Healthy baked pumpkin donuts with glaze and full of pumpkin spice flavor. These lighter fluffy spicy donuts are ready in 30 minutes made in a donut pan or muffin tin. No yeast, no dairy, lower in calories with no oil. Full of fragrant fall baking spices!
These baked pumpkin donuts with glaze are soft and full of spices and pumpkin flavor. They use healthier ingredients than you'll find in store-bought or fried donuts, are lower in calories at about 220, and even have a refined-sugar-free option. They are also super easy to make using just one bowl and baked in a donut pan or muffin pan.
I topped them with a two-ingredient sugar glaze, but you can also dip them warm in sugar spiced with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spices.
These pumpkin donuts are lighter and lower in calories than store-bought or fried - lower in sugar, free of oil, yeast and dairy, yet still fluffy and full of pumpkin flavor thanks to pumpkin puree.
Like my 15-minute pumpkin sugar cookies, healthy pumpkin muffins with a delicious crumble, my cranberry orange muffins, and my soft spicy healthy pumpkin bread, and my creamy pumpkin spice latte, and my chocolate pumpkin fudge, these baked pumpkin donuts are yet another of my fine recipes made with pumpkin puree that make the perfect seasonal fall treat during our favorite chilly pumpkin season. Enjoy them with my favorite drinks including my easy iced coffee, my pumpkin spice latte, or even my chocolate smoothie or ice cold single serving lemonade.
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Why You'll Love These
Perfect spicy donuts for breakfast. Make these healthier soft baked pumpkin donuts for a spicy breakfast treat. They aren't a bad choice with 6 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, and all that nutrition from the pumpkin.
Perfect for all diets. These donuts are made with oat flour - although all-purpose works too - and other naturally dairy free and gluten free ingredients. Oat flour is made from oats and thus is nutritionally beneficial, especially for gut health.
No deep fryer needed. Like my chocolate frosted donuts, you only need a donut pan or a muffin pan to make these pumpkin donuts, no deep fryer or no oil needed.
Cost effective donuts. These baked pumpkin spice donuts are made with inexpensive pantry ingredients and are much less expensive than buying baked pumpkin donuts at baked shops or coffee shops.
Ingredients
Oat flour. Or use all-purpose flour. Oat flour can be purchased, or use your blender to process rolled oats into flour.
Pumpkin puree. Buy canned pumpkin puree, and not pumpkin PIE puree.
Sugar. I use organic cane sugar because it tastes better. You can also use coconut sugar for a refined sugar free donut.
Additional. Milk, pumpkin pie spices, baking powder, vanilla and salt.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions
Pumpkin puree. Instead feel free to use canned sweet potato puree or even butternut squash puree.
Flour. Instead of oat flour, you can use all-purpose but reduce the amount by ¼ cup.
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Sugar. Instead of cane sugar, you can use coconut sugar which resembles brown sugar yet is refined sugar free - the donut texture will be slightly heavier.
Step by Step Instructions
For more detail, visit the complete recipe at the bottom of this post, but here are general steps.
Step 1. Add wet ingredients. Into a mixing bowl, add the pumpkin puree, sugar, milk and vanilla. Then add dry ingredients right on top, no need to mix first in a separate bowl.
Step 2. Mix up batter. Blend into a smooth batter. Don't mix for more than a minute to prevent the flour from releasing gluten and making the donuts tough in texture.
Step 3. Grease the donut pan wells with a spray or rub with coconut oil. Spoon or pour the batter into each donut well, making sure the batter falls just below the rim.
Step 4. Bake the donuts, and cool in the pan before frosting. Make the glaze by stirring together sugar and milk and dip each donut.
Step 5. Make white sugar glaze. Whisk together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in a bowl with a spoon. Dip one side of each donut, allow excess to drip off, and set non-glazed side down on a cool rack. Allow glaze to set, about 10 minutes or less. For a more translucent glaze, mix in more milk.
Recipe Tips
For ease in filling donut wells, pour the batter into a frosting bag or a plastic sandwich bag, snip the tip and squeeze the batter into each well.
Measure the flour carefully. Use the fluff and level method. Fluff up the flour in the bag, spoon into measuring cups, and level off with a knife.
Pumpkin pie spices. You can use a store-bought mix of pumpkin pie spice, or make your own with a mix of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves. I have recipes for all the seasonal mixes, including pumpkin pie spice.
Cool donuts before glazing. When donuts are cooled, transfer them to a wire rack and wait until they are completely cool before dipping them in the glaze or else the glaze will soak into the donut.
Variations
Make donuts in a muffin pan. Grease a muffin tin as you would a donut pan. Do not use paper liners. Fill each muffin well about two-thirds full. Bake 25 minutes at 375 F, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool, and dip in a glaze.
Make donut holes. Use a mini muffin pan. Grease the pan, divide the batter between 12 wells. Bake 15 minutes at 375 F. Brush with melted butter and roll in cinnamon sugar (1 teaspoon cinnamon in ¼ cup cane sugar) .
FAQS
Foods such as donuts are healthier when baked instead of fried because baking allows them to be free of oil and saturated fat.
This glaze is made of powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. For a white thick glaze, mix in only a few teaspoons of milk in 1 cup of powdered sugar. For a more translucent glaze, add as much as ⅛ cup of milk.
Baked donuts can be dry if the flour measurement is off. Either use a scale or use the fluff and level method - fluff the flour in the bag with a fork, then spoon the amount into measuring cups, and level off with a knife.
Unglazed donuts that are cool freeze well for three months. Add them to an airtight container and freeze. Defrost at room temperature and then glaze.
No. Air fryer donuts need a dough with yeast or at least self-rising flour. This recipe creates a baked pumpkin donut batter that needs to be piped into a donut mold or a muffin pan.
More Pumpkin Recipes
If you tried this baked pumpkin donuts with glaze recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
📖 Recipe
Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Glaze
Ingredients
Donuts
- 1 ¾ cup oat flour* Or all-purpose or GF baking 1 to 1 flour
- ½ cups pumpkin purée canned pumpkin
- ½ cup cane sugar
- ½ cup milk I used dairy free
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or use just cinnamon for a less fall, more year-round flavor)
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-3 teaspoon milk
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Instructions
Prep
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Grease a 6-well donut pan or cupcake pan.
Make Donuts
- Blend wet ingredients. Blend them into a smooth batter. Your goal is to be sure the sugar is dissolved, so mix with a hand mixer or a spoon for at least 1 minute or more.½ cups pumpkin purée, ½ cup cane sugar, ½ cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Add the dry ingredients. Just add the measured ingredients straight to the batter, and mix the batter to combine. Don't mix for more than a minute to prevent the flour from releasing gluten and making the donuts tough in texture.1 ¾ cup oat flour*, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 2 teaspoon baking powder, pinch salt
- Pipe or use a spoon to fill the wells to the top. My favorite way to add batter to donut wells is to pour the batter into a frosting bag or a plastic sandwich bag, snip the tip and squeeze the batter into each well.
- Bake for 20 -25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
- Cool pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Make Glaze
- Whisk together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in a bowl with a spoon. Dip one side of each donut, allow excess to drip off, and set non-glazed side down on a cool rack. Allow glaze to set, about 10 minutes or less.1 cup powdered sugar, 1-3 teaspoon milk
Store
- Store covered lightly for one day on the counter; any longer and they turn soggy. You can refrigerate them covered for a week, or freeze for a month. If you freeze, just set them on the counter to defrost for 20 minutes.
Sylph says
These donuts are a wonderful treat and are rated unanimously five stars out of five by the whole family. They are moist on the inside with a slight crispness on the outside giving them exactly what is needed so that no one misses the grease of regular donuts. Thank you, Dee!
Dee Dine says
I am so very excited this recipe worked so well! Thank you Sylph!! xx Dee