The best thing about these vegan donuts is how easy they are to make! Everyone will love these cinnamon sugar coated donuts that are baked, not fried.
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Would you like to have fresh, warm donuts in just 20 minutes? That’s all it takes to make these EASY Cinnamon Sugar Coated Vegan Donuts! Perfect to enjoy along with a nice cup of tea or coffee.
The only special tool you will need is a donut pan. I highly recommend getting one (or two) so you can make your very own baked vegan donuts at home! It’s such a fun thing to bake with kids, and pretty hard to mess up. If you don’t have a donut pan and want to make these like NOW, you can make them in a muffin pan instead! But they are so much better in a donut pan.
How do you make baked vegan donuts?
It’s so easy. First, whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then, pour in the soy milk, applesauce, melted vegan butter and vanilla. Mix until combined.
Spoon into a greased donut pan. Bake for about 9-10 minutes, until lightly golden brown on the sides.
Let the donuts cool in the pan for a few minutes, then carefully pop them out and transfer to a wire rack with a large sheet of parchment paper underneath it (to catch the mess).
Dunk them into melted vegan butter, on each side, then into cinnamon sugar. Coat with the cinnamon sugar all over, then place back on the wire rack.
Substitutions & Tips
- Oil Free: For oil free donuts, you could skip the melted vegan butter in both the batter and the coating. The cinnamon sugar still sticks but the donuts will taste much lighter.
- Gluten Free: I haven’t tested it, but a decent gluten free flour blend should work well here. Don’t try subbing all almond flour, that will not work.
- Other flours: Whole wheat pastry flour will work, or white whole wheat, perhaps even oat flour or spelt flour though I haven’t tested those.
- Don’t have applesauce? Simply substitute an extra tablespoon of melted vegan butter instead.
- Non-dairy milk: It is fine to use any non-dairy milk here in place of soy milk, such as almond, coconut or oat milk.
I think you will LOVE these donuts! They are
- Baked, not fried, so much lighter than regular donuts
- Perfectly sweet with a delicious cinnamon sugar coating
- Quick & easy to make
- So fun for kids to help bake!
- Made with easy to find ingredients
Want more vegan donut or muffin recipes?
- Vegan Chocolate Glazed Donuts
- Vegan Chocolate Donuts
- 1 Bowl Vegan Blueberry Muffins
- Easy Vegan Banana Muffins
Cinnamon Sugar Vegan Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons soy milk
- 1 tablespoon applesauce
- 1 tablespoon melted vegan butter
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Topping
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup melted vegan butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a donut pan with non-stick spray.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Pour the soy milk, applesauce, melted vegan butter (1 tablespoon) and vanilla into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix well with a large wooden spoon to combine. The batter will be similar to cake batter; not too thick but not very runny either.
- Spoon the batter into the donut pan, OR fill a large ziplock bag with the batter, cut a hole in the corner and pipe into the pan, filling about 3/4 of the way full. Be careful not to overfill, as the donuts will rise and you might lose the "hole" of your donut.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden brown. If your donut pan is larger than mine, they could take a few extra minutes to bake. Let cool for two or three minutes in the pan, then carefully transfer to a wire rack with a large piece of parchment paper beneath it (to help with the mess).
For the Topping
- Stir together the sugar and cinnamon for the topping in a medium bowl, and melt the vegan butter in a separate bowl.
- Dip the donuts into the melted butter, both sides or just one side if you prefer. Then dunk the donut into the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.
- Serve immediately, or within one day for best results. Leftover donuts will keep for two days at most, covered and at room temperature.
Video
Notes
- May substitute whole wheat pastry flour or spelt flour for the all purpose flour. I haven't tested them with gluten-free flour, but it would likely work.
- May use any kind of non-dairy milk in place of the soy milk.
- These donuts should freeze well, though I haven't tested it. Simply freeze, then thaw overnight and perhaps warm in the microwave.
- If you don't have a donut pan, consider making these as little muffins instead! Bake at the same temperature for 18-20 minutes, then coat in the melted vegan butter and cinnamon sugar.
- For oil free donuts, simply omit the melted vegan butter in the batter and the coating. The cinnamon sugar will still stick, but the donuts will taste lighter and less rich.
Nutrition
*This recipe was originally published in December of 2018, and has been reposted with new photos and some additional tips and substitutions. The recipe in unchanged.
Can you deep fry once the batter is done?? Kinda like little munchkin donuts deep fried?
I’m not sure, but maybe! I’ve never tried it, but deep frying donuts at home is certainly in my future. 🙂
Can i use an icing sugar glaze instead of butter dipping ?
Sure, you could!
These were so easy and delicious, thank you. My whole family enjoyed them. I’m thinking they will be especially perfect this fall, but really, when is there ever a bad time for cinnamon sugar donuts, lol!
You’re welcome! So glad they’re good!
I never leave comments on these recipes. But this recipe deserves a comma. These donuts were amazing. For the last couple of years I’ve been really wanted vegan donuts but I have nowhere to get them. I’ve been vegan since I was a child and I haven’t had a donut since elementary school. I’m not gonna lie he don’t he’s exactly what I remember but obviously there are many different kinds of donuts: cakey, Fried, etc. These are a little more Cakey And I recommend 10 out of 10. I put icing in the toppings and melted them all together. This is amazing. Thank you.
You’re welcome!
Wow, these are unbelievably good. At first I thought it would be too much sugar but it is just right. I tried not to eat the whole batch to myself in one sitting. They’re so easy to make as well. Thank you, Nora for your recipes. I make your dishes at least 3 times a week and then baking on weekends!
This is great to hear, thank you!
Do you wait for the donuts to cool completely before dunking in butter and coating, or do you do it when they are still warm?
I just wait a few minutes, like 2-3 then dunk them.
I don’t have donut pans or small muffin pan. How do you think a muffin top pan would do? Or what else could work? Would like to make these but don’t want to buy something I wouldn’t use often.
Sure! A muffin top pan would probably work really well. They may need to bake a little longer, but not much. I understand, and I hope you enjoy them!
Please excuse my ignorance.. But is the apple sause bought in a jar or is it freshly juiced?
No problem! Applesauce from a jar. Or just use more melted vegan butter.
Is there a substitute for granulated sugar?
I haven’t tried it with anything else, but I’m sure coconut sugar would work. The donuts will be darker though.
Can you sub regular flour with spelt flour?
I haven’t tried it, but it should work quite well yes. They will tasty a little nutty and different, but not necessarily bad.
These are amazing! I made this this morning and let my toddler help. I only got 5 donuts out of mine and had to bake them a lot longer, but they turned out great! I ended up using a mini angel food cake pan since I didn’t have a donut pan.
Glad they were amazing!
These are fantastic thanks! A little too good though, I keep eating them! We make ours with table spoon of maple syrup instead of apple sauce though!
So glad you like them!
I made these today with my 10 yo granddaughter. So delicious and easy to make. Thank you!
You’re welcome!
Hi, can I remove cinnamon from the dough?
Yes, you can.
They are good donuts, but they fell apart. It is a small recipe and only made 4 donuts in my pan. Of those, only 1 survived. The rest fell apart after cooking for 15 minutes as they were not finished in the time said.
It sounds like your donut pan is much larger than mine, I usually get 8 donuts. Since your donut size is much larger, you just need to bake them longer until they are finished. You can check that they are finished when they are golden, and there is no wet batter left. They are still fragile, so handle them carefully when you remove them from the pan.
Mine came out more like applesauce muffins. Any tips?
I’m not sure… Did you make them in a donut pan or a muffin pan? Did you dip them in melted vegan butter, then coat them with cinnamon sugar? Try not to over mix the batter, perhaps they came out dense and that’s what you mean. They should be light and fluffy, but they aren’t deep fried, yeast donuts, so they do taste a bit different than that.
Amazing! These donuts are soooooooo good! I used almond milk instead of soy milk.
I’m so glad you like them!
These are delicious!! Addictive, really. I like this recipe much better than a non-vegan one I tried. I used coconut milk instead of soy and vegan egg replacement instead of applesauce. My husband, teen daughter and I all loved them!! My doughnut pan only makes 6, so I made a few mini muffins with the leftover batter 🙂
Glad they were good!
Made them once and they were awesome. Wondering if I could completely sub out the soy milk for apple cider to make them apple cider donuts or will that completely throw off the recipe?
I bet you could, yes! I’ll have to try that sometime. Thanks!
These are the best. They were so simple to make and they had an awesome texture. I think the applesauce in these really does the trick. The whole family loved these.
That’s so great!
Excellent recipe! They freeze beautifully too. Some substitutions I do when I don’t have the right ingredients: mashed banana instead of applesauce (no one could taste the difference), neutral oil instead of butter, almond milk instead of soy. Thank you Nora!
You’re welcome! So glad they’re good!
I decided to try to make these gluten free since that is one of our dietary restrictions. Came out really good! I used King Arthur’s 1:1 GF flour. I did add the following because batter was too thick: 1tbsp applesauce, 1/2 tbsp avocado oil, 2 tbsp milk. I also only used 1/4 c sugar and oat milk instead of soy.
I used a mini donut pan and it made 12. Cooking time was about 17 mins. I decided to dip tops in some melted Enjoy Life chocolate chunks instead of cinnamon/sugar mix. Turned out nice! Will definitely make again!!
So glad to hear that!
Hi there – Unsweetened applesauce or just regular applesauce? Thanks!
Use unsweetened applesauce for best results, but regular sweetened won’t ruin the donuts either.
Ok great! Can’t wait to try this recipe 🙂 Thank you!
Can I use an egg replacer instead of the applesauce? I usually use Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer.
You probably could, I have never tested it though.
I used a vegan egg replacement and they were delicious!
Could is use almond milk as a substitute for soy milk?
Yes, that’s not a problem.
We loved these! My husband isn’t a big sweet eater and he couldn’t get enough of these donuts. So good!!
I’m so glad!
hello, how do you scoop or measure your flour accuracy? i usually weigh so just checking. thanks for sharing!
I spoon it into a measuring cup and level it off with a knife. I don’t weigh, sorry, just not how I bake!
I usually weigh ingredients as well. I use 144g for each cup of all purpose flour for most recipes (including this one). Some conversion charts say up to 150g, but I find it easier to add a few grams of flour if it seems a bit too wet, which is rarely the case.
For this recipe, I also used 125g of sugar (1 cup of sugar = 250g) and, if you want to weigh your plant milk, use 162g for the amount listed. The other ingredients are in tablespoons or teaspoons so I didn’t bother weighing them.
I don’t have a donut pan or mini muffin pan, so I used a regular sized muffin pan, using a heaped tablespoon of batter to make mini donut disks (I got 20 mini disks from one recipe). They needed 9 minutes to bake and turned out brilliantly. They rose quite a bit in the oven and were so lovely and fluffy inside.
Thanks for the tasty treat!