Easter Donuts in the Air Fryer
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Our air fryer Easter donuts are light and flaky fried donuts with a festive Easter theme. All you need is some refrigerated biscuit dough and some candy decorations, then a homemade glaze ties it all together. With so many Easter donut ideas out there, it helps to have such a simple recipe in your back pocket — easy enough that even the kids can help!
Easter Donuts
You won’t believe how easy it is to make air fried donuts — SO much easier than making donuts from scratch!!
Pillsbury recipes that use biscuit dough or crescent roll dough are always easy to make, and this one is no exception! In fact, it’s one of our favorite air fryer Easter recipes.
Making donuts from biscuit dough is one of the simplest recipes ever, yet the result is a soft doughnut that is light, flaky, and perfectly delicious.
There are so many yummy Easter treat recipes that I just can’t decide which ones I love the best.
Have you had a chance to try my Easter Rice Krispie treats yet? You need to soon!
Or, if you’re looking for an option for Easter breakfast, why not make my Italian Easter Bread?
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Refrigerated Biscuit Dough – Yes, the kind that comes in a tube! You’ll need Jumbo-sized biscuits for air fryer donuts recipes.
- Easter Sprinkles – The sprinkles on our Easter donuts are from Michael’s craft store, and the brand is Sweet Tooth Fairy.
You can use any sprinkle combination that you can find that is Easter-themed. - Cadbury Mini Eggs – Pay attention to the label! Full-sized candy eggs will be too large. If you can’t find any, try Easter peanut M&Ms instead.
- Homemade Glaze – Whisk together some powdered sugar, milk, and a little vanilla extract for a perfectly sweet Easter donuts glaze.
As you can see, I colored mine a festive Spring green, but you can play around with colors — or leave it white!
Tips for Perfecting Air Fryer Donuts Recipes
- Preheat the air fryer.
When the basket is already hot, the dough starts cooking right away while it’s still a bit cold.
Plus, you’re guaranteed more even results so the outer layer isn’t too crispy before the center can cook through.
- Leave space to prevent sticking.
Always cook food in a single layer in the air fryer — especially baked goods! If any of the donuts are touching each other, they’ll end up baking into one big shape.
Leave enough room for them to expand as well. And to keep them from sticking to the tray, you can add a spritz of cooking oil to be safe.
- Glaze and decorate while warm.
In the time it takes to remove and add the next batch of Easter doughnuts, they’ll be just the right temperature for dipping!
You want them to be warm, but not piping hot — otherwise the icing will soak into the surface.
Then, get those decorations on fast! Sprinkles and candies will only stick to the surface if the glaze is still wet.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Not only will your Easter donuts cool off in a snap, but leaving the bottoms exposed prevents them from getting too soft or soggy.
Prep Ahead
- Preheat air fryer
- Cut centers out of biscuits
- Mix and color icing
Kitchen Tools You Will Need
- Air Fryer – Different brands and sizes may require different cooking times, so be familiar with your model and make adjustments as needed.
- Donut Hole Cutter – If you don’t have one, use any round 1-inch tool like an apple corer, a small cookie cutter, or the back of a large piping tip.
- Shallow Bowl – This makes it easier to dip Easter doughnuts in the glaze!
- Wire Rack – Great for cooling all kinds of baked goods.
Decorating Easter Donut Ideas
I think a bright green glaze with mini egg candies is the perfect combination for Easter donuts — it truly says springtime!!
That said, there are so many ways to decorate these biscuit donuts. Dye the frosting a different color, grab sprinkles with different shapes, or try another seasonal candy.
Another one of my favorite Easter donut ideas is using tiny candies in the shape of bunnies or baby chicks.
Color your icing in complementary colors like sky blue, pale yellow, lavender, or petal pink!
You can even use air fryer donuts recipes for other holidays or enjoy them plain with white icing.
Easter Doughnuts FAQ
I found the buttermilk flavor donuts have the most donut-like flavor. With the regular butter-flavored ones, you can tell they are biscuits.
Any size biscuits will turn out fine. Just adjust the size of the hole you cut from the center so the ring shape isn’t too thin.
Note that if you don’t use the jumbo size, you’ll need to reduce the cooking time by a minute or two — and be sure to keep an eye on them to prevent them from burning.
NO! I thought I would have to, but the biscuit donuts ripped in half and ended up looking bad. These cook perfectly fine without flipping.
Storage and Reheating
Air fried donuts taste the best right after they have been cooked. But, you can still enjoy them the next day if you want to.
Store them at room temperature in an airtight container so they stay soft and flaky.
If you don’t cover them tightly, they may become hard. Otherwise, they should stay good for about 2 days.
You can warm them for a few seconds in the microwave or at a low temperature in the air fryer, but the icing may drip off. Best to just enjoy them at room temperature.
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Other Air Fryer Easter Recipes
Easter Donuts in the Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 1 package jumbo buttermilk biscuits dough
- 1 package Easter sprinkles
- 1/2 cup Cadbury mini eggs
- 1/2 cup powder sugar
- 3 teaspoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 drops green food coloring
Instructions
- Using a small circle cookie cutter, cut out the centers of all the biscuits.
- Depending on your air fryer's size, place 3-4 biscuits into the air fryer's basket, so they have about ½ inch around each one.
- Turn the air fryer on to 360°F for 7 minutes. Remove the donuts from the air fryer onto a cooling rack. You will need to reduce the time by one minute for the next batch of donuts since it's preheated. Repeat this until all your donuts, and donut holes are cooked off.
- While the donuts are cooking, combine the sugar, two teaspoons of milk, and vanilla. Whisk until you have a smooth glaze. Add in the food coloring till you have a shade of green you like. You want the glaze to be thick enough it doesn’t run right off the donuts, but if it’s too thick, you can add more milk.
- Pour your glaze onto a shallow plate. Dip the donuts’ tops into the glaze, lift the donut straight up from the glaze and allow the extra glaze to drip off. Add the sprinkles to half of the donut so you still see half the glaze. Place three mini eggs on half of the donuts with the sprinkles.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published March 2021, updated and republished February 2024
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Your recipes are always great, only wish I could figure out how to watch the videos
These are so easy to make, it makes homemade donuts easy and quick