Ah, donuts. My favorite food to make and my favorite food to eat, although I think I like making them so much because I know at the end of the process comes the eating. 🙂 Donuts can be a labor of love in that they take some effort to make. But that makes them all the more special. Besides, you wouldn’t want donuts to be too easy to make; that could lead to some serious weight gain (at least it probably would for me).
These donuts are denser than yeasted donuts, more like a cake donut. They are made with potatoes. We got a little basket of potatoes in our CSA share last week, and I’ve been wanting to try making potato donuts for a while now. So this was the perfect excuse.
Full disclosure: this recipe originally did not work for me AT ALL. The batter was too liquidy so I could not form donuts. I tried simply frying small balls of the batter to be more like a fritter. But the outside began to burn while the insides where still very liquid and uncooked. Yuck.
I adapted that first attempt quite a bit and finally got a consistency that I was satisfied with. I’m excited to share the final recipe with you in case you’re in need of a crunchy, starchy, and delicious donut recipe.
Potato Donuts, makes sixty 2 1/2″ donuts. You can half this recipe fairly easily if you’d like.
Begin by baking the potatoes. You can do this in the oven by baking at 375°F for 45 minutes to an hour. You’re looking for the insides to be easily mashable. 🙂 Once baked, allow the potatoes to cool enough to handle. Then slice them in half and scoop out the insides. I pressed my potatoes through a potato ricer, but you could also pulse them a few times in a food processor. You just want them to be broken up enough that you can easily incorporate them into a batter.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flours (start with 4 cups all-purpose flour), baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until well incorporated (the color will become a bit more pale). To the eggs, add the potatoes, cooled (but liquid), butter, milk, and vanilla extract. Stir until just combined. Pour the wet mixture in with the dry mixture, and stir until a very soft dough forms. If the dough still doesn’t hold enough shape to roll out, then add another 1/4 cup flour.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out until it’s 1/4″ thick. You will likely need to do this in 3-4 batches, unless you have a giant work surface. 🙂 Cut out your donuts.
In a heavy-duty pot, heat 2 inches of oil to 350°F. Cook the donuts in the oil for 30-40 seconds on each side. Remove to a plate (or cutting board) lined with paper towels to soak up excess grease.
Begin by baking the potatoes. You can do this in the oven by baking at 375°F for 45 minutes to an hour. You're looking for the insides to be easily mashable. Once baked, allow the potatoes to cool enough to handle. Then slice them in half and scoop out the insides. I pressed my potatoes through a potato ricer, but you could also pulse them a few times in a food processor. You just want them to be broken up enough that you can easily incorporate them into a batter.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flours (start with 4 cups all-purpose flour), baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until well incorporated (the color will become a bit more pale). To the eggs, add the potatoes, cooled (but liquid), butter, milk, and vanilla extract. Stir until just combined. Pour the wet mixture in with the dry mixture, and stir until a very soft dough forms. If the dough still doesn't hold enough shape to roll out, then add another 1/4 cup flour.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out until it's 1/4" thick. You will likely need to do this in 3-4 batches, unless you have a giant work surface. Cut out your donuts.
Now it's time to glaze these donuts! Whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar and 2-3 tablespoons whole milk. You can dip the donuts in just the glaze, or you can top them with cinnamon and sugar or chopped-up candy bars. I also dipped a few in just powdered sugar and that was also very delicious.
What kind of potatoes are best to use for these?
What did you use to make the donut shape?
It’s been the summer of burgers on potato buns (and grilled cheese on potato buns and sandwiches on potato buns…there is something about the smell of potato bread that is so so good!). I can’t wait to try these!
Spudnuts!! There’s a chain of bakeries here called Spudnuts that have been making these potato pastries for years! Love it.
Donuts are so worth the lengthy process. Totally agree with the weight gain thing – thank God I’m the only one baking in my family!
These look delicious! Can’t wait to test it out. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
They look just perfect. Great job!
Oo, looks yummy. I need to taste it.
I am really enjoying seeing posts on donut alternatives as of late! I have seen recipes where they are made from apples etc, but these ones do look good! I will have to give them a try!
How interesting! This exceeds my cooking skills but they look delicious and if I’m ever up for an adventure in the kitchen I know what to do!
Tara: I love that name Spudnuts!!
I dont think I have ever heard the words potato and donuts in the same sentence! Might just have to give this a go!
The name of this post intrigued me! A donut made from potato – genius!
I really love the idea 🙂 can’t wait to try!
Not only can you have great donuts, but if you put the skins back in the oven after a toss with some olive oil, salt and paprika or rosemary, you have a great snack! Win-win!
Never heard of these before but I’m definitely tempted to roll up my sleeves and give the recipe a try!!
i’ve never heard of potato donuts — but my oh my do these look good!
The starchier the better. The best would probably be russet (baking) potatoes, but I got the little guys you see above in our CSA this past week so I gave them a try and they would great.
Mainly I would avoid sweet potatoes. I’d use a slightly different recipe for those as they have a different texture and the water content varies.
Biscuit cutters. Very useful is for biscuits, donuts and cookies.
I agree, potato bread is the best. Yum!
Rad! I will have to see if I can try that if I’m in a city that has them. Mmmm.
I like the way you think! Potato skins are delicious!!!
Potato donuts?! I’ve never even heard of such a thing! This look and sound soooo delicious though!
what a cool idea! these look great!
This is completely unrelated to this post but I thought you would appreciate this. Too cute!
Would you like a donut challenge? Can you make a tasty donut that is gluten, dairy, potato, rice and nut free? I am allergic to all of those things and so long for a donut after I see your many donut posts…….while you are at a pizza with the same requirements? I know, too much to ask.
Those look great! One question; is there a reason you boiled the potatoes with skin on then scooped out the inside? Could I just peel the potatoes and then cook them? I feel like that might be easier, plus there would be less waste. Thanks!
I’m curious about the need to bake the potatoes and then scoop out the insides. It seems like there’s a lot of potato wasted with this method. Is there a reason one couldn’t peel the potatoes and boil/microwave them?
Wil try your patato donuts some day.
Potatoes AND donuts? Just shoot me now, these look amazing.
Nicely done! Potato doughnuts are my favorite! If you ever find yourself in Portland, ME you’d swoon over The Holy Donut flavors(www.theholydonut.com), and you’d love their decor & vibe! Sweet potato, ginger glazed is the best!
Sorry for asking. But when is the cake flour to be added? Can’t seem to find it, but maybe it’s just me.
They look so delicious! I’m not eating gluten and sugar at the moment, but I might have to make them for my colleagues!
Another name for potato donuts is spudnuts — my favorite!
This may sound like a stupid question, but have to ask..are ready-made mashed potatoes good to use?
Well that different! They look really good!
I go nuts for donuts! By the way, what did you do with the leftover potatoes? There’s so many!
It was a little bit difficult, but it came out amazing!
I wonder if you could use leftover mashed potatoes if you didn’t have time to bake the potatoes? They look soo good!
OMG, soooo yummy!! I’ve never tried these before but they look so wholesome and yummy!
OH MY!!! These look amazing. I am so excited to try out your recipe. SERIOUSLY…I am whipping up a batch tomorrow. Thank you for sharing.
These sound delicious!! I’m wondering if substituting soy milk for the whole milk would work??
very interesting! they look great!
Yum these look so good. This reminds me of the apple cinnamon donuts you can get at an apple cider mill. Can’t wait to try!