Air Fryer Donuts with Jelly or Cream Filling

If you have been to Fabulessly Frugal before, or have seen us on YouTube, then you know how much we love making donuts in the air fryer!

Have you tried these other donuts recipes: Classic Air Fryer Donuts, 2-Ingredient Donuts in the Air Fryer, Air Fryer Cake Donuts, Air Fryer Keto Donuts, and Air Fryer Pancake Donuts?

Okay, maybe we have a wee bit of an obsession… but today, get ready for some amazing jelly-filled (or cream-filled) donuts in the air fryer!

What You Need to Make the Best Air Fryer Donuts

These jelly filled donuts are an adaptation of the classic air fryer donuts. If you have already made our original air fryer donuts, then this one will be a breeze.

And if you haven’t, it’ll still be a breeze because this recipe is crazy simple!

Ingredients Needed for Air Fryer Donuts:

• Milk, warmed to about 110˚F/43˚C
• Active dry yeast or instant yeast
• Sugar, plus 1 teaspoon
• Kosher salt
• Large egg
• Unsalted butter
• All-purpose flour
• Oil spray

What Fillings Do I Use for Jelly Filled Donuts?

When I make filled donuts, I love using raspberry jam. Of course, you can use any flavor of jam that you like. Such as grape, apricot, and strawberry you could even try this delicious, homemade strawberry jam recipe.

I also made a few donuts with a lemon cream filling. For this, you need:

• 1 cup cream
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• ¼ cup lemon curd

For the lemon cream filling, just whip or mix everything together until smooth!

Two Important Notes

You will want to prepare the donuts like the original recipe. The recipe is really easy, but there are two things that you need to know:

1. The milk is at or close to 110° F. You want it to be warm, but not hot. If it is hot then it will kill the yeast and ruin the donuts. Use an instant read thermometer to get the temperature just right! You will know if the milk was too hot if the yeast doesn’t foam or bubble.
2. Mix the ingredients together before adding the melted butter will help keep the warm butter from cooking the eggs. We do not want scrambled donuts!

More Tips for the Best Donuts in the Air Fryer

While you are forming the dough make sure that:

You don’t over-flour or over-handle the dough. This will make the donut chewy. The dough should begin to pull away from the sides of the bowl, but it may still be sticking to the bottom of the bowl- and that’s okay!

You don’t add more than 3 cups of flour. There have been times when I add up to ¼ cup more, but no more than that! The dough ends up being sticky still, but when you touch it most of the dough does not stick to your finger. It is still easy to scrape up from the bottom of the bowl and form the dough into a ball.

The dough has doubled in size before continuing with the steps. You’ll know the dough has risen enough when it is about double in size and when you make an imprint with your finger the indentation remains. Once it has reached this point, then you are ready for the next steps!

How to Form the Dough for Donuts

Once your dough is ready to be cut, make sure you spray and/or lightly flour the working surface so it will be easy to transfer the cut-out dough to the greased parchment paper without distorting the donut shape too much.

As you roll out the dough, don’t roll it too thick. You want to roll the dough too thick. Somewhere between ¼-thick and ½-thick seems to work really well for me. Try to keep the dough an even thickness for more even cooking and to avoid lopsided donuts.

Then cut the dough into about a 3-inch circle. Since these are jelly-filled donuts, do not cut a center.  Place the dough circles on parchment paper and let it rise.

How to Cook Donuts in the Air Fryer

Once the dough is ready for the air fryer, spray the air fryer basket and place 4-5 donuts inside the basket. If you can place more, that’s great, just make sure there is enough space between the dough so that the air can circulate.

Spray the tops of the donuts with oil. Then air fry the donuts for 5 minutes at 350°F. After 3 minutes, flip the donuts onto the other side until they are slightly golden brown.

How to Make Jelly Filled Donuts

Once the donuts finish cooking, immediately coat them in sugar. You can do a regular sugar coating or a lemon zest coating. If the sugar doesn’t stick, lightly brush oil or butter onto the donut.

Let the donuts cool completely before continuing.

Once cooled, fill a piping bag with your preferred jelly or cream filling. Stick it into the donut and fill until the filling starts to push back. I had more success with the jelly donuts, but they were both delicious!

Final Thoughts

There you have it, another donut recipe in the air fryer that you have to try! This recipe is a new favorite in our home! Needless to say, we eat too many donuts ever since we got an air fryer. (Not sure if this is a problem or not).

What types of fillings are you going to use in your donuts? I can’t wait to hear all about it!

More tasty air fryer recipes that we love:

• Easiest Air Fryer Fried Oreos
• Easy Air Fryer Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce
• Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls in 15 Minutes!

Air fryer tips and tricks to empower you:

• How to Use an Air Fryer: Everything You Need to Know
• The Top 12 Air Fryer Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make
• How to Clean Your Air Fryer

Air Fryer Donuts with Jelly or Cream Filling

Air fryer donuts with a jelly or cream filling? Yes, please! This recipe is so simple and so tasty!

4.58 / 5 ( 165 Reviews )

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 2 hours hours

Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 5 minutes minutes

Serves: 10

Adjust Servings: 10

US CustomaryMetric

Equipment

• Air Fryer

Ingredients

Air Fryer Donut Recipe

• 1 cup milk warmed to about 110˚F/43˚C (240 grams)
• 2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast or instant yeast 7.75 grams
• ¼ cup sugar plus 1 teaspoon (54 grams)
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt 3 grams
• 1 large egg
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 57 grams
• 3 cups all-purpose flour 384 grams
• Oil spray

Sugar coatings

• ½ cup Plain sugar
• Lemon zest sugar coating 1/2 cup sugar with zest from 1 lemon

Fillings

• Raspberry jam or jam of your choice

Lemon cream filling:

• 1 cup cream
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• ¼ cup lemon curd

Instructions

• In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer (fitted with dough hook), combine the warm milk, 1 teaspoon sugar, and the yeast. Let sit for about 5-10 minutes, until foamy.
• Meanwhile, melt the butter and lightly beat the egg.
• Add remaining ¼ cup sugar, salt, and egg to the yeast mixture; stir or whisk to combine. Then mix in the melted butter and 2 cups of flour on low speed.
• Scrape down the sides of bowl, then mix in remaining 1 cup flour. Dough should start to pull away from sides of bowl, but still be sticky. (Can add up to ¼ cup flour more, if needed.) Increase speed to medium-low and knead for 5 minutes. Dough will become more smooth and elastic, but still sticky.
• Remove dough hook or transfer dough to a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled. (With instant yeast, this will probably take about 30 minutes.)
• Punch down dough and turn out on lightly floured surface. Gently roll out dough until a little less than ½-inch thick, between ¼-inch and ½-inch.
• Since the donuts won’t have a hole, simply cut circle into the dough about 3 inches in diameter
• Place rounds on parchment paper to rise again (about 30 minutes)
• Spray air fryer basket with oil, place donuts inside (about 4-5) and spray the tops with oil
• Air fry for 5 minutes at 350 °F, flip donuts at 3 minute mark
• Take donuts out of the air fryer and coat in sugar. If the sugar isn’t sticking to the donuts, lightly spray or brush the donuts in oil.
• Let them cool completely
• To finish, pipe in the filling until the filling pushes back.

For Lemon Zest Sugar Coating:

• Stir together lemon zest and sugar. It may clump together, but keep stirring.

For the Lemon Cream Filling:

• Whip or mix together the ingredients until smooth and creamy

Nutrition

Calories: 370kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 16g | Sodium: 162mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 21g

Recipe Adapted From: Fabulessly Frugal Air Fryer Donuts