Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Beignets
Central African breakfast doughnuts: puffy, golden yeasted fritters fried fresh at dawn and dusted with sugar, eaten with sweet coffee.
Central African · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 20 min
~264 cal · 6g protein · 57g carbs · 1g fat · 2g fiber · 9g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Beignets are an everyday Central African breakfast, soft rounds of a lightly sweetened yeasted dough dropped into hot oil and fried until puffed and golden, then rolled in sugar. A legacy of French colonial baking woven into local street food, they are fried fresh at dawn.
In Bangui and river towns across the country, vendors sell them hot from big pans to workers and schoolchildren, who eat them out of hand with sweet coffee or tea. Crisp outside and pillowy within, they are cheap, filling, and cheerful.
More treat than staple, beignets are nonetheless a fixture of the Central African morning, the smell of frying dough and the sight of a sugar-dusted pile a familiar, welcome start to the day.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar (plus extra for dusting)
2 tsp instant yeast
a pinch a pinch of salt
1 cup warm water
for frying , for deep-frying
Instructions
1
Mix the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt, then stir in the warm water to make a soft, slightly sticky dough.
2
Cover and leave in a warm place until doubled and bubbly, about 1 hour.
3
Heat 2 inches of oil to 340°F (170°C). With oiled hands, pinch off rounds of dough.
4
Fry in batches, turning, for 3 to 5 minutes until puffed and deep golden, then drain and roll in sugar; serve warm.
Bangui street-vendor tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bangui. The pumpkin seed sauce has a name: kanda. Seeds are toasted and ground to a paste, bound with okra whose stickiness holds it together, worked with meat or fish into balls or a sauce, and eaten with fufu. Some of the squashes involved are African natives rather than American imports.
🗺️
Central African Republic. Kanda is the country's real signature and it is not a peanut sauce: pumpkin or squash seeds toasted and ground, bound with okra and meat or fish into a dense stew. Some of the squashes involved are African natives rather than American imports, which quietly complicates the usual story about where squash comes from.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Central African Republic
Kanda ti NymaCentral African meatballs simmered in a nutty tomato-and-okra sauce thickened with ground pumpkin seeds.
Gozo with Groundnut SauceSmooth cassava fufu served with a rich, savory peanut sauce, an everyday plate across the Central African Republic.
Bouillie de ManiocA silky Central African cassava porridge, whisked from the national staple flour and sweetened, often enriched with a spoon of peanut paste.
Browse all Central African Republic recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Central African Republic meal
Jus de TamarinDrink
Beignets de Banane (Banana Fritters)Dessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Antiguan Fried Dumplings with CheeseAntigua and Barbuda
Tortas FritasArgentina
Fry JacksBelize
FidjósGuinea-Bissau
MassaBurkina Faso
Puff-Puff and BeansCameroon
Cuisine
Diet
Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World
Vegan Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Central African Recipes
Vegan Breakfasts from Around the World
Vegetarian Breakfasts from Around the World
Dairy-Free Breakfasts from Around the World
Nut-Free Breakfasts from Around the World
Egg-Free Breakfasts from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Beignets?
Central African breakfast doughnuts: puffy, golden yeasted fritters fried fresh at dawn and dusted with sugar, eaten with sweet coffee.
Where does Beignets come from?
Beignets is a Central African dish from Bangui, Central African Republic.
Can Beignets be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Beignets recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Beignets safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Beignets take to make?
About 40 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 6.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.