Dutch oliebollen recipe (Dutch donuts)

With this recipe you can bake your own Dutch oliebollen, enjoy! And of course I share lots of baking tips with you so you can bake the tastiest oliebollen at home.

Dutch oliebollen tradition

Here in the Netherlands we love our oliebollen. You can buy them at the stand, but I like making them myself the most. Oliebollen stands can often be found as early as October and they stay up until sometime in January. They are also often found at fairs throughout the year.

In the Netherlands we eat Oliebollen mainly with New Year’s Eve. It is a traditional delicacy with which we ring in the new year. Every year I use my recipe for oliebollen, which I personally find the most delicious.

Dutch donuts

Oliebollen are fried and somewhat similar to fritters, although they are more readily called ‘Dutch donuts’.

This is the basic recipe for oliebollen, but you can also make delicious new flavors with them. I have already made them with apple and cinnamon, and Oreo oliebollen are also delicious. I will of course share these recipes with you.

Which oil is best for making oliebollen?

I always use a frying pan (or my Dutch oven) with sunflower oil. I’ve been doing that for years and it really works perfectly. Of course, if you have an electric frying pan, you can also fill it with sunflower oil.

What you absolutely don’t want to do: fry oil balls in frying fat. This fat solidifies after cooling and leaves a white layer on your oliebol. Doesn’t look appetizing and is also really not as tasty.

Oliebollen ingredients

You don’t need a lot or any weird ingredients to bake oliebollen at home. I list them for you and share right away some tips for ingredients where needed.

• Milk. Heat the milk in the microwave or in a saucepan until lukewarm, or body temperature if you find that easier to determine the right temperature. If the milk is too hot, it can kill the yeast, preventing your batter from rising. Not heating is not a solution either, because even then your oliebollen batter will not rise.
• Dry instant yeast. Dissolve the yeast in you luke warm milk and set aside for a few minutes. You’ll see that the mixture increases in volume.
• White caster sugar. For a little sweetening, but also to make your yeast work well.
• Flour. You can use all purpose flour or wheat flour for baking oliebollen.
• Salt. A pinch of salt always makes a difference and enhances other flavors.
• Egg. The last ingredient for your oliebollen, a baker once told me that eggs reduce fat absorption in oliebollen.

What to do with leftover oliebollen?

I always have breakfast on January 1 with the leftover oliebollen, which is a tradition in our family. Just heat them up, sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy.

However, you can also bake French toast from oliebollen. Cut them into pieces/slices and follow the recipe for French toast.

Another option: use oil balls for a bread pudding. Although then, of course, you make an oliebollen pudding. Slightly misleading that name, because it’s actually a kind of French toast, but in a large dish and baked in the oven instead of the pan.