This Chocolate Glazed Donut recipe delivers light, fluffy, and perfectly sweet donuts—just how a donut should be! Making this yeast pastry with your family is super fun and makes a very impressive addition to a special breakfast or brunch.
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Few things are as fun as making homemade donuts. You will LOVE this recipe, and you will enjoy making it with your family. If you want something without chocolate, try a vanilla butter icing glazed donut.
While we certainly don’t have donuts frequently for breakfast, I think they’re a fun treat for special occasions like a birthday, a special brunch, or even a holiday breakfast.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Special Treat: Donuts are a really fun treat for a special morning or to make any ordinary morning more exciting!
- Basic Yeast Pastry: This donut recipe is just a basic yeast dough recipe, quick to mix up in a stand mixer with only 1 and a half hours of total rise time needed.
- Other Yummy Donuts: Not a fan of chocolate? Try any of these amazing pastry recipes: Apple Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins, Cinnamon Sugar Malasadas (Hawaiian Donuts), Old Fashioned Buttermilk Donuts, or Chocolate Caramel Pecan Turtle Donuts.
Chocolate Glazed Donut Recipe Ingredients
- Milk
- Instant Yeast
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Salt
- Flour
- Vegetable Oil
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Chocolate Glazed Donuts
- Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until warm enough to melt the shortening.
- Pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour.
- Combine the ingredients at low speed until flour is incorporated, and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
- Change to the mixer’s dough hook attachment and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- On a well-floured surface, roll out dough and cut out dough using a doughnut cutter. Set on a floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 degrees F. Place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in a baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes before glazing.
Chocolate Doughnut Glaze:
- Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted.
- Turn off the heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately.
- Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes before serving.
Recipe FAQs
Should donuts be cooled before glazing?
Yes! Allow donuts to cool for 15 to 20 minutes before glazing or you will end up with a soggy mess for a donut.
What is the best oil to fry donuts in?
I have found that peanut oil or vegetable oil is the best for frying donuts because it will result in a nice outer exterior.
How long should I fry each donut?
I typically fry my donuts for about 1 minute per side.
Expert Tips
- Frying Tips: My experience with donuts made at home is that they are a bit on the greasy side. This was not the case with these donuts. I was careful to bring the oil back to 365º before adding more donuts and they weren’t greasy at all. In fact, they were the best homemade donuts I’ve ever had.
- Cool Before Glazing: Before glazing the donuts, they need to cool for 30 minutes. I knew my boys, and I wouldn’t want to wait that long, so I also made a few cinnamon sugar donuts, and my son rolled all of the fried donut holes in cinnamon and sugar as well. The donut holes were gone within minutes, and the cinnamon sugar donuts only lasted long enough to take a picture!
More Yummy Donut Recipes to Consider
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Chocolate Glazed Donuts
These Chocolate Glazed Yeast Donuts are light, fluffy and taste sweet- just how a donut should.
Servings: 24
Calories: 249kcal
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups milk
- ⅓ cup vegetable shortening or butter
- 2 packages instant yeast about 4.5 teaspoons
- ⅓ cup warm water 95 to 105 degrees F
- 2 eggs beaten
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2-3 quarts Peanut or vegetable oil for frying
- 5 to 5.5 cups all-purpose flour
Chocolate Doughnut Glaze
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup whole milk warmed
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar sifted
Instructions
- Place the milk and shortening or butter in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening or butter. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening/butter mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, and half of the flour.
- Using the dough hook attachment, combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined. Add the rest of the flour so that you have used 5 cups, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
- Let the dough knead until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. You can add the additional ½ cup of flour as needed, a few tablespoons at a time if your dough is sticky.
- Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to ⅜-inch thick. Cut out dough using a 2 ½-inch doughnut cutter or pastry ring and using a ⅞-inch ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 degrees F. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until deep golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.
Chocolate Doughnut Glaze:
- Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted.
- Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately.
- Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
- You’ll want the oil to be a few inches deep in the bottom of your pan/fryer/Dutch oven, so use as much as you need there. I normally use about 2 quarts in my 6-quart Dutch oven.
- I have found that peanut oil or vegetable oil is the best for frying donuts because it will result in a nice outer exterior.
- Allow donuts to cool for 15 to 20 minutes before glazing or you will end up with a soggy mess for a donut.
- If you want something without chocolate, try a vanilla butter icing glazed donut.
Nutrition
Calories: 249kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 160mg | Potassium: 88mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 169IU | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 2mg
I know you will enjoy these Chocolate Glazed Yeast Donuts that are fluffy, light and fried to perfection. Enjoy!
Claire K Creations
Yum yum yum! I haven’t had breakfast yet… chocolate glazed doughnuts perhaps? They look so perfect too. Well done!
Gabriella
Sono bellissime queste ciambelle…ma ora che non fai + i due chilometri per smaltirle?
Barbara come posso fare per tradurre le dosi(misure delle quantità degli ingredienti) in italiano?, non conosco il rapporto in misura italiana e non vorrei essere approssimativa! Qui abbiamo l’usanza di fare delle ciambelle tipo queste che hai fatto tu ma è diversa la ricetta….e vorrei provare la tua.
E chi se ne frega dell’odore di fritto!!
blackbookkitchendiaries
i love how beautiful this looks.. this is tempting me right now. thank you for sharing this.
tiffany ~food finery
these are amazing! they look so great and i’ll bet they were delicious! they really are some of the prettiest homemade doughnuts i have seen! wow!
Natashya
Oh my! These look amazing! I want them!!!!
Good call on omitting the nutmeg – I love it but not in my doughnuts.
FOODESSA
When it comes to picking donuts…I’ll always pick the chocolate glazed first…and then I’ll go for the maple syrup one.
I’ve mentioned this on other posts as well…I can only wonder if I’ll be as daring as you are to fry donuts in my kitchen. Who knows…maybe the holidays.
Barbara…you did a fabulous job ;o)
Flavourful wishes,
Claudia
Asha@FSK
B, your doughnuts look soo perfect!! I want some!! NOW!
Summer
Hola Barbara,howdya do?
i see i missed alot here, love ur baked goodies so muc and these doughnuts looks so so good!
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc
These look incredible! Omg i want one now!
theUngourmet
I’ve never attempted my own donuts but I would love to. I love mine rolled in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. I could go for one of these with my coffee right now!
Mardi@eatlivetravelwrite
Barbara theses are absolutely spectacular! I might even be willing to try a bite!
Zita
I’d walk a couple of miles too to eat doughnuts 😉 Looking at your dougnuts make me crave for them now 😉
Lisa
Yummy, what fluffy doughnuts. I don’t think I’d be able to decide between the chocolate and the cinnamon one.
Carol
Oh geez, I really need to stop coming here when I’m hungry. Barbara, those doughnuts look delicious. I LOVE making yeast doughnuts and haven’t done so for years……….I just may have to make them soon…….now who’s going to come help me eat them?
Thanks so much for the over the top recipe….
azélias kitchen
Barbara…take my hat off to you…these look seriously nice but would need to make them dairy-free.
April
These do look so good!!
Jennifer @ Maple n Cornbread
There’s nothing like homemade donuts!! Yours look fabulous!
Renee (Kudos Kitchen)
Barbara, these doughtnuts look perfect! Simply perfect!!!
Rosa
They are beautiful and so tempting! I love that choice of glazing. Fantastic.
Cheers,
Rosa
RJ Flamingo
Those look AMAZING, Barbara! I’ve never made doughnuts at home, but you’re tempting me to try… *drool*