Spudnuts

Name: Sputnuts
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 4 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup warm water; 1 tablespoon dry yeast; 1/2 cup butter; 3 eggs (beaten); 2 teaspoons salt; 1 1/2 cups milk; 1/2 cup sugar; 1 cup mashed potatoes (salt before cooking); 1 teaspoon lemon juice; 1 teaspoon lemon zest; 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg; 6-7 cup all-purpose flour; Oil for frying (shortening, canola oil); 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar; 1/4 cup warm water (1 tablespoon at a time); 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar; 1 tablespoon corn syrup; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar; 1 tablespoon warm water or more; 2 - 3 teaspoons cocoa; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar; 1 tablespoon corn syrup

October 21, 2019 Updated February 21, 2023 46 Comments

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Spudnuts are glazed yeast donuts made with mashed potatoes, which makes a soft and tender dough. A melt-in-your-mouth donut with a hint of lemon zest and nutmeg dipped in a vanilla or chocolate glaze.

chocolate glazed and glazed spudnuts stacked on cutting board with donut holes

It’s hard to top a hot homemade donut dripping with chocolate or vanilla glaze. Adding mashed potatoes makes the dough very soft and workable. With a few tips and tricks, you’ll be frying up a batch of donuts in no time.

How to Fry Perfect Donuts

👉🏻Let’s start with the oil. It’s best to fry in oil that is very neutral and that has a “smoke point”. The smoke point is the temperature at which a given oil starts to smoke; it can catch fire if it gets much hotter than that. Canola oil has been my favorite so far. Peanut oil browned the donuts beautifully, but I didn’t like the strong flavor that it left on my lovely spudnuts. Check out Saveur for their article “Five Oils for Frying”.👉🏻Use a large heavy pot or dutch oven. The pot needs to be deep enough to hold at least 2 inches of oil along with the frying donuts. The pot should be able to hold around 2 quarts of oil.

👉🏻A clip-on thermometer to measure the heat of the oil is essential. Here’s why: The oil needs to be heated to 350℉ and that temperature needs to be maintained throughout the entire frying process. Don’t worry if the heat goes up to 360-365℉. Once the donuts are dropped into the oil the temperature may go down. As long as the temperature is between 330 – 360℉, the donuts will cook perfectly. If the temperature drops below 350℉, bring the temperature of the oil back up to 350℉ before frying additional donuts.

👉🏻Properly draining the oil from the donuts. Each fried donut is actually drained three times. First) When lifting the donuts from the oil, hold the donut above the pot and let the oil drip from the donut for about 10 seconds. Second) Place cooked donut on a prepared baking sheet that has a few layers of absorbent paper towels. Let the donuts to drain on the paper towels for 30-60 seconds. Third) Remove the donuts from the paper towels and place them on a wire rack to completely cool. This ensures a nice crisp outer layer that will absorb the glaze beautifully.

Mixing the Spudnut Dough

Nutmeg and lemon zest added to donut dough mixture

whisk stirring milk, mashed potato, butter mixture in saucepan.

A cup of flour being added to donut dough mixture

instant read thermometer in milk mixture

Pouring yeast mixture into eggs, and milk mixture

Donut dough in the bowl of an electric mixer with dough on paddle.

Add the yeast to 1/2 cup warm water. Stir to dissolve then set aside.
In a saucepan, add butter, milk, sugar, salt, and mashed potatoes. This is why they are called “Spudnuts”.
Set the pan over medium heat. Heat until mixture is very warm approx 110-115℉. The butter will begin to melt, but probably not completely. Remove from heat.
Pour the warm mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer.
Mix the eggs slightly and mix them into the warm milk mixture.
Add the reserved, dissolved yeast.
Mix in 3 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, and ground nutmeg. (Fresh ground if available)
Add remaining dough 1 cup at a time. Mix well after each addition. Add flour just until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. I used 6 1/2 cups on this batch dough. You may need more or you may need less. Just follow the consistency of your dough more than the amount the recipe calls for.
The dough should look like this. It’s just a bit sticky. Not much. You will notice that the addition of potatoes will make the dough very smooth and oh so nice.

Rise Time

White cloth covering rising dough in large bowl

Lightly oil a very large bowl. Transfer the dough into the oiled bowl. Turn the dough over so the dough is oiled on all sides.
Cover the bowl with a clean dry cloth. Set aside and allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, 1-2 hours depending upon the temperature in your home.
This is what the dough should look like once it has risen for a couple of hours. Go ahead and punch it down.

Rolling and Cutting the Spudnuts

White cloth on counter with flour sifting over the top

A hand holding cut spudnut and donut hole

Spudnut dough cut int half on floured surface

Floured donut cutter cutting Spudnut dough

Cut spudnut and donut hole on floured white cloth

Several cut spudnuts and donut holes on white floured cloth

Before rolling out the dough, I like to sprinkle a clean dish towel with about 1/3 cup flour. Set aside.
Divide the dough in half and work with one half at a time.
The dough is soft enough that it can be gently pulled into a rectangle.
Roll out the dough until it is about 1/2-inch thick.
Lightly flour a donut cutter. I found this dandy wood donut cutter somewhere in Vermont several years ago. I love Vermont. ❤️🍁
Cut out several donuts.
You will have one donut and one donut hole.
Place the donut and the donut hole onto the prepared dish towel.
Cover the rolled out donuts with another clean cloth and allow the donuts to rise for about 30-40 minutes. This is a good time to clean up the kitchen and prepare the glazes.

Making Vanilla and Chocolate Glaze

Vanilla glazed mixed dripping from wire whisk

Clear bowl with powdered sugar and cocoa being added

Clear bowl with vanilla glaze ingredients whisked together

Vanilla glaze pouring into a shallow pie dish

In a medium-size mixing bowl add the powdered sugar, cream of tartar, corn syrup, vanilla, and warm water.
Mix well until there are no lumps and the glaze is smooth.
The glaze will be quite thin.
Pour the glaze into a shallow dish. This will make it easier to coat the cooked donuts. Cover with plastic wrap because a thin crust will form on the top if you don’t. Set aside.
To make chocolate glaze follow the directions above but add 1 tablespoon cocoa powder to mixture in step #1. The chocolate glaze will be thicker than the vanilla glaze. Pour into a shallow dish for dipping donuts.

TIP: I found that I needed to double the batch for the vanilla glaze. I just always seem to run out.

Prep baking sheets

Baking sheet lined with a paper towel with a spudnut and donut hole draining

Line a baking sheet with a few layers of paper towels for draining the fried spudnuts. Line 4 more baking sheets with parchment paper and place a cooling rack on top. One of the baking sheets and rack will be used to transfer spudnuts before dipping in glaze. The other lined baking sheets with cooling racks are for glazed spudnuts to drip and dry from glazing.

Frying the Spudnuts

Large dutch oven pot with 2-inches of oil and thermometer attached.

Spudnut added to hot oil with chopstick to turn over

Lifting spudnut from hot oil with chopstick

The donuts and the donut holes should have risen to double their original size. Place a large heavy bottom pot/Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 2 inches of oil to the pot. Heat the oil to 350℉. Try to maintain a temperature of 350-360℉ at all times.
Drop a donut hole into the hot oil as a tester. Donut holes should begin to bubble and sizzle around the edges. Turn several times to brown on all sides. Adjust the heat up or down at this point. If the donut hole browned too quickly, the heat may need to be lowered. This will prevent the donut from being doughy on the inside. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet.
Carefully drop spudnuts into the hot oil. Only fry 3 donuts at a time.
Using a chopstick to turn spudnuts over. Turn 3-4 times while spudnut is cooking. When the spudnut is a light golden color, carefully lift out of the hot oil using a chopstick.
Hold the cooked donut over the hot oil and allow it to drip for about 10 seconds.
Place on a prepared baking sheet lined with a paper towel. Let sit on a paper towel while other spudnuts are cooking. After a minute or so transfer cooked spudnuts to the baking sheet with a cooling rack on top. Allow to drain one more time before glazing. Repeat.

Tips:

After dropping the donuts into the hot oil turn them often. Flip the donuts 3-4 times in the hot oil. Flipping them often results in even browning on both sides. Frying the donut holes is a bit more challenging. Those babies like to flip all over.
Chopsticks are the perfect tool for turning donuts without ruining the shape.

Glazing the Sputnuts

glazed spudnut lifing out of glaze with chopstick

Spudnut in glaze lifting out of glaze with chopstick

Have a baking sheet with a wire rack ready to place the glazed doughnuts on.
While the donut is still hot, dip in the prepared glaze. Completely coat the entire donut in the vanilla glaze. Allow a little extra glaze to drip off.
Place on a wire rack to allow the glaze to dry. Sprinkles can be added before the glaze dries.
Only glaze the top of the donut when using chocolate glaze. Set on the wire rack to harden the glaze.

3.95 from 20 votes

Sputnuts

Raised potato donuts or Spudnuts are soft and airy donuts made by adding mashed potatoes, which makes a soft and tender dough.

Course Breads, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword donuts, doughnuts, spudnuts, yeast donuts

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 4 minutes

rise time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 40 doughnuts

Calories 152 kcal

Author Janet Barton

Ingredients

Spudnuts:

1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs beaten
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup mashed potatoes salt before cooking
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
6-7 cup all-purpose flour
Oil for frying shortening, canola oil

Vanilla Glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup warm water 1 tablespoon at a time
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon warm water or more
2 - 3 teaspoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon corn syrup

Instructions

To make Spudnut dough:

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.
In a medium saucepan combine milk, shortening, salt, sugar, mashed potatoes and heat to lukewarm. Set aside.
Pour into the bowl of an electric mixer and add beaten eggs and dissolved yeast. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and nutmeg. Add 3 cups flour and beat until smooth. Add remain flour 1 cup at a time to make a soft but firm dough. Cover and let rise until double in bulk.
Punch down the dough and divide in half. Roll out 1/2-inch thick and cut with a doughnut cutter. Cover with a cloth and let rise until double for about 30-40 minutes.

Vanilla Glaze:

Mix all ingredients until smooth. Add more water 1 tablespoon at a time until a thin consistency.

Chocolate Glaze:

Mix all ingredients until smooth. The chocolate glaze will be thicker than the vanilla glaze.