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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!
Can the ginger, clove, and cinnamon be subbed for pumpkin pie spice? If so, do you think 1 tsp will be right? Thanks!
Hi i did these twice without changing anything in the recipe. They are tasty but not rising at all and not well baked in the inside even at 180c and keeping them for more than 30 min… am wondering why
Love these!
I made these this morning-delicious! Thank you for another great recipe!
These donuts are the bomb!!! Can’t stop making them, so delicious and so allergy friendly. Thank you for this recipe!!
I made these and they are delicious!
I love you recipes. Do you think you would be able to use almond flour instead?
Holy smokes these are amazing. My toddler and husband ate them almost instantly! Thanks for all your amazing recipes…they really do add value to the lives of families like ours!!
This recipe looks great and I would love to try it. Do you think we can freeze any leftovers and reheat them later?
Yes, definitely! I think they’d freeze well.
Hi Megan,
Thank you so much for this recipe. My son and I have had fun baking some of your desserts. We tried the vegan chocolate cake and also this one today. We follow the directions exactly except we used coconut flour instead of oat flower. Both recipes turned out very crumbly and actually fell apart after baking. They seemed dry- as if an ingredient was missing. We love how helpful they are and everything seem so perfect would love any suggestions so that they turn out better . I noticed someone said that they added an egg. Is that something we should try?
Coconut flour can’t be swapped for any other flour in baking– it usually requires a LOT of eggs for structure, and you usually much less coconut flour than you would any other flour. If you want to use coconut flour, I actually have a pumpkin spice donut recipe here on my website that calls for it: https://detoxinista.com/pumpkin-spice-donuts-grain-free-nut-free/
Mystery solved! Thank you! Love your recipes. Keep them coming!
Thank you for posting this recipe. My kids loved these and my husband actually did too! And normally he won’t eat any of the gluten free dairy free stuff! These were quite yummy. I added an egg, cause eggs just always seem to help things bake up nicely. I’m just getting into the gluten free dairy free paleo cooking for some diet problems our kids have. So I was happy to find this recipe! Oh also I did half coconut sugar, half honey.