Delicious Greek donuts – Loukoumades recipe

Greece has so many delicious sweet (and savoury) snacks. A visit to a bakery when you’re in the country is an absolute must. I love picking out new things to try each time we visit but if there is one thing I always have to pick up it’s loukoumades. What are loukoumades? Delicious Greek donuts which are smothered in honey and then also usually a seed or nut like walnuts. On our recent trip to Crete we visited the sweetest little bakery in the backstreets of Heraklion. And alongside a mixed box of biscuits we picked up a big bag of loukoumades with sesame seeds. They were so delicious, sticky with the sweetest honey and just a hint of nuttiness from the sesame. It was one of those dishes we had to recreate when we got home. This isn’t a vegan recipe as we have used honey like the traditional Greek version but that’s the only bit that isn’t vegan so it can be easily replaced with agave syrup to make it vegan. Greek loukoumades are the perfect afternoon pick-me-up or weekend decadence and these Greek honey balls are perfect to make in large batches for Christmas treats too. In fact once you’ve tried our loukoumades recipe Greek doughnuts will be the only kind you will need.

Read more:

Our world recipes

Meliasti (Feta cheese with sesame and honey) recipe

Baked aubergine and tomato with feta cheese recipe

Ingredients for Greek donuts / Greek dessert loukoumades

• 500g of plain flour
• 250ml of warm water
• 250ml of dairy free milk (we used soya but oat milk will work well too)
• 20g dried yeast
• 350g of honey (we used Greek)
• 2 tablespoons of caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 30g of sesame seeds
• Pinch of salt
• sunflower oil for frying

How to make loukoumades recipe

• Add the warm water and yeast to a bowl and set aside for five to ten minutes while the yeast activates

• Add the flour, dairy free milk, sugar and salt and mix into a soft dough. This will look like a batter at this point.
• Once the mixture is completely blended, cover the bowl and set aside for 45 minutes for the dough to rise.
• Heat the sunflower oil until it starts to bubble in a deep frying pan (use enough oil so that the loukoumades won’t rest on the bottom of the pan).
• Use a large tablespoon to scoop up some dough and transfer it to the frying pan. It’s best to put the spoon into a cup of water before and after each scoop so that the dough doesn’t stick to the spoon.
• Fry around five or six loukoumades at a time, flipping them over as they turn golden brown on one side.

• Once they’re nicely browned remove from the oil and drain off any excess.
• Cook all of the dough and then gently warm the honey in a saucepan, being careful not to allow this to boil.
• Drizzle the warmed honey over the loukoumades and sprinkle with cinnamon and sesame seeds.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our Greek donuts – Loukoumades recipe. If you like Greek sweets then why not try our recipe for melomakarona (honey cookies) (they’re delicious too!).