{"id":1234846,"date":"2025-02-25T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1234846"},"modified":"2025-02-25T12:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T17:30:00","slug":"i-air-fried-some-cheap-doughnuts-and-they-were-sensational","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1234846","title":{"rendered":"I Air Fried Some Cheap Doughnuts and They Were Sensational"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Weeks ago, my partner suggested I develop a recipe for doughnuts made in the air fryer. I tried to explain to him how deep fried doughnuts are always better than baked ones, adding, \u201cunless you wanna throw some Entenmann\u2019s in there.\u201d I laughed, and then shook my head, because I had sealed my own fate. <\/p>\n

Once it occurred to me, I absolutely needed to test the idea. I bought a variety pack of Entenmann\u2019s doughnuts (including chocolate glazed, powdery crumb nubbins, and classic glazed). I fearfully placed one of each into the basket of my air fryer and pressed Start. <\/p>\n

I experienced a range of emotions during the next seven minutes, pinging from worry, to hope, to, finally, disbelief: Yes, I\u2019m happy to report that air-fried cheap doughnuts are absolutely sensational.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Three\n <\/div>\n
\n <\/span>
\n Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The process changes the doughnuts appearance, especially the glazed ones. The sugar coating partially melts, exposing the crumb texture of the doughnut beneath. Everything else is uphill from there: Each air fried doughnut was a textural delight\u2014their dry, homogeneous, bread-y consistency transformed into a crunchy exterior with a chewy, caramelized crust. The interior crumb changed too: Instead of a dense, cake-y texture, the crumb opens up a bit (presumably from expanding in the heat) and has an airy feel.<\/p>\n

The flavor is also improved. All of the existing elements you enjoy in packaged doughnuts are concentrated and enhanced. Normally these doughnuts are one-note sweets, but after air frying, you\u2019ll notice how buttery they are, taste notes of vanilla, and even detect hints of salt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n \"Two\n <\/div>\n
\n <\/span>
\n Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

It makes logical sense\u2014the heat melts and caramelizes some of the sugars, moisture evaporates, and the doughnut\u2019s surface browns a bit due to the Maillard reaction,<\/u><\/a> creating new, complex flavors. But some flavors, I can\u2019t explain. Why does an air-fried chocolate glazed doughnut taste completely like Fruity Pebbles? You must air fry a chocolate glazed, if only to experience this unexpected transformation.<\/p>\n

How to air fry cheap doughnuts<\/h2>\n

I wouldn\u2019t air fry specialty bakery doughnuts that cost $5 a pop, because that\u2019s silly. Focus on improving the factory-made doughnuts. To air fry your own cheap doughnuts at home, simply pop the treats into an air fryer set to 350\u00b0F on the \u201cair fry\u201d setting for five to seven minutes<\/strong>. Make sure you air fry them on the included metal grate, as some of the sugars from the glaze will drip off and you don’t want them to get too moist. <\/p>\n

When they\u2019re done heating, use metal tongs or a fish spatula to remove them from the grate and place them to cool on a wire rack for about five minutes. Feel free to give them a light sprinkle of flaky salt. They\u2019ll feel really soft and breakable at first, but after cooling, the sugars will recrystallize and the doughnuts will be crispy…and incredible.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weeks ago, my partner suggested I develop a recipe for doughnuts made in the air fryer. I tried to explain to him how deep fried doughnuts are always better than baked ones, adding, \u201cunless you wanna throw some Entenmann\u2019s in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1234846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifehacker","category-unfiltered-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1234846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1234846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1234846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1234846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}