Malasadas are Portuguese yeast doughnuts with no hole in the center, and the good ones split into a cloud-soft crumb under a thin, golden shell. Knowing how to make malasadas Portuguese doughnuts at home comes down to three things: a dough that gets a full rise, rounds stretched thin and handled gently, and oil held steady between 325°F and 350°F. Budget about three hours from start to the first warm one, most of that waiting for dough.
The recipe below makes about a dozen in a single batch and scales up without much fuss. It leans on a scalded milk dough, which stays tender and keeps its shape in hot oil better than a plain water dough.
Table of Contents
What You Need
The dough is enriched with milk, eggs, butter, and a little sugar, so it is closer to a sweet bun than a plain doughnut dough. That fat and sugar is exactly what slows browning and gives you time for the center to cook through before the outside colors.
Dough for about 12 malasadas
- 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
- 2 1/4 teaspoons (7 g) active dry yeast
- 2 cups (480 ml) whole milk
- 1/3 cup (65 g) sugar, divided
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 4 tablespoons (60 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- Zest of 1 lemon, optional but traditional
For frying and coating
- About 3 inches (7.5 cm) of neutral oil, such as canola, peanut, or vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, or 1/2 teaspoon if you want just a hint of spice
Mix the coating in its own bowl before you start. Sugar tossed with cinnamon used right after frying stays sandy and separate, and it keeps longer than a wet sugar mixture that would clump and dissolve.
Equipment
- A heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, 4 inches deep, with at least 2 inches of clearance above the oil line
- An instant-read or clip-on deep fry thermometer
- A spider or slotted spoon, plus a heatproof bowl for draining
- A wire cooling rack set over a baking sheet
- A rolling pin, a 2 1/2-inch round cutter or bowl, and a bench scraper
- Two shallow bowls, one for the dough pieces, one for the sugar mixture
Home bakers who make these regularly keep a little milk in a shallow bowl for shaping. It keeps the sticky dough off your fingers and off the flour, which is what turns a tacky mass into a round you can actually stretch.
For variations, swap lemon zest for orange zest, dust the finished warm pastries with confectioners sugar instead of rolling, or roll in plain sugar the way many Portuguese families do. Filled versions take a custard, a haupia coconut pudding, or a thin guava slice, and you inject them after frying with a pastry bag.
Step-by-Step: How to Make Malasadas Portuguese Doughnuts
Step 1: Activate the Yeast and Make the Dough
Warm the milk with 2 tablespoons of the sugar until it just starts to steam and skin over the surface, then let it cool to about 110°F. Pour a little of it into a small bowl, stir in the yeast and the rest of the sugar, and wait 10 minutes until the surface turns foamy and bubbly. If nothing happens, your yeast is dead or the milk was too hot, and you need fresh yeast rather than a dough that will never rise.
Pour the remaining milk into a large bowl and whisk in the eggs one at a time. Add the flour, salt, lemon zest, and the activated yeast mixture, then stir with a sturdy spoon until a shaggy dough forms.
Knead on a lightly floured surface for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough turns smooth, stretches without tearing, and still feels slightly tacky when you press a finger into it. Stop short of a hard, developed gluten. This is a tender enriched dough, and over-kneading gives you a malasada that chews instead of crumbling.
A stand mixer with a dough hook does this in about five minutes on low. By hand works fine too; it takes a little longer and gives you more feel for when the dough is ready.
Step 2: Let the Dough Rise Until Light and Puffy
Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl, turn it to coat, and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Leave it in a warm, draft-free spot for 60 to 90 minutes, until the dough has roughly doubled in volume and looks visibly aerated.
Test with a floured finger: press straight down about half an inch into the dough. If the dent springs back completely, it needs more time. If it springs back only partway and leaves a soft crease, the rise is done.
Kitchen temperature drives the clock here. In a cool room, 90 minutes might turn into two hours, and in a warm one the dough can double in 45. The dough itself, not the timer, is the cue. A spot near a switched-on oven light is a popular choice among home bakers because it holds steady warmth without cooking the dough.
For a deeper flavor, you can refrigerate the dough at this point for up to 24 hours. The cold overnight rest slows the yeast and builds a more complex taste, and the dough is easier to handle the next morning.
Step 3: How to Make Malasadas Portuguese Doughnuts Without Dense Centers
Tip the chilled or risen dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it to about 1/2 inch thick. A rolling pin works better than a handheld one here, since even thickness is what keeps the center from staying raw. Cut rounds with a 2 1/2-inch cutter, a bowl, or even scissors, which some cooks prefer for a faster, neater cut.
Pour a shallow layer of milk into a small bowl. Pick up a round, cup it in your palm, and use your thumbs to press the center down to about 1/4 inch while pushing the outer ring of dough up and out. The middle thins, the edge ruffles, and you get the shape that puffs into a plump pastry in the oil.
Work gently. Pressing hard or stretching thin squeezes the gas out, and the round comes out of the oil flat and dense. Keep the milk bowl within reach, dipping your fingers whenever they start to grab, and lay each finished piece on the floured surface or a parchment-lined tray so nothing sticks.
A properly shaped round before the final rise looks like a small disc with a raised, crinkled rim and a slightly sunken middle. If the rim is even and smooth, you pressed too little. If it tears or the center is paper-thin, you pressed too hard.
Step 4: Proof the Shaped Malasadas
Arrange the rounds on a parchment-lined sheet with about an inch between them, so nothing touches. Cover loosely and let them rise for 25 to 40 minutes, until they look noticeably puffy and soft and spring back slowly when you poke one.
This second rise is short but not optional. Rushing it sends underdeveloped dough into hot oil, where it drinks it up, deflates, and fries to a dense chew. If the rounds look flat and matte, give them another ten minutes.
Step 5: Fry in Two Stages for the Best Texture
Heat 3 inches of oil in the pot over medium-high heat until the thermometer reads 340°F. A heavy pot holds this temperature far better than a thin skillet, which is why a Dutch oven is the usual choice.
Set one shaped round in the oil and hold it gently with the spider for a couple of seconds so it floats instead of shooting to the bottom. Once it floats, start cooking. The pastry should puff within the first 30 seconds and begin turning pale gold on the underside after about 90 seconds.
When the underside is set and light gold, turn it once with the spider or a pair of tongs, and cook the second side until it is a shade deeper. Most pieces need 2 to 3 minutes per side. Fry 3 or 4 at a time so the oil never drops suddenly, and keep the temperature between roughly 325°F and 350°F (165°C and 175°C), correcting between batches by turning the heat down for a moment if it runs hot.
Watch color, not time. Pale with a soft, squishy surface means the oil is too cool, and the dough is soaking it up. Dark brown within a minute of going in means the oil is too hot, and the center will still be raw. If oil smokes, turn off the heat and let it cool before continuing.
Drain each finished mala onto the wire rack as it comes out, and fry the next batch while the previous ones drain.
Step 6: Drain, Coat, and Serve Warm
A wire rack lets steam escape from underneath. Paper towels trap it, and the underside goes soft and sticky while the top dries out.
While the pastries are still warm, put a few in the cinnamon sugar bowl and roll them until the coating sticks to every ruffled edge. Do this in small batches, because six sugar-coated pastries sitting together will steam each other and soften.
Serve them right away, alongside strong coffee, which is how most Portuguese families eat them. A scoop of vanilla ice cream on a warm mala is the Hawaiian move and works well.
For storage, let the pastries cool completely uncovered, then keep them in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature, where they stay good for about a day. They are best the day they are made. A baked sweet potato or banana will speed up recovery if yours are gummy after a few hours.
You can also get ahead: make the dough through Step 1, refrigerate it overnight, and shape and fry the next morning. The dough keeps 3 days refrigerated. Freezing works after the first rise, in a sealed container, for up to a month.
Common Mistakes
Almost every disappointing batch traces back to one of a handful of things. Here is how each failure looks, and what to change.
- Dense, heavy centers. Either the dough was under-risen, or the rounds were rolled thicker than half an inch, or the oil was too cool to cook the middle before browning. Wait for the full double in volume, roll evenly, and fry at 340°F.
- Deflated or cracked pastries. You handled the dough too firmly, or the second rise was skipped. Press with the pads of your thumbs, keep the proofing cover loose so it does not press the gas out, and treat the rounds like something fragile.
- Greasy, heavy-to-the-touch results. The oil was below 325°F when the dough went in, or you crowded the pot. Lower the oil a little for the first piece of each batch, and drop to three pieces at a time.
- Pale, undercooked-looking exteriors. The dough went in before the oil recovered to temperature. Lower pieces gently, one at a time, then start your clock once the oil is back at 340°F.
- Scorched outside, raw inside. Oil above 350°F. Pull the pot off the heat for a minute, then resume at medium and let it climb back slowly.
- Flat, bread-like malasadas. The rounds are usually too thick or the shaping barely pressed the center. Aim for half an inch, and push the center to a quarter inch.
- Dough sticking to everything. Use the milk bowl rather than piling on flour. Flour on the surface makes the dough tough, and it also browns the pastry faster.
- The coating melts or slides off. You waited too long to roll them. Sugar dissolves in the surface moisture of a warm pastry, so coat within a minute of draining, and hold the finished batch on a rack instead of a plate.
One last habit worth building in: pull the first piece of every batch out and let it cool for a full minute before eating it. The crumb tells you everything about what the rest of the batch will be like.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Portuguese malasadas have to be deep-fried?
No. Traditionally they are deep-fried so the pastry cooks from the outside in and the center steams, which is what gives you that even crumb. You can shallow-fry in a few millimeters of oil, or use a convection oven at 400°F with a light spray, and you will get a lighter result with a softer, less crisp shell. It will not be quite the same pastry, and the shaping step still matters.
Can I make malasadas without yeast?
You can, but you are making a different pastry. Yeast produces the carbon dioxide that inflates the dough and leaves the honeycomb crumb inside. A baking-powder version fries up more like a cake doughnut: tender, slightly dense, and it browns faster. Yeast is not what makes a mala taste Portuguese, but it is what makes one puff up in the oil instead of staying flat.
Why are my malasadas dense in the middle?
Three causes account for nearly all of it: the first rise was cut short, the rounds were thicker than half an inch, or the oil was cooler than 325°F so the middle never cooked through. Check the dough by pressing a floured finger into it. A dent that springs back only partway means the rise is done. Also weigh your flour instead of scooping it.
What oil temperature is best for frying malasadas?
Start at 340°F and keep the oil between 325°F and 350°F. Below that, the pastry drinks oil and fries pale; above it, the crust colors before the center cooks. When you learn how to make malasadas Portuguese doughnuts, a thermometer is the single tool that changes the most. Hold each batch to four pieces so the temperature does not crash, and test with a fresh piece after every batch.
How do I keep malasadas crisp after frying?
Drain on a wire rack instead of paper towels, so steam escapes from underneath, and roll in sugar while the pastry is still warm. Sugar on a hot surface sets into a thin shell that slows moisture loss. Serve within the hour, and keep leftovers in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature. They soften overnight, which is normal.
Can malasadas be made ahead and reheated?
The dough is the part to make ahead. Mix it through Step 1, cover, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours; it develops more flavor and is easier to shape the next morning. Shape and fry as close to serving as you can. To reheat finished malasadas, use a 350°F oven for 5 to 8 minutes rather than a microwave, which steams the crust soft.
Conclusion
Start with the dough: activate the yeast in scalded milk, give it the full rise until a finger dent only partly springs back, and handle the shaped rounds like something that will bruise. Then fry four at a time at 340°F, drain on a rack, and roll in cinnamon sugar while they are still warm. Once a batch comes out the way you want, try orange zest, a custard filling, or an overnight cold rise in the dough.
