Glazed Lemon Doughnuts

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These Glazed Lemon Doughnuts are a must-try! A simple doughnut with added lemon zest, fried to golden perfection, and dipped in a two-ingredient lemon glaze. Each bite is tangy, sweet, and delicious!

angled shot of lemon doughnuts in antique cake pan with parchment paper. Cheesecloth, white flowers, and lemon halves around on marble surface.

While looking at our popular recipes from last year, we noticed a recurring theme. You all seem to LOVE doughnuts. Didn’t seem to matter if they were plain or filled. Baked or fried. Doughnuts were a go-to recipe for so many of you last year! That, and lemon recipes. So, we thought we would combine the two and create the ultimate doughnut!

These glazed lemon doughnuts are based on our classic vanilla doughnuts recipe, but with added lemon zest to give them just a little bit of flavor. Then, dipped in the simplest lemon glaze (just powdered sugar and lemon juice!), which is where most of the flavor comes from.

They’re bright, sweet, sticky, and sooooo freaking good. Honestly, they’re kind of like little bites of sunshine, which is great during these cold winter days. The best part? These doughnuts are ready to eat in just about 2 hours (and this includes rising time)!!

stacked lemon doughnuts in antique cake pan with top doughnut missing a bite, with white flowers and more doughnuts around.

Fried vs Baked Doughnuts – What’s The Difference?

While both are called doughnuts, or donuts, they are vastly different recipes! So, let’s get into it, shall we?

A baked doughnut (or donut) is also known as a cake doughnut. It is made from a batter (just like cake!) rather than a dough and baked in a doughnut pan.

So, let’s talk fried doughnuts. They are a totally different thing! The recipes are vastly different. Instead of a batter, fried doughnuts are made from a yeast-risen sweet dough that’s rolled, cut, and – well, fried!

This Recipe Is Best For Frying

While most doughs are associated with baking, this dough was formulated specifically for frying! We would not recommend baking these doughnuts. But, if you’re really looking for some doughnuts to bake, you might want to check out our Cinnamon Spiced Donuts, Double Dark Chocolate Donuts, Banana Nut Donuts, or even our Apple Cider Donuts!

Here’s Why You’ll Love These Lemon Doughnuts

Easier to make than you might think!
Ready in about 2 hours.
The perfect breakfast treat for lemon lovers.
Sweet without being TOO sweet.
Every doughnut makes doughnut holes, as well! A total win-win.

angled shot of doughnuts piled in cake pan on top of a white cheesecloth with lemon halves and white flowers around, and two doughnuts on cake plate behind.

All You Need Are 10 Simple Ingredients

For The Doughnuts:

All-Purpose Flour – No fancy flours needed for these doughnuts! Just regular unbleached all-purpose flour gives these doughnuts the perfect texture.
Instant Yeast – We use SAF Gold Yeast for this recipe. It’s best for enriched doughs and can be added directly with the dry ingredients! No proofing required.
Baking Powder – A second raising agent may sound strange, but baking powder gives the doughnuts a light, fluffy texture.
Granulated Sugar – We add just enough to give the yeast something to feed off of, as well as very lightly sweeten the dough.
Kosher Salt – An essential ingredient in any dough! It helps control the rise and strengthens the dough as well as enhancing the flavor.
Lemon Zest – Just enough to give the doughnuts a little hint of lemon flavor.
Whole Milk – A popular choice for sweet dough, whole milk has a higher fat content that creates a richer flavor and helps the doughnuts brown.
Large Eggs – The binder that holds all the ingredients together, eggs also contribute structure, stability, moisture, and richness.
Vanilla Extract – Just a splash adds a subtle undertone and enhances the lemon flavor.
Unsalted Butter – Adding richness, tenderness, and structure, unsalted butter also has a bright, fresh flavor and allows us to control the level of salt.

flour, butter, lemon zest, sugar, vanilla, milk, eggs, baking powder, salt, and yeast on marble surface.

For The Glaze:

Powdered Sugar – Melts easily, ensuring a smooth, perfectly sweet icing.
Lemon Juice – Provides the bright, zingy flavor that defines this icing.

powdered sugar and lemon juice on marble surface in separate glass bowls.

The Best Yeast To Use

For this recipe, we use instant yeast. It doesn’t need to be mixed water like active dry yeast, but can simply be added to the dry ingredients. If you only have active dry yeast, it can be used interchangeably with instant, but you will need to proof it first.

Here’s How To Make Lemon Doughnuts With Step-by-Step Photos

Step 1: Make the dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine flour, yeast, baking powder, sugar, salt, and lemon zest.

flour, lemon zest, sugar, yeast, and baking powder in stand mixer.

dry ingredients mixed together in mixer.

Add milk, eggs, vanilla, and butter. Knead on low speed until dough comes together, 2-3 minutes. Increase speed to medium high. Knead until dough is smooth and pulls away from the bowl, about 10 minutes.

butter, eggs, vanilla, and milk added to dry ingredients.

Step 2: Let prove

Place in a covered container that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Allow to rise at warm room temperature for 1 hour.

dough doubled in size in plastic container.

Step 3: Roll out and cut

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll to ½ inch thick.

Use a doughnut cutter to cut out doughnuts. Cover.

doughnuts cut from rolled out dough on marble surface.

Step 4: Fry

Fry doughnuts in hot oil (350°F) 3-4 at a time, cooking 1-2 minutes per side, until golden brown.

Drain on paper towels.

fried doughnuts and doughnut holes on paper towel lined sheet pan.

Step 5: Make the glaze

In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar and lemon juice. Beat with a whisk until smooth.

powdered sugar and lemon juice in glass bowl.

Step 6: Dip

Dip doughnuts into glaze, flipping to coat. Place on cooling rack placed over a sheet pan to dry.

doughnut coated in lemon glaze in bowl with glaze.

– Doughnut Troubleshooting –

The butter won’t mix into the dough.

The most important thing you need to make sure of is that all your ingredients are room temperature. If anything is cold, it won’t mix like it’s supposed to.

My dough isn’t smooth after kneading.

If your dough is not smooth, you haven’t kneaded it enough. If your mixer can’t handle the dough, you can finish kneading it by hand. It’ll take a little longer, but will work just as well.

The dough didn’t rise in the times stated in the recipe card.

This could be a couple of things. It might be too cold, it could be the yeast, or it just hasn’t had the amount of time needed to rise. Sweet dough takes longer to rise than regular dough because all the extra ingredients in there (sugar, eggs, milk) inhibit the yeast. Try placing the dough near a warm oven or in a proofing box. If you’re sure this isn’t the problem, check your yeast to see if it’s still active!

My doughnuts browned but didn’t cook in the middle.

This is because your oil is too hot! Turn down the temperature and try again. Also, use a thermometer if you have one. It’s a good way to keep an eye on the oil and make sure it doesn’t get too hot again.

My doughnuts don’t have ANY flavor.

The doughnuts in this recipe are meant to be pretty simplistic. You don’t want them to become bitter by adding too much lemon zest. Instead, the majority of the flavor comes from the glaze which ensures a sweet lemon flavor without being too much!

piled lemon doughnuts in cake pan with top doughnut missing a bite.

You Deserve Something Sweet ♡

Need more doughnuts? Here are a few you may like:

– Still Hungry? –

Here are a few recipes may like!

Fried vs Baked Doughnuts – What’s The Difference?

This Recipe Is Best For Frying

Here’s Why You’ll Love These Lemon Doughnuts