This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy.
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!
—
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 is one of my favorite donuts. I actually often half the sugar and add some mini chocolate chips.
I made these in a muffin tin using tinfoil balls which worked fine. I tripled the recipe. Used 2/3 cup brown sugar + 1/2 cup maple syrup instead of 1.5 cups coconut sugar which was ok. They taste good but turned out really dense. Definitely have a muffin texture. I put cinnamon sugar on top which turned out delicious. Overall I like this recipe but not sure where I went wrong with the texture.
Your pumpkin donut recipe is DEEEEELICIOUS!!! I made a couple substitutions, extra virgin olive oil instead of coconut oil, ground dates in place of the sugars and pumpkin pie spice in place of the ginger and cloves. I topped with your maple pecan glaze recipe… YUMMM!!! Super moist & full of flavor, you would never guess that these are healthy! This is a favorite for me! Thank you for sharing your recipes.
I made these in a muffin tin and they turned out really great. I doubled it to make 12.
Loved these especially with the maple glaze, where I substituted walnuts instead of pecans as that’s what I had on hand. Highly recommend the glaze. For donuts — Used half homemade oat flour plus gluten free APF as didn’t feel like grinding more oats. Worked well. Batter was thick and I used small cookie scoop to evenly distribute dough. Definitely needed to cool 15 min before removing though I was unsure as I always remove donuts soon after coming out of oven, but wait on these as instructions say. They are delicate.
I made this yesterday.My family loved it.I used unsweetened applesauce instead of coconut oil.I used 1/4 cup of sugar instead of 1/2 cup.They still came out great.This recipe is a keeper.
These are so good that I ordered a bulk supply of oat flour and canned pumpkin off amazon just to always have ingredients on hand!
To make them school/more allergy friendly, I sub white sugar for coconut (but use 1/2 the amount) and canola oil or applesauce for the coconut oil. And I’m lazy, so I just liberally add pumpkin pie spice. They always turn out beautifully. Even my preschoolers love them. Thank you!
Wow! These were AMAZING! I was honestly just hoping to get rid of my pumpkins, and came across this recipe. Definately making them again!! I must say, I was a little worried how the kids would react to the pumpkin spices, but they loved it and finished it within minutes! Oh, and i also made the maple pecan glaze to go with this! Such a treat!!! Will make these again tonight, ‘cos the kids loved it so much, thank you!!
This was Soooo good. I made it so many times that I forgot
The coconut oil in the last batch but still taste good! Thank you!
I did not find the gluten free oats flour at the local stores so i made the first batch using gluten frer all-purpose baking flour. The donuts turn out very good and yammy!!! Thanks for the recipe. Now i just discovered that it is possible to make your own gluten free oats flour by using gluten free rolled oats (old fashioned oat) and grinding it in a food processor or a fast blender. I will try that for my next batch!!!
These were so delicious and perfectly sweet on their own. I doubled the recipe making 12 regular size and 12 mini; they were devoured in about 2hrs.