Hawaiʻi-Style Malasadas: Fluffy Portuguese Doughnut Recipe

Hot from the fryer, crisp around the edges, unbelievably fluffy in the center, and covered generously with granulated sugar, malasadas are one of Hawaiʻi’s most beloved sweet treats.

But malasadas aren’t originally Hawaiian. Their roots are Portuguese, particularly connected with immigrants from Madeira and the Azores who came to Hawaiʻi during the plantation era beginning in the late 19th century. Over generations, these fried doughnuts became deeply woven into Hawaiʻi local food culture, eventually appearing at bakeries, fairs, fundraisers, family gatherings, and celebrations throughout the islands.

Classic malasadas are wonderfully simple. They’re made from a rich yeast dough containing eggs, milk, butter, and sugar, then fried until golden and rolled in sugar while still warm.

Modern Hawaiʻi bakeries have expanded the idea with cinnamon sugar, li hing powder, custard, chocolate, guava, macadamia nut, and even haupia fillings.

For your first homemade batch, though, start with the classic sugar-coated version. A warm malasada straight from the fryer doesn’t need much improvement.

🍩 Malasadas at a Glance

Prep time: 25 minutes
First rise: About 1 to 1 1/2 hours
Second rise: About 30 minutes
Frying time: About 20 minutes
Total time: About 2 1/2 hours
Yield: About 16 malasadas
Cooking method: Deep frying

Malasadas are best eaten on the same day they’re fried—and ideally while they’re still warm.

🥢 Ingredients

For the Malasada Dough

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water, about 105°F to 110°F
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus a little more if needed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup evaporated milk, slightly warmed
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

For Frying

Neutral frying oil, such as vegetable or canola oil

For Coating

1 to 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

That’s all you need for classic malasadas.

Cinnamon, custard, tropical fruit fillings, and other variations can come later.

🌡️ Activate the Yeast

Combine the warm water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl.

Stir gently and leave it for approximately 5 to 10 minutes.

The mixture should become foamy on top.

If nothing happens after 10 minutes, your yeast may be inactive or the water may have been too hot or too cold. Starting again with fresh yeast is better than spending two hours waiting for dough that will never rise properly.

If you’re using instant yeast, you can technically mix it directly with the flour, but blooming it first still provides an easy way to confirm that the yeast is active.

🥣 Combine the Dry Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together:

Flour
1/3 cup sugar
Salt

Create a well in the center.

The sugar makes the finished dough lightly sweet, but remember that most of the obvious sweetness comes from the generous sugar coating after frying.

🥚 Mix the Wet Ingredients

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, evaporated milk, and melted butter.

Add the activated yeast mixture.

Whisk until everything is combined.

Evaporated milk gives the dough richness while still keeping it soft enough to become wonderfully airy during frying.

Regular whole milk can be substituted if necessary, but evaporated milk is especially common in Hawaiʻi-style malasada recipes.

🍞 Make the Dough

Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture.

Stir until a soft, sticky dough begins to form.

Don’t expect this to feel like a firm sandwich-bread dough.

Malasada dough should remain relatively soft and tacky. That extra moisture contributes to the light interior.

If the dough seems impossibly wet, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time.

Avoid pouring in another cup simply because the dough sticks to your fingers. Too much flour is one of the fastest ways to turn potentially fluffy malasadas into dense fried bread.

💪 Knead Until Smooth

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for approximately 8 to 10 minutes.

You can also use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

The dough should become smoother and more elastic as the gluten develops.

It may still be slightly tacky.

That’s okay.

Use lightly floured hands or a dough scraper rather than repeatedly adding large quantities of flour.

⏰ Let the Dough Rise

Lightly grease a large bowl.

Place the dough inside and turn it once so the surface is lightly coated.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, a reusable cover, or a clean kitchen towel.

Leave it in a warm, draft-free place for approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until roughly doubled in size.

Rise time depends on room temperature.

A warm kitchen speeds things up; a cool kitchen may require additional time.

Watch the dough rather than relying entirely on the clock.

🇵🇹 Where Did Malasadas Come From?

Malasadas are Portuguese.

Portuguese plantation workers from Madeira and the Azores began arriving in Hawaiʻi during the late 19th century, bringing their foods and traditions with them.

Malasadas were among those foods.

The fried doughnuts were associated with Shrove Tuesday, also called Fat Tuesday—the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

Traditionally, households used up rich ingredients such as butter, sugar, eggs, and fat before the Lenten fasting period.

Turning those ingredients into fried dough was an extremely tasty solution.

In Hawaiʻi, that religious tradition gradually expanded far beyond Portuguese Catholic households.

Today, many people simply know Shrove Tuesday as Malasada Day.

🌺 Are Malasadas Hawaiian?

Malasadas aren’t Native Hawaiian food.

They’re best described as Portuguese food that became an important part of Hawaiʻi local food culture.

That distinction puts them in the same broader story as many other foods you’ll find throughout the islands.

Chinese culinary traditions helped shape manapua, Japanese influences contributed to foods such as chicken katsu, and numerous immigrant communities helped create the multicultural food environment from which saimin developed.

Malasadas tell the Portuguese part of that story.

🍩 Leonard’s Bakery and the Rise of the Hawaiʻi Malasada

No discussion of malasadas in Hawaiʻi is complete without Leonard’s Bakery.

Leonard Rego, whose grandparents emigrated from Portugal’s Azores to Hawaiʻi, opened Leonard’s Bakery in Honolulu in 1952.

Not long afterward, Leonard’s mother suggested making malasadas for Shrove Tuesday.

The bakers reportedly worried that the Portuguese pastry might be too unfamiliar for the broader Honolulu market.

They made them anyway.

The malasadas were such a success that the bakery continued selling them, eventually helping transform what had largely been a Portuguese community tradition into one of Hawaiʻi’s best-known local treats.

Leonard’s began making malasadas for Shrove Tuesday in 1953, and today they’re made every day.

✋ Shape the Malasadas

Once the dough has doubled, gently press it down to release excess gas.

Transfer it to a lightly floured surface.

Divide the dough into approximately 16 equal portions.

A kitchen scale makes this especially easy, but you can also divide the dough visually.

Shape each piece gently into a ball.

You don’t need perfectly smooth bakery-style spheres.

A slightly rustic shape is completely fine.

In fact, older community and fair-style malasadas are sometimes formed from soft scoops of dough rather than tidy balls.

⏰ Let Them Rise Again

Place the shaped pieces on a lightly floured or parchment-lined baking sheet.

Leave enough space between them to expand.

Cover loosely with a clean towel or plastic wrap.

Let the dough rise again for approximately 30 minutes, or until noticeably puffy.

The second rise helps create the light interior that distinguishes a good malasada from an ordinary lump of fried dough.

🫕 Choose the Right Pot for Frying

Use a deep, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven.

Add enough neutral oil to provide several inches of depth while still leaving plenty of empty space at the top of the pot.

Never fill a pot close to the rim with frying oil.

Hot oil can bubble vigorously when dough is added, and overflowing oil is extremely dangerous.

Keep children and pets away from the cooking area and never leave hot frying oil unattended.

🌡️ Heat the Oil to 350°F

Heat the oil to approximately 350°F (177°C).

A clip-on frying thermometer or instant-read thermometer makes this much easier.

Oil temperature is one of the most important details in the entire recipe.

If the oil is too cool, the malasadas can absorb excessive oil and become greasy.

If it’s too hot, the outside may become dark before the center has enough time to cook.

Aim to keep the oil around 350°F to 360°F throughout frying.

🍩 Fry in Small Batches

Carefully lower two or three pieces of dough into the hot oil.

Don’t overcrowd the pot.

The dough will expand, and adding too many pieces at once causes the oil temperature to fall sharply.

Fry for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on the first side, until golden brown.

Turn carefully with a slotted spoon or spider and cook the second side for another 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.

Depending on size, some malasadas may need slightly longer.

The outside should be deep golden rather than pale, while the center should be fully cooked and fluffy.

🔥 Why Are My Malasadas Raw in the Middle?

The most common cause is oil that’s too hot.

When the oil is excessively hot, the exterior browns before heat has enough time to reach the center.

Lower the oil temperature slightly and fry the next batch more slowly.

Oversized pieces can also cause problems.

If you’re making very large malasadas, they naturally require additional cooking time.

The goal is to balance dough size, oil temperature, and frying time so the crust browns at roughly the same rate the interior cooks.

🧺 Drain Briefly

Transfer the cooked malasadas to a wire rack or a tray lined with paper towels.

Let them drain for only a minute or two.

You don’t want the malasadas completely cool before adding sugar.

A warm, slightly oily surface is exactly what helps the sugar adhere.

🍚 Coat Generously in Sugar

Place the granulated sugar in a wide shallow bowl or paper bag.

While each malasada is still warm, roll or shake it generously in sugar.

Coat every side.

Then place it on a clean serving tray.

Continue with the remaining batches, allowing the oil temperature to return to the proper range between batches.

The original plain-sugar coating remains one of the best ways to eat a malasada.

✨ Granulated Sugar or Cinnamon Sugar?

Plain granulated sugar is the classic choice.

For cinnamon sugar, combine approximately:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Roll the hot malasadas in the mixture.

Cinnamon sugar is now a familiar bakery variation, but don’t feel that you have to flavor every batch.

A simple hot malasada coated in ordinary white sugar is difficult to beat.

🌺 What Is Malasada Day?

In Hawaiʻi, Shrove Tuesday is widely known as Malasada Day.

The tradition grew from Portuguese Catholic families eating rich foods before the beginning of Lent.

Malasadas were perfectly suited to the occasion because their dough traditionally uses ingredients such as eggs, milk, sugar, and fat.

Today, people throughout Hawaiʻi celebrate Malasada Day whether or not they observe Lent.

Bakeries can produce enormous quantities of malasadas that day, and lines form early for boxes of freshly fried treats.

The tradition is a wonderful example of an immigrant food custom becoming part of Hawaiʻi’s wider local culture.

🍮 Are Traditional Malasadas Filled?

Classic malasadas are generally unfilled.

They’re fried and rolled in sugar.

Filled malasadas became an enormously popular later variation in Hawaiʻi.

At Leonard’s, filled versions are specifically sold as malasada puffs, with flavors that have included:

Custard
Chocolate
Haupia
Macadamia nut
Guava

So if you’re making your first batch and wondering where the custard goes, the answer is: it doesn’t have to go anywhere.

The traditional sugar-coated malasada is already complete.

🥥 Haupia-Filled Malasadas

If you want a particularly Hawaiʻi-style modern variation, haupia makes an excellent filling.

Prepare a relatively thick version of haupia and chill it completely.

Transfer the cooled haupia to a piping bag fitted with a filling tip.

Once the malasadas have cooled enough to handle, make a small opening in the side and pipe in a modest amount of filling.

Don’t overfill or the pastry may split.

This isn’t the old Portuguese preparation, but it is a good example of how the malasada continued evolving after becoming established in Hawaiʻi.

🍮 Custard-Filled Malasadas

Vanilla custard is another classic bakery-style filling.

Make a thick pastry cream and chill it thoroughly before using.

The filling should be cold enough to hold its shape.

Use a piping bag to inject the custard after the malasadas have cooled slightly.

Do not pipe hot custard into hot dough.

Filled malasadas are richer and heavier than the plain version, so a little custard goes a long way.

🌸 Guava Malasadas

Guava is another popular Hawaiʻi bakery flavor.

Use a thick guava curd, pastry cream, or jam rather than loose juice or purée.

Thin fruit purées can soak into the interior and leak through the dough.

A tart guava filling provides a particularly good contrast to the sweet fried pastry.

Passion fruit, commonly called lilikoi in Hawaiʻi, works similarly.

🍫 Chocolate Malasadas

Chocolate pastry cream or a thick chocolate pudding makes an easy filling.

Allow it to chill completely before piping.

Chocolate-filled malasadas move the recipe further away from the original Portuguese sugar-dusted version, but modern Hawaiʻi bakeries have embraced creative malasada flavors enthusiastically.

That’s part of living food culture.

Traditions can be respected without pretending they never change.

🟣 Li Hing Sugar

Some bakeries now coat malasadas in li hing sugar.

Li hing mui is a salty-sweet preserved plum flavor with deep roots in Chinese food culture and enormous popularity in Hawaiʻi.

A small amount of li hing powder can be mixed with granulated sugar to create a coating that is sweet, tart, salty, and intensely fruity.

It’s another perfect example of Hawaiʻi’s multicultural food landscape: a Portuguese fried pastry finished with a Chinese-influenced local flavor.

🥛 Why Use Evaporated Milk?

Evaporated milk is common in many Hawaiʻi home-baking recipes.

Because much of its water has been removed, it provides concentrated milk flavor and richness.

It works particularly well in enriched fried dough.

If you don’t have evaporated milk, whole milk can be substituted.

The exact texture may change slightly, but you’ll still make good malasadas.

🧈 Why the Dough Should Be Soft

One of the biggest mistakes when making malasadas is repeatedly adding flour until the dough stops sticking entirely.

That may make shaping easier.

It also makes the finished pastry heavier.

A soft enriched yeast dough has more moisture available to create a fluffy interior.

Use lightly floured hands and a bench scraper if necessary.

Accept a little stickiness.

The payoff comes when you pull apart the first hot malasada and see the airy center.

🚫 Don’t Overwork the Dough With Extra Flour

The original Tiki Kulture recipe told readers to add flour whenever the dough felt sticky.

That advice needs an important qualification.

A little flour is fine.

A lot is not.

Measure your starting flour carefully and add additional flour only when the dough truly cannot be handled.

Sticky doesn’t automatically mean incorrect.

Malasada dough is supposed to be soft.

🎉 Malasadas for Parties and Fundraisers

Malasadas have a long association with fairs, church events, school functions, and community fundraisers in Hawaiʻi.

They’re particularly good for gatherings because the smell of freshly frying dough draws people in almost immediately.

If you’re serving a crowd, prepare the dough ahead of time and organize the frying station carefully.

Have:

Shaped dough ready to fry
A thermometer in the oil
A draining rack
Sugar in a large bowl or bag
A clean serving tray

Fry continuously in small batches.

Just don’t make them hours ahead if you can avoid it.

Freshness is everything.

☕ What to Serve With Malasadas

Honestly, not much.

Malasadas are excellent with:

Hot coffee
Tea
Cold milk

They also make a satisfying dessert after savory local foods such as Hawaiʻi-style saimin or manapua.

For a dessert-focused spread, serve plain malasadas alongside chilled haupia.

You don’t need pineapple sauce or a collection of tropical garnishes.

A warm sugared doughnut is enough.

🧊 How to Store Malasadas

Malasadas are at their best within hours of frying.

If you have leftovers, let them cool completely and store them in an airtight container at room temperature for about a day.

Refrigeration tends to make fried yeast dough firm and stale more quickly.

Filled malasadas containing custard, haupia, or other perishable fillings should be refrigerated promptly.

For plain malasadas, plan to eat them as soon as possible.

🔥 How to Reheat Malasadas

A few seconds in the microwave can soften a day-old malasada.

Start with approximately 8 to 10 seconds and check the texture.

An air fryer or low oven can also warm them, although the sugar coating may become messy if heated too aggressively.

They will never be quite as good as they were fresh from the fryer.

That’s one of the fundamental truths of malasadas.

Make them.

Sugar them.

Eat them.

❄️ Can You Freeze Malasadas?

You can, but I prefer freezing the dough rather than relying on finished fried malasadas for long-term storage.

Fried dough loses some of its wonderful texture after freezing and thawing.

If you do freeze cooked malasadas, let them cool completely and place them in a freezer-safe container.

Reheat them gently and add a little fresh sugar afterward if needed.

But if you have the opportunity, fresh is always better.

🌴 Portuguese Roots, Hawaiʻi Tradition

Calling malasadas simply a “Hawaiian doughnut” leaves out the most interesting part of their story.

They came to Hawaiʻi with Portuguese immigrants from Madeira and the Azores during the plantation era.

Families continued making them for Shrove Tuesday.

Then the tradition spread.

Leonard’s Bakery helped introduce malasadas to a much larger audience beginning in the early 1950s. Community fairs and fundraisers kept them visible. Bakers created new coatings and fillings. Hawaiʻi residents from many backgrounds adopted Malasada Day as their own.

A Portuguese religious-season tradition gradually became a Hawaiʻi local-food institution.

That’s far more interesting than pretending malasadas originated on a Hawaiian beach.

For your first homemade version, stay close to the basics: make a rich, soft yeast dough, let it rise properly, fry it at a controlled temperature, and roll each malasada generously in sugar while it’s still warm.

Then eat one immediately.

That’s the part of the tradition everyone can agree on.