. Add in the vanilla extract. and the nutmeg and mix.
Fold in about a third of your flour and then add in about half of your buttermilk and combine. Continuing alternating the flour and buttermilk, ending with the flour. Your dough will be very sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

Make glaze

Place powdered sugar and a pinch of salt in a medium glass bowl. Add melted butter, warm milk, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.

Fry donuts

In a large dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot, add about 2 inches of oil. Heat the oil to about 375°F.
While oil heats, flour a large flat work surface and dump out your dough from the bowl. Roll the dough out, flouring it on top to prevent it sticking to your rolling pin. Roll out to about ¼ inch thickness. Using a 3 inch ring cutter, or biscuit cutter, cut out your donuts. Place on a floured piece of parchment paper or silicone mat until ready to fry. Use a 1 inch ring cutter, or the wide end of a piping tip, to cut out donut holes. Reroll the dough and cut out more donuts, flouring the dough as needed.
When the oil temperature reaches 375°F, use a metal spider, or fish spatula, to transfer individual donuts to the hot oil, 2 to 3 at a time, depending on the size of your pot. Fry the doughnuts for about 90 seconds per side, or until golden brown. Flip carefully using your spider strainer, fish spatula, or even 2 chopsticks.
Carefully transfer the donuts to your rack with the spatula. Repeat frying the remaining donuts. Finally, fry donut holes about 1 minute total, rolling to get all sides brown, and let cool on rack.

Glaze donuts

Drop the still warm donuts into the glaze mixture and place back onto the wire rack to drain. Continue glazing the rest of the donuts and allow to set about 20 minutes.

Notes

You can also cream your butter and sugar, but in testing I found that it doesn't make a difference.

Once you add the flour to the wet ingredients, do not overmix. Only mix until just incorporated.

Don’t skip the step of chilling your dough at least one hour, preferably overnight. This will keep the dough from being too sticky and unmanageable.

Flour both your counter and the top of your dough before rolling out to prevent sticking to your rolling pin.

Do not fry too many donuts at once or you will drop your oil temperature, resulting in greasy donuts.

The donuts are best eaten the day they are made, but can be stored up to 2 days in an airtight container.

Nutrition