Sour Cream Donuts (with Video!) (2024)

These sour cream donuts are simple to make and are fried for a tender, cakey donut. Dip them in an optional vanilla glaze and serve warm!

VIDEO AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RECIPE

5 from 43 votes

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 3 minutes minutes

Chilling Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 53 minutes minutes

Author: Sam Merritt

• ▢ Vegetable or canola oil, for frying
• ▢ 3 Tablespoons (42 g) unsalted butter, softened
• ▢ ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
• ▢ ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar
• ▢ 2 large egg yolks
• ▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ ⅔ cup (160 g) sour cream
• ▢ 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons (267 g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg optional

Glaze**

• ▢ 1 ½ cups (185 g) powdered sugar
• ▢ ¼ cup (57 g) salted butter melted
• ▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ▢ 1 ½-2 Tablespoons hot water

• Combine butter and sugars in a large bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until creamed together.

  3 Tablespoons (42 g) unsalted butter, softened, ¼ cup (50 g) sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar

• Add egg yolks and beat until ingredients are well combined.

  2 large egg yolks

• Add vanilla extract and sour cream and stir well (be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl if using a stand mixer).

  ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ⅔ cup (160 g) sour cream

• In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cornstarch, salt, and nutmeg (if using).

  2 cups + 2 Tablespoons (267 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, ½ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• Add dry ingredients to wet and use a spatula and stir by hand until ingredients are combined (I don't recommend using your electric mixer at this point, you don't want to over-work the ingredients or it can make your donuts tough).

• Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

• Once dough has chilled, remove from refrigerator and turn out onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll to about ½" thickness and use a donut cutter to cut out donuts (save the holes, I always fry the donut holes as well!).

• Re-group any scraps and work them together, re-roll out, and repeat to cut out as many donuts as possible from your dough.

• Transfer cut out donut shapes to a wax paper lined cookie sheet and return to the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes while you heat your oil.

• While dough is chilling, fill a Dutch oven at least 2-3" deep with canola or vegetable oil. Fix a candy thermometer to the edge (make sure it is in the oil but not touching the bottom of the pan) and set your heat to medium-low. Oil will need to reach 350-360F (175-185C) before you can continue. Meanwhile, prepare your glaze.

  Vegetable or canola oil, for frying

• To prepare the glaze, combine melted butter, sugar, vanilla, and hot water in a small bowl and whisk or stir until smooth. Set aside.

  1 ½ cups (185 g) powdered sugar, ¼ cup (57 g) salted butter, ½ teaspoon vanilla, 1 ½-2 Tablespoons hot water

• Once oil has reached 350-360F (175-185C), remove donuts from the refrigerator and use tongs to carefully transfer donuts or donut holes in the oil, just 3 or 4 at a time. Adding donuts will cause your oil temperature to drop, so make sure you allow it to come back to the correct temperature between batches.

• Allow to cook for about 1-1 ½ minutes and then use tongs to flip. Cook another 1-1 ½ minutes and then use tongs to remove them from the oil and transfer to a paper towel lined plate. Allow to cool 1-5 minutes.

• Dip donuts in prepared glaze and then transfer to a cooling rack to allow the glaze to set.

• Enjoy warm. Donuts will keep for several days in an airtight container at room temperature, but they really taste best warm and freshly fried.

*This seems to be the average number of donuts I get while doing the least amount of re-rolling of the scraps. I try to keep the re-grouping/re-rolling to a minimum to not over-work the donut dough, as this can make your donuts tough.

**Don't feel like making a glaze? You can dip these donuts in granulated sugar or a mixture of ⅓ cup granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Dip the donuts in the sugar right after removing them from the oil.