Grinch Donuts

Quick and easy homemade donuts that are dunked in green frosting with a heart sprinkle make these Grinch Donuts fun and easy to make. The perfect addition to a Christmas breakfast, Grinch party or just because they are fun!

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Hand holding Grinch Donuts

Today we’re combining a Christmas classic – the Grinch! – with easy biscuit donuts for a fun holiday treat your family and friends will love! These adorable Christmas donuts are so easy to make and a great project to do when the kids are home during the holiday school break.

You Will Love This Easy Recipe!

  • Have you ever tried biscuit donuts? They are made with canned biscuit dough so there’s no mixing and no mess.
  • These are fried donuts so they taste amazing! You could just buy cake donuts and decorate them to make it easier!
  • The best part are the decorations. I use frosting to make green donuts – add a red heart and some white sprinkles and everyone knows instantly they’re inspired by How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
  • We’re making donuts and donut holes – nothing goes to waste.
  • Once the donuts are fried, the kiddos can help with the frosting and decorations. Oh, and the eating, of course! It’s my kids favorite part.

We love Grinch recipes! If you want another fun idea you should try my Grinch Fruit Kabobs or pair it with this fun Grinch Popsicle Stick Craft!

Overhead image of Grinch Donuts Ingredients

Ingredients

  • Canned biscuits – you will need 10 biscuits rounds for this recipe.
  • Canned vanilla frosting vanilla – buy two 16-ounce cans!
  • Red heart sprinkles
  • White sprinkles
  • Green gel coloring – gel food coloring is really vibrant!
  • Vegetable oil – for frying the donuts. You can also use canola oil if tha’s what you have on hand.

Helpful Tools

How to Make Them

Heat the cooking oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. While the oil heats, remove the biscuits from the package and punch a hole in the center of each so you have ten donuts and ten donut holes.

Fry the donuts and donut holes in batches of three to four. Turn them every 30 to 45 seconds so they cook evenly. Once they are golden brown all over, transfer them to a wire rack to cool. Repeat this process with the rest of the batch.

While they cool, prepare the frosting. Place the containers in the microwave and warm them for 45 seconds.

Add the food coloring to one container and stir until the color is uniform. Combine the green frosting and the other container of vanilla frosting in a large mixing bowl.

Dip each biscuit and biscuit hole in the colored vanilla frosting. Place them on a rack once they are coated in frosting. Once the frosting is set, you may want to dip them again so the coating is even and thick.

Chill the frosted donuts in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to set. Decorate them with heart sprinkles and white sprinkles.

Enjoy them right away or store them in an airtight container for later.

Tips

When I make these with my family, either my husband or I am in charge of the frying, but the kids can help cut out the donuts, frost them, and add the decorations!

When you fry them, don’t overcrowd the pan. If you try to fry too many at once, it will make it difficult to turn them quickly. It will also lower the oil temperature which can make the donuts greasy.

I think these grinch donuts taste best the day they’re made, but you can fry them a day in advance and store them in a container to decorate the next day. This helps when it’s busy! Once they are decorated, they will keep well for up to two days.

Plate of Grinch Decorated Donut Holes

I just love these cute grinch donuts! They’re a fun way to celebrate the season – I hope you give them a try this year!

More Christmas Activities for Kids

Looking for more fun projects to keep little hands busy during the holiday season? Here are a few more ideas you have to try!

I hope you love these easy biscuit donuts! If you make them take a picture and share them on Instagram with #kidsactivityzone or tag us @kidsactivityzoneblog so we can see them!

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Grinch Donuts Square cropped image

Grinch Donuts

Quick and easy Grinch Donuts! Homemade donuts using refrigerate biscuit dough that are fried, dunked in green frosting and decorated!
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Additional Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 10 Donuts

Ingredients

  • 10 biscuits canned
  • 2 cans frosting vanilla flavored 16 oz each
  • Red heart sprinkles
  • White sprinkles
  • 1/8 teaspoon green gel coloring
  • 4 cups vegetable oil

Instructions

  • Remove biscuit dough from the cans and set aside.
  • Pour the vegetable oil into a large saucepan and heat over medium high heat.
  • While the oil is heating, take a small cookie or biscuit cutter and cut a hole into the center of each of the biscuits. Repeat with each biscuit until you can 10 biscuits and 10 biscuit holes.
  • Add the biscuit donuts and donut holes to the hot grease a little at a time. We recommend adding only 3-4 biscuits at a time to the hot oil so that cooking and turning the biscuits is easy. The biscuits will cook fast, so make sure to turn them every 30-45 seconds to make sure they are cooking evenly.
  • Remove the biscuit donuts and donut holes to a wired cooling rack. Cool completely.
  • While the donuts are cooling, place the containers of icing into the microwave and heat for 45 seconds.
  • While they cool, prepare the frosting. Place the containers in the microwave and warm them for 45 seconds.
  • Add the food coloring to one container and stir until the color is uniform. Combine the green frosting and the other container of vanilla frosting in a large mixing bowl.
  • Add the green frosting and white frosting to a large bowl and stir to combine. Use the bowl for dipping the donuts.
  • Dip each biscuit and biscuit hole into the colored vanilla frosting. Once they’ve all been frosted, place them back onto the cooling rack and allow them to cool before adding an additional coat of frosting if needed.
  • Place the biscuits into the refrigerator for 20 minutes to allow the frosting to cool and harden.
  • Decorate the donuts with sprinkles such as white sprinkles and candy hearts for decoration.
  • Serve immediately. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

Notes

  • When I make these with my family, either my husband or I am in charge of the frying, but the kids can help cut out the donuts, frost them, and add the decorations!
  • To make it even easier buy cake donuts and decorate them with our frosting technique and sprinkles.
  • When you fry them, don’t overcrowd the pan. If you try to fry too many at once, it will make it difficult to turn them quickly. It will also lower the oil temperature which can make the donuts greasy.
  • I think these Grinch donuts taste best the day they’re made, but you can fry them a day in advance and store them in a container to decorate the next day. This helps when it’s busy! Once they are decorated, they will keep well for up to two days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 1176kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 105g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 89g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 431mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 30g
Tried this recipe?Please leave a comment below or pin it to your Pinterest account!

2 Comments

  1. Did a Christmas in July party and made these to start the day with. They were such a hit! Saving this page to make again during the holidays!

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