Homemade Air Fryer Yeast Donuts without Biscuit Dough
These air fryer yeast donuts are filled with homemade grapefruit curd and coated in cardamom sugar. The result is a light and fluffy air fryer donut with a crunchy exterior and a soft interior.
This site contains affiliate links, which means that I may make a small commission if you purchase a product using those links. However, please know that I only provide links to products that I actually use and wholeheartedly recommend!
It’s grapefruit curd season! Or at least it’s citrus season. Which is a perfect excuse to make these air fryer yeast donuts filled with homemade grapefruit curd!
I’m still pretty new to the air fryer game, but I’ve come to realize that it’s a truly beautiful thing. The idea of making donuts for breakfast without having to get out a deep fryer is truly magical.
These donuts are filled with a simple grapefruit curd, which is perfect because the grapefruits are so delicious right now! You could sub lemon curd or jam if you prefer – they’ll still be delicious!
The donuts themselves are flavored with cardamom and nutmeg, which go beautifully with the bright citrus flavors from the grapefruit.
Honestly these are my new favorite donuts and hopefully you’ll agree!
Why Make this Recipe?
- Easy: Not quite as easy as biscuit donuts but still incredibly simple. These air fryer yeast donuts skip the whole hassle of frying in a deep fryer, which makes them so much better.
- Texture: Soft brioche dough, coated in crunchy sugar and filled with sharp grapefruit curd. It’s perfect, honestly.
- Flavor: Cardamom and Grapefruit are a surprisingly fantastic combination.
What Do I Need to Make these Donuts Filled with Grapefruit Curd?
Equipment:
Air fryer: This is the air fryer* I use, but whatever you have will work! If you’re new to using an air fryer, this article has some good tips and tricks on using an air fryer!
Shop my recommended products for this recipe here:
Donut Ingredients:
- Flour: I use a mix of all-purpose and bread flour in this recipe, but you can use all all-purpose if you don’t have bread flour.
- Yeast: I use active dry yeast in all my recipes
- Milk: Feel free to use a non-dairy milk
- Cardamom and Nutmeg: These spices go really well with the grapefruit curd
- Egg
- Sugar
- Vanilla
- Salt
Grapefruit Curd ingredients:
- Half a grapefruit
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Butter
How to Make these Air Fryer Yeast Donuts
Step 1: Start by making the dough
The dough comes together remarkably easily in a standing mixer. Start by combining all the ingredients except the butter and kneading on a low speed.
Gradually increase the speed until you have a soft dough.
At this point, you want to slowly start adding butter. The butter should be soft to the touch and at room temperature. Add it in a bit at a time, letting the pieces incorporate into the dough.
Once all the butter is added in, knead for another couple minutes and then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl.
Step 2: Let the dough rise
Option 1:
Transfer the dough to the fridge and shape it into donuts in the morning. This will mean rolling and cutting out your donuts the next day.
Option 2:
Alternatively, let the dough rise for an hour or two until it’s doubled in size at room temperature. Then you can roll out the dough and cut out your donuts.
The shaped donuts are then refrigerated overnight and air fried in the morning!
Step 3: Make the homemade grapefruit curd
While the donuts are raising, make the grapefruit curd following this recipe!
Let the grapefruit curd sit in the fridge overnight.
Step 4: Air frying the donuts
Lightly oil the basket of your air fryer and carefully transfer the donuts to the basket.
Spray with more oil and then fry for 6-7 minutes at 350 F until golden brown, turning after 4 minutes.
Step 5: Coat and fill
Dip the air fryer donuts in melted butter and then roll in the cardamom sugar. Let them cool before piping in the grapefruit curd!
Expert Tips
Let the butter slowly incorporate into the dough
Your goal here is to emulsify the butter in the dough, so you want to work slowly. It’s also important to make sure both the butter and your donut dough is at room temperature before trying to add the butter.
Use a coarser sugar for the coating
While any sugar will work, technically speaking at least, a coarser sugar will work better. Because these donuts are made in an air fryer, they tend to have a softer outside than a fried donut. A coarser, crunchier, sugar works well to compensate for that softer outside!
Use Spray Oil:
You can definitely brush your air fryer with oil, but it’s much easier to use a spray oil!
Recipe FAQs
Can you make donuts good in an air fryer?
Yes! They aren’t quite the same as fried donuts because there’s just less oil involved, but they still work really well.
Coating them in cardamom sugar also dramatically improves the texture of the donuts!
What to do with grapefruit curd
If you have left over curd, then it’s delicious with mixed berries and whipped cream or on scones!
Brioche donut vs regular donut
A brioche donut has more butter, and the butter is slowly incorporated into the dough at the end of the mixing process.
In contrast, a regular donut has less butter, less egg but generally includes more sugar and more yeast.
Using a brioche dough results in a slightly richer donut that’s a little less sweet, which I really love!
Can you skip the grapefruit curd
Yes! The grapefruit curd is delicious, but you can also fill these donuts with your favorite jelly to make jelly donuts. Alternatively, chocolate ganache is delicious or just leave them plain!
Other Recipes to Try:
- Sourdough Discard Donuts (If you want to try frying donuts)
- Grapefruit Tart (using the same grapefruit curd recipe!)
- Mini Lemon Souffles (if you want more citrus in your life!)
Did you like this recipe?
If so, consider sharing on Pinterest or Instagram and tagging @MayasKitchenDaydreams – I always love to see your photos if you baked my recipe!
You can also sign up for my email list to stay informed!
Air Fryer Donut Recipe with Grapefruit Curd:
Equipment
- Air fryer
Ingredients
Dough
- 140 g all-purpose flour
- 140 g Bread Flour or another 140 g all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 20 g of sugar
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- pinch of nutmeg optional but delicious
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 125 g whole milk
- 50 g room temperature unsalted butter
- Oil for the air fryer spray works well but you can also use liquid
Cardamom Sugar Topping:
- 40 – 50 g butter
- 75 g sugar coarser sugar is better, i.e. not superfine sugar
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- a pinch of nutmeg
One batch of grapefruit curd or your favorite donut filling
Instructions
Make the dough
- Combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a standing mixer or in a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl combine the egg, vanilla and milk and then pour it into the dry ingredients.
- Set the mixer to low and, using the dough hook, combine for a few minutes until the dough comes together. If you’re working by hand, use a wooden spoon or your hands to combine the dough.
- At this point, either increase the mixer to medium and knead for another 10 minutes. You want a soft dough that’s very smooth.
- Set your mixer to low and then add the soft butter one piece at a time to the dough. You want to work slowly at this point and make sure the butter has time to emulsify. Once the butter has all been added, knead for another few minutes until the dough is soft and smooth.
At this point, you have two options:
- Let the dough rest in the fridge overnight and shape it in the morning
- Shape the donuts and then let them rest in the fridge
For option 1:
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it and just let it rest in the fridge overnight.
- In the morning, roll the dough out on a floured surface till it’s half an inch thick.
- Cut out your donuts using a round cutter (I used a 3-inch cutter). You can easily do this with glasses, cookie cutters, whatever other round things you can find.
- Place the cut donuts on a baking tray that lined with parchment paper. Cover them and let them rise for 45 minutes or until when you lightly press on the dough it doesn’t immediately spring back.
For option 2:
- Let the dough rise on the counter for an hour, or until it’s at least 1.5 times its original size.
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface till it’s half an inch thick. If the dough is too soft to work with, place it in the freezer for 10 minutes to let the butter firm up.
- Cut out your donuts using a round cutter (I used a 3-inch cutter). You can easily do this with glasses, cookie cutters, whatever other round things you can find.
- Place the cut donuts on a baking tray that’s lined with parchment paper. Cover the tray and place them in the fridge overnight.
- In the morning, let the donuts come to room temperature for about an hour or until when you lightly press on the dough, it doesn’t immediately spring back.
While the donuts are raising, make the grapefruit curd using this recipe
To air fry:
- Preheat the air fryer to 350 F
- Spray or brush the donuts and basket with oil and fry for 6-8 minutes or until lightly golden, flipping after 4 minutes. Make sure you give the donuts space and work in multiple batches.
- While they are frying, combine the sugar, cardamom and nutmeg in a bowl and melt some butter in a second bowl.
To finish
- Dip the hot donuts in the butter and then in the sugar mixture before letting them cool.
- Use a chopstick or skewer to poke a hole through to the center of the donut.
- Transfer the grapefruit curd to a piping bag fitted with a small piping tip and pipe curd into each donut. You can also use a filling injector if you have one!
These were insanely good!
I haven’t made these yet but they sound so absolutely delicious that I’ll be trying to make them this week! Love the idea of grapefruit curd – especially since my neighbor has a huge tree of them, begging to be picked. Thank you!!!
That’s so kind of you! I hope you enjoy them – I think if I had a neighbor with a grapefruit tree, I’d be eating far too many of these!
i can’t believe you can make these in the air fryer. pinned