Sufganiyot is a traditional Israeli Hanukkah jelly-filled doughnut that is made with a pillowy soft dough, fried and stuffed with strawberry jelly, and topped with plenty of powdered sugar.
If you like making donuts, check out our strawberry glazed donuts, lotus biscoff donuts, bavarian cream donuts, and mini donuts.
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What are sufganiyot?
Sufganiyot are a delicious Jewish and Israeli dessert that is eaten during Hanukkah in Israel and around the world. These traditional jelly-filled doughnuts are fried in oil which symbolizes the miracle of oil lamps that burned for eight nights instead of one in the Hanukkah story.
They are usually filled with jelly, but in Israel, during Channukah, there are many twists to the classic recipe. It is popular to see these filled with Nutella, dulce de Leche, vanilla cream, chocolate crunch, and much more!
Why this recipe works
- They are filled with strawberry jelly or your favorite donut filling!
- Tastes a million times better than a store-bought donut.
- These are really easy to make and are made with super simple ingredients.
- Cheap to make and are dairy free!
- Fluffy and melt in your mouth delicious.
Ingredients
Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Full measurements are in the recipe card below.
Flour– we use all-purpose flour for this recipe. Bread flour will work great as well for this recipe.
Active dry yeast– active dry yeast works best for this recipe.
Granulated sugar– granulated sugar works best for this recipe, but caster sugar can work as well.
Vegetable oil- use either vegetable oil or canola oil for this recipe. You will need oil for the dough and for frying the dough.
Kosher salt– use kosher salt for this recipe.
Water– use room temperature water.
Eggs- you will need three large eggs, make sure that your eggs are at room temperature.
Vanilla extract- for extra flavor.
Brandy or vodka- This step is optional, if you don't have brandy or vodka laying around, you can simply skip this step.
Instructions
In a bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, dry yeast, and sugar. Mix with a spoon until combined. Add the salt, and mix until combined.
Add the room temperature water, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, brandy or vodka, and the eggs, and start mixing on low until the dough forms.
Increase the speed to medium and mix for at least 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and silky.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours or until it’s doubled in size (or even tripled in size).
Punch down the dough and transfer it to a clean floured surface. Sprinkle flour on the dough and roll it into a ¼ inch rectangle, making sure that the bottom of the donuts doesn’t stick to the surface.
Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, stamp out as many rounds as you can. Reuse the leftover dough and make more dough rounds.
Transfer the dough rounds to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, cover with a clean towel and let the dough rise until its doubles in size or at least for 30 minutes.
Heat canola oil in a dutch oven, saucepan, or frying pan and allow it to get to about 180c (350f). Gently place a donut round in the hot oil (using your hand or a spatula) and fry in small batches for about 2 minutes on each side.
Remove the fried donuts to paper towels to drain any excess oil. Let the donuts cool for a few minutes or until they are cool enough to hold.
Using a sharp knife, make a hole in the side of the donut, and create a pocket inside the donut (as seen in the video). Pipe jam with a pastry bag and a round tip in each donut.
Sprinkle each donut with a generous amount of powdered sugar, and serve!
Expert Tips
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Make sure that your yeast isn’t expired. You can check if your yeast is expired by mixing a teaspoon of dry yeast with ¼ cup of room temperature water, waiting 10 minutes, and if the yeast has bubbles in it and it puffed a bit, your yeast is alive and good, if there are no bubbles in your yeast mixture, your yeast is probably expired.
- Be patient! Let the dough rise at least until it doubles its size. The more the dough rises, the more fluffy the donuts will be.
- Use bread flour! We like to use either all-purpose flour or bread flour for making bread. Bread flour contains more gluten, which makes the dough more stretchy and easy to work with.
- Make sure that your ingredients are fresh! Make sure that your flour and yeast are fresh and not expired. This step ensures that you will have great dough to work with.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan when frying the donuts, this step ensures that your donuts cook well.
- Remove the fried donuts to paper towels to drain any excess oil.
- Use room temperature ingredients.
- Make sure that your jelly is thick, and doesn't have a lot of lumps in it. This step ensures that there will be no jelly pieces clogging the piping tip while filling the donuts.
- Make these your own! If you don't like jelly, simply fill the donuts with whatever filling you'd like! Nutella, vanilla pastry cream, dulce de leche, etc.
Faq's
These will last for about 2 days at room temperature, stored in an airtight container. Or freeze for up to 3 months.
Yes, simply preheat an oven to 180c (350f), and bake for about 5 minutes or until the donuts are slightly golden brown.
This recipe makes about 12 sufganiyot, depending on the size. You can make them smaller or bigger.
Yes, you can air fry these. Simply grease the basket of the air fryer generously with canola oil or vegetable oil. Add 4 dough rounds to the basket of the air fryer and brush the donuts with butter or oil.
Fry at 180c (350f) for about 5 minutes flipping halfway through.
Sufganiyot are made with a dough that is a cross between a beignet and classic jelly donuts. They are filled with usually strawberry jelly and topped with a LOT of powdered sugar.
Storing
I highly recommend frying these and eating them on the same day. If you have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Reheat in the microwave for 20 seconds.
Freezing
After baking or frying them, let them cool completely and freeze them in an airtight container for up to 3 months. When ready to use, defrost at room temperature for 30 minutes and reheat in a toaster oven for 2-3 minutes.
Serving tips
Classic sufganiyot are served with jelly filling and topped with powdered sugar. We love serving them next to a cup of tea or coffee.
Substitutions
Water- switch out the water with whole milk to make these extra soft. I switch the milk with water when I want to make these dairy free, but if you don't mind consuming dairy, use milk!
Variations
Coating- instead of coating these with powdered sugar, you can coat them with granulated sugar, or cinnamon sugar, or leave them plain!
Filling- if you don't like jam, you can fill these donuts with: dulce de leche, Nutella, chocolate spread, vanilla custard, vanilla or chocolate pudding, etc.
Jelly- switch out the jelly flavor! You can fill these donuts with strawberry jelly, blueberry jelly, apple jelly, peach jelly, raspberry jelly, or any of your favorite homemade jelly!
More Israeli recipes
Date roll cookies- These date roll cookies are my favorite cookies of all time! These are made with buttery shortcrust pastry, filled with date paste, cinnamon, and chopped walnuts.
Pita bread- Pita bread is one of our favorite bread to bake, making your own homemade pita bread is easy, inexpensive, simple, and delicious.
Honey cake- This honey cake is moist, rich in flavor, and full of spices that will make your house smell like autumn.
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📖 Recipe
Sufganiyot Recipe (Jelly Doughnuts)
Ingredients
- 500 g Flour
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon Dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Water
- â…“ cup Vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon Vodka or brandy
Instructions
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, dry yeast, and sugar. Mix with a spoon until combined. Add the salt, and mix until combined.
- Add the and room temperature water, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, brandy or vodka, and the eggs, and start mixing on low until the dough forms.
- Increase the speed to medium and mix for at least 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and silky.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours or until it’s doubled in size (or even tripled in size).
- Punch down the dough down and transfer it to a clean floured surface. Sprinkle flour on the dough and roll it into a ¼ inch rectangle, making sure that the bottom of the donuts doesn’t stick to the surface.
- Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, stamp out as many rounds as you can. Reuse the leftover dough and make more dough rounds.
- Transfer the dough rounds to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, cover with a clean towel and let the dough rise until its doubles in size or at least for 30 minutes.
- Heat canola oil in a dutch oven, saucepan, or frying pan and allow it to get to about 180c (350f). Gently place a donut round in the hot oil (using your hand or a spatula) and fry in small batches for about 2 minutes on each side.
- Remove the fried donuts to paper towels to drain any excess oil. Let the donuts cool for a few minutes or until they are cool enough to hold.
- Using a sharp knife, make a hole on the side of the donut, and create a pocket inside the donut (as seen in the video). Pipe jam with a pastry bag and a round tip in each donut. Sprinkle each donut with a generous amount of powder sugar, and serve!
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