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Air Fryer Donuts

Air Fryer Donuts – use store bought biscuit dough to make donuts in your air fryer! Top with a vanilla glaze and sprinkles for a fun treat.

My family loves donuts, usually they are partial to traditional fried donuts, but lets be honest. Those are not good for you and a fair amount of work. These biscuit donuts on the other hand are ready in just minutes!

I am not going to claim they are good for you by any stretch, but they aren’t fried in oil, so they aren’t quite as bad either. And sometimes, that is all that matters!

looking down on plate with vanilla frosted air fryer donuts

 

You can make donuts from scratch in the air fryer using my traditional Homemade Donuts as the dough. But you can also take a little help from the store and start with a tube of biscuit dough.

Ingredients You’ll Need

  • Refrigerated Biscuit Dough
  • Cooking Spray
  • Butter
  • Powdered Sugar
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Milk
  • Sprinkles
ingredients to make donuts in the air fryer

You can see that for these photos I used the Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layers Biscuit dough, but the traditional Grand Biscuits work just as well. If you want them tall and fluffy the layers will give you that.

How To Make Donuts In An Air Fryer

  1. The first step is to open the tube of biscuits and cut them into donuts. I like to use a biscuit cutter for this, to cut out the hole in the center.
  2. Then arrange them in the basket of your air fryer. I can fit 4 donuts and then a few donut holes around, without over crowding the basket.
  3. Spray well with a vegetable oil spray (or coconut oil or avocado oil) and then cook at 350º F for 5 minutes.
  4. Flip the donuts over and then cook for an additional 5 minutes.
  5. Once the donuts are cooked remove them from the basket and place on a wire rack to cool. Continue cooking the remaining biscuit donuts, while these cool.
biscuit donuts in air fryer basket

As you can see I put a vanilla glaze on top of these donuts, it is definitely our favorite way to enjoy them! But how you top them is up to you, there are lots of options!

To Make Vanilla Glaze

Mix together the melted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk until you get a nice smooth consistency.

Once the donuts are cooled, you can dip them into the glaze and then top with sprinkles. Let them set up for a few minutes before serving.

person holding a air fryer biscuit donut

Want Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

If you want to skip the glaze and have the classic cinnamon sugar donuts, brush the donuts with a little melted butter and then toss in cinnamon and sugar. You need the butter so the sugar mixture sticks.

You could also do the same to make powdered sugar donut holes. Just brush with butter and toss in powdered sugar!

What Do I Use To Make The Hole In The Donut

If you have a donut cutter that will obviously work great, but if you don’t it is time to get creative! If you have a piping tip for piping frosting, the back of that works great. A small shot glass or something like that would also work for the hole part.

air fryer donuts on a platter

Recipe Tips

  • Make sure that whatever you mix the glaze in is a little bigger than the donuts. When you go to dip the donuts, you want to make it easy and have the whole donut get coated at once.
  • If your glaze is to thick add a little milk or water (1 tsp at a time) to thin it out.
  • If your glaze is to thin add more sugar to thicken it up.
  • Make sure not to over crowd your air fryer. The air needs to circulate around the donuts to make sure they puff up and cook evenly.

Where to find these sprinkles? Fancy Sprinkles

To make this recipe I used a Cosori 5.8 Qt Air Fryer. It is big enough that you can fit plenty of food in, and the basket comes out so you can easily shake, stir, or flip whatever you are making.

close up air fryer donuts for pinterest

More Air Fryer Recipes

Yield: 8

Air Fryer Donuts

air fryer donuts on a plate

Air Fryer Donuts - use store bought biscuit dough to make donuts in your air fryer! Top with a vanilla glaze and sprinkles for a fun treat.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 can (8 biscuits) refrigerated biscuit dough
  • Cooking Spray
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1-2 tbsp milk
  • Sprinkles

Instructions

    1. Open the canned biscuits and separate into 8 pieces. Use a donut cutter to cut out the center hold.
    2. Spray the basket of your air fryer with vegetable oil cooking spray.
    3. Arrange 4 donuts and a couple donut holes in the basket of the air fryer, making sure nothing is overlapping.
    4. Spray the dough with the cooking spray.
    5. Cook at 350º F for 5 minutes, flip and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
    6. Carefully remove the donuts to a cooling rack, and repeat with the rest of the dough.
    7. Meanwhile make the glaze by whisking together the melted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk until nice and smooth.
    8. Dip the donuts in the glaze and then top with sprinkles. Let stand for 5 minutes for the glaze to set up before serving.

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 263Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 2gUnsaturated Fat 5gCholesterol 9mgSodium 592mgCarbohydrates 41gFiber 0gSugar 18gProtein 4g

Nutrition Disclaimer: All information presented on this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information shared on dinnersdishesanddesserts.com should only be used as a general guideline.

Did you make this recipe?

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Cathy

Friday 7th of May 2021

I love how easy these donuts are!

Tisha

Tuesday 4th of May 2021

I can't wait to make these for my kids! They are going to love them!

Beth

Tuesday 4th of May 2021

My grandma used to make donuts like this in the oven, so glad I can make these in the air fryer now! So excited to make these for my family!

Alex

Tuesday 4th of May 2021

With biscuit dough?! Yum! These sound amazing!

Allyson Reed Zea

Tuesday 4th of May 2021

My kids love using the air fryer to make donuts! It's so easy and so fun!

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