The best vegan donuts! Light and perfectly sweet and SO easy to make. Serve them covered in chocolate and sprinkles or topped with cinnamon sugar!
I always thought donuts would be difficult to make but they’re crazy easy! They’re so easy you’re going to be wanting a permanent supply of these on hand.
They bake in 15 minutes and taste just as good as a bakery.
When they’re baked, you can decide how you want to top them. We have instructions for cinnamon sugar donuts and chocolate topped donuts.
And if you love donuts, check out our vegan chocolate donuts too!
How to make Vegan Donuts
This is just a summary of the process, full instructions and measurements are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- It’s a simple mix of flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg for the dry ingredients, and then some soy milk, vanilla, applesauce and vegan butter (or coconut oil) for the wet ingredients.
- Mix it up into a batter and then divide evenly between the donut partitions on your donut trays.
- Bake for 15 minutes!
The only tricky thing is getting the batter into the donut partitions neatly. Using a spoon can be a little messy. The best way is actually to put the batter into a piping bag and pipe it. That way you can be quite neat. But a spoon also works!
You definitely want a donut tray for this one. You can get donut trays on Amazon and it’s ideal if you get two of them because it’s perfect to make 12 in one go. Since the donuts are quite small, doing only 6 at a time is a very small batch.
How Do You Know They’re Cooked?
Well, you basically want them to be lightly browned on top and for a toothpick inserted into them to come out clean, then you know they’re cooked.
Remove them from the donut tray and allow to cool completely on a wire cooling rack before dipping in melted chocolate and sprinkles or cinnamon sugar.
Baked vs Fried
While fried donuts are great of course, what’s nice about these baked donuts is that they’re much lighter.
They’re also super easy and I suspect (I haven’t tried a homemade fried donuts version yet) that they’re much easier to make than the fried variety.
Make Them Gluten-Free
If you want to make these donuts gluten-free then switch the all purpose flour for a gluten free all purpose flour blend and that should work great.
Storing and Freezing
These donuts are best when served fresh. But they can also be stored covered at room temperature for a couple of days or in the fridge for up to a week.
If you make them with chocolate on top and the weather is warm then the fridge will be the best place to store them so the chocolate doesn’t melt.
They are also freezer friendly for a couple of months. Let them thaw overnight in the fridge and warm for a few seconds in the microwave before enjoying.
More Vegan Breakfast/Desserts
- Vegan Banana Muffins
- Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
- Vegan Waffles
- Vegan Pancakes
- Vegan Banana Bread
- Vegan Crepes
Baked Vegan Donuts
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 12
- Diet: Vegan
Description
The best vegan donuts! Light and perfectly sweet and SO easy to make. Serve them covered in chocolate and sprinkles or topped with cinnamon sugar!
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (190g) All Purpose Flour*
- 3/4 cup (150g) White Sugar
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
- 3/4 cup (180ml) Soy Milk*
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tbsp Applesauce
- 5 Tbsp Vegan Butter (Melted)*
For Chocolate Topping:
- 1 cup (175g) Vegan Chocolate Chips or Chopped Vegan Chocolate
- Sprinkles
For Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
- 2 Tbsp Vegan Butter (Melted)
- 1/2 cup (50g) Sugar
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Prepare two donut trays by spraying with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Mix together.
- Add the soy milk, vanilla, applesauce and melted vegan butter and whisk in, removing any large lumps.
- Place the donut batter into a piping bag and pipe it into the donut partitions evenly or use a spoon (but it can get messy).
- Bake for 15 minutes until lightly browned on top.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before transferring the donuts to a wire cooling rack.
- Allow to cool completely before doing the topping.
- For the chocolate topping, melt the chocolate by placing it in a microwave safe bowl and heating in 30 second intervals, bringing it out to stir every 30 seconds until completely melted. Dip the donuts into the melted chocolate and then place onto a parchment lined baking tray and use a teaspoon to add the sprinkles. When all the donuts are done, move the tray into the fridge briefly for the chocolate topping to set.
- For the cinnamon sugar topping, add the sugar and cinnamon to a bowl and mix together. Melt the vegan butter and use a brush to brush the butter onto the top of a donut and then immediately dip it into the bowl of cinnamon sugar. Place the donut onto a parchment lined tray and use a teaspoon to add more cinnamon sugar to the top of the donut. Repeat for all the donuts.
Notes
*Weigh your flour for the most accurate results.
*You can switch soy milk for almond milk if you prefer.
*The melted vegan butter for the donut batter can be replaced with melted coconut oil.
*Each topping (Chocolate or Cinnamon Sugar) is enough for a full batch of 12 donuts. If you want to do half/half then reduce the quantities for the toppings.
*Nutritional information is for a full batch of 12 with chocolate topping.
*Recipe adapted from Vegan Yum Yum.
*This recipe was first published in 2016 and updated in 2019 with new photos and clearer instructions.
- Category: Breakfast, Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Donut (of 12)
- Calories: 247
- Sugar: 15.9g
- Sodium: 192mg
- Fat: 12.3g
- Saturated Fat: 5.5g
- Carbohydrates: 30.8g
- Fiber: 1.6g
- Protein: 3.4g
Keywords: vegan donuts, baked vegan donuts
Can olive oil be used instead of vegan butter and rice milk instead of soya milk ?
It should be okay, though melted coconut oil is better. Rice milk will be fine!
I have made this every weekend for the last month for my kids, 2 and 7, and they are such a hit. The first time we did it with chocolate on top, but the second time we were out of chocolate so we ate them plain and they are delicious as is so we’ve been doing them “naked donuts, momma!” ever since- i love that the kids like them even without the added chocolate bonus. Thank you so much, this is if the first time I have a go-to breakfast recipe!
★★★★★
Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing Kelly!
what can I use instead of apple sauce?
Extra vegan butter.
Thank you for this amazing recipe! I tried two other recipes and they were not good. Flavor and texture were on point. THANK YOU! 🙂
★★★★★
So happy to hear that Natalia, thanks a million!
These donuts are so tasty!! My daughter made them for me with the chocolate topping…very yummy!!
We did sub in all-purpose gluten-free flour and they seemed a bit dense. Is that normal? Is there a way to combat that?
Hi Sybil, sometimes results can be a bit variable with gluten-free flours. But as long as they were tasty that’s awesome!