About This Recipe
Honey gives this powdered-sugar icing its flavor and a slightly soft finish. Add measured warm water gradually, whisk until smooth and let the bubbles settle before dipping cooled donuts. Allow time for the coating to settle on the rack. The ingredient card makes the icing; the donuts are prepared separately.
The donut photo shows the icing in use. Donut dough and cooking are separate from this icing-only recipe and its nutrition estimate.
Recipe
Honey Glaze for Donuts: Powdered-Sugar Dipping Icing
Whisk honey and powdered sugar into a smooth dipping icing for cooled donuts. Includes a settling allowance and nutrition for twelve portions of icing alone.
5Ingredients
Yield: 12 servings
- 150 g powdered sugar, sifted
- 63 g honey
- 30 g warm water
- 2 g vanilla extract
- 0.5 g table salt
Ingredient amounts scale; instructions show the original batch. Cooking times and pan sizes may need adjustment. Season to taste. Honey grams use US measures at 20°C and 17.5% moisture, a density estimate; weigh your honey for precision.
Instructions
- 1Whisk the baseSift the powdered sugar into a shallow mixing bowl. Add the honey, vanilla and salt. Add the measured warm water in three additions, whisking smooth after each, until all 30 g is incorporated.
- 2Let bubbles settleLet stand for about 5 minutes, then stir gently. The icing should fall from a spoon in a smooth ribbon. If cool honey makes it too stiff, set the bowl briefly in warm water and stir; do not heat it directly over a burner.
- 3Coat cooled donutsUse fully cooled donuts prepared by a separate recipe. Spoon icing over the tops or dip each top into a working portion of icing, let the excess drip briefly, then place on a rack over a tray. Keep clean unused icing separate from the dipping bowl.
- 4Allow the coating to settleAllow about 20 minutes on the rack before handling, with longer in humid conditions. Honey can leave the finish a little tacky; this is not a promise of a hard dry shell. The 35-minute allowance includes mixing and coating, the brief bowl rest and settling time. Making and cooling the donuts are separate. The estimate divides the entire icing batch into twelve portions, including any left in the bowl or on the tray.
Estimated nutrition per serving
65.06 calories · 0 g fat · 16.82 g carbohydrate · 0.02 g protein · 16.74 mg sodium
Serving: 1 of 12 servings
Calculated from ingredient weights and USDA FoodData Central: 169656, 169640, 173647, 173471, 173468. Estimates use ingredient input weights; actual portions, brands and cooking losses vary. Omitted nutrient values are unavailable, not zero.
Powdered sugar before mixing
The section photo shows the dry powdered sugar before the liquids are added. The finished icing is shown on separately prepared donuts in the main image; the nutrition estimate still covers icing alone.
The formula contains both honey and powdered sugar. Honey supplies flavor, while the powdered sugar gives a pale icing body. Vanilla is a measured ingredient rather than an optional uncounted addition.
Emeril's honey glaze method whisks sugar with honey and vanilla, adding water gradually. This version states its own weights and consistency, using all the measured water. It is a separate icing recipe rather than a new donut dough.
Flavor intensity uses an editorial culinary scale: 1 is mild and 5 is bold. These are tasting suggestions, not laboratory measurements.
Sources: UC Agriculture and Natural Resources: cooking with honey; USDA FoodData Central: Sugars, powdered; Emeril: whisking honey dipping glaze.
1 = mild, 5 = bold. Editorial pairing guidance, not laboratory measurements; jars vary.
- Clover
- Vanilla and pale icing
- Wildflower
- A more noticeable honey finish
- Orange blossom
- Floral donut icing
Get the Honey Buyer's Cheat Sheet (free PDF)
16 varieties on one page — color, flavor, best use and what a fair price looks like — from the 304 honeys we track.
Dip a Cooled Surface
Hot donuts can make icing slide and soak in unevenly. Let the donuts cool by their own recipe before coating. Use a shallow working bowl for dipping, and allow excess to drip briefly before the donut goes onto the rack.
The complete honey glazed donuts recipe includes a baked yeast dough and a different milk-based glaze. This page supplies a water-based dipping icing only. Baking, frying and cooling the donut itself are outside this card's time and nutrition.
For honey to include with a baking gift, see the Christmas honey gift guide.
Twelve Portions of Icing
The complete measured icing batch is divided into twelve portions. The estimate counts all sugar, honey, water, vanilla and salt, with no donut dough or frying oil. It does not assume that all twelve donuts absorb the same amount.
Drips and bowl residue remain part of the full-input calculation; none is subtracted by an invented percentage. For precise portions, weigh twelve equal amounts of icing before applying them. Honey glaze covers other finishing styles.
Expect a Soft Honey Finish
The coating needs time on the rack, and humidity can lengthen the settling period. It can remain tacky even after it stops running. Clover gives a mild honey flavor; wildflower makes the honey more noticeable.
Mix the icing when the donuts are ready to coat. Refrigerate clean unused icing promptly in a covered container, and stir before using again. Keep it separate from a bowl used for dipping. For another baked pairing, see honey scones.
Choosing the Honey
Use Clover Honey or Wildflower Honey for the flavor described in this recipe. See our honey selection guide for other culinary choices.
