My recent quarantine craving has been doughnuts! Fried vegan doughnuts like the ones at Suzy Q Doughnuts in Ottawa! My search bar over the past couple days has been filled with: how to make doughnuts, how to make fried doughnuts, how to make yeast doughnuts, how to make vegan doughnuts and watching different “how to” videos on YouTube, trying to find something that might do the trick. I learned a lot including that Suzy Q’s dough recipe is for a Finnish style doughnut called Munkki that calls for cardamom in the dough. I found a recipe from the blog Eat Simply, Eat Well that seemed like I could adapt and veganize.
Here’s my take on how to make the best vegan fried doughnuts below!! Follow me on Instagram and you can see these pinned in my highlights. Please leave a comment if you give these a try!

ingredients (approx 20 doughnuts with 5 doughnut holes):
- 1 package of dried, active yeast
- 1/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup milk alternative (I used almond)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- .5 tsp teaspoon salt
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 egg replacer (I used Bob’s RedMill)
- 1/2 cup vegan butter (I used Melt buttery sticks)
- 3 cups all purpose flour
Note: I used a stand mixer for this recipe but you could use a bowl and mix by hand.
Prepare the egg replacer, I used Bob’s RedMill and followed the instructions (1 tbsp of egg replacer to 2 tbsp water). Set aside.
In order to not kill the yeast you’ll need to warm the liquids. I used hot tap water and microwaved (in small spurts and separately) the almond milk and maple syrup until warm. Melt the vegan butter.
Add two cups of flour and the yeast, cardamom and salt into the stand mixer bowl. Add the milk, maple syrup, water, eggs and butter. Mix with the flat beater until well-combined.
At this point I switched to the dough hook and then added the remaining cup of flour 1/4 cup at a time. You should have a sticky ball of dough.
Dust a clean surface with flour and knead the dough. The dough should be slightly sticky and smooth, don’t overwork it. Grease a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl (flip so you grease both sides of dough). Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and place it somewhere to rise. I rise my dough in the oven with the oven light on. The dough should double in size after 45 minutes.
Flip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and flatten out the air bubbles. Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough out into approx 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out the doughnuts. I used a glass and cupcake tool. Reroll the leftover dough and cut more doughnuts or doughnut holes. Place the doughnuts onto parchment paper and cover with a clean dish towel to rise again for 30 minutes. I placed them back in the oven with the oven light on.
While the doughnuts rise you can make your toppings. (below)
To prepare for frying, pour oil (I used vegetable oil) into a heavy bottomed pot so you have roughly 3 inches of oil and heat to 175°C/350°F. Place parchment, paper towels or dish cloths under a wire rack to catch excess oil when finished frying the doughnuts.

Fry one doughnut or doughnut hole first to make sure the oil is the right temperature. Fry for one minute on each side, the doughnut should be a light brown. Adjust the heat as needed to maintain 175°C/350°F as it may drop while you fry. Remove the doughnut with a slotted spoon or spider strainer and place on the wire rack to cool. You can fry 2 or 3 doughnuts at a time depending on the size of your pot.
Let the doughnuts cool before topping.
Toppings:

For this batch of doughnuts I made 5 different types of toppings though I didn’t officially measure. With that said I’ve written out the rough measurements:
Note: For the right consistency either add more icing sugar for a thicker glaze or almond milk to thin it out.
Vanilla Glaze
- 1/3 cup icing sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp almond milk

Chocolate Oreo Crumble
- 1/3 cup icing sugar
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1-2 tsp almond milk
- Oreo cookie crumbles (added to the side after glazing the doughnuts)

Beetroot and Orange Zest
- 1/3 cup icing sugar
- 2 tsp beetroot latte powder (I used Beetroot Latte mix from Jomei’s Fine Foods a company I came across when we were in Australia, they are starting to sell in Canada)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp almond milk
- Zest of one orange (added after glazing the doughnuts)

Matcha and Coconut
- 1/3 cup icing sugar
- 2 tsp matcha latte powder (Matcha Latte mix from Jomei’s Fine Foods)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp almond milk
- Shredded coconut for topping after glaze

Cinnamon Sugar
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup cinnamon

If you end up making these doughnuts tag me on Instagram, I’d love to see them!