Fall into fall with these delicious vegan pumpkin donuts. Sweetened with maple syrup and topped with cinnamon-spiced glaze, these vegan pastries are the perfect fall sweet treat!
It's (nearly) fall and you know what that means?
It's time to grab your whisk, don your apron, and get baking! I wait all year for these few short months of autumn baking and I cannot wait to get started. This year, I'm starting with one of my favorite fall pastries of all times - vegan pumpkin donuts!
These Maple Pumpkin Donuts are a dream come true. Made with pumpkin purée, maple syrup, and the perfect spice blend then dipped into a cinnamon-spiced glaze, these sweet treats are like biting into a piece of autumn.
Recipe Video
Recommended Ingredients & Equipment
Making baked donuts is incredibly easy and satisfying. Who doesn’t love a soft and warm sweet pastry filled with herbs and dipped in the glaze? And better yet, they are so simple to master.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- All-Purpose Flour – For a gluten-free option, use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend.
- Baking Powder
- Spices – You will need cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and salt
- Pumpkin Puree - Make sure to use canned pumpkin and NOT pumpkin pie filling.
- Maple Syrup
- Oil – This recipe calls for coconut oil because it doesn’t add flavor. You can also use avocado, olive, or canola oil. If you want to eliminate the oil altogether, swap it out for the same amount of applesauce.
- Vanilla Extract
- Powdered Sugar – Check out my guide to vegan sugars and alternative sugar replacements. For a healthier sugar alternative, I recommend coconut sugar.
- Non-Dairy Milk - Any non-dairy milk will do. Note: You only need this if you are making the cinnamon glaze.
Recommended Equipment
Most importantly, you will need a couple of donuts pans. With a donut pan you can make all the baked donuts you want this fall.
It’s also nice to have is a good piping bag. When baking donuts (rather than frying) the batter is soft like cake and will need to be piped in the donut pans. You can get reusable piping bags or one-use plastic bags. Either way, they are super cheap and nice to have on hand.
In addition, you’ll need basic kitchen equipment such as a mixing bowl, utensils, and a wire cooling rack. (<<affiliate links)
Check out the full list of my recommended kitchen tools and gadgets.
How to Make Vegan Baked Donuts
Step One – Make the batter
First, mix your dry ingredients together. That's your flour, salt, and spices.
In a separate bowl whisk together your wet ingredients. That's the pumpkin, maple syrup, and coconut oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. You don’t want to over mix or your doughnut will become tough and gummy.
Don't worry about lumps - a few lumps are just fine.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.
Step Two – Bake the Donuts
The batter will be soft, so a piping bag is the best option here. If you don’t have one, you can make a makeshift piping bag by pouring your batter into a ziplock bag, cutting off the tip, and piping from there.
Fill your donut molds mostly to the top.
Bake the donuts for just about 15-18 minutes. When done the dough should spring back when gently pressed. You can also check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the donut. A clean toothpick means you're good to go!
Once the donuts are ready, pull them out of the oven. Let them rest 5 minutes before flipping them onto a wire cooling rack. Let the donuts cool completely before dipping them into your glaze or sprinkling them with cinnamon sugar.
This cooling time is necessary otherwise the donuts might crumble and the glaze will definitely melt off.
Serving And Storing
Serve donuts immediately as a morning pastry or afternoon snack. Serve with a homemade Chai Latte.
Store leftover donuts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. They can also be frozen for up to 2 months. When ready to eat, pull them out of the freezer and let them thaw at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
Tips and Tricks
- The most accurate way to measure flour is to spoon it into your measuring cup, leveling it off with the back of a knife.
- Generously spray the donut pan before piping in the batter to ensure the donuts do not stick to the pan.
- Take care not to overmix the batter. Overmixed batter becomes tough and gummy.
- For cleanest results, pipe in the batter with a piping bag.
- Let the donuts rest in the pan for 5 minutes before flipping them onto a wire cooling rack. Let donuts cool completely before dipping them in the glaze to prevent the glaze from melting or donuts from falling apart.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sure. If you would like to make any of these recipes oil-free, simply swap out the oil for applesauce at a 1:1 ratio.
Can I make this recipe gluten-free?
For sure! For gluten-free doughnuts, I recommend using a 1:1 baking blend.
I don’t have a doughnut pan. Would these work as muffins?
Yes! When making muffins, I prefer using a mini-muffin pan (<<affiliate link) for these as they do tend to be a bit sweeter than muffins.
More Vegan Pumpkin Recipes
- Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats
- Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Gluten-free Pumpkin Date Bars
More Vegan Donut Recipes
Vegan Maple Pumpkin Donuts
Ingredients
Maple Pumpkin Donuts
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 3 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
Cinnamon Spiced Glaze (optional)
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoon soy milk
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a donut pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and spice. In a separate bowl whisk together pumpkin puree, maple syrup, and melted coconut oil. Add wet to dry and mix together until the batter is evenly hydrated. Do not overmix.
- Pipe the batter into your donut pan, filling the donut molds to the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let sit for a couple of minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to let them cool completely.
- Meanwhile, mix together the ingredients for the spiced glaze. Dip cooled donuts, tops only, into the glaze and return to a cooling rack to let glaze set up. Alternatively, dip the donuts into cinnamon sugar.
Video
Notes
- Generously spray the donut pan before piping in the batter to ensure the donuts do not stick to the pan.
- Take care not to overmix the batter. Overmixed batter becomes tough and gummy.
- For cleanest results, pipe in the batter with a piping bag.
- Can I omit the oil? Sure. If you would like to make any of these recipes oil-free, simply swap out the oil for applesauce at a 1:1 ratio.
- Can I make this recipe gluten-free? For sure! For gluten-free doughnuts, I recommend using a 1:1 baking blend.
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the
Colleen M Nelson says
I had just bought a donut pan and was looking for a vegan pumpkin donut recipe. This was perfect! The donuts were delicious and disappeared quickly. They were softer than typical donuts, but as this was my first time baking donuts, that might be the difference since they aren't fried. I'm going to try making them again and experiment a little with different oils and sweeteners. It does call for a lot of maple syrup, so I'd like to see what else works well. Thanks for the recipe!!
Ann says
I just made them, but with a chocolate glaze and omg, they are so good! Thank you so much for the recipe! It wasnt hard at all following it, even though I'm from Europe. 🙂
Amber says
Yummmmm! The whole family enjoyed these! I used brown rice flour for the majority and for the 2 Tbls I used arrowroot starch and they turned out well. Too lazy to make the frosting because they smelled delicious so just put powdered sugar on top. Will definitely make these again!
Mike says
How would you recommend storing these?
Sarah says
In an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days
Julie says
Hello! This sounds wonderful, but I don't have a doughnut pan. Do you think I can shape them into doughnuts and bake them on a sheet pan?
Sarah says
No, unfortunately it’s more like a cake batter so it’s shape-able. You could make muffins with this recipe though.
SRH says
I have a soy allergy, can we substitute the soy milk for coconut milk without compromising icing recipe? BTW Thank you so much for all the vegan recipes! I have seven food allergies, and I have missed baked goods! Your recipes are so easy! Can't wait to try these donuts.
Sarah says
That should be fine.
Linda Burnett says
This is a great new recepie. Cinanamon glaze, vegan, never thought of this. I am going to try it, but it looks delicious. Thanks for sharing.
Nina Simon says
Wow this looks yummy! My mouth is watering already. Can't wait to try this!
Shelley M says
Have you tried to make these donuts gluten free?
If so, which flour did you use
Sarah says
I've made them with Bob's 1:1 Gluten-free flour mix and they turned out good.
Sara K says
I made these for the first time just now. They were easy to make and delicious!!!!!!
Christy says
I've made these several times, always in a mini-muffin tin because I don't have a donut pan 🙁 They've always turned out really yummy. Today was the first time I made the glaze (usually I shake in a paper bag with cinnamon and sugar). The amount of nutmeg in the glaze is extremely over powering. I would suggest a pinch instead of leaving it out altogether. Or, maybe trading for a pinch of cardamom.
Erin @ Texanerin Baking says
I made these yesterday with a few changes and they're SO good! I was a little doubtful when they came out of the oven, just because the texture looked weird but I was happy to be very wrong on that one. Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
Sarah says
Thanks Erin! Glad you like them.
Miranda says
omg they were SO DELICIOUS! I ate the whole batch!!
Sarah says
I'm so glad you liked them! I have a hard time controlling myself with those doughnut too.
Stephanie says
These look awesome! Do you think almond milk would work in place of soy milk?
Sarah says
oh yeah, that would be fine.
Lance says
Made them for Valenties day. When it's cold and rainy in BC, it's always autum. They were a hit. Thanks
Sarah says
Glad you liked them, Lance! It's true, here in Portland it feels like fall about 8 months out of the year too.
stephanie says
Are the donuts still good on the second and third day? Obviously they are best the day they are baked, but I'm making them for a friend and was wondering if i could get by baking them the night before.
Sarah says
They should be fine if you make them the night before. And your friend can always pop them in the oven for a couple minutes for a warm up if she wants it to taste 'just-out-of-the-oven'
Kati says
These. Are. EVERYTHING. They are unbelievably delicious and I'd like to eat them all the time. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I'll be making them for all my family and friends throughout the fall. Also, that GLAZE. Seriously yummy stuff.
Sarah says
Thanks Kati! I'm so glad you loved them. Stay tuned because I'm making more donuts later this week!
Rachael says
Any advice on making these gluten free?
Sarah says
I would look for an all purpose gluten-free flour mix (Bob's Red Mill has one) and substitute it 1:1. When it comes to making my own gf flour mixes, I'm no expert. Let me know how they turn out!