The best vegan donuts! Light and fluffy 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.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together.
- Add soy milk, vanilla extract, applesauce and vegan butter (or coconut oil) and mix into a batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between the donut partitions on your donut trays (sprayed with non-stick spray).
- Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes.
- Let them cool for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before adding your toppings.
- Top with melted vegan chocolate and sprinkles OR brush with melted vegan butter and then dip in cinnamon sugar.
Baker’s Tips
- Use a piping bag. The only tricky thing making these donuts 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.
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.
Vegan Donuts FAQ
They should be lightly browned on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the donuts should come out clean.
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
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Baked Vegan Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups All Purpose Flour (188g)
- ¾ cup White Granulated Sugar (150g)
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ¾ cup Soy Milk (180ml) or other non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tablespoons Applesauce
- 5 Tablespoons Vegan Butter Melted
For Chocolate Topping:
- 1 cup Vegan Chocolate Chips (175g)
- Sprinkles
For Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
- 2 Tablespoons Vegan Butter Melted
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar (50g)
- 1 teaspoon 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.
Video
Notes
- Weigh your flour for the most accurate results or use the spoon and level method: spoon the flour into your measuring jug and then level off the top with a knife.
- 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.
- This recipe was first published in 2016 and updated in 2019 with new photos and clearer instructions.
Hi Alison! When I first found this recipe in 2020 it was my GO-TO. Everybody, including non-vegans, loved them!! I would make them multiple times a month because they are just so dang good!! Within the last few months or so I have tried to make these six different times, following the exact recipe as I always had, and they are just not the same as they used to be. I can tell the batter is extremely thick and when they come out of the oven they don’t taste as good as they used too. I have even tried buying new flour, sugar, baking powder, apple sauce, etc. but it doesn’t seem to fix my problem. I can’t quite figure out what is drastically changing my results as my measurements are correct. Is there any chance the recipe has changed since 2020? I know my recent results are likely due to user error on my part but dang, I am so bummed!!!
Hi Jen, the recipe has not changed at all since 2019 when it was updated. So that can’t be it. We also make this often and it definitely comes out great, so I’m not sure at all but can understand that you’re bummed it’s not working out right now. Have you by any chance got a new oven or something like that? A new oven can often mess things up until you get used to it, I highly recommend an oven thermometer it has saved me through a few house moves and different ovens!
These are so good!
Made these tonight and they were perfect! I didn’t have vegan butter, so I substituted vegetable oil. We will be making these over and over!
So glad it was a success Cassandra! Thanks so much for the great review!
I don’t have easy access to apple sauce, can I use mashed banana instead or rather make my own apple sauce?
Sure, either of those options will work great.
Absolutely delicious, and you’d never know they’re vegan. A simple sugar topping also works great.
Tasty and moist. I lessened the sugar the third time I made since I planned to frost instead of glaze. I would prefer they be more dense though. My daughter said they are like donut shaped cupcakes. If they were more dense they’d be like a donut consistency. Going to experiment a bit more to see if I can achieve that. Very nice recipe though.
I used bread flour and brown sugar and cooked them a bit longer. Turned out great.
Thank you!
We just made these—and while very yummy, they fell apart. Any suggestions?
Hi Elizabeth, I’m not sure, did you make any substitutions on the flour?
I’ve made these three times and two of the times they’ve fallen apart on me too. No flour substitutions and used a digit scale for measuring. Still tasted yummy as a trifle instead!
Hi April, I haven’t got any idea in that case of why that may be. It hasn’t happened in our testing. Glad they still worked out well for trifle though!
This is my first attempt. I substituted almond flour and used maple syrup instead of sugar. The taste was good but they crumbled. Also used the coconut oil. I may have put too much. I am going to try to perfect this recipe because it’s good. Also so you oil the doughnut pan?
Hi Elizabeth, almond flour isn’t a good substitute for all purpose flour. If you want a gluten free version then a gluten free all purpose blend is going to be the best option. Also maple syrup, being a wet ingredient, doesn’t make a perfect swap for granulated sugar. You could try something like maple sugar or coconut sugar if you want another option. All the best! 🙂
Making a batch as I type this and they look and smell so good!
Do these freeze well?
Yes they freeze well.
Can I use avocado oil instead of vegan butter??
Avocado oil doesn’t usually work well in baking.
Not entirely correct. I used avocado oil today to bake these and they came out just as you predicted, golden brown and delicious.