These mashed potato donuts come out soft and fluffy. They are easy to make and a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. You only need two items to make the donut dough and it only takes about 5 minutes to prepare. The dough doesn’t require any yeast or eggs. You also don’t need to knead it or roll it. You can have fresh, warm donuts ready in under 30 minutes.
I love creating new ways to use mashed potatoes this time of year because I always seem to have so much leftover mashed potatoes. This is something a little different, but it turned out wonderfully. The potatoes make the donut dough extra soft and fluffy.
Ingredients
- Mashed Potatoes
- Self-Rising Flour
The donut dough is made with just mashed potatoes and self-rising flour. Yes, I am aware that both of these items are made with more than one ingredient. Whether you want to call them ingredients, items, products, or things, this recipe is still incredibly easy. Most mashed potato donut recipes require a long list of ingredients you need to add to make the dough. For this recipe, you just need to combine two things and a dough is formed.
This is what your finished dough should look like:
Mashed Potatoes: There are a lot of different recipes for mashed potatoes out there, but this recipe is very forgiving and whatever your favorite mashed potato recipe is or whatever leftover mashed potatoes you have in your house, should work. I discuss what kind of mashed potatoes works best in more detail below.
Self-Rising Flour: Self-rising flour is flour that is already mixed with baking powder and salt. I always have some self-rising flour in my pantry. However, if you don’t have self-rising flour, you can easily make your own by mixing all purpose flour with baking powder and salt. I share the exact amount in the recipe card notes.
Best Mashed Potatoes to Use
Whether you like instant mashed potatoes, mashed potatoes made with sour cream, mashed potatoes made with stock and milk, etc, most traditional mashed potato recipes will work for this donut dough. I’ve made them with instant mashed potatoes, leftover fast food restaurant mashed potatoes, and leftover homemade mashed potatoes.
The ideal mashed potatoes to use for this recipe are ones that are a puree consistency and are plain or barely seasoned. If you are whipping up a fresh batch of mashed potatoes just for this recipe, I recommend leaving out the salt you would normally add. You can actually use seasoned or flavored mashed potatoes, but if you do, I recommend you make the donuts savory instead of sweet.
As for the mashed potato consistency, you do want something that resembles a thick puree, which is how I describe most instant mashed potatoes. Thicker mashed potatoes with chunks of potatoes don’t work quite as well. You can get it to work, but you will want to thin out the mashed potatoes with some milk and blend it in a food processor or blender until a thick puree consistency before using it.
How to Cook Mashed Potato Donuts
These donuts are best fried. When they are fried, the dough comes out like traditional donuts. They are light, soft and fluffy.
I’ve shared donut recipes previously and always get asked whether your can bake or air fry the dough instead. Yes you can but the result will not be the same. The donuts will come out more dense and bready. They will taste more like bread than like donuts. So you can do it, but don’t expect the same results.
More Leftover Mashed Potato Recipes
2 Ingredient Mashed Potato Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup (230 g) mashed potatoes
- 1 cup (125 g) self-rising flour
- canola or vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Add 1 inch of oil to a medium saucepan. Bring to medium heat (about 350°F).
- While oil is heating, make your dough. Add mashed potatoes and flour to a large mixing bowl. Mix with a spoon until the flour is completely incorporated and a dough forms. See photo in post for reference. Your mixture should look like a dough but it should be sticky (i.e., when you touch it, it will stick to your finger).
- Once oil has reached desired temperature, scoop dough using a 2 tsp cookie scoop. Release the donut dough directly into the hot oil. Repeat until you have around 6 donut balls cooking in your saucepan. You only want a single layer of donuts and you don't want them to be overcrowded. The donuts may initially sink and stick to the bottom of your pan. If that happens, use your cooking tool (I use a strainer spoon) to release the donut ball from the bottom so that they can float to the top. Cook donuts until both sides are golden brown, flipping halfway through. Remove donuts, shaking off excess oil. Place onto a plate lined with paper towel. Repeat with remaining donut dough until all donut dough is used up.
- When donuts are no longer too hot to touch, you can top with sugar or other donut toppings. You can also leave them plain for savory donuts. I rolled mine in some granular sugar.
Notes
- To make your own self-rising flour, whisk together 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt.
- Depending on the consistency of your mashed potatoes and how much liquid is in them, you may need to adjust your flour amount. If your dough is too wet, add more self-rising flour. If it's too dry, add more mashed potatoes.
- Because the dough is sticky, using a cookie scoop is the best way to work with the dough. It will directly release the sticky dough ball into the hot oil. A 2 tsp cookie scoop is usually the smaller one in a set of cookie scoops. It is not the one most commonly used for cookies which is 1.5 tbsp. The dough expands when it is fried which is why this recipe uses the small scoop. You can use a larger scoop, but you will need to cook your dough longer and your donut holes will be much bigger.
- I used this 2 tsp cookie scoop.*
- For the coating, I added about 1/4 cup of sugar into a Ziploc bag. I then put some donut holes in the bag and shook them until they were coated in sugar. I did this in about 4 batches.
- Most mashed potato recipes will work for this recipe. Please see post for more details. You want your mashed potatoes to have a puree like consistency (the consistency of most instant mashed potatoes). If you are using very thick mashed potatoes, I recommend thinning them out with some milk in a blender or food processor until they become a puree before using them to make the dough.
- The gram measurement is an approximation. Weight for 1 cup of mashed potatoes will vary depending on the mashed potatoes you are using. My weight was for 1 cup of Hungry Jack Instant Mashed Potatoes cooked per instructions.
- *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.
- Nutrition estimate is for the dough only and not after it is fried because it is difficult to determine the amount of oil absorbed during frying. I calculated the estimated nutrition for the dough using Hungry Jack Instant Mashed Potatoes prepared following the instructions.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
How long can it stay?
Fried donuts will keep in an airtight container for a couple of days. We think they taste best when they’re made, though.
Lets bake and cook..
Super delicious ang easy to make!???
That’s great!
Hi I love this recipe. I was wondering if I can share this recipe to my work place. I didn’t want to just go and steal your work so I’m asking if it is okay if I can tell my manager about these mashed potatoe doughnuts and possibly cook them at work.
Yes, you can share it at work, but we would appreciate you providing credit of where you got it from.
I grew up with these- love them! My parents lived through the Depression so we never wasted anything
I made these with dried onion and garlic powder. then after they were cooked, sprinkled them with salt. and everyone loves them. thanks for the simple recipe.
Thanks for sharing your additions – we’re so glad everyone loved them!
Hi can I add cheese to the filling.
Thanks
Yes, cheese should work, but we haven’t tried it so can’t give you a good recommendation on the amount.
I am going to try making the donuts tomorrow. But,I am going to us powdered sugar.
We hope you like them!
I wonder if you could do the same recipe,but with mashed sweet potatoes?
Mashed sweet potatoes would work great!
I tried these mashed potato donuts and they came out pretty good, except for the sugar coating. I deep fried mine and the recipe made 30 donuts, which I was able to fry 10 at a time. The first batch I waited until just barely cool before dunking in a baggie of sprinkles. None stuck! The 2nd batch went right into the baggie hot out if the oil and still nothing stuck. 3rd batch, I didn’t even try. How did you get your sugar coating to stick??
Hi, the problem is that you used sprinkles. You can use sprinkles, but the donuts need to be coated in a glaze first to get the sprinkles to stick on. I rolled mine in just regular sugar and it stuck. powdered sugar will also work. Also, I don’t recommend rolling the donuts when they are hot. You should let them be cool enough to touch before rolling.
Nice recipe love that. All
Easy to cook so delicious and nutritious.good for young and old.
I’m glad you liked it!
This came up in my Google feed as a customized suggestion, so while I know the algorithm isn’t perfect, I was sad to find this isn’t celiac friendly. I was hoping that somehow the potatoes would replace flour, as I haven’t had donuts in a few years.
Anyways, it looks delicious and I might have my daughter make these for her dad.
Like more recipes to learn Ma
Hi can you air fry these? Thank you ?
This is discussed in the post – you can try air frying them but the result will not be the same. The donuts will come out more dense and bready. They will taste more like bread than like donuts. So you can do it, but don’t expect the same results as deep frying.
These sound great! I’m allergic to potatoes, so I’m going to try this using orange sweet potatoes?
If they work out well I will try
another batch with gluten free flour?
Let us know how it worked for you!
Will this also work with sweet potatoes?? ?
Yes, mashed sweet potatoes will work fine.
Can you bake them, air fry, or use a donut maker to cook them? Love your recipes! Thanks!
As discussed in the post, deep-frying is best. If you air fry them or bake them the texture will be dense and more bread-like instead of light and fluffy.
hi there are these ok to bake i dont use oil? i have a great airfryer
We think they’re best deep-fried. As mentioned in the post, air frying or baking will make them more dense and bread-like.