And yet, for over a hundred years, there has been a baking tradition of making donuts using potatoes or potato starch.
And not just some savory ringed object that looks like a donut, but genuine, sweet, and the real deal!
Unfortunately, it is an art that is slowly being lost, as not only the idea of potato donuts leaves the public conscience, but also leaves the shelves and menu items of stores up and down the country that once sold them.
Not all is lost, however. In the last few years, there have been a wave of potato donut recipes that are trying to keep this age-old confectionary still in our recipe books.
Just take one look at any of the recipes that we have gathered below, and you’ll soon discover how this old-fashioned donut has managed to survive the test of time!
Considering that this is a type of donut that not everyone will have heard of, it is best to start with a good classic take on this kind of delight!
This recipe gives you everything that you could want from a good potato donut.
It combines the solid, crisp outside of a freshly fried donut, while also having the fluffy, light inside.
All wrapped in a flavor that is equal parts buttery and rich as it is a delight to chow down on!
Arguably, the only thing bad thing we have to say about this recipe is that it has a total cooking time of an hour and a half.
Meaning that’s an hour and a half of looking at donuts, and not being able to eat them!
Jokes aside, this is a great recipe to start off your experience with potato donuts, and one that we can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone interested in trying a slightly different kind of donut dish!
(A word of advice: Make sure that you give your potatoes a good rinse before using them in your recipe. You want these donuts to be light and fluffy, not sticky and chewy inside!
Following the last classic take on a good potato donut, we have this special little recipe, passed down to the author from generations past.
Well, if the recipe’s survived this long, it must be doing something right!
The key to this particular potato donut dish is to make sure that you’re using buttermilk as your dairy ingredient.
It gives the finished donuts a little tangy flavor that you otherwise don’t get in confectionaries (at least, not without a lot of baking powder or lemon juice!).
If you’re looking to get the best batter, we’d also recommend that you use some beautifully smooth mashed potato in your mix.
A tricky thing to do, considering that the recipe calls for potato with no extra butter or milk, but one that will give you amazing results, for sure!
Once you’ve gotten this recipe under your belt, you’ll also find that it is a great springboard for your own versions.
Want to add a little clove or ginger for extra flavor and heat? Go for it! Want to add some powdered sugar? Easy!
The doughy ball is in your court, once you can make this recipe!
One of the reasons that potato works so well as a donut ingredient (when prepared right, at least) is that it contains plenty of moisture in it, giving the inside of a good potato donut their trademark fluffiness.
However, that also means that you’ve got to have a good recipe that allows for a good frying time if you want to avoid a chewy and unpleasant outside feeling.
Fortunately, that’s something that this recipe manages with flying colors, and even has a few ideas to help bring some flavors to the table.
Because, lets be real for a second: donuts are great, but we all know that the real deal for flavors usually comes from the frosting, icings and other toppings you add to them.
Unless you’re adding extra spices or flavors to the mix like cinnamon or nutmeg (which, to be fair, this recipe does) you’re kind of stuck with just sweet bread!
And, of course, this recipe does contain yeast, so you’re going to need to give the dough time to prove too!
Did you know that the original recipe for Krispy Kreme donuts used potato starch as one of its key ingredients?
It’s one of the reasons why their texture was so great in the first place!
In any case, this recipe works off of the same principle, mixing in a healthy helping of starch from the mashed potato that you’ll be adding.
While the recipe does call for lard to fry the donuts in, you can also use vegetable or sunflower instead, if you’re looking to avoid animal products.
Likewise, when it comes to an outer sweet coating of your fresh donut, the choice is really up to you.
The recipe recommends caster or cinnamon sugar as your main go-to, but we’ve found that powdered sugar is a great alternative, as is making a simple vanilla glaze.
You can’t go wrong with the sweet classics, after all!
Like we said, the key to getting potato donuts perfectly prepared is to avoid adding too many extras to your mashed potato for the mix, like butter or milk.
So, that may mean that you’re going to need to think twice about whether or not you want to try and use up your leftover salted mashed potatoes from yesterday’s Sunday dinner.
Fortunately, however, this particular recipe can make use of that mash here, especially when mixed with a little fresh mashed potatoes.
Not only that, but this recipe also gives you plenty of inspiration when it comes to toppings for your potato donuts,
From classic sweet flavors like cinnamon and icing, to some more chocolaty inspiration, or even some savory ideas too!
No matter you’re flavor palette, this recipe and its ideas have got you covered!
Of course, everyone knows that nothing tastes as good as home cooking. Heck, it’s probably why we’re always searching the internet, looking for even more home cooking recipe to try!
Potato donuts are the perfect proof of that concept. Some folks might be a little hesitant to grab a potato donut from a random small-time drive-through.
But a home cooked potato donut? Well, you’d have to try it, if only out of curiosity. If someone’s made it fresh, it must be something to it, right?
Of course, when it comes to cutting the donut, you should use a classic donut cutting shape for the best effect.
Or, you can do what we did, and just use 2 cookie cutter of different sizes to get the donut, and cut out the hole.
And hey: those pieces of donut dough center can just be rolled back into the dough, or fried themselves for a mini pocket of perfectly prepared potato!
One of the things that we loved doing with this list was going through the various recipes, and seeing what little changes and spins (big or small) that each recipe adds tot heir own take on this old-fashioned donut recipe.
Potato donuts are over a hundred years old, after all. You need to change something about the recipe in order to keep it fresh after so long!
One of the ingredients that we spotted in this particular recipe is the use of vanilla extract in the dough for this recipe.
Adding a subtle sweetness to the batter, this makes for an even better donut that doesn’t even need extra toppings to satisfy that sweet tooth that we all have!
Of course, a light coating of cinnamon sugar wouldn’t go unappreciated too…
The funny thing about donuts is that we have an idea of what a donut should look like: A piece of round sweetened dough, with a hole on the inside.
It’s such a popular image, that it’s easy to forget that do can be… well, pretty much any shape that you want! It can be round, pretzel shaped, a twist, a curl.
Heck, as this recipe shows us it can just be a ball of dough, thrown into a deep-fryer, and it will still turn out amazing!
This particular version shows us exactly why ‘spudnuts’ is such a popular nickname for this recipe kind of donut!
If you’re feeling especially decadent and in need of sweet flavors, a chocolate sauce or dip is the perfect way of adding a chocolaty coating to these deep-fried confectionaries!
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