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Air Fryer Doughnut Holes with Chocolate Sauce are a quick and easy breakfast recipe with a delicious coating of cinnamon-sugar on the outside that will have the whole family coming back for more.
If you are a regular here than you know that I’m all about the treats. No matter the time of day – I’m always up for something as deliciously sinful as these little donut holes – coated in a cinnamon and sugar mixture – especially when I can dip them in a creamy warm chocolate ganache.
I think you’ll love that I have included 3 different ways you can make these awesome air fryer donut holes. Below you’ll find recipes for making them from scratch with yeast dough, making them with my favorite 2-ingredient dough, and also making them super fast using canned refrigerator biscuit dough. Check it out!
There really is no better way to start the day if you ask me. I love that these are not only delicious – but that you can decide which method you want to make depending on the ingredients you have on hand and the time you have available to you.
Either way they are still so much better for you than conventional donut making methods because we are eliminating the deep frying – so we can all enjoy these with a little less guilt.
air fryer donut holes from scratch
Here are some commonly asked questions
What is the best way to store leftover donut holes?
The key to storing these is to let just enough airflow in to keep them from getting soggy or moist but keep enough out to keep them from getting stale. I have found that if you place them in a paper sack and just fold over the top – they will keep well at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Can this recipe be doubled?
Yes, you can double this recipe. Keep in mind the extra time it will take to cook all of that dough. But the dough itself doubles well if you have a large enough mixing bowl.
Can I use a sugar substitute?
I have not personally tried it, so I can’t say how that would turn out. But if you would like to try it, I suggest a product that offers a 1:1 swap. Please let me know how it turns out.
Can I use a gluten-free flour?
I’m not sure just yet. I have been meaning to give this a try but haven’t had a chance. If you do try this, I would recommend using a1:1 flour like this oneas I don’t believe it would require additional ingredients that are typically called for when trying to make baked recipes in a gluten-free version. Please come back & tell me how it turned out.
air fryer donut holes with biscuit dough
Can I use another type of flour for the 2-ingredient dough?
For that dough recipe to work, you need the added ingredients that are in self-rising flour – baking powder and salt. You can make your own self-rising flour if you don’t have any on hand. Just mix 1-1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp fine salt into each cup of all-purpose flour you are using.
Ingredients for Donut Holes from Scratch
- milk- warmed to 100-110F
- granulated sugar
- active dry yeast
- butter
- large egg
- pure vanilla extract
- all-purpose flour
- ground cinnamon
- oil for spraying
Ingredients for Donut Holes – with canned biscuits
- flaky buttermilk biscuits
- oil for spraying
Ingredients for Donut Holes – using a 2-ingredient dough
- nonfat Greek yogurt
- self-rising flour
- oil for spraying
How do I properly measure the flour?
The official way is to spoon the flour into the measuring cup & level off. This makes sure the flour isn’t packed tightly into your measuring cup, adding more than you need, as that will make your dough too dry.
However – if you fluff your flour with a spoon, then gently scoop the flour into the measuring cup, taking care to not pack the flour – that should work for this recipe.
air fryer donut holes with 2-ingredient dough
Ingredients for the Coating
- granulated sugar
- ground cinnamon
- butter – opt
Ingredients for the Chocolate Sauce
- chocolatechopped
- heavy cream
What is the best yeast?
You can userapid rise,premiumor whatever you have on hand. I buy my yeast in the bulk section of my store, so it’s not brand-name or anything fancy & it works just great.
My dough didn’t rise, what happened?
Most of the time this means your water or milk (depending on which one you are using) was either too hot or too cold. If it is too hot it will kill the yeast, too cold & it just won’t rise. I find that using athermometerhelps & bringing the water to 115-125 degrees is best.
Why is the cooked dough so dense?
This dough should be light and fluffy like you see in the images here.If you find that your dough is not rising or it comes out more dense, please see the following suggestions below.
- Kneading.While the recipe here does not call for kneading as a separate step, the dough needs the kneading to form the gluten because that is what makes bread light and fluffy. This can be as easy as letting your mixer work the dough for a couple of extra minutes.
- Check that yeast. If your yeast doesn’t proof, it could either be expired or the temperature of the liquid wasn’t the right temperature and the yeast died. Too cold and it will take much longer to proof, too hot or expired – and won’t grow at all.
- Too much flour.If you have too much flour it will make the dough dense. I know the inclination is to add more when the dough is sticky – but mix in just enough to be able to form it into the rolls with wet or oily hands. If you live in a lower elevation, or higher humidity, you probably won’t need as much flour.
air fryer doughnuts
HOW DO YOU MAKE the donut coating – with the oil method directly out of the air fryer?
- While the dough is cooking, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a paper lunch sack. You can use a plastic zip-top bag if you don’t have one. Shake to combine the cinnamon and sugar.
- Once the donut holes are done cooking, give them another light spritz of oil and then immediately transfer them to the bag with the cinnamon mixture.
- Fold over the bag & give it a good shake to coat the donuts in the mixture.
- Remove from the bag and serve immediately. Do not store them in the bag as they will become soggy.
HOW DO YOU MAKE the donut coating – with the butter method?
- Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. If you like a thin coating of cinnamon sugar, roll the hot doughnuts in the cinnamon sugar immediately when they come out of the air fryer.
- If you like a thick coating of cinnamon sugar, roll the doughnut holes in melted butter before adding them to the cinnamon sugar.
How Air Frying Works
While air fryers are relatively new to the market, the technology isn’t really a new concept. They basically work like tiny convection ovens that you can use on your countertop.
Similar to a convection oven, it circulates the hot air within the cooking area using a high-powered fan. This helps evenly distribute the heat around the food which not only creates more evenly cooked food but also reduced cooking times.
By circulating the hot air, which contains the fine oil droplets from adding a light mist layer before cooking, and allows you to remove the need for submerging our foods in heavy oils to create the deliciously crunchy foods we all love.
What are the benefits of air frying?
Healthier
It’s no secret that fried foods are more fattening – but did you know that there are 9 calories in every gram of fat? With air frying, we can reduce the fat by removing most of the oils usually needed to create crunchy foods. This helps to drastically reduce fat intake and calories.
Convenience
I love being able to cook with my air fryer and eliminate the need for large baking sheets and lots of pots and pans. Most of my air fryer recipes can be made with just a mixing bowl or two or a small saucepan in addition to my air fryer.
Energy Efficient
Someone said to me once, “why make this in the air fryer if you can do it the conventional way in the same amount of time?” Well, air frying helps eliminate the need for a conventional oven.
Not only can you keep your home cooler in the summer by not using the oven, but you are saving money with reduced energy consumption costs as well.
Time Saver
I don’t know about you, but if I can avoid turning on the oven and having to wait 20 minutes for it to preheat, I’m happy about that. Most air fryer recipes either don’t require that you preheat the fryer – or the preheat time is 5 minutes or less. That is a huge time saver over using the oven.
Take it on the go
I love that the air fryer is compact and easy to take along on trips. We pack ours in our RV and find that air fryer cooking while camping is so much easier than trying to deep fry foods on a small RV stove or camping burner.
doughnut balls
What air fryer do you use?
We actually have 3 air fryers. I have a smaller one from Phillips that we started with. I have since given that to my son since he’s only cooking for 1.
But the more I used the air fryer I realized I really wanted a digital screen. It wasn’t any more expensive, in fact- our XL air fryer from GoWISE was less expensive than the Phillips and I love its ease & extra functions.
Plus it comes with a lot of the extra accessories I like to use when cooking with my fryer.
But I when I started working on my second air fryer book, I wanted to change things up. I picked up this LARGE air fryer that has been wonderful. It has Touch Screen Presets plus it is XL Family Size, which is great!
HOW DO YOU MAKE the Chocolate Sauce?
- To make the chocolate sauce, heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan (or the microwave) until it starts to steam.
- Add it to a small bowl with the chopped chocolate.
- Whisk until the sauce is smooth and well combined.
- Serve with warm doughnuts.
HOW DO YOU MAKE Air Fryer Doughnut Holes – From Scratch?
- Combine the milk, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes, or until the yeast becomes foamy on top. If your yeast doesn’t foam, it’s likely dead. Toss it and try again with a fresh packet.
- Add the melted butter, egg, and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
- Add the flour and cinnamon and stir until a shaggy dough forms.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead gently until a smooth dough forms– about 2-3 minutes.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and set it in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size– about 2 hours.
- Once the dough has risen, place it on a lightly floured surface (don’t punch it down) and cut it into 20 small pieces. Shape the dough into balls and place them on a baking sheet to rise for another 45 minutes.
- Once the dough has risen slightly, place a few doughnut holes in the air fryer, give them a light mist/spray of oil and cook at 375F for 6-8 minutes, or until they’re golden brown on the outside.
- Repeat with the remaining doughnut holes.
HOW DO YOU MAKE Air Fryer Donut Holes with biscuit dough?
- Preheat the air fryer to 350 degrees.
- Separate the biscuits and cut them into 4 pieces each.
- Lightly roll between your hands to reshape them into holes instead of triangles.
- Place them in the preheated air fryer basket and spray lightly with oil.
- Cook 4-5 minutes or until browned and cooked through.
- While the dough is cooking, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a paper lunch sack. You can use a plastic zip-top bag if you don’t have one. Shake to combine the cinnamon and sugar.
- Once the donut holes are done cooking, give them another light spritz of oil and then immediately transfer them to the bag with the cinnamon mixture.
- Fold over the bag & give it a good shake to coat the donuts in the mixture.
- Remove from the bag and serve immediately. Do not store them in the bag as they will become soggy.
Air Frying Doneness Tip
Every air fryer is a bit different and they all cook at different rates – so in general, all cooking times are approximate based on the pan and temperature.
You can always cook the recipe longer if needed and reduce the heat a bit. If needed, you can tent the top if it is browning too much.
I have a bake option and other special features on my air fryer, is that the setting? Or do you put it on “air fry” setting?
All of my recipes were created with an air fryer that had only a temperature & timer setting – since not all air fryers have all the additional settings.
You can use the bake setting when making recipes that you would traditionally bake – but if possible, please just set the temperature & time for this recipe.
homemade donut holes
HOW DO YOU MAKE Air Fryer Donut Holes – using a 2-ingredient dough?
- Combine the yogurt and self-rising flour in a large bowl and work it together until it forms a ball.
- Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 1-2 minutes to get the gluten forming so they are extra springy.
- Cut off 1″ pieces and roll into balls.
- Place them in the preheated air fryer basket and spray lightly with oil.
- Cook 4-5 minutes or until browned and cooked through.
- While the dough is cooking, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a paper lunch sack. You can use a plastic zip-top bag if you don’t have one. Shake to combine the cinnamon and sugar.
- Once the donut holes are done cooking, give them another light spritz of oil and then immediately transfer them to the bag with the cinnamon mixture.
- Fold over the bag & give it a good shake to coat the donuts in the mixture.
- Remove from the bag and serve immediately. Do not store them in the bag as they will become soggy.
chocolate ganache recipe
hole donuts
Products I love when making these air fryer donut holes…
This donut hole recipe is SUPER EASY and delicious – and if you’re like me, then you might already have some of these items on hand OR maybe you are new to air frying & you might be a bit nervous – but you’re going to love it. I have made a list below of the things I absolutely can’t live without when it comes to making this breakfast recipe.
- air fryer
- oil spray bottle
- granulated sugar
- active dry yeast
- pure vanilla extract
- all-purpose flour
- ground cinnamon
- oil for spraying
- flaky buttermilk biscuits
- self-rising flour
- chocolate
If you love this Easy Air Fryer Donut Hole recipe, you’re going to love these other breakfast ideas too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!
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Air Fryer Breakfast Burritos
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donut holes
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Air Fryer Doughnut Holes with Chocolate Sauce
Course Breakfast
Servings: 20 donut holes
Air Fryer Doughnut Holes with Chocolate Sauce are a quick and easy breakfast recipe with a delicious coating of cinnamon-sugar on the outside that will have the whole family coming back for more.
Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Rest 2 hours hrs
Ingredients
Doughnuts
- ½ cup milk- warmed to 100-110F
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 packet active dry yeast (2¼ tsp)
- 3 tbsp butter melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- oil for spraying
Donut Holes – with canned biscuits
- 1 can flaky buttermilk biscuits
- oil for spraying
Donut Holes – using a 2-ingredient dough
- 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup self-rising flour + more for dusting
- oil for spraying
Coating
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 4 tbsp butter melted (optional, see notes)
Chocolate Sauce
- 2 ounces chocolate chopped
- 3 ounces heavy cream 6 tbsp
Instructions
Doughnut Holes – From Scratch
Combine the milk, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes, or until the yeast becomes foamy on top. If your yeast doesn’t foam, it’s likely dead. Toss it and try again with a fresh packet.
Add the melted butter, egg, and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
Add the flour and cinnamon and stir until a shaggy dough forms.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead gently until a smooth dough forms– about 2-3 minutes.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and set it in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size– about 2 hours.
Once the dough has risen, place it on a lightly floured surface (don’t punch it down) and cut it into 20 small pieces. Shape the dough into balls and place them on a baking sheet to rise for another 45 minutes.
Once the dough has risen slightly, place a few doughnut holes in the air fryer, give them a light mist/spray of oil and cook at 375F for 6-8 minutes, or until they’re golden brown on the outside.
Repeat with the remaining doughnut holes.
**See below for coating
Donut Holes with biscuit dough
Preheat the air fryer to 350 degrees.
Separate the biscuits and cut them into 4 pieces each.
Lightly roll between your hands to reshape them into holes instead of triangles.
Place them in the preheated air fryer basket and spray lightly with oil.
Cook 4-5 minutes or until browned and cooked through.
While the dough is cooking, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a paper lunch sack. You can use a plastic zip-top bag if you don’t have one. Shake to combine the cinnamon and sugar.
Once the donut holes are done cooking, give them another light spritz of oil and then immediately transfer them to the bag with the cinnamon mixture.
Fold over the bag & give it a good shake to coat the donuts in the mixture.
Remove from the bag and serve immediately. Do not store them in the bag as they will become soggy.
Donut Holes – using a 2-ingredient dough
Combine the yogurt and self-rising flour in a large bowl and work it together until it forms a ball.
Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 1-2 minutes to get the gluten forming so they are extra springy.
Cut off 1″ pieces and roll into balls.
Place them in the preheated air fryer basket and spray lightly with oil.
Cook 4-5 minutes or until browned and cooked through.
While the dough is cooking, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a paper lunch sack. You can use a plastic zip-top bag if you don’t have one. Shake to combine the cinnamon and sugar.
Once the donut holes are done cooking, give them another light spritz of oil and then immediately transfer them to the bag with the cinnamon mixture.
Fold over the bag & give it a good shake to coat the donuts in the mixture.
Remove from the bag and serve immediately. Do not store them in the bag as they will become soggy.
Coating – with oil method directly out of the air fryer
While the dough is cooking, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a paper lunch sack. You can use a plastic zip-top bag if you don’t have one. Shake to combine the cinnamon and sugar.
Once the donut holes are done cooking, give them another light spritz of oil and then immediately transfer them to the bag with the cinnamon mixture.
Fold over the bag & give it a good shake to coat the donuts in the mixture.
Remove from the bag and serve immediately. Do not store them in the bag as they will become soggy.
Coating – with butter method
Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. If you like a thin coating of cinnamon sugar, roll the hot doughnuts in the cinnamon sugar immediately when they come out of the air fryer.
If you like a thick coating of cinnamon sugar, roll the doughnut holes in melted butter before adding them to the cinnamon sugar.
Chocolate Sauce
To make the chocolate sauce, heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan (or the microwave) until it starts to steam.
Add it to a small bowl with the chopped chocolate.
Whisk until the sauce is smooth and well combined.
Serve with warm doughnuts.
Notes
*Create a donut glaze dipping sauce by mixing ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar with a splash of milk. Whisk to combine.
*Or thin out ¼ cup of jam with a splash of water and then heat in the microwave for 15 seconds to make a fruity sauce to dip these in.
**If using instant rise yeast, there’s no need to let it rest for 5 minutes before mixing in the remaining wet ingredients.
***Rolling the doughnuts in melted butter is optional but will help give a thick, delicious coating of cinnamon-sugar on the outside. I highly recommend it!
****You can keep any leftover ganache in the fridge for up to 1 week and use it to dip strawberries or top ice cream sundaes!
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate. Please double-check with your own dietary calculator for the best accuracy. We at Taste of the Frontier cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
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Reader Interactions
Angie says
Can I make the dough and refrigerate until the next day before air frying?
Reply
Gina Kleinworth says
I have not tried it – but I think it will work if you let the dough come to room temperature before proceeding.
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