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 from Australia! What’s applesauce please? And are there any substitutes for it? Thanks so much.
It’s like puréed apple. You can buy it in jars and it’s usually available worldwide. If you can’t get hold of it then you can use extra melted vegan butter instead.
Hello, I’ve made tons of recipes from loving it vegan and have absolutely loved all of them! I was wondering if you could pipe these out and bake them or use any alternative way without the pan? I currently don’t have one and am super excited to try this recipe!
Hi Kili, so glad you’ve enjoyed the recipes! Have you got a muffin pan? Because these can be made in a muffin pan if you don’t have a donut try but the results will of course be a little different! Unfortunately you can’t pipe them out and just bake them as they wouldn’t hold their shape.
Super doughnuts, tasted great! I specifically asked for a doughnut tray for Christmas after seeing the chocolate ones, but started with these. Yum! Really easy too. Looking forward to making the chocolate ones next. Thanks Alison.
Awesome! So glad they worked out well. Thanks for the wonderful review! 🙂
How can I make a chocolate donut with this recipe?
Hi Miriam, check out our recipe for vegan chocolate donuts. 🙂
Wow. 5 stars. incredibly simple and delicious. I made the cinnamon sugar version. Made it, and cleaned it up in under 30 minutes, including the topping. What a quick, but super delicious snack.
I thought the batter was a little thick, but I trusted it. I thought there was not quite enough batter, but I trusted it. I’m thankful for trust hahaha. so good.
Yay! Yes I love how quick and easy these are, and so glad you trusted the recipe and that it worked out great! Thanks for the wonderful review. 🙂
Wow! Thanks for this recipe!! This one didn’t work on cassava flour, but then I tried it again and use another gluten free flour and comes out perfect!
So happy to hear it worked out great in the end! Thanks for the awesome review. 🙂
I made the donuts today, they taste delicious but the are very crispy in the bottom. Are they supposed to be like that?
Hi Clo, I find that if I am a bit too heavy with the non-stick spray then they get the crispy bottom. Not sure if that applies but if it does you can just back off a little on how much non-stick spray you use on your donut tray and that should solve that issue.
Thanks for these vegan delicacies! I made these today on National Doughnut Day testing it for a friend’s wedding reception coming in December. The batter was a bit thick so I added 1/4 c. boiled cider. I used coconut oil instead of the vegan butter and I used coconut cream instead of the almond milk because I had it. Yum! It would increase the calorie content, but coconut milk would work, too.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the great review Hellen. 🙂
Hey can I use almond flour instead of unbleached flour?
Hi there! I don’t think that would work at all, but if you want them gluten-free then a gluten-free all purpose baking blend is going to work best. 🙂
Hi, just wondering if i can use anything like coconut oil instead of vegan butter since zi don’t have any at the moment
Hi Caroline, yes you can use coconut oil, this is listed in the notes. 🙂
Thanks you Alison for sending me this donut that I requested. I will probably make them this week.
Awesome Claudia, hope you enjoy them! 🙂
Just made a batch and love them!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Nina! 🙂
This recipe was amazing. I can’t bake but I did it and it’s so soft and yummy my family loved it. Thank you so much.
So glad you liked it! Thanks so much for the wonderful review. 🙂
Made this recipe few days ago and it was pretty good, it actually made 12 donuts and not 6 – that’s great!
The only thing that we didn’t like is the strong cinnamon & nutmeg flavor. Also it was a bit too sweet.
Made it again today, half the sugar no cinnamon and no nutmeg and it was PERFECT!
I used ENJOY LIFE rice milk chocolate for half and KING DAVID white chocolate for the other half (for the white chocolate I add few teaspoons of coconut milk so it won’t get to firm and crunchy).
Everyone loved it
I wish I could upload a picture…
Hi there! Thanks for sharing your adjustments, so glad you enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
Love these donuts, light and airy and perfectly sweet.
Thanks for the wonderful review! xo
Made these for my kids (my 2 year old has a ton of food allergies) and they loved them. So did I! This was my son’s first donut so thank you so much for sharing this easy recipe. The only substitution I made was that I used Hemp milk instead of soy milk. Will be making these again!
Hi Ashlie, I’m so happy they were a success, thanks so much for posting and the awesome review. 🙂
Dear Alison,
I would really like to make these someday soon!
Little question, in the Netherlands we have something called appelmoes, i think it’s kind of the same as applesauce.
It’s basically Apples cooked with with lemon, water, sugar and sometimes cinnamon (depends on the dish we serve it with). Do you think it’s the same as the applesauce or do i need to make it ? Can you tell me how to make it your way if needed? 🙂
Thank you in advance!
Hi Kristel, I think it’s the same thing, or in any case would work the same way. I don’t make the applesauce myself, I just use a store-bought option, I am sure it will work fine with the product you get there. All the best! 🙂
I made some today and they both super easy to make and delicious! Thank you so much for this awesome recipe.
I made one full batch with the cinnamon sugar topping, and half a batch with GF plain flour as a substitute. The ‘normal’ ones tasted better for me, but my celiac dad certainly appreciated the GF donuts! Halving the recipe worked pretty well though.
Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, thanks for sharing Sophia. 🙂