Puff Puff
Puff Puff is a deep fried Nigerian snack made from flour, yeast, sugar, water. It is a soft, almost pillowy yet chewy snack. Puff Puff is not to be confused with ‘Buns,’ which is a richer Nigerian snack, due to the addition of eggs and milk. Puff Puff is very basic, no fancy pants there!
It’s incredibly easy to make, even if its your first time making it!
To make Puff Puff, here’s what you’ll need:
| Prep Time: 5 Mins (to 1hr) | Cook Time: 5 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 6 |
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup room temperature water
- 1 tsp dry yeast powder
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 3 tbsps granulated white sugar
- 5-6 cups Canola Oil for frying
1. Add all dry ingredients to a bowl and mix
2. Add water in increments, stirring/mixing as you go along. It should have a stretchy, elastic, cake batter consistency (mix thoroughly).
3. Cover with napkins & put in an unheated oven to rise for 1-2 hours
It should look like this after its risen:
4. Mix some more, then pre-heat oil in a deep fryer
5. Use hands or a rounded spoon to scoop mixture into oil
6. Test oil temperature by dropping in a spoonful of batter. Once it turns dark golden brown, its hot enough!
7. Add spoonfuls of batter to oil, avoid overcrowding
8. Once underside turns dark golden brown, flip it (1-2 mins per side)
9. Once done, put on a plate lined with paper towel to drain oil
And you’re done!
(Puff Puff Texture Shot – No Flash)
(Puff Puff Texture Shot with Flash)
Notes:
- The consistency of the batter is really important; it shouldn’t be too thick or too thin, before you count to two, it should drop back down if you hold some up with a spoon. It’s stretchy, almost like an elastic.
- Taste wise, once your batter has risen, you should be able to tell by smell if it’ll taste good. You’ll just have to trust me on this one! The risen batter should smell like it’s been cooked and ready to eat.
- If you want to skimp or add more sugar, you can taste the batter before putting it away to rise, to see if it’s sweet enough. Don’t eat a teaspoonful now, just dip your finger in it and taste!
- Once the oil is hot enough and you drop the batter in, it should float up almost immediately, always test one to get the right temperature.
- When you flip some of the Puff Puff while frying, it might just flip right back to the side it was previously on, so you could either try to hold those ones down with your turner or just leave it be. This often accounts for some Puff Puff having a lighter side to them, doesn’t affect the taste though!
- You don’t have to use Canola Oil, feel free to use Vegetable Oil, Corn oil or a mix of oils.
- You can substitute granulated white sugar for dark or light brown sugar, honey or agave nectar, though you might have to a tad more of the honey/nectar to get the sweetness just right. You’d also want to cut back on the water just a tiny bit, since honey/nectar are liquids.
- Puff Puff can be incredibly greasy and there’s really no other way around that, it’s got to be deep frying! You could squeeze it in a paper towel and flatten it, but that would take away from the joy of eating it as is! Just be sure not to eat it everyday or even every week!
Enjoy…
Puff Puff,
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168 Responses to "Puff Puff"
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I’ve been looking for a recipe; this is my first time actually :) Best recipe I’ve found so far! Brilliant, clear, easy to follow instructions, pictures make everything even that much simpler to follow. The ones in the pictures look perfect :D thanks!!
Hey Adeyosola!
Glad you came across the site then! Thank you, thank you and thank you!
Keep me posted on your outcome! :)
i really love all what am seeing here yetty mama may God continue to bless u more
Hey Adenike!
Nice! Glad you’re liking what you see. Amen and thank you!
Can I replace yeast powder with baking powder or beer because I feel like preparing this right away and I do not have yeast powder in my house at the moment
Hey Linda!
I don’t think either of those ingredients you mentioned will give you the required result and as such, I can’t recommend that you use them. A quick store run will rectify the problem ;)
Heyy,,
I Havent Got Yeast Powder At The Moment
Will I Be Able To Use Self Raising Flour ? :s
- Thanks
Hey Renai!
Grr! I don’t think self raising flour alone would give the results you seek. Take a trip to the store already! ;)
hi yetunde,
i want to try making puffpuff but i dont know if it will be ok for me to make it with just self raising flour[dats all i've got now lol].and not adding yeast.i just want to see how it goes.what do you think?would it be necessary to add yeast since am using the self raising flour?thanks darling.
Hey Chika!
I would still recommend adding yeast. The joy of Puff Puff is in the puffiness, which comes from yeast. So even though self raising flour might work on it’s own, I have reservations and can’t wholly recommend it by itself.
You’ll prefer your Puff Puff with yeast!
You have rili done a good job,I just made it from your recipie and it tastes fantastic….Thank you
Hey Adeola!
Thank you! I love that you loved it ;)
You’re welcome!
Thanks a lot for this easy to follow recipe. Will let you know the outcome once I make it.
Hey Oluchi!
I’d love to know the outcome!Hey Oluchi!
Its so easy nd straight foward.thanks nd i wl sure tel u d outcome wn am done.thanks a million.
Hey Yemmie!
You’re welcome! Remember to keep me posted~
Please Yetty, can i get a recipe for egg buns?
Hey Tosine!
I have a recipe here: http://www.avartsycooking.com/2011/03/nigerian-egg-rolls/
Hope that helps!
Hi yetunde, I’m a student in d hostel in naija and I don’t av an oven o! Where can I leave it to rise?
Hey Demi!
Lol, you’d have to improvise then! So just cover it up and put it in a warm area, so on top of the fridge or a cupboard could be an example, basically you want an area that is free of drafts of air.
Hope that helps!
Hello. Just finished frying puff puff for the first time ever. It turned out nicely. Thanks. Keep up the good work.
Hey Olubunmi!
Yay! Good for you, glad it came out well for your first time! You’re welcome, I plan to ;)
Nice page,jus stumbled on it three days ago n i must confess, u r doing a wonderful job.
Welcome and thanks!
Hi, yetunde. U’re doing a great job. i enjoyed d turnout of ds puff puff recipe. Thank u. Pls can u help me out with a jammy doughnut recipe? i crave for those very soft and stretchy ones like d ones at fast food outlets. i just never get them quite right. They either tear or break but i need them to stretch. Pls, pls help me! Its a culinary SOS.
Hey Buki!
Thank you! Glad the puff puff came out well. I know what you speak of, I used to love them from Mr. Biggs years ago, with the sugar sprinkled on the top that made it all sticky sweet! I’ve never made it before, but I can try, when I perfect it, I’ll be sure to post.
Ha! I love culinary SOS, have to use that sometime ;)
Hey great site. What if I want to go commercial selling puff puff how do I get the right measurements for the ingredients? In your own personal opinion will I make good money selling. Thank you
Hey Ada,
I’ve never made Puff Puff for large scale commercial purposes before and as such don’t have measurements for that. However, if you plan on going commercial, you should always try a test batch to sell and always go in increments. So, if for Monday, you make enough for 10 people, double it the next time for 20 people and so on.
That said, you could start with 4 cups of flour and 2-3 cups of water and gauge the consistency and go up from there. You should be able to make money from selling Puff Puff, however, it’s important to be consistent in the taste every time. So, you’d have to perfect your recipe, so that it tastes the same each and every time that you make it. Also, customer service goes a long way in getting new and repeat customers.
Keep me posted and Good Luck!
Nice work sweetie, u make my day. Wish 2 know other recipes jst 2 save my family. I’m happy 2 knw about dis.
Hey Aishat!
Aww, thanks! Stay tuned, more recipes to come…
Thank you sooooo much for this recipe. I have tried several recipes and it was a disaster. This was perfect and we loved it. I added some onions and it worked fine. Thanks again. xoxo
Hey ‘Made!
You’re most welcome! Well, you have a sure proof recipe now, so no more disasters for you! I haven’t tried adding onions before, when I think of adding onions, I always just think of Ojojo.
Glad you liked it though!
Hello, thank you for sharing with me. I’m so inspired. I did as u said but it did not rise for over 2 hours, why is it lik that? Thanks and God bless you
Hey Deborah!
You’re welcome! If it didn’t rise, try proofing your yeast to see if it’s still fresh. Add it to a bit of warm water and if it foams/bubbles, it’s fine. If it doesn’t, you might need to purchase some more yeast.
Hope that helps!
Quick crazy question – do you have any idea what would happen if the puff puff batter (a batch of it) were to be baked?
Hey you!
Having never done this before, it obviously would not yield the same results as frying. However, I imagine if you did it in small batches as with frying, it would brown on the outside, perhaps rise a bit and I doubt it would have the signature round shape associated with Puff Puff.
I’d instead recommend baking the entire batter in a pan and then cutting the finished product into squares. So, you’d bake at maybe 400-425 degrees for 10-15 mins.
Have you considered frying with coconut oil?
I’d love to know how it turns out, so keep me posted!
Hello, I tried it again but this time around it was not up to 30mins the dough had risen so I decided to fry but it came out flat and crunchy. It didn’t have that foamy texture. Where did I go wrong? Thanks for your reply.
Hey Deborah!
Sorry it didn’t come out right! Try letting it rise completely for the full half hour. If it appears to have risen before 30 minutes, mix it and cover it back up again till the allotted time is up.
Since it did rise, it doesn’t seem to be a yeast issue. Give it another and let me know how that works out.
Good luck!
I usually add one egg so it does not absorb oil when I’m frying.
Hey Toyin!
Thanks for the suggestion!
Hi Yetty I luv d way ur puff luks, I hav tried severaly bt d outcom has always bin disastrous am obviously usin a wrong measurement. Pls can I get d measurement in grammes cus wen u say cup I reali don’t know d exact size of cup 2 use. Tnx
Hey Viv!
Sorry it hasn’t been turning out right! Puff Puff making can be trial and error for some, so don’t give up just yet. 1 cup is 110 grams, so 2 cups will be about 220 grams.
Hope that helps and good luck next time, keep me posted!
I love wat am seeing here,d last time i tried it,d inside was thick,i didn‘t enjoy it,where did i miss it.
Hey Funmi!
I love that you love what you’re seeing here! If the inside was thick, your batter was probably too thick, perhaps too much flour?
Love your website. I have tried different websites here and everything has turned out great! I will try the puff puff recipe and let you know how it goes:)
Hey Ronke!
Thanks hun, glad you’re enjoying it :) Keep me posted!
Hi yetty, ◦-†нªηк’s-◦ a bunch, good description U̶̲̥̅̊ ‘ve got on ur web page. I haven’t made puff in a longggg while, so I wasn’t sure of the recipe and procedures. ◦-†нªηк’s-◦ I have a good smelling batter here. It smells like d puff puff is already made. I’m going to deef fry to get my full round and bouncy shape.thanks
Hey Victoria!
You’re welcome! Hope it came out as good as it smelled
Cant blv it wen i made puff F☺я̩̥̊ d first time…wt d help of U̶̲̥̅̊я̅ recipe of course.my son was alwys cying F☺я̩̥̊ puff puff α̲̅πϑ it really broke my hrt dt i cdnt make it since i don’t lik buying frm puff vendors…i evn made buns.thank U̶̲̥̅̊ F☺я̩̥̊ bringin smile to his face….wish i cd send U̶̲̥̅̊ a pics of him munching it,he looked sooo hapi n he kept tellin hs frnds “mumy made puff puff” ⌣»̶·̵̭̌·̵̭̌✽̤̈̊Ŧђɑ̤̥̈̊п̥̥̲̣̣̣kƨ̣̣̣̇̇̇̇✽̤̈̊·̵̭̌·̵̭̌«̶⌣soooooo much.muah!!!!
Hey Lateefah!
Yay for you! Congrats on your success ;) Make it again and take photos of your son eating, I’d love to see! You’re most welcome