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These easy pumpkin donuts are naturally gluten-free and sweetened with coconut sugar, for a healthier way to satisfy your pumpkin spice cravings. You can make them in just about 30 minutes!
You have my son to thank for this recipe, as he’s been asking me to make “healthy donuts” for the last two weeks.
We’ve been explaining to him how sometimes certain foods don’t make us feel very good when we eat them too often (like deep-fried donuts), so it’s important to eat them in moderation, with plenty of healthy food, too.
His solution is that I just need to make healthy donuts so he can eat them more often. Ha!
These healthy pumpkin donuts are made with gluten-free oat flour, pumpkin puree, coconut sugar, and coconut oil, for a naturally-sweetened treat. The batter can be stirred together in just minutes. (If you’re looking for a grain-free donut, try my Paleo Pumpkin Spice Donut recipe instead.)
I used to be intimidated by making donuts, but they’re almost as fast as making muffins– the extra step is simply pouring the batter into a piping bag of some sort (I simply use a plastic bag with a tip cut-off) so you can pipe the batter into the donut mold easily.
These donuts are lower in sugar than the kind you might buy at a shop, and their texture is a little lighter, too, since I tried to keep the use of oil to a minimum. Think of them as a cross between a muffin and a donut.
If you want a sweeter treat, you can sprinkle the tops with extra coconut sugar or even drizzle some Maple Pecan Glaze over the top for something a little more decadent. I hope you’ll enjoy them!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup gluten-free oat flour
- 1/2` cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted), plus extra for greasing
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and generously grease a donut pan with melted coconut oil.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the oat flour, pumpkin, sugar, melted oil, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, baking soda, vanilla, and vinegar and stir well until a uniform batter is formed.
- Transfer the batter to a large plastic bag (or a piping bag for frosting) and cut off one of the bottom corners so that you can pipe the batter into the donut pan. Pipe the batter into the 6 donut wells-- this should use all of the batter completely.
- Bake the donuts until they are lightly golden and feel firm to the touch, about 18 to 20 minutes. Cool for at least 15 minutes before removing them from the pan.
- I think the donuts are easiest to remove by twisting them clockwise in the pan, to help loosen them. Then place a wire wrack or plate on top of the pan and flip it over so that the loosened donuts will release from the pan and fall on to the plate.
- Top with extra coconut sugar or Maple Pecan Glaze and serve. Leftover donuts can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Video
Nutrition
Calories per donut: 191, Fat: 10g, Carbohydrates: 23g, Fiber: 1g, Protein: 2g
Recipe Notes:
- If you’d like a sweeter donut, I think you could add an extra 1/4 cup of coconut sugar into the batter without changing anything else. I’m not sure how other sweeteners, like maple syrup or honey would work, so please leave a comment below if you try those out. I’d guess maybe 1/3 cup of honey would produce similar results?
- The temperature of your ingredients will affect the thickness of your batter, but the final results will be the same either way. In the picture above, my pumpkin puree had been chilled in the fridge, so the batter was thicker than it would have been if the pumpkin puree had been warm or at room temperature. Rest assured that the results are perfectly fine either way!
- I have a feeling applesauce or mashed banana could be used instead of the pumpkin puree with delicious results. Let us know in the comments below if you try something different!
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Reader Feedback: Do you have a favorite donut flavor? Our local donut shop makes an Apple Spice Donut that melts-in-your-mouth, so that’s next on my to-do list!
This recipe is amazing!! I couldn’t resist; I almost ate all the donuts.. Thank you for sharing this recipe Megan, it’s definitely a winner.
Hi Megan
What do you use to grease the donut pan?
I use the same pan and have tried coconut oil, butter,and ghee but my doughnuts always stick (especially if they are gluten free).
thank you
These are fabulous. Made them with oat flour and then also another batch replacing it with 1/2 c buckwheat flour and 1/4 c sorghum for my son who can’t have oats. Couldn’t tell a difference. First thing the kids asked for this morning. Thanks once again for a new family favourite. You’ve made real food a joy to make and feed my young family.
Is the 1/4 cup coconut oil only for greasing the pan?
Nope, I just forgot to add that ingredient in the instructions! Thanks for catching that– I just updated it. 🙂
Would it work to use just plains GF flour and not oat GF flour? Look so yummy! Thanks so!
These look delicious. I don’t have a doughnut pan. Is it worth experimenting with mini muffins? Do you think the dough would work as a muffin?
Yes, I think they’d make awesome muffins! The mini muffins might bake around the same amount of time the donuts would… I think a standard muffin tin would have to be baked a bit longer.
I do n have a donut pan either but i have used the pan with 12 mini bundt cakes and it worked great! Tasty and pretty and i didn’t have to buy a new pan.
I used a mini muffin pan and your awesome maple pecan glaze. They baked perfectly in the 18 minutes. So easy! My kids will love making these next time. Thank you!
Wow – they look delicious and such a simple recipe! I don’t have a donut pan. I wonder if I could make them on a cookie sheet (with some coconut oil wiped on it to prevent sticking). I thought I might be able to form circles of the “dough”. Any thoughts on this?
They might spread more into muffin tops on a cookie sheet, so you might try using a muffin pan instead and extend the baking time a bit.
i don’t have a donut pan either, so when I made donuts in the past in the oven on a baking sheet, I would make aluminum foil rings, then put dough inside the rings, and then put an aluminum foil ball in the middle of each to form the donut shape.
Hi Megan! These look amazing! I don’t keep coconut sugar around all the time, so could I use brown sugar or Morena sugar instead? Any idea of the amount I would need for similar sweetness? Thank you for all your amazing recipes! I’m gearing up to try lots of your soups as the weather cools. 😊
Yes, I think brown sugar would work just fine in this recipe. If you use a 1/2 cup like the recipe calls for, they’ll probably taste a little more like a “real” donut, which could be a good thing! Or, you could try reducing it to 1/3 cup for a less sweet option.
These look amazing.
Any thoughts on cooking them as if they were waffles?
I know they would be dense but then I don’t have to buy a new baking pan 🙂
They’d probably be delicious as waffles! Just make sure you grease the waffle maker really well.
Do you think it would be ok to sub gluten-free flour for the gf oat flour?
I’ve never tried it that way, so I have no idea. I imagine they will have a different texture with GF flour… but they will probably still be tasty!
I had the same question. Have you tried it yourself and if so how did turn it?
Can I pulse steel cut oats in my Vitamix to create the oat flour? Is it the same as buying a bag?
Yes, as long as you have a high-speed blender you should be able to make your own oat flour from steel cut oats. I have tips on that at the bottom of this post: https://detoxinista.com/oat-flour/