Soft, cakey donuts made in less than 25 minutes that pack a whopping 10 grams of protein! These easy protein donuts are great as part of a grab-and-go breakfast or post-workout snack!
These easy chocolate protein donuts are a staple in my house! I’ve talked before about how I meal prep donuts (really!) for an easy grab-and-go morning or post-workout snack. And while you might think that wouldn’t give your body much nourishment… think again!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Protein donuts are fabulous to eat on their own, crush up and put into yogurt, or added on top of a smoothie like my fave banana protein shake or cranberry pie smoothie. They give your body protein to help keep it full & satisfied as well as carbs for energy. Add nut butter on top (so delish) and ya hit all of the macronutrients your body loves!
And? Homemade baked protein donuts are so EASY! I have tons of other recipes for them because I love them so much. A couple of my other faves are my baked whole wheat donuts, blueberry cake donuts and banana donuts!
Ingredients Needed
- Protein Powder: Depending on what protein powder you use you may need to adjust the amount of liquid used in this recipe (See FAQ section below for more notes)
- Melted Butter: Be sure that your butter has cooled to room temperature before adding it in. If not you’ll essentially cook your eggs before baking them… not good!
- You’ll also need just a few pantry basics like flour, baking powder, cocoa, vanilla, milk, salt, sugar, and an egg!
For the Frosting
The chocolate frosting with sprinkles is totally optional, but adds a nice touch to these yummy homemade protein donuts!
- Protein Powder: we use some of the protein powder to make a delicious frosting. I like to use chocolate protein powder to add a great chocolate-y flavor!
- Sprinkles: For an extra fun pop of color!
- You will also need powdered sugar, butter, and some milk.
How To Make Protein Donuts
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a donut pan with non-stick spray.
In a medium sized bowl combine protein powder, flour, cocoa, baking powder & salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl or stand mixer combine egg, butter, sugar, milk and vanilla.
Slowly add in the flour mixture to your egg mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Fill your prepared donut pan with your chocolate protein donut batter and bake for ~10 minutes.
Donuts are done when they’re golden brown and a toothpick when inserted comes out clean.
Make sure to let your donuts cool completely before moving on to the frosting step!
Frosting Your Protein Donuts
Add all of your frosting ingredients to a small bowl, mix well to combine.
If your frosting isn’t runny enough to dip your donuts into, add the bowl to the microwave and heat for 10-15 minutes to get a runnier consistency. If this doesn’t work, add ¼ teaspoon at a time to thin your glaze until it’s perfectly dipable!
Dip your donuts top side down, then add sprinkles! Repeat with the remaining donuts and allow your glaze to harden slightly before serving.
Frosting Alternatives
If you prefer a “naked” donut, you can easily leave out the frosting portion of these protein donuts! You can also substitute it for another glaze or frosting of your choice.
Check out the basic glaze recipe in my baked whole wheat donut recipe, the cream cheese frosting in my recipe for pumpkin baked donuts, plain powdered sugar, or top with some of my fav 2 ingredient no added sugar blueberry jam!
FAQ’s for Protein Donuts
You can use all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, or 1:1 gluten free flours. I wouldn’t recommend alternative flours such as almond or coconut flour.
I use Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey, personally. Every protein powder tends to cause the batter to have a little bit of a different consistency, and with plant based ones I find that I need to add more liquid. If this happens to you just add an extra splash of liquid.
You can really use any flavor protein. Chocolate will give you the most chocolate-y flavor, obviously. However, I’ve used vanilla before and the cocoa powder still gives it a good chocolate taste!
For the best results, store your protein donuts on the counter in a container or a bag (I love Stasher Bags for storage!) for up to 5-7 days! Alternatively, you can store them in plastic bags in the freezer for 2-3 months.
Protein donuts are made with a main component of protein powder. The protein powder may be whey based, or it may be plant based! There are also basic baking components such as flour, eggs, and vanilla. The rest of the ingredients vary greatly based on the recipe, flavor, and type of protein donut.
Expert Tips
- To easily fill the donut pan put your batter into a plastic sandwich bag, snip off the bottom corner and essentially “pipe” your batter into the donut pan.
- To make filling the plastic sandwich bag even easier I like to stretch it over a tall glass (the bottom corner will be in the glass- see photos below) and put the batter right into the corner. This really cuts down on mess and fumbling with the bag!
- For powdered sugar protein donuts: Take 1/4 cup of butter and melt it in the microwave. Allow the butter to cool to room temperature and either dip your protein donuts into them or spread it on using a brush. Roll your buttered protein donuts into ~1/2 cup powdered sugar and then take a big ol’ bite! I’d recommend doing this the day of or a maximum of 1 day prior to when you’ll eat them.
More Protein Packed 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
Chocolate Protein Donuts
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup chocolate protein powder I have used both of these protein powders with great results; Vital Proteins Vital Performance and Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup milk I used 2% but any percentage will do!
- 2 tbsp melted butter fully cooled!
- 1 tsp vanilla
FROSTING
- 2 tbsp melted better nice and hot!
- 3 tbsp chocolate protein powder I have used both of these protein powders with great results; Vital Proteins Vital Performance and Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey
- 3 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp milk I used 2 %
- Sprinkles for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a donut pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine flour, protein powder, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer combine egg, sugar, milk, butter and vanilla.
- Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix until well combined.
- Fill your prepared donut pan with your donut batter. This should make ~6 donuts.
- Bake for 12 minutes or until a toothpick when inserted comes out clean.
- Allow donuts to cool fully before frosting.
- To make the frosting combine all frosting ingredients in a small bowl. Your frosting should be runny enough to dip your donuts into it for a nice glaze. If it is not, pop it in the microwave to melt the butter a bit and it should get runniner. If it does not then you can add ¼ tsp of milk at a time until you reach the desired consistency (see video in folder to see how it should look!)
- Dip your donuts top side down (The side facing UP in the donut pan faces DOWN in the frosting) then sprinkle with rainbow sprinkles. Repeat with remaining donuts. As the butter cools your frosting will begin to harden a bit! This is good.
- Enjoy!!!
Heather says
Two things… can you use almond milk in place of dairy, and what could I do if I don’t have a doughnut pan?
Colleen says
Hey! Yes you can use almond milk- it might alter the texture slightly since there is no fat in it, but it should still work =] I’d recommend using am muffin tin if you don’t have a donut pan! You’ll need to keep an eye on the time and will likely need to cook them longer but keep an eye on them!
Nada says
Jenny says
I love these donuts! I used the rich chocolate protein powder by nuzest and 1/2 whole wheat 1/2 white flour, then top with homemade almond buttercream. I also just divided it into 6 cuz I didn’t want to dirty my second donut pan and that worked fine. The batter was too thick for me to pipe so I just rolled it into balls and then pushed a hole in the middle and popped it in the pan. They were so freaking good! And so satisfying too! I didn’t think they would fill me up cuz they are so little but after just one I was content. And I definately didnt expect them to taste so good since they are “healthy,” but they were such a croud pleaser. Thanks for the recipe Colleen!
Colleen says
Thanks so much for those sweet words, Jenny! I’m so glad you loved them! This recipe is a total favorite of mine!
Julia says
I could barely stir the dough, using the 1/3 cup of milk. Using a 1/2 cup of milk yielded the same number of donuts, still yummy and was SO much easier to put in the pan. I also used slightly less sugar. Still yummy.
Colleen says
So glad they were yummy! The protein powder you use can really impact how thick it gets. I use optimum nutrition gold standard whey!
Kara C. says
Love this recipe! How could I make them a little less dry? I did use almond milk & chocolate whey protein by pure protein.
Colleen says
hey! Dryness depends on the protein powder- if yours is dry add a little more liquid!
Jessica says
Can you use a Sugar alternative?
Colleen says
I haven’t tried it! I use regular white sugar. You could try it if it’s a 1:1 conversion product but things like maple syrup or honey won’t work due to the moisture!