Crispy and fresh donuts with the chewiness of mochi on the inside–no more waiting in line for mochi donuts because making this easy mochi donut recipe at home will give you the freshest treat ever.
I’ll show you how to make mochi donuts from scratch without the tedious task of rolling out balls of dough, all you need is a piping bag and some parchment paper!
Texture & taste of mochi donuts
If you haven’t heard of mochi donuts yet, you must be living under a rock because these are the best of both donut and mochi worlds! These donuts were popularized in Japan from Mister Donut and known as “pon de ring,” whose donuts are famous for their bubble-ring shape. It’s also well-loved for its similar mochi-like texture on the inside and deep-fried donut crust.
I first heard of these delectable treats from our amazing neighbors who dropped off some fresh mochi donuts one weekend morning. I had never had donuts that had an extra chewy center with a crisp outer crust before, but I was hooked. Not long after, I went around the city and tried multiple mochi donuts from Fill Bakeshop, Friendly Donuts, and MoDo Hawaii.
They mostly come in a cute bubble ring shape and are drizzled with some tasty flavors like guava, earl grey, matcha, and black sesame. My favorite is MoDo donuts for their light and airy texture while still maintaining a chewy center.
This recipe is an ode to those lovely mochi donuts and glazes. After searching the internet and testing out this recipe so many times, I’ve finally found the perfect combination of mochi and donut textures and flavors that I love.
What is mochi?
Mochi is a type of rice cake made of short-grain glutinous rice, water, sugar, and cornstarch. After the rice is cooked, it’s often pounded into a sticky paste and formed into different shapes.
This process was thought to have originated in Ancient China and eventually introduced to Japan (who popularized mochi) during the Jomon period. In Japan, there is a traditional ceremony when making mochi called mochitsuki.
Ingredients in these mochi donuts
After eating so many different types of mochi donuts, I found that I like a slight bit of chew with an airy texture in the center and a crisp outer shell. Some of the other recipes I’ve tried have added all-purpose flour, which I didn’t like since it gave me a cakier texture.
I used mochiko flour, tapioca starch, sugar, baking powder, salt, an egg, milk, and shortening to combat this soft texture. To get that signature chewy center, I used a combination of mochiko and tapioca starch. I also used vegetable shortening to get an extra crisp and crunchy outer layer. If you’ve noticed, this is a similar recipe to my pandan and ube waffles.
It’s important to note that mochiko flour is different from glutinous rice flour that you see at other Asian grocery stores–specifically the ones in the plastic bag with the green font. Mochiko is made from short-grain glutinous rice, whereas the other bag is made from long-grain glutinous rice–the texture in your donuts will change if you try to substitute these types of flours.
How to make flower donut rings FAST
After testing out various mochi donut recipes from other bloggers, I noticed that the texture of their donuts was never as good as the store-bought ones.
From watching youtube videos, I quickly learned that it was because most (if not all) donut stores had a dough texture that was completely thinner than many of the recipes I saw online.
The dough is so thin that they use a fancy extruder to produce an army of mochi donuts at a time, whereas many homemade recipes made thicker doughs that you had to painstakingly hand roll eight balls for each donut. I did not appreciate this laborious method, so I searched for a middle ground.
What I came up with gives you a goldilocks consistency of dough that you’re able to squeeze out with a piping bag and extra-large piping tip. To make these bubble ring donuts, I gently squeezed one ring of 8 balls on a piece of parchment paper.
A helpful tip is to use a paring knife to slice off the dough from the piping bag and release it onto the parchment paper. I find this makes a cleaner ball and I also clean the knife in between each cut. If you want to further round out your donut, dip your finger into water and carefully shape the tops of each ball so it’s smooth. If you don’t have a piping bag or tip, you can easily use a one-gallon ziplock bag and cut the corner to create a bag.
You absolutely can make the traditional donut ring shape as well, I just assume the bubble shape is for cuteness and you get more surface area for an extra crispy texture–not to mention, they’re fun to pull apart and eat!
How to fry the mochi donuts
To fry mochi donuts, I like to use vegetable oil (or similar neutral cooking oil) because it’s fairly inexpensive, you can find it in most places, and it has a high smoke point. I add about 2 inches of oil from the bottom to make sure my donuts are fully covered while frying and heat it to 350 ℉. Use an instant-read thermometer to make sure you keep the oil at the right temp.
Carefully lift the parchment paper to transfer the donut and lower it to the oil and gently push the donut so it’s submerged. I wait about 30 seconds for the donuts to release the parchment paper and then fish out the paper with tongs.
Flip the donut and use your strainer or tongs to submerge the donut completely for about 1 minute, then flip again. Remove once both sides are evenly cooked a light golden brown and transfer it on a paper towel-lined rack. It’s important to remember that since there is no wheat flour in this recipe, the donuts will not brown like normal donuts so you want to remove them when they’re lightly golden.
Some people were asking me if you can bake these donuts instead of frying. The short answer is no. I’ve experimented with baking the dough in a donut mold in the oven, and the consistency does not come as light and chewy as when fried.
How to make the icing
The icing is one of my favorite parts about donuts because you can have so much fun adding different flavors. Some of my favorite flavors are strawberry and vanilla bean.
For vanilla bean, I use powdered sugar, a few splashes of milk, and vanilla bean paste. It’s best to use a whisk when making this glaze because you want to get out all of the lumps. For the strawberry, I add powdered sugar, a few splashes of milk, and a little dollop of strawberry preserves.
You want to make sure the consistency is slightly thin so it won’t be too gloopy once you dip the donuts in. If it’s a little thick, I add a little more milk to thin it out. If it’s too thin, I add a little more powdered sugar. You want it thin enough so it coats the contours of the donut, but not so thin that it will drip down the sides after turning the donut right side up.
Once the donuts are out of the fryer and drain off the excess oil on a rack, I dip them straight into the icing and leave them to rest on the rack again for about 1 minute. This allows the glaze to harden slightly.
Tips for mochi donut success
- Creaming the sugar and shortening together first makes mixing the liquid ingredients easier.
- When mixing in the other wet ingredients, only add ⅔ of the milk so you can adjust the dough consistency as you add the dry ingredients. This was a modification we made to ensure people don’t run into the issue of having dough that’s too wet. It’s better to add liquid later because you can’t remove it if you’ve added too much.
- Sift in the dry ingredients into the wet bowl in two batches. I found this helped more evenly incorporate all the dry ingredients and made mixing easier.
- The dough should have a “drop batter consistency” that is similar to drop biscuit batter texture. This means the dough is thick enough so that when you lift a spatula of batter above the bowl, it keeps its shape and very slowly drops back to the bowl instead of dropping back down in a constant stream.
- Let the batter rest for 30 minutes on the counter to fully hydrate the flours–this prevents grainy donuts.
- Let the fried donuts cool on a rack for a couple minutes, they get chewier after resting.
- Fry all your batter the same day you mix it. I have tried mixing the dough the night before and frying it one day later and found it didn’t have the same crisp and chewy consistency as same-day fried donuts.
How to serve and store mochi donuts
Serve these fresh donuts with some cà phê sữa đá or iced coconut coffee and impress your friends! It’s best to eat them as soon as they’re made to enjoy the crispy yet chewy textures. I would not recommend waiting a few hours and especially not the next day.
Is mochiko the same as glutinous rice flour?
For this recipe, I used Koda Farms Mochiko flour is one type of glutinous rice flour that is made of glutinous Japanese short–grain rice.
This may differ from other types of glutinous rice flour you may find at an Asian grocery store, like Erawan glutinous rice flour, which is made of long-grain sticky glutinous rice which is typically grown in Thailand. Buying different types of glutinous rice will affect the texture of mochi donuts.
Mochi Donuts (Crispy Outside, Chewy Inside Pon de Ring Donuts)
Ingredients
Donuts
- 150 g (1.25 c) mochiko flour
- 115 g (1 c) tapioca starch
- 8 g (1 ¾ tsp) baking powder
- .8 g (¼ tsp) salt
- 75 g (⅓ c) white granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 127 g (4.5 fl oz) whole milk
- 24 g (2 tbsp) vegetable shortening
- neutral cooking oil vegetable oil preferred
Vanilla bean glaze
- 120 g (1 c) powdered sugar add more if necessary
- 48 g (1 ½ fl oz) whole milk add more if necessary
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
Strawberry glaze
- 120 g (1 c) powdered sugar add more if necessary
- 32 g (1 fl oz) whole milk add more if necessary
- 1 tsp strawberry preserves or jam
Equipment Used
- mixing bowls
- spatula
- Piping bag & 808 piping tip (or 1 gallon ziplock bag)
- Paring knife
- parchment paper
- Pot
- paper towels
- cooling rack
- sheet pan
Instructions
Donut batter
- In a large mxing bowl combine the dry ingredients, the 150 g mochiko flour, 115 g tapioca starch, 8 g baking powder, and .8 g salt then mix.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, cream the 75 g white granulated sugar and 24 g vegetable shortening until incorporated. Add 1 large egg and mix thoroughly. Add ⅔ of the milk and stir until combined. Reserve the other 1/3 of the milk to adjust consistency later.
- Sift HALF the dry ingredients into the liquid bowl. Use a spatula to mix the ingredients. Repeat with the second half of dry ingredients and stir again.
- Consistency check: The batter should have a “drop batter” consistency. This means that when you lift the batter with a spatula above the bowl, it keeps its overall shape and very slowly drops back into the bowl. And when you stir the batter, it should pull slightly from the sides of the bowl.If your batter is too thick, add some or all of the milk we set aside earlier and mix to combine.
- Let the batter rest on the counter for 30 minutes so the flour and rest and hydrate.
Piping the dough
- Cut parchment paper into 3 x 3 inch squares. To make piping easier, create a template of a 2 ½ inch circle on a plain piece of paper and tape it to the table. Make 8 dots evenly spaced on the circle, this will be the spots where you will pipe each ball so that you create an 8-ball ring. Add one piece of parchment over and follow dots with the piping bag.
- Add a size 808 piping tip into a piping bag. Fill the piping bag with donut dough and squeeze the opening until the dough comes out of the tip.
- Squeeze out about 1 tsp of dough on each dot on the parchment paper. Use a paring knife or butter knife to slice off the dough from the tip of the piping bag for a clean cut. I like to wipe the knife every time I make a cut. Repeat until you do all 8 dots. At the end, you should have an 8-ring donut and all the balls should connect slightly to each other. Repeat with all the donuts.
Frying the donuts
- Add at least 2 inches of neutral cooking oil in a heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Preheat the oil to 350 ℉.
- Carefully lower one parchment paper of donut down into the heated oil. My 3 ½ quart pot can fit two donuts per batch. Do not try to crowd the donuts.
- After about 30 seconds, use tongs to remove the parchment, it should easily come off. Use a strainer to turn the donut around and gently press the donut into the oil so it’s submerged. Continue to cook for about another 30 seconds to one minute, or until it’s light brown.
- Use the strainer to transfer the donut onto a paper towel-lined rack over a sheet pan. Repeat with all the donuts.
Glazes
- Vanilla bean: Combine 120 g powdered sugar, 48 g whole milk, and ½ tsp vanilla bean paste in a bowl with a whisk. The thickness needs to be similar to maple syrup. To make it thicker, add more powdered sugar. To make it thinner, add more milk slowly.
- Strawberry: Combine 120 g powdered sugar, 32 g whole milk, and 1 tsp strawberry preserves or jam in a bowl with a whisk. The thickness needs to be similar to maple syrup. To make it thicker, add more powdered sugar. To make it thinner, add more milk slowly.
- Assembly: Take one fresh donut (slightly warm after cooling on the rack) and dip it into a glaze and place it back on the cooling rack without the paper towel. Let it rest for 1 minute to allow the glaze to harden. Repeat with the rest of the donuts.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
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Could you make-ahead the dough the night before, to fry in the morning?
I haven’t tried this, but you’d have to manage it not drying out for one–not sure what else might change overnight!
Is tapioca starch the same as tapioca flour?
Tapioca starch and tapioca flour are the same. You might see different brands use different words, but they are the same.
Despite following the recipe down to the gram, my dough consistently seems to be wayyy thinner than the dough shown here or videos I’ve watching using this recipe. Any thoughts/suggestions as to why?
Would it be possible that you used regular rice flour or sweet glutinous flour in place of Mochiko powder? This is my only guess as to what’s causing the issue.
This recipe is legit! It was so easy and delicious. To anyone wondering, it worked well when I made the dough ahead. I piped them, placed them on a tray and tied the whole thing up in a recycling bag. I stored the tray in the fridge and fried them from cold in the morning. 10/10 recipe, I will be making again.
Thank you for sharing!
Looking forward to try this recipe! Is it possible to substitute the shortening with oil? How will this affect the quantity Eg 24g of shortening to ___oil?
Just that shortening isn’t something I use often so rather not purchase a block if just using such a small amount. Thanks!
I haven’t tested using oil, sorry!
I followed exact measurements for ingredients but why is my batter consistency watery?
I have not had watery results with this recipe. Are you using Mochiko flour and tapioca starch/flour?
Havent’ tried them yet but the directions look super easy to follow and after leaving Southeast Seattle a few months ago it’s been horrible living without mochi donuts, so I’m finally going to make them myself (since before moving I loaded upon Mochiko flour among other ingredients that are harder to come by in our smaller town!). thanks!
I made this recipe twice. The first time the batter had a putty-like texture and was too stiff to pipe. The donuts were dense rather than light and airy. This time, I microwaved a portion of the Mochiko flour (60g) with milk (90g) in a bowl with a Pyrex cup of water (to generate steam) until transparent and gooey, based on other donut recipes. The batter texture was soft and pipeable and the donuts much lighter and chewier.
Followed the recipe to exact grams but dough was runny and used mochiko flour and tapioca starch, the dough is almost like a slightly thicker pancake batter and was falling out of my piping bag, and was flattening out on the parchment paper
Can you bake it instead of frying?
I haven’t tried but would guess the result would be drastically different.
great! i was wondering if i could use a milk alternative for this recipe? would it come out the same consistency?
Thanks! I haven’t tested alternative milks sorry
This turned out really well! I subsituted the shortening for butter, and it was perfectly fine. The batter was a little runny at first, but I attributed that to my lack of direction-following skill. I kept adding mochiko flour and tapioca starch in a very loose 3:2 ratio until it was stiff enough to pipe, left it in the fridge for a good bit (and forgot some outside, so they dried a little), and fried it up. They turned out surprisingly well despite my errors (even the dried ones). Thank you for the recipe!
Made this twice now. Comes out amazing and the whole family goes through it in minutes. I’d like to try the baked version if you have a recipe for that too! Thanks!
Glad to hear the whole family likes it Moxie! I have not worked on a baked version of this though.