These Homemade Beignets Are as Good as Café du Monde's

Whenever I visit my family in Louisiana, I must stop by Café du Monde in New Orleans or Coffee Call in Baton Rouge for hot, fresh beignets and a cup of café au lait. While some of my Louisiana-based family members like to pick up beignets to eat at home, for me it's essential to eat them on-site so I can get them as fresh out of the fryer as possible, when they are perfectly pillowy and tender.

But now, thanks to this recipe for classic Louisiana-style beignets, I can eat super-fresh, finger-endangeringly hot beignets at home any time. (Well, anytime I am willing to deep-fry at home, which may not be every day, but does happen from time to time.) The recipe, developed by our Birmingham, Alabama-based colleague Nicole Hopper, produces light, airy beignets that have a pleasantly savory and slightly tangy flavor that's complemented by a generous dusting of powdered sugar.

The Best Batter for Beignets

While she wasn't trying to create copycat Café du Monde beignets—they have a box mix if you want to do that—Nicole did take inspiration from a few aspects of those famous beignets. "What stood out to me was how the Café du Monde box mix was barely sweet at all and was rather actually quite aggressively salty, and how it had a nice tanginess to it," she says. "So I ended up with a recipe that emulates some of those qualities—it’s lower in sugar than many other beignet recipes, contains more salt, and uses buttermilk." She's right that a well-made beignet is barely sweet—that's what the extremely generous application of powdered sugar after frying is for.

You might notice that some beignet recipes call for cake flour or pastry flour even, but we use a higher protein bread flour instead to give the beignets a chewy-yet-tender texture with just the right amount of airiness: A great beignet should have a  puffed and airy interior made of up many medium-size air bubbles interspersed with a tender and elastic crumb, and not one giant air bubble surrounded by sections of dense dough. This dough made with bread flour is strong enough to have the airy and open texture inside we want in a beignet vs. the slightly denser texture of a yeasted doughnut. And while you can use regular milk instead of buttermilk to make beignets, in our testing, the version with buttermilk was the unanimous favorite for its very slight tanginess. 

A Note on Diastatic Malt Powder

Our beignet recipe includes optional diastatic malt powder. "Diastatic malt powder might sound like a scary ingredient, but it’s really not," says Nicole. "If you look at the ingredient list on your bag of bread flour, you’ll see “enzymes” listed—this is what diastatic malt is, it just contains additional enzymes that aid in the dough’s fermentation; it gives the dough an extra boost, helping improve structure and texture, and encouraging browning." These enzymes break complex starches down into simpler sugars, and the increase in simple sugars leads to a more aggressive fermentation and better rise (because the yeast has  more food to eat), and thus airier results. The uptick in simple sugars in the dough also explains the enhanced browning: Maillard reaction and caramelization are increased with more sugars available for those reactions. While the recipe works perfectly without the diastatic malt powder, Nicole does recommend adding it—and even doubling the recommended amount—if the brand of bread flour you use doesn't have "enzymes" or "malted barley flour" in the ingredient list.

The Importance of Proofing 

After you make the lightly sweetened dough for your beignets, you'll let it rise at room temperature for about an hour and then cold-proof it in the fridge for at least eight hours. Then you'll cut the dough into squares before letting it rise again briefly. This multi-step proofing is critical for creating beignets with an open, airy crumb and large, even air pockets.

The long, slow fermentation allows for key transformations to take place: Enzymes break down proteins and starches for improved flavor and browning, gluten strengthens, improving dough elasticity and gas retention, and the handling between proofs redistributes air bubbles, ensuring a more even crumb in the finished beignets. Beignets that fry up with very uneven interior—one or two big air pockets surrounded by dense dough—are likely the result of a rushed fermentation and insufficient handling, which prevents proper gas distribution. Plus, the long proof allows the flavors to develop—beignets we tested with a shorter proof had a one-note yeasty flavor. The wet and sticky dough is also much easier to roll and cut when chilled. And there's one more benefit to the slow eight-hour cold-proofing step: "It makes it easier to have warm freshly fried beignets for breakfast without having to wake up ungodly early," says Nicole.

The trickiest part is determining when the cut dough squares are adequately proofed that final time and ready for the fryer, since they won't have an obvious visual cue like doubling in size. They should be puffy and the dough should spring back slightly when poked, but the best way to test is to just fry one. If the dough does not float to the surface within two seconds of adding it to the oil, it’s not ready yet. If this happens, continue proofing the dough, testing in five-minute increments first with the poke test and then frying until a better result is achieved.

The Best Oil for Frying Beignets 

While Café du Monde uses cottonseed oil for frying, it's not widely available for home cooks, so we chose peanut oil, which is easy to find in grocery stores, affordable, has a high smoke point, and does not impart any unwanted flavor to the beignets. If you don’t have peanut oil, safflower oil, corn oil, and sunflower oil would all work.

While frying beignets does require a lot of oil, you don't need to throw it away. After it has cooled, strain it through cheesecloth and store it in an airtight container. You can reuse it two to three more times, as long as you haven't fried anything particularly fragrant in it. (For example, we don't recommend frying fish or seafood and then beignets.) 

Techniques for Frying Light, Crisp Beignets

Once you've shaped your beignets and they've been through their final rise, it's time to fry those bad boys. Don't be tempted to chuck them all in the hot oil at once. Instead, work in batches of three to six beignets to avoid overcrowding, which will cause the hot oil to drop in temperature—a guaranteed recipe for greasy-feeling, leaden beignets. In terms of temperature, Nicole tested frying at temperatures between 350°F and 375°F and found that 365°F was the sweet spot. Below 360°F, the dough absorbed too much oil and the beignets seemed greasier and less crisp; above 370°F, the puffing was less controlled.

Use a digital thermometer (ideally a probe-style with a pot clip) to keep an eye on the oil's temperature as you cook and adjust as needed to keep it in the desired zone.

Don't Hold Back on the Powdered Sugar

Any good beignet spot not only dusts the beignets with powdered sugar but also provides shakers of more powdered sugar to apply as you eat. I personally like to shake some directly into the beignet after I take my first bite and I sometimes give it another shake before the last bite, but you may choose to be more moderate than me in your powdered sugar application. However, I will ask you this before you decide: If you don't have photographic evidence of your dark-colored clothes completely covered in white sugar, have you really even eaten beignets?

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, mix water and 1 teaspoon (4g) granulated sugar until sugar is dissolved. Sprinkle yeast over surface and set aside until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes.

Add buttermilk and egg, whisking to combine, followed by flour, salt, baking powder, diastatic malt powder (if using), and 3 tablespoons (38g) sugar. Fit stand mixer with dough hook attachment and mix on medium-low speed until dough begins to come together, about 3 minutes. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, making sure each piece is incorporated before adding the next, until fully incorporated, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium and continue beating until dough is strong and elastic, about 10 minutes, stopping to scrape down bowl with dough scraper as needed. (Dough will be sticky and will not clear sides of bowl.)

Using a dough scraper, scrape down sides of bowl,  cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise at warm room temperature (72 to 78ºF; 22 to 25ºC) until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Using damp hands, gently deflate dough. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or up to 18 hours.

Transfer dough to a well-floured work surface. Pat dough into a rectangle, sprinkle lightly with additional flour, then roll out to an 18- by 12-inch rectangle, about 1/4- to 1/3-inch thick. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut dough into 2- by 2 1/2–inch rectangles, spacing them at least 1/2-inch apart to prevent them from sticking to each other. (You should have about 36 rectangles.) Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until puffy and dough springs back slightly when touched, about 40 minutes and up to 1 hour. 

Fill a large Dutch oven or large pot with 3 inches of oil and heat over medium-high until oil registers 365ºF (185ºC) on an instant-read thermometer. Line a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet with paper towels, set a wire rack inside, and place next to stove.

Working in batches of 3 to 6, carefully add dough portions to hot oil, sliding them in from as close to the oil’s surface as possible to minimize splashing. Fry, using a spider strainer or slotted spoon to turn beignets occasionally, until deep golden brown and puffed, about 2 minutes. Transfer beignets to prepared wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough portions, adjusting heat as needed to maintain oil between 360 and 365ºF (182 to 185ºC).

Dust beignets generously with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Special Equipment

Stand mixer, dough scraper, plastic wrap, pizza cutter or sharp knife, large Dutch oven or large pot, 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet, wire rack, deep-fry or probe thermometer, spider strainer or slotted spoon

Make Ahead and Storage

Beignets really are best when freshly made, but in a pinch leftovers (preferably unsugared) can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. They reheat well in an air fryer. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.