A delicious, authentic Polish Pączki recipe (Polish donuts), traditionally made for Fat Tuesday or Thursday in February, to celebrate the last day before Lent fasting begins.
When it comes to Fat Tuesday, I’m all about the Polish tradition of Paczki! The Polish do it right, because these Polish donuts are definitely a worthy Fat Tuesday splurge!
Pączki are essentially donuts, made by frying dough, filling with a variety of fruit or custard fillings, and coated with sugar. Paczki are made from a rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar, yeast and sometimes milk, so they tend to be a little more rich and dense than a typical donut.
Packzi can have a variety of fruit or cream fillings. They can be glazed or covered with either granulated or powdered sugar. In Poland, a stewed plum jam or a wild rose hip jam are the most traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, apple, prune or custard.
In Poland, Paczki are eaten on Fat Thursday, which is the last Thursday prior to Ash Wednesday (prior to lent). The traditional reason for making pączki was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, in preparation for the fasting of Lent ahead.
In North America, Paczki Day typically occurs on Fat Tuesday, the last day before the beginning of Lent. In some communities with large Polish populations, Paczki day is celebrated on both Fat Thursday and Fat Tuesday.
While there are slight variations, the typical North American pronunciation of Paczki is POONCH-key. Some prefer more of a PAUNCH-key.
Traditionally, Paczki are filled with a prune filling, plum jam, custard or a poppy seed filling, but that said, you can fill with any filling you enjoy. I love fruit jam, such as raspberry, strawberry, blueberry or plum. Apple jam/compotes are also good. On the creamy side, Bavarian Cream would also be nice.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Yeast – You can use either Active Dry or regular Instant yeast such as SAF Brand Instant Yeast (my yeast of choice)
Flour – Use regular all-purpose flour. I like to use unbleached all purpose flour, as a rule, though regular bleached all purpose flour will work well here as well.
Milk – Whole milk is recommended, for best flavour and texture. Whole milk is full-fat milk, known as Homo milk here in Canada. It is generally 3-3.5% butterfat.
Filling – I have used raspberry jam here, as it is my favourite, but any jam is fine here. As noted above, you could also fill with apple, cream or custard. You want to make sure whatever filling you use is not too thin, but also, not too thick, as it needs to be pipe-able to fill the donut.
Oil – for frying the paczki. I like vegetable oil, for frying, though any neutral-tasting oil with a higher smoke point will work here.
You will also need – Eggs (2), white sugar, butter, vanilla, salt.
Tip! Sometimes, traditional Paczki recipes call for a small amount of vodka to be added to the dough, to enhance the flavour and foster a more light and airy texture. If you’d like to experiment with this addition, add about 1-2 Tablespoon of vodka to the dough with the eggs.
Step-by-Step Photos
This is a visual summary of how the Paczki come together. Always refer to the complete instructions in the Recipe Card below.
Recipe Tips
- I like my Paczki rolled in granulated sugar. There’s just something about that sugar crunch! Some Paczki are made with a thin glaze of icing sugar and milk, if you’d rather go that route. You could also dust them in icing/confectioners’ sugar. Any way you eat them, they’re a really delicious treat and definitely a splurge.
- You don’t need a deep fryer to make these, although that’s definitely the easiest route, as it keeps the oil a constant temperature and is safer. If you don’t have a fryer, use a deep, heavy pot and a portable thermometer to monitor the temperature. Do be careful though and have a lid handy, just in case. In the unlikely event the oil ignites, simply cover the pot with the lid to extinguish. Keep kids well away from the deep frying process and take care yourself!
- When deep frying, be sure to use a thermometer to keep the oil temperature constant. If the oil is too hot, it will cook the outside before the inside is cooked. If it is not hot enough, the dough will absorb oil, rather than just cooking the outside to seal the oil out. Also, avoid frying too many Paczki at one time, as it will lower the oil temperature.
- Be sure to coat your Paczki in granulated sugar while they are still warm, so the sugar will stick. If opting for powdered sugar, obviously you’d want to wait until the Paczki are cool before coating, to avoid melting it. As powdered sugar will dissolve over time, add powdered sugar just before serving.
- Every deep fryer is a bit different, so if you find the specified 360F oil temperature is either too hot or too cool, don’t hesitate to adjust up or down as needed, until you find the sweet spot for your fryer.
Making Ahead, Storing and Freezing
Paczki are best enjoyed the day they are made, though they are still nice the next day. Don’t store too tightly wrapped, or the sugar coating will get quite moist. Paczki freeze beautifully, so rather than let them get stale, wrap well and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter for 30 minutes to enjoy.
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Get the Recipe: Authentic Polish Paczki
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 tsp (7 g) dry active or instant yeast, not rapid or quick-rise yeast
- 1 cup (227 ml) whole milk, (3% b.f.) scalded and cooled
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated white sugar
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 – 3 1/2 cups (360 – 420 g) all-purpose flour, use only as much as you need to make a moist, but not sticky dough
- Oil, for frying
- White Granulated Sugar, for dusting after frying
- Jam or custard, for filling (suggested: Raspberry, Blueberry, Cherry or Strawberry Jam)
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, heat the milk until steaming with small bubbles forming around the edges (about 180F). Do not boil. Remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm (about 105F). *It's important to ensure the milk has cooled to lukewarm, of it may kill the yeast.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk and let stand for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of the flour. Mix together and let stand for 20-30 minutes, until really bubbly.
- In the meantime, beat the yolks in a small bowl until they are light and fluffy.
- To the yeast mixture, add the melted butter and sugar and mix. Add salt and vanilla. Add beaten egg yolks. Slowly add more of the flour to bowl in small increments, adding flour just until you have a soft, moist, but not sticky dough. Remove the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead 1 minute (adding a bit more flour if it is sticking to your hands or the work surface). Form dough into a ball.
- Grease a clean bowl and add the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled in size. (This dough is a bit of a slow riser, so expect this rise to be up to 90 minutes).
- Deflate dough and pat out onto a floured cutting board. With a rolling pin, gently roll into a 1/2-inch thick circle. Gently cut out circles with 3-inch biscuit cutter. Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with a clean tea towel and let rise until doubled (about 30 minutes). *You can re-roll the scraps and cut more pieces, though they are never quite as neat as the first cuts. I like to use the ugliest of these ones as "test" ones, to test the temperature of the oil. I fry one, let cool, then cut it open to make sure it is cooking all the way through. I can then adjust time/temperature, as needed from there.
- Meanwhile, heat oil to 360°F. in a deep fryer or in a large, heavy pot. Fry the Paczki until golden on one side, flip and fry the other side. *Tip! chopsticks are great for flipping the Paczki! Don't try to cook too many at a time, so you don't reduce the temperature of the oil by adding too many at once. Don't rush the frying, to ensure that they are cooked all the way through well. Fry until they are a deep golden colour. Remove paczki to a cooling rack for about 30 seconds, then immediately roll in granulated sugar. Let stand until completely cooled.
- Once cooled, using a sharp knife, poke a hole on the side. Use a pastry bag with a large plain tip to pipe the jam or custard filling inside.
- Paczki are best enjoyed when freshly made, but you can freeze any extras up to 3 months.
Notes
More Donut Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Could this rise in the fridge overnight? I would love to make this with my high school culinary class, but we only have 50 minute class times, so we would have to split this into 2 class periods if possible.
Hi Kelly and yes, it could. The trick will be to keep them at the right temperature so they don’t rise too much.
Could these be baked instead of fried? I made them fried and they are delicious, but I wondered if they could be baked to allow for all of them to cook at the same time as opposed to batches in the fryer. Thanks!
Hi Melissa and I’m afraid not. The only way to delicious is to fry them. Baking will produce a bun, not a donut.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I can’t wait to make them.
Could you please give more information on the saf-instant yeast?
I noticed that there is a saf red and saf premium red and also a gold package.
Which one do you use?
I need to order it online since my rural grocery stores don’t carry it.
Happy Fat Tuesday!
Denise
Hi Denise, I use SAF Red. I empty the package into a large jar and keep it in the freezer. You can use it straight from the freezer. I tried the SAF Premium and didn’t notice much difference from the Red. The SAF Gold is instant yeast that is specially formulated for sweet and enriched doughs. Hope that helps and enjoy these!
If you wanted to bake them fresh for the morning of Fat Tuesday. Do you think therere is a good way to make the dough ahead of time, store it, and fry it 12ish hours later?
Hi Jamie and yes, you could do the first rise in the fridge overnight. Take the dough out of the fridge first thing and let it warm up a bit, then roll and cut. Do the second rise, allowing some extra time due to the chilled dough. You want the donuts to be room temp and having actively risen before frying. I’m not sure how long that takes as I haven’t tried it myself.
I’d love to try this recipe. If I freeze them, are they filled first or when ready to eat? I love to bake but have never attempted to make these.
Hi DeaDea, you can freeze them ready to eat (so filled and coated in sugar). Be sure to thaw on the counter in the wrapping so they don’t dry out
Hi Jennifer,
This looks like my mom’s paczi recipe. She used to add raisins to the dough. If I add raisins could you tell me the amount and if any adjustment should be made to the recipe?
Looking forward to making this recipe!
Thanks,
Cindy
Hi Cindy, I would think about 1/2 cup of raisins for this amount of dough. I would plump the raisins first (soak them in hot water for 15 minutes before adding to the dough). Add the raisins last and hand-knead in before the first rise.
Wow, I made the paczki, it was my first time making donuts. They were very easy and almost as good as what I get from the bakery. I will make these again. Thanks for sharing
So pleased to hear, Nancy. Thanks so much!
I plan on making these tomorrow. I was wondering tho, how much oil should I use? Obviously, I need a lot but should it be about an inch or 2 deep?? Maybe more??
Hi Becca, you need enough oil that they will float and not rest on the bottom of the pot. Allowing for expansion when it cooks, I think you’d want at least 3 inches, but 4 inches would be even better.
Could you use an air fryer? I know that they taste better deep fried but as just curios is all. We love paczki! My husband is from Poland and his mom used to make them but she never wrote down the recipe so I can carry on the tradition. I am looking forward in trying to make these. Thank you for sharing and Happy Fat Tuesday!
Hi Jennifer and no, I really wouldn’t ever go that route. An air fryer isn’t a fryer. It’s a convection oven, so what you’ll get is a bun, not a donut. If you’re goal is to carry on the tradition, fry them :)
After letting the dough sit for 20-30 minutes, you say until it’s really “bubbly”. do you mean when you mix it it’s bubbly, or should I be able to physically see the bubbles coming from the dough? Excited to make these! :)
Hi Maddy, Normally mixed dough isn’t bubbly, but here we’re starting by just adding 1 cup of flour to the water and yeast mixture, so it will indeed be actually bubbly after it sits 20-30 minutes. As you continue to add flour after that, it won’t be bubbly any more, but will transform into a smooth and moist dough. Hope that helps. Enjoy!
I think you are missing the word sticky on step four between the words not and dough. Happy Fat Tuesday! making these right now. 😂
Thanks Heidi :) Fixed! Happy Fat Tuesday to you, as well!
Paczki in Detroit are up to $35/dozen, so we’re going to try making our own today! Thank you for the recipe and detailed instructions!
Thanks Stephanie :) Enjoy!
Could one bake these instead of frying?
No not really Anita. The frying is what makes these Paczki (and what makes them taste delicious also :)
This is the most delicious recipe! I filled mine with a cream cheese filling and coated with sugar. Will be making again in the future.
Sounds delicious, Amber! So glad you enjoyed them :)
I have never had one but decided to try to make these today on Fat Thursday! Next time I will use a biscuit cutter (I don’t own one yet) but they still turned out amazing. Used homemade strawberry jam and didn’t fill but glazed inside basically. Also used confectioners sugar. Great instructions in this recipe! Thank you!
I’m so glad to hear, Denise :) Thanks so much!