Brioche Donuts

These brioche donuts are pillowy-soft, filled with sweet blackberry jam, and fried to a deep golden brown. They take a little planning, but the result is completely worth it.

“I made these on a Saturday morning after chilling the dough overnight and they came out perfectly golden with a soft, pillowy inside. The blackberry jam filling is such a good call — not too sweet, and every bite has this rich, buttery flavor from the dough. I will definitely be making these again!”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Renata

These fluffy, tender doughnuts are perfectly delicious without a filling, but I like to go the extra step with my fried pastries so I filled mine with blackberry jam. Of course, you can fill them with any flavor jam you love, or even a homemade cream or custard.

Just be sure to serve them warm, with a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top. It’s imperative for the full doughnut experience, I’m telling you. Or make this Donut Glaze Recipe for a truly classic experience. Looking for a baked donut or you can try these chocolate baked donuts!

Ingredients & Substitutions

• All-Purpose Flour: This builds the dough’s structure and gives the brioche donuts their tender, pillowy crumb. Keep the full amount reserved and add the last portion gradually during kneading, adding only as much as the dough needs to come together soft and smooth rather than stiff.
• Nonfat Dry Milk Powder: This enriches the dough and helps the donuts brown evenly during frying. It’s a shelf-stable pantry ingredient that works directly into the dry mix without any extra steps.
• Granulated Sugar
• Salt
• Instant Yeast: This gives the dough its lift and is formulated to work faster than active dry yeast, which means you don’t need to proof it separately before mixing. Add it directly with the dry ingredients and it will activate when the warm water and eggs go in. If using active dry yeast bloom in the water and double the weight.
• Large Eggs and Egg Yolk: The whole eggs add structure and moisture while the extra yolk contributes richness and a tender, golden crumb. This combination is part of what gives brioche its characteristic texture, so it’s worth using both rather than skipping the yolk. If you’ve made my brioche buns, you’ll recognize this approach.
• Warm Water
• Unsalted Butter
• Vegetable Oil: This is the frying medium, not a dough ingredient. Two inches of oil in a saucepan is enough depth to fry the donuts evenly on both sides without needing a large amount.
• Seedless Blackberry Jam: This is the filling, piped into the center of each donut after frying. Seedless keeps the texture smooth when it’s piped through a decorating tip.
• Powdered Sugar

Variations for Brioche Donuts

• Boston Cream! Swap the blackberry jam for a Bavarian cream filling and top with a chocolate glaze recipe! It would also be delightful with a pastry cream or creme legere filling!
• Fruity glaze! You can add some jam to the glaze and add more blackberry flavor!
• Lemon Curd Filling: Replace the blackberry jam with this lemon curd for a bright, tart center. The buttery dough balances the acidity of the curd without any adjustments to the recipe. You can also add some lemon juice to the glaze for a delightful lemon donut.
• Mini Donuts: Use a smaller round cutter to punch out bite-sized donuts and reduce the fry time slightly, checking for that deep golden color as your cue. They’re great for a crowd, and you’ll get more out of the same batch of dough.

Professional Tips for Perfect Brioche Donuts

• Don’t skip the overnight chill. Chilling the dough after the first rise makes it manageable to press and cut. Brioche dough is soft and sticky at room temperature, so going straight from the first rise to shaping will give you a sticky, frustrating mess. Eight hours in the fridge firms it up so it presses flat cleanly and holds its shape on the baking sheet.
• Watch your oil temperature closely. Just like with these chocolate old-fashioned donuts, the oil needs to stay at 350°F throughout the frying process. Too hot and the outside darkens before the center cooks through; too cool and the donuts absorb excess oil and turn greasy. A candy thermometer clipped to the side of the pan takes the guesswork out of it, and frying just 2 to 3 donuts at a time helps the temperature stay steady between batches.
• Let the donuts cool slightly before filling. Piping jam into a very hot donut can cause the filling to run and leak. Just like these jelly donuts, they need 5 to 10 minutes on the tray after frying before you pick up the piping tip, and the jam will sit cleanly inside rather than pooling out.
• Re-press scraps only once. Pressing the dough repeatedly tightens the gluten, resulting in tougher, denser donuts on the second and third re-rolls. Cut as efficiently as possible on the first press to get the most out of your batch.

How to Make Brioche Donuts

Use these step-by-step instructions to make soft, pillowy brioche donuts filled with blackberry jam and dusted with powdered sugar. Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Make Dough

Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients. Combine the flour (reserving that last quarter cup for kneading), nonfat dry milk powder, sugar, kosher salt, and Instant yeast in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Stir everything together until the dry ingredients are evenly distributed before anything wet goes in.

Step 2: Add the wet ingredients. Add the eggs, egg yolk, warm water, and softened butter cubes to the dry mixture and stir just until the dough begins to come together into a shaggy mass. It will look rough and uneven at this stage, and that’s completely normal.

Step 3: Knead the dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 10 to 15 minutes, adding only as much of the reserved flour as the dough needs to stop sticking. If you’re using a stand mixer, knead on low speed for 10 minutes, adding the reserved flour gradually. The dough will feel stiff and a little rough in the first few minutes, which is expected with an enriched dough, but keep going. By the end of kneading it should feel soft, smooth, and elastic, stretching without tearing when you pull a small piece.

Proof

Step 4: First rise. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a large, lightly greased bowl. Turn it once to coat all sides, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until it looks noticeably puffed and feels airy when you press it gently with a fingertip.(photo1)

Step 5: Overnight chill. Transfer the risen dough, still covered, to the refrigerator and chill for at least 8 hours and no longer than 12 hours. The dough will continue to develop flavor slowly in the cold, and the chill firms the butter back up so the dough becomes much easier to press and cut cleanly.

Shape

Step 6: Shape the donuts. Punch down the chilled dough to release the gas, then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into an even circle about half an inch thick. Use a 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut out as many rounds as you can, then gather the scraps, press them together once more, and cut again. Place the cut rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet with a little space between each one. (photo 2)

Step 7: Second rise. Cover the baking sheet loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let the donuts rise at room temperature for 1 hour. They won’t look dramatically larger, but you’ll notice they’ve puffed slightly and feel pillowy and soft when you look at them from the side. Don’t rush this rise or the donuts will be dense in the center after frying.

Fry and Fill

Step 8: Heat the oil. Pour about 2 inches of vegetable oil into a large saucepan and set it over medium heat. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and heat the oil until it reaches 350°F. Getting the temperature right before you add the donuts is the most important part of this step, because oil that’s too cool will leave the donuts greasy and pale, and oil that’s too hot will brown the outside before the inside cooks through.

Step 9: Fry the donuts. a slotted spoon to gently lower 2 to 3 donuts into the hot oil, working in small batches so the pan stays at temperature. Fry them on both sides until they’re a deep, even golden brown, flipping carefully once the underside has set. The color is your best cue here — you’re looking for a rich amber, not pale gold. Transfer each batch to a paper towel-lined plate or baking sheet and let them drain while you fry the rest. (photo 3)

Step 10: Fill and finish. Once the donuts have cooled enough to handle, use a round decorating tip (a number 230 works well) fitted onto a piping bag filled with seedless blackberry jam to pipe the filling into each donut. Insert the tip into the side of the donut, squeeze gently until you feel a little resistance, then pull the tip out slowly. Dust generously with powdered sugar just before serving. (photo 4 & 5)

Recipe FAQs

Before You Go

These brioche donuts are the kind of recipe you’ll come back to every time you want to make something that feels genuinely special. Browse our Dessert Recipes or make this peach donut recipe next!