The Best Type Of Oil To Use When Frying Donuts At Home
Even an original glazed from Krispy Kreme can hardly compare to a homemade donut, especially if you mix, shape, and fry it yourself. Making homemade donuts isn't hard, but to make a delicious and crispy batch, you need the right kind of oil. Specifically, you'll always want to opt for oils with high smoke points when deep-frying your donuts.
The crispy, golden-brown crust that makes donuts such a nice treat is formed by frying them in hot oil between 350 to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, not all kinds of cooking oil can withstand such high heat and may start smoking and burning at these temperatures. Once they do, they'll give your donuts a very bitter, unpleasant taste similar to burnt food. That's why virgin olive oil is never used for deep frying; it has a fairly low smoke point between 325 to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Another important consideration is the oil's flavor. Donuts have a rather delicate taste, and using a flavored oil (such as olive oil) can greatly alter its flavor — and usually not for the better. While a slightly nutty flavor from oils like peanut or soybean is fine, it's best to steer clear of strongly flavored oils to ensure your donuts don't unexpectedly end up tasting like olive, coconut, or sesame.
Reach for these oils the next time you fry homemade donuts
Vegetable oil is the go-to choice for many good reasons. Besides being cheap and easy to find, it has no problem handling high temperatures with a smoke point of around 400 degrees Fahrenheit — well above temperatures needed to brown donuts. Plus, the best part is that since it's neutral in taste, you can fry easily knowing that the crust of your vanilla-glazed mochi donuts won't taste odd after their short trip up and down the fryer.
To achieve that classic "Dunkin' Donut-esque" flavor, you might want to opt for palm oil. Dunkin' Donuts uses palm oil to fry all of their donuts because it remains solid at room temperature. This means that once your donuts have cooled down, they'll just have a nice, glossy sheen of oil on their crust rather than leaking everywhere. Additionally, palm oil has the added benefits of being flavor-neutral as well as an impressively high smoke point of approximately 455 degrees Fahrenheit.
And if you're planning to top your donut with nuts or seeds anyway, consider using peanut oil. Unlike the two other oils above, peanut oil isn't flavor-neutral and will give your donut a faintly nutty taste. But as we mentioned earlier, a bit of nuttiness won't hurt, especially if your donuts already have some of this flavor baked in. Peanut oil has a very good smoke point of 450 degrees Fahrenheit, so sizzle it away without worries.