• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Culinary Cool

Cooking Up Something Delicious

  • Home
  • Start Here!
  • Recipes
  • Bucket List
  • Contact
Home » Travel » Best Beignets in New Orleans

Best Beignets in New Orleans

Published on May 3, 2017 by Nicole Last Modified on May 3, 2017 / Leave a Comment

Pin
Share
Post

Beignets (pronounced “Ben-yay”) are a beloved New Orleans specialty – soft pillows of fried dough, generously topped with powdered sugar.  Everyone has a favourite and it’s a hotly contended issue.   So let me preface this article by saying – this is purely my opinion, based on the method of eating as many beignets as humanly possible within 3 days.  Hungry or not, I scarfed plate after hot, sticky plate of fried dough.   All for you.  In the name of science.

Naturally, it was impossible to eat all the beignets in New Orleans in 3 days, so I focused on, what I have found to be, the three must-visit places.

3. Café Beignet

Café Beignet has three locations in the French Quarter, and I visited the one on Royal Street.  This location has an adjacent courtyard with trees providing plenty of shade.  I loved the ambience of this location – French bistro meets tropical garden with heart-shaped chairs.  Also worth noting (since they seem to be very hard to come by), the washroom was clean.  Café du Monde washroom is sketchy AF (you feel like you’re walking into the kitchen of the restaurant) and it’s a little rough around the edges.

Best Beignets in New Orleans | Culinary Cool

I’m not here for potty talk, I’m here to tell you about beignets.  The beignets at Café Beignet were slightly crispy and a bit doughier than others.  They are fairly light-handed with the powdered sugar, which was a nice change, as Café Du Monde piles it on.  Taste-wise, they ranked as my 3rd favourite.  Their coffee wasn’t anything special either.  Le sigh.  But, they have a pretty decent menu and they offer much more than just beignets and coffee.

Best Beignets in New Orleans | Culinary Cool

2. Café Du Monde

So listen, Café Du Monde is a must-visit in New Orleans, no matter what – even if it’s just to say you’ve been there.  It’s rich with history, has decent coffee (I actually buy their chicory coffee at home all the time and use it for iced coffee), and is a great spot for people watching.   They’re open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, located right on Decatur, across the street from Jackson Square, which makes it one of the most convenient places to grab a beignet.  During the day it’s tough to grab a table, but when you do, be wary of powdered sugar on the chairs, and sticky tabletops.  Better yet, grab your order to go, and sit on a bench by the Mississippi – it’s quieter there, and has a nice view.

Best Beignets in New Orleans | Culinary Cool

The beignets at Café du Monde come piled high with powdered sugar – more than any other restaurant I’ve visited.  It’s here, that I’ve perfected my beignet eating technique.  First, dust off a little sugar.  Second, don’t breath while taking a bite.  If you breath out, you’re going to send powdered sugar flying.  If you breath in, you’re going to be snorting sugar, and that ain’t fun.

As for the beignets themselves, they fall middle of the pack in terms of greatness.  Part of me thinks they’re hailed as being the best because they’re so fresh.  It’s probably fair to say they crank out more beignets than any other establishment in the city.

Beignets at Café Du Monde were certainly fluffier than Café Beignet, but not by a whole lot.   But still super awesome and delicious and I will still always stop in at Café Du Monde when I’m in town.

Best Beignets in New Orleans | Culinary Cool

1. Morning Call

My favourite place in all of New Orleans to get beignets is Morning Call, located in the beautiful New Orleans City Park.  You’ll probably want to hitch a ride on the Canal Street streetcar to get here, but it’s SO WORTH IT.  The park is gorgeous, and there are a ton of things to do other than get fried dough.  It’s a quiet change of pace from the bustle of the French Quarter – and the restaurant is gorgeous, too.

Best Beignets in New Orleans | Culinary Cool

The coffee at Morning Call was the best we had of all three places.  We tired café au lait as well as the iced coffee and both were winners in my book.  We even got an iced coffee to go – so good!  The beignets are served naked, and you add as much or as little powdered sugar as you want.  Pro: You control the amount of sugar you ingest.  Con:  You make one hell of a mess.

The beignets at Morning Call were the best – slightly crispier exterior and by far the lightest and fluffiest of them all.  Turns out, this is exactly how I like ’em!

Best Beignets in New Orleans | Culinary Cool

I’d love to hear how you rank the beignets in New Orleans.  Any other great places I should check out that serves them?  How about savoury beignets?  I had a crawfish beignet at Katie’s Restaurant and it was awesome, too.

Pin
Share
Post

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: Beignets in New Orleans, Cafe Beignet, Cafe du Monde, Morning Call, New Orleans, New Orleans City Park, Tour New Orleans, What to do in New Orleans

Previous Post: « Purdys Chocolatier Giveaway
Next Post: Strawberry and Whipped Goat Cheese Trifle »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

meetnicole

I'm Nicole, a cookbook addict, cooking school instructor, travel junkie, and lover of all things sweet.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive email updates and to hear what's going on with Culinary Cool!

Popular Recipes

Stack of four thick slices of banana bread on a white plate. Plate is sitting on a pink napkin.

Spelt Banana Bread

Baked Apple Fritter Monkey bread on a white cake stand with vanilla been glaze drizzled on top.

Apple Fritter Monkey Bread

cinnamon roll covered with cream cheese icing sitting on a round plate. In the background the remaining 9 cinnamon buns sit on a cutting board.

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Rolls

Poppy seed roll, cut into several slices

Ukrainian Poppy Seed Roll

twelve muffins inside a muffin tin with glass of orange juice in the background

Turkey Bacon Breakfast Muffins

muffin tin with 12 muffins sitting in the cups

Morning Glory Bran Muffins

Certified Yummly Recipes on Yummly.com my foodgawker gallery

Archives

Categories

Footer

Let’s get Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

About Me

mmWelcome to my kitchen!

I'm Nicole, a cookbook obsessed food photographer and blogger.
I believe there's a chef in every one of us, and my goal is to create approachable recipes that anyone can make.

Read more about Nicole...

Copyright © 2025 Culinary Cool