Bomboloni Recipe (Vanilla Cream Filled Italian Donuts)

🤷‍♀️ Why the heck should you learn how to make bomboloni from me?

I have been professionally making donuts since 2008, and my vegan donut recipes have won countless awards, including the prestigious NYC Vendy Award for my Vanilla Bourbon Creme Brûlée donuts. My apple cider donuts and other vegan dessert recipes have been featured in the New York Times, and I have made donuts and vegan apple fritters on the Food Network. Do you doubt that vegan donut recipes might be BETTER than non-vegan ones? So did the judges of several competitions I won, until they tried mine. So keep an open mind, ya big goof!

Grab your apron, roll up your sleeves, and let's embark on this Bomboloni-making and make lightly golden fluffy bites of joy!

Active Dry Yeast 

You can’t get away with using baking powder to make nice airy bomboloni. You need a stronger leavening agent that can help the strong glutenous dough to stretch, and that’s where active dry yeast comes in. 

Olive Oil

While many modern bomboloni recipes call for butter, I use olive oil in mine, like I do in my vegan ladyfingers, to impart more of the rustic simplicity found in the best Italian desserts. You can substitute it with other plant-based fats, but a good quality, slightly fruity olive oil is what I think makes the best Italian donuts! 

00 Flour 

This finely milled, higher gluten pizza-making flour ensures the dough is silky and elastic, that allows for neat shaping and less oil absorption during frying. You can somewhat mimic Italian 00 flour by using a blend of bread flour and all-purpose flour, but the crumb will be a little different due to the coarser milling of those flours.

Oil for Frying

The best oils for frying donuts have high smoke points such as canola oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil and sunflower oil. A lot of commercial donut making is done with awful hydrogenated fryer grease, because when it cools to room temperature, the donuts appear less greasy, because the oil solidifies as it cools. Imagine what that does to your internal organs!

📖 How to make this bomboloni recipe

Nail these classic Italian doughnuts perfectly on your first shot by following these step-by-step instructions with helpful tips. Or you can follow along with the easy-to-print recipe card towards the bottom of this page. You are about to see why this is one of my most popular vegan Italian recipes!

Step One

Pastry Cream Dreams: 

In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine plant-based milk, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla (powder or extract), salt, and a dash of turmeric. Gradually heat it over medium flame, stirring often.

Watch as the warm milk mixture thickens and reaches a boil, stirring diligently. Once thickened, remove from heat and mix in the vegan butter until it's completely melted and incorporated.

Allow the pastry cream to cool thoroughly before using it to fill your Bomboloni.

Step Two

Activate Yeast: 

Begin by activating the yeast in a small bowl. Combine active dry yeast, a tablespoon of sugar, and lukewarm plant-based milk. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast bubbles up and froths.

Step Three

Mix & Knead: 

In a large mixing bowl, add the remaining sugar, flour, olive oil, lemon zest, vanilla (powder or extract), and salt. Pour the yeast mixture into this bowl. Mix until you have a sticky dough, then knead it on a floured surface or use a stand mixer with a dough hook for 5-7 minutes on medium speed until it's smooth and elastic.

Step Four

Bulk Rise & Double: 

Place the balled yeast dough back into the large bowl, cover it with a clean kitchen towel, and let it rise in a warm, draft-free spot for 1-2 hours until it doubles in size.

Step Five

Punch & Form: 

Once doubled, punch the dough to release excess air. On a lightly floured work surface, with clean, floured hands, divide the dough and shape it into small, approximately 2-inch (5 cm.) diameter balls. Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with lightly oiled parchment paper.

Step Six

Rest & Rise Again: 

Cover the balls with a kitchen towel and allow them to rest for another 30 minutes to rise slightly. This gives just enough time for each donut to reach its maximum fluff-potential without developing a skin on the outside from drafty air.

Step Seven

Heat Oil: 

While the dough balls are on their second rise, heat your canola, vegetable, or sunflower oil in a deep fryer or a large, heavy-bottomed pot to 350°F (175°C). 

🌡️ Use a frying thermometer if you aren’t using a deep fryer to ensure this is the exact oil temperature at which your donuts will fry. A lower temperature will cause the donuts to absorb excess oil, and a higher temperature will yield donuts that are overcooked externally with undercooked dough inside.

Step Eight

Fry to Golden Perfection: 

Taking care not to stretch or compress the dough balls as you handle them, gently place the risen balls into the hot oil, a few at a time. Fry them until they achieve a beautiful golden brown hue on all sides, typically about 2-3 minutes per side.

✅ Do not overcrowd your fryer with donuts as this will make them harder to flip, and may also cause ruptures in the surface of the dough, which will let in oil.

✅ If frying on the stovetop, it's a good idea to use a Dutch oven or thick-bottomed pot with high sides to prevent spills and splatters. I promise you, homemade donuts CAN be made without making a gross mess in your kitchen!

✅ Make sure there is just enough oil in the pot so that the donuts don’t come in contact with the surface of the pot as they fry.

Step Nine

Drain & Cool: 

Remove the deep-fried dough balls from the oil and let them drain on a wire rack suspended over a pan to catch any excess oil, ensuring your countertops stay clean.

Step Ten

Sugar-Coat: 

While they're still warm, roll the Bomboloni in the sugar coating or powdered sugar for that irresistible sweetness.

Step Eleven

Fill Your Bliss: 

To add that optional pastry cream or your preferred filling, you can use a piping bag with a bismark tip to inject the creamy goodness into the centers.

✅ I like to poke into the donuts with the pastry bag tip, then make a few circular motions to open up a pocket of space before injecting them with the filling. That way, they can hold as much filling as possible!

✅ Store the filled bomboloni with the injection side facing up, so that the filling doesn’t spill out.