These simple four-ingredient Air Fryer Donuts are incredible! They’re light, fluffy, tender, buttery, and perfectly coated in cinnamon sugar.
These donuts are ready in 20 minutes or less—no waiting for dough to rise! Not sure about air fryers? Check out our Air Fryer Guide!
Author Note
Why I’m Team Store-Bought Biscuit Dough For These Donuts:
- No oil needed!
- These donuts are lighter but still fluffy and chewy.
- They come together so fast.
- Store-bought dough means zero kneading and almost no prep time.
- The donuts are delicious! My whole family devours them!
- The dough is rich and buttery—perfect for treats like Monkey Bread and Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread.
- I can even use it in savory recipes like Chicken Pot Pie Pasta and Biscuits and Gravy.
Quick Tip
To air fry donuts, you’ll need an air fryer–I guess that goes without saying! I use, love, and recommend this Air Fryer (affiliate link). Air fryers do vary a bit from brand to brand, so the timing for donuts cooked this way may need to be slightly tweaked for your specific model.
How To Make Donuts In An Air Fryer
- Open the biscuits and cut out the centers with a 1-inch biscuit or round cutter.
- Lightly spritz the air fryer basket with coconut oil spray. Add the whole donuts in a single layer (not overlapping) to the air fryer.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees. Melt the butter and toss together cinnamon and sugar while the donuts cook.
- Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the donuts with the melted butter (if you don’t have a brush, gently dip just the tops in the butter shaking off the excess).
- Coat with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Shake off the excess sugar and enjoy!
Quick Tip
Once the air fryer biscuit donuts are finished, you can prepare air fryer donut holes (leftover centers of the donuts) by air frying them for 3 minutes.
Variations
Change ‘Em Up!
- These donuts are so simple to make! That said, if you’d prefer to use a yeasted (from-scratch) dough, use your favorite donut recipe and then air fry at 350 degrees F for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown.
- Glazed Air Fryer Donuts: if you’d prefer a classic vanilla glaze, whisk the following ingredients together and drizzle over donuts (we like to dip them in white sugar right out of the air fryer first then add this glaze!)
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1-1/2 tablespoon whole milk (add slowly, adding more if a thinner glaze is desired)
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- Teeniest pinch of salt
- For a chocolate glaze: Add 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Looking for a healthier version? Skip the cinnamon-sugar coating and make a glaze with equal parts powdered peanut butter and water instead! (PB2 Glaze!)
Storage
Donut Storage
Enjoy donuts fresh out of the air fryer for best flavor and texture. They lose quality when cooled. To re-warm leftovers, microwave for 5-10 seconds. Store leftover (un-fried) biscuit dough in the fridge until ready to use.
More Easy Dessert Recipes
- Apple Dump Cake made all in one pan
- Oreo Popcorn with white chocolate
- Pumpkin Bread with cinnamon
- Fruit Dip with only four ingredients
- Graham Cracker Cookies with white chocolate chips
Air Fryer Donuts
Equipment
- Air fryer see note 1
Ingredients
- 1 (16.3-ounce) can Pillsbury Grands Flaky Jumbo Biscuits 8 biscuits
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter melted, see note 2
Instructions
- Turn the air fryer to 330°F and let it run (empty) for 5 minutes while preparing the donuts.
- Open the can of biscuits and cut out the centers using a 1-inch round cutter. Set aside cutout centers. Lightly spray both the air fryer basket and biscuits with coconut or olive oil spray. (Don’t use a nonstick spray—it can affect the coating of your air fryer.)
- Place biscuits in a single layer, avoiding overlap, and air fry at 350°F for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl, and mix cinnamon and sugar in a separate bowl.
- Brush donuts with melted butter using a pastry brush or press them into melted butter and shake off excess. Then coat them in cinnamon sugar. Gently shake off excess cinnamon sugar and enjoy hot.
- Air fry the donut holes for 3 minutes, then dip in butter and cinnamon sugar. Enjoy warm.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
OK wow….these are so good!! Just made them for the first time and trust me it will be the first of hundreds of times….thank you SO much for this recipe!! Loved them!
Yay! I am so happy to hear that! These Air Fryer Donuts have definitely been a game changer in our home! 🙂
I truely love 💘 the recipes you publish keep your excellent work going
Thank you so much, that means a lot to me 🙂