Soft & fluffy baked pumpkin donuts that are ready in just 15 minutes! Add cream cheese frosting (recipe included!) or cinnamon sugar for a sweet treat or leave them plain and enjoy with nut butter for a quick snack!
Why I Love This Recipe
Call me crazy but donuts are part of my weekly meal prep. Really! They’re SO quick to whip together and they are great to have on hand for a busy week.
These donuts are surprisingly pretty nourishing (a little gentle nutrition here!) since they’re baked not fried and are made with basic ingredients. You can even add an additional boos of nutrition by using some whole wheat flour to add a little more feel-full fiber!
If I’m having one for breakfast I like to use my 2 ingredient blueberry jam or the greek yogurt frosting from my greek yogurt banana slice cake recipe. I just FEEL better in the morning VS thick and rich cream cheese frosting or a cinnamon sugar coating. But those are FAB for a little lunch dessert (because lunch really DOES deserve dessert!)
Recipe Ingredients
- Flour. This recipe will work for all-purpose flour, wheat flour or 1:1 gluten free flour. It likely won’t work with alternative flours like almond or coconut flour. Checkout my gluten free pumpkin muffins for an almond flour specific pumpkin recipe!
Recipe Instructions
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a donut pan. Then, set it aside for later.
In a medium sized bowl combine your dry ingredients: flour, spices, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a larger bowl mix together pumpkin puree, sugar, melted butter, egg, and vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients to your pumpkin mixture and mix it up well!
Now, fill your donut pan with the batter, this baked pumpkin donuts recipe makes 6. (See expert tip section below for a hack!)
Bake your pumpkin donuts for 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are golden.
Allow your donuts to cool fully before frosting or coating in cinnamon sugar!
Instructions For Cream Cheese Frosted Pumpkin Donuts
In a medium bowl beat 4 oz of cream cheese with an electric hand mixer (could also use kitchen aide but I think hand mixers are great for small batches like this)
Then add 1 cup of powdered sugar and 2 tsp milk (You can use any type of milk you have- checkout my complete guide to dairy VS plant based milk for the difference between 9 types!)
Once it’s all combines spread that cream cheesey goodness on top of your cooled donuts and enjoy!
Instructions For Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts
Mix together 1/2 cup of sugar (I like the super chunky kind -turbinado sugar-for this!) with 1 tsp cinnamon (or pumpkin spice!) in a shallow bowl.
Take 1/4 cup of butter and melt it in the microwave. Allow the butter to cool to room temperature and either dip your donuts into them or spread it on using a brush.
Roll your buttered donuts into the cinnamon sugar mixture and then take a big ol’ bite!
Recipe FAQs
Totally fine! If you don’t have a donut pan you can use a muffin tin. Follow all of the same instructions but just check them at 10 minutes. You may need an additional minute or two of baking time!
Sure thing! Just use a mini muffin tin and cut baking time to ~8 minutes!
These muffins keep on the counter for ~5 days. I’d recommend not adding the frosting or cinnamon sugar until you’re ready to eat them.
For freezing, just pop ’em in an air tight freezer bag and they’ll keep for ~2-3 months. Again, I wouldn’t recommend adding the toppings before freezing. Do that after!
Expert Tips
Alright, listen up: my pro-tip for making pretty donuts is to use a plastic sandwich bag and “pipe” in the batter to the donut pan.
Take your batter and fill a sandwich bag. Move all of the batter down to one corner, snip off the corner and then fill the donut pan!
This honestly makes your donuts WAY prettier. But, if you just care about your baked pumpkin donuts tasting amazing (no shame in that!) you can totally just use a spoon to fill it, too!
Other Donut Recipes:
If you love this recipe, be sure to leave a star rating on the recipe card and leave a comment below!
Don’t forget to pin it on your Pinterest board for later, or tag me on IG @no.food.rules if you try the recipe and love it!
XOXO
-Colleen
15 Minute Baked Pumpkin Donuts
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour See notes for substitutions
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a donut pan. Then, set it aside for later.
- In a medium sized bowl combine your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In a larger bowl mix together pumpkin puree, sugar, melted butter, egg, and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients to your pumpkin mixture and mix it up well!
- Now, fill your donut pan with the batter, this baked pumpkin donuts recipe makes 6. (See expert tip section below for a hack!)
- Bake your pumpkin donuts for 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are golden.
- Allow your donuts to cool fully before frosting or coating in cinnamon sugar!
- *See notes for cream cheese frosting recipe + cinnamon sugar coating instructions
Notes
- Flours: You can sub whole wheat or 1:1 gluten free flour. I wouldn’t recommend alternative flours like whole wheat.
- Cream Cheese Frosting: In a medium bowl beat 4 oz of cream cheese with an electric hand mixer (could also use kitchen aide but I think hand mixers are great for small batches like this) Then add 1 cup of powdered sugar and 2 tsp milk (You can use any type of milk you have- checkout my complete guide to dairy VS plant based milk for the difference between 9 types!) Once it’s all combines spread that cream cheesy goodness on top of your cooled donuts and enjoy!
- Cinnamon Sugar Coating: Mix together 1/2 cup of sugar (I like the super chunky kind -turbinado sugar-for this!) with 1 tsp cinnamon (or pumpkin spice!) in a shallow bowl. Take 1/4 cup of butter and melt it in the microwave. Allow the butter to cool to room temperature and either dip your donuts into them or spread it on using a brush. Roll your buttered donuts into the cinnamon sugar mixture and then take a big ol’ bite!
- How To Make Baked Pumpkin Donuts Without A Donut Pan: If you don’t have a donut pan you can use a muffin tin. Follow all of the same instructions but just check them at 10 minutes. You may need an additional minute or two of baking time!
Sarah says
My kids are in love with this recipe (no frosting or cinnamon sugar needed). Always love a good recipe that disappears. My daughter ate one and then grabbed 2 more and tried to sneak away so I would t catch her.
Colleen says
I’m so glad!!
BARBARA says
This was my first attempt to make donuts. It was easy and fun. I found the recipe tasty, though next time will reduce the salt a tad as well as the pumpkin spice. The texture was perfect.