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Cooking for a crowd

Jelly-Filled Sufganiyot (Hanukkah Doughnuts) for 24

These are estimates. They come from rules of thumb, not a recipe we tested at this size. Go by the recipe's own doneness cues and a thermometer, and taste as you go.

The plan

Make it 1 ½ times over: about 24 servings.

The recipe serves 16. How it cooks: fried in batches.

Pans, pots and the oven

  • The recipe's cooking 1 ½ times over, one recipe's worth after another, or about half the time with a second pan going.

Timing

  • Prep: about 55 minutes of hands-on work (the recipe's 40 minutes, times 1 ½, a little faster once you're set up).
  • Cooking: about 30 minutes for each recipe's worth, about 45 minutes in all on one pan, plus a minute or two between pans for the oil to heat back up.

Good to know

  • Fry the same amount at a time the recipe does: more drops the oil's heat and makes it greasy. Keep finished rounds on a rack over a sheet pan in a 200°F oven.

Ingredients for about 24

Every amount × 1 ½, except the marked ones: those don't grow in a straight line.

  • Dough
  • 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (375 g), plus more for rolling
  • ⅜ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 ⅛ tbsp instant yeast, 1 packet (7 g) Mix the batter in batches of no more than double the recipe: leavened batter loses lift as it waits.
  • 1 ⅛ tsp kosher salt Start with ⅞ tsp. Add 3/4 of it, then taste near the end and add the rest only if it needs it. In a big batch salt adds up fast, and broth, cans and cheese bring their own.
  • 1 ⅛ cups whole milk, warmed to 100 to 110°F
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • ⅜ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • Frying
  • 8 cups vegetable oil, for frying (about 2 quarts) Not multiplied: use what each pan or pot needs, the recipe's amount for each one, and top it up as it goes.
  • Filling
  • 1 ½ cups strawberry jam, or any smooth jam
  • ¾ cup powdered sugar, for dusting

Rounded to kitchen measures. Eggs are rounded up to whole eggs.

Keeping a big batch safe

Back to the recipe More recipes for a crowd

How we work it out

  1. How it cooks decides how it grows. Baked dishes and casseroles are made as separate batches of the recipe as written, one pan's worth at a time. Soups, stews and chili go in one bigger pot, or several. Slow cooker and pressure cooker recipes get one batch per cooker or per round. Roasts become more roasts, not a bigger one. Skillet, griddle, grill and fried recipes cook in rounds.
  2. Pans and the oven. We assume a home oven with two racks, two baking dishes or cake pans per rack, or one sheet pan per rack. More pans than that means another round in the oven.
  3. Pots. The volume comes from the weight of the ingredients (about a liter for each kilogram; dry pasta, rice and grains count 2½ times, since they soak up water), in a pot no more than 3/4 full.
  4. What we don't simply multiply. Salt: add 3/4, taste, then the rest. Cayenne, chiles and hot sauce: start with 2/3. Ground spices and dried herbs: start with 3/4 once it's 3 batches or more. Bay leaves and other whole spices: about half the extra. Baking soda, baking powder and yeast: batch by batch. Frying oil and the water for boiling: by the pot, not the recipe. A big pot of soup or stew: hold back a tenth of the liquid.
  5. Timing. Each extra batch adds about 3/4 of the recipe's prep time. A big pot takes about 3 more minutes per extra quart to come to a simmer on one burner. Meat browns in batches no bigger than the recipe's. A full oven bakes a little slower: swap and turn the pans halfway, and allow 5 to 10 minutes more.

These are our rules of thumb, not tests of each recipe at each size. The recipe's own doneness cues and a thermometer come first.