These light and fluffy homemade donuts are just 2 ingredients and very easy to make. You can have fresh homemade donuts in about ten minutes. They don’t require any yeast, eggs or butter. You can also easily change the flavors.
a plate of sugar coated donuts

I love making homemade donuts as a nice little treat. These donuts are made with a dough that is just 2 ingredients. The donuts dough takes less than five minutes to prepare and then it’s ready to be cooked.

Ingredients

  • Self-Rising Flour
  • Yogurt

Self-Rising Flour: Self-rising flour is all purpose flour that already has baking powder and salt added to it. If you don’t have self-rising flour, you can easily make your own by mixing together all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Because the donuts don’t use yeast in the dough, they use baking powder to give them rise.

Yogurt: Make sure to use regular yogurt and not Greek yogurt. I found using Greek yogurt made these donuts more dense. Regular yogurt will produce lighter and fluffier donuts. I use whole milk yogurt but low fat and fat free should also work. You can also use different flavors.

I usually make mine with plain yogurt or vanilla yogurt. Plain yogurt will yield donuts that are a little savory, which I like when I’m not craving something sweet. They actually taste great on their own but you can also roll them in sugar to make them sweet. Vanilla yogurt donuts will make the donuts vanilla flavored and a little sweet. If you prefer less sweet donuts you can eat them plain or you can also make them more sweet by rolling them in sugar.

You can use different flavored yogurts as well to add different flavors to your dough.

How to Make 2 Ingredient Donuts

Mix the self-rising flour and yogurt until a wet dough forms. The dough is then ready to be fried.

The dough will be sticky. It’s best to scoop the dough using a cookie scoop because a cookie scoop has a release mechanism that will help release the dough ball easily. The dough is cooked in hot oil for a few minutes on each side until they are golden brown and fully cooked inside.
a pile of donuts with one split in half.

Donut Cooking Tips

You want your cooking oil temperature to be between 325F-350F (mine is usually between 330F-340F) once the donuts are cooking. When you add in the donut dough it will drop the temperature so it’s best to have a cooking thermometer clipped on so that you can raise the heat to keep the oil temperature from dropping too much.

This dough is very sticky so it’s best to scoop with a cookie scoop. A cookie scoop has a release on it so that the dough can easily be released into the oil while still maintaining its round shape. After you scoop the dough ball, make sure to smooth the surface. This will help keep your dough balls more round.

To have round donut holes, make sure your oil is not too hot, which will cause them to puff up too quickly and lose their shape. If you find your dough balls are not keeping shape, try lowering the temperature of your oil.
2 ingredient donuts piled on a plate.

More Easy Donut Recipes

5 from 11 votes

2 Ingredient Donuts

These light and fluffy homemade donuts are just 2 ingredients. They don't need yeast, eggs or butter.
Servings: 13 donuts
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
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Ingredients

  • 1 cup (125 g) self-rising flour, see note before starting
  • 1/2 cup (4 oz/113 g) plain whole milk yogurt, or vanilla yogurt
  • canola, vegetable or olive oil, for frying

Instructions
 

  • Add 2 inches of oil to a medium saucepan. Bring to medium heat, around 335°F (168°C) -350°F (177°C). 
  • In a medium mixing bowl, add flour and yogurt. Mix with a spatula until yogurt and flour are fully mixed. Your dough should be sticky.
  • Once oil has reached the correct temperature, scoop dough using a 1 tbsp cookie scoop. Smooth the surface of the scoop, removing any excess dough (this helps to keep the dough ball round). Gently release the dough ball into the heated oil. Repeat this with remaining dough. You can do this in two batches if your saucepan is not big enough. The donuts will float to the surface so only put in as many donuts as can fit on the surface. If a donut sinks and get stuck to the bottom of your pan, make sure to quickly release it from the bottom with your kitchen frying utensil. Cook donuts until both sides are golden brown, flipping halfway through. Remove donuts from oil and place onto a plate lined with paper towel to soak up excess oil.
  • When donuts are no longer too hot to touch, you can roll them in sugar or other donut toppings. You can also leave them plain.

Notes

  • Self-rising flour amount needed: There are 2 main kinds of self-rising flour sold in the US. One that is a lower protein (2 grams per 1/4 cup serving) flour and one that has a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup). Brands like King Arthur Flour and White Lily make the low protein flour. Brands like Gold Medal and most store/generic brands contain a regular protein amount. The amount of protein affects how much liquid is absorbed. For this recipe, I tested it with White Lily self-rising flour (lower amount of protein). If you are using a self-rising flour with a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup) you will need less flour for this recipe or more pumpkin. I recommend starting with 3/4 cup and then adding more as needed.
  • Homemade self-rising flour: Whisk together 1.75 cups + 2 tbsp all purpose flour + 2 tbsp cornstarch + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon salt. Make sure your all purpose flour has 3 grams of protein per 1/4 cup. There are some brands of all purpose flour with high protein (4 grams per 1/4 cup), such as King Arthur and Bob's Red Mill, and that will make your donut dough too dry and your donuts dense. You don't want to use a high protein flour for these donuts.
  • I used Lily's self-rising flour*
  • I use this oxo 1 tbsp cookie scoop.*
  • *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
  • For the frying oil, you can use canola, vegetable or olive oil. Other oils that are usually used for frying should also work.
  • See tips in post for helping to keep the donuts round.
  • I don't recommend cooking the donuts in the air fryer. They will be very dense and more like bread. The same will happen if you try to bake them.
  • This recipe works best with regular yogurt and not Greek yogurt. I used whole milk yogurt but it should work with low fat or fat free yogurt. You can use different flavors to make different flavored donuts. I usually make them with plain yogurt or vanilla. See post for more details.
  • Because yogurt brands can vary in consistency (some are thicker and some are runnier), you may need to add a little more flour. Your dough should be sticky but if it's so sticky that you can't release a round ball of dough with a cookie scoop, then add a little more self rising flour to your dough.
  • To roll donuts in sugar, add donuts to a large bag and add 2 tbsp of granular sugar. Seal bag and shake until the donuts are fully coated. You can also glaze the donuts with your favorite glaze, roll them in powdered sugar or just leave them plain.
  • The nutrition is calculated for the donuts using plain whole milk yogurt and does not include oil absorbed during frying or any optional toppings. It is only for the donut dough before it is cooked as it is difficult to determine the exact amount of oil that is absorbed by the donuts.
Serving: 1donut, Calories: 37kcal, Carbohydrates: 7g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 0.3g, Saturated Fat: 0.2g, Sodium: 112mg, Sugar: 0.4g, NET CARBS: 7
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. This is not a comprehensive list of all the nutrients in the recipe (i.e., does not include vitamins, cholesterol, etc). I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
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