Tofu Donuts (Donut holes)

These tofu donut holes are light and crispy on the outside and moist and cakey on the inside with a hint sweetness. They’re made with just 4 ingredients and perfect for a quick and easy snack or dessert.

Tofu donuts! or donut holes, timbits, whatever you wanna call it. My mom used to make them for us using Japanese hotcake (pancake) mix but found you can easily make them with more accessible ingredients outside of Japan.

These fried little balls were one of my favourite after school snacks and preferred them over timbits from Tim Hortons. They have a light crispy exterior and soft-moist interior with a subtle sweetness. They’re tasty as is, but can be taken up a notch by adding your favourite coatings like cinnamon sugar, glaze or powdered sugar.

Ingredients

The best (dangerous) thing about these tofu donuts is that they require just 4 ingredients to make! In fact, just two if you make the one using hotcake mix.

• silken tofu
• cake flour
• baking powder
• sugar

You can add a bit more depth and flavour by adding a pinch of salt, a bit of vanilla and nutmeg.

For the 2-ingredient version, all you need is silken tofu and Japanese hotcake mix (we usually use Moringa brand).

Instructions

These tofu donuts are again, dangerously easy to make:

1. Mix ingredients together
2. Rest in fridge for 10 minutes
3. Fry

Variations

Giving the visitor ideas on how they can change this recipe to better suit their dinner guests, or their cultural cuisine, is a great way to increase the chances they make the recipe

• Kinako – Substitute about 14 grams of cake flour for kinako flour
• Matcha – Swap 8 g of flour for 5 grams of matcha powder or add some the glaze
• Black sesame – Add 1 1/2 – 2 tbsp of ground black sesame flour
• Banana – Swap some of the silken tofu for mashed ripe bananas

Storage

These tofu donuts are best eaten fresh, but unlike yeasted donuts they stay quite moist the next day! Place in a container that isn’t air tight, but covered.

FAQ

More delicious donut recipes to love:

Sweets

Black Sesame Miso Caramel Donuts

Breakfast

Banana Bread Donuts with Whipped Coffee

Japanese Recipes

Japanese Curry Bread (Kare Pan) カレーパン

Sweets

Baked Matcha Mochi Donuts (Pon De Ring)

If you recreate this Tofu Donuts recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
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Tofu Donuts

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5 from 1 review

• Author: Lisa Kitahara

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Description

These tofu donut holes are light and crispy on the outside and moist and cakey on the inside with a hint sweetness. They’re made with just 4 ingredients and perfect for a quick and easy snack or dessert.

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1/2 cup (120 g) silken tofu, mashed
• 1/2 cup + 2 1/2 tbsp (88 g) cake flour*
• 1/2 tbsp (6 g) baking powder
• 2 tbsp (26 g) sugar
• 1/2 tsp (3 ml) vanilla, optional
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg, optional
• small pinch of salt, optional

Hotcake Mix Version (1:1 ratio)

• 120 g silken soft tofu
• 120 g Japanese hotcake mix (Moringa)

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Instructions

1. Add the tofu to a mixing bowl and whisk vigorously to mash. Whisk in the sugar, vanilla and pinch of salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour until it comes together. Cover and refrigerate for about 10 minutes.
2. In the meantime, fill a medium heavy bottom pan about 3 inches with oil over medium heat. Use a frying thermometer to ensure temperature is about 175 C / 350 F. Additionally, prepare a bowl with glaze and/or cinnamon sugar. 
3. Remove dough from the fridge and portion out the dough. This recipe will yield 5 48-50 g  donuts or 8 30 g for 8 donuts.
4. Once the oil is ready, carefully drop the dough into the oil. Fry the donut holes 2-3 at a time (depending on the size of your pot) for 2 – 2 1/2 minutes for larger donut holes and 1 1/2 minutes for smaller donut holes (or until they’re golden brown and stop bubbling), turning half way to ensure they’re evenly browned. 
5. Carefully remove the donut holes with a slotted spoon and place on a wire rack or paper towel lined plate. Ensure that the oil is still at about 175 C when frying the next batch.
6. While still warm, roll in cinnamon sugar.  Repeat until all donut holes are finished frying. 

Notes

• Sometimes I like to use a combination of 74 g of cake and 14 g of bread flour for a slightly chewier donut. You may also substitute for all purpose flour. 
• If you prefer a chewier version (more mochi-like), substitute 30 g of the cake flour for glutinous rice flour or shiratamako.