These cake-like glazed vegan donuts need just 10 ingredients and under 30 minutes to be made! Perfect for breakfast or dessert!
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I know I don’t usually share a lot about me, but I will say that each time in my life I gave up dairy (first two times were for my daughters’ reactions and then finally when we went plant based), the thing I missed the most were donuts. These glazed vegan donuts are so simple and satisfy every craving I missed.
Donuts can completely be a comfort food, especially when you have then fresh out of the oven. There’s a reason that Krispy Kreme lights up that sign when they have hot ones ready and everyone runs towards them.
They are soft and almost melt in your mouth they are so delicious. These glazed vegan donuts are no exception. They are completely:
- vegan/plant based
- dairy free
- egg free
- can be Top 8 Free
Vegan Donut Recipe Ingredients
There are two “recipes” in this post; however, even with both you only need 10 ingredients. Y’all know we like easy recipes! The ingredients that you need to make these easy vegan donuts are:
- apple cider vinegar
- dairy free milk (we use almond milk)
- flour
- brown sugar
- baking powder
- salt
- unsweetened applesauce
- dairy free butter
- vanilla
- powdered sugar
That’s it! That’s all you need for the perfect vegan donuts.
How to make Dairy Free Donuts
- To start making this recipe, you need to make vegan buttermilk. You do that by combining apple cider vinegar and the dairy free milk of your choice. When you let the combination sit together for 10 minutes, it curdles like you see with traditional buttermilk.
- Then, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease two donut pans. We used these donut pans for the donuts that you see in our photos.
- Add all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.
- Then, once 10 minutes has passed and your buttermilk is ready, add in the wet ingredients and mix well.
- Add into your greased donuts pans, a little over half full.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cooked thoroughly.
- While waiting for donuts to bake, make your glaze. Whisk together your melted butter, milk and salt. Add in a little powdered sugar at a time, whisking after each addition until a smooth glaze forms.
- Remove donuts from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before topping with the glaze. Serve immediately or let cool to room temperature and store in an air tight container.
Can I make these vegan donuts Top 8 Allergen friendly?
There is flour, dairy free milk, and dairy free butter in this recipe. If you are completely Top 8 Free, use an alternative dairy free milk like oat or hemp for this recipe. Otherwise, just use one that works for your family.
For the dairy free butter, you want one that is also soy free. We prefer Earth Balance soy free in the red tub!
While we have not tried gluten free flour with this recipe, we would recommend using King Arthur Measure for Measure flour. We have had the best results with this flour.
Tips for Vegan Donuts
- Don’t Overmix – one of the biggest things we hear is that they don’t seem as light of fluffy as the photos. The biggest reason for this is overmixing. Mix just until combined and no dry ingredients remain.
- Make it Chocolate: Love chocolate? Try making our baked chocolate vegan donuts next!
- No donut pan? No problem! Use a greased muffin pan (preferably the jumbo one if you have it) and pour your batter about ½ inch high. Bake until cooked through and then cut a center hole out of the donut.
- Gluten Free: Because these are baked cake donuts, you can swap these for an all-purpose or 1 to 1 gluten free mix. You’ll want to make sure there is xanthan gum in the mix.
- To make oil free: add 2 tablespoon more applesauce. Note that this will make your doughnuts more dense.
How to Store These Vegan Donuts
Not that they will actually last as long as this, but these vegan glazed doughnuts will last for up to a week when stored in an air tight container.
They can be stored at room temperature and do not need to be refrigerated.
Pin these Glazed Vegan Donuts for later:
What other vegan breakfast recipes should I try?
Once you try these delicious vegan donuts, you may be looking for other amazing vegan breakfast ideas that you should try. We are sharing both sweet and savory dairy free breakfast ideas.
- Vegan Banana Pancakes
- Vegan Sausage Biscuits and Gravy
- Super Soft Vegan Blueberry Muffins
- Perfect Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
- Vegan Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuits
- Dairy Free French Toast
- Dairy Free Banana Bread
All the recipes above are vegan, dairy free, and egg free. Some can be made Top 8 Allergy Friendly.
🥳 Get the Full Recipe
Vegan Donuts
Ingredients
For the Vegan Donuts
- ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup unsweetened dairy free milk (we used almond milk, see post for allergy notes)
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce
- 2 tablespoon vegan butter, melted
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
Glaze for Donuts
- 2 tablespoon dairy free milk (maybe need 1 more tablespoon depending on batter consistency)
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 tablespoon vegan butter, melted
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
For the Vegan Donuts
- Combine the apple cider vinegar and milk in a bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two donut pans. We used these donut pans .
- Add all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.
- Once buttermilk is ready, add in the wet ingredients in with dry and mix well.
- Pour batter into greased pans, a little over half full.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cooked thoroughly.
- Make glaze while you wait.
For the Glaze
- Whisk together your melted butter, milk and salt.
- Add in a little powdered sugar at a time, whisking after each addition until a smooth glaze forms.
- Remove donuts from oven. Let cool for 10 minutes. Dip donuts into the glaze.
- Serve immediately or let cool completely and store in an air tight container.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
This post was originally published on 6/7/2019 and edited on 2/6/2020.
Can you fry these?
Hi! You can’t fry this recipe as this is a cake batter style donut. You can use this recipe though for frying: https://makeitdairyfree.com/fried-vegan-glazed-donuts/
These donuts are amazing!!! My daughter gives them a 10 out 10!!! Bussin’ fye!!!
As a mom of a 10 and 12 year old, I know how important that “bussin’ fye” is LOL!
Can fry these
You can’t fry these. If you’d like a fried donut, check out this one: https://makeitdairyfree.com/fried-vegan-glazed-donuts/
These turned out terrible for me. I think it was the applesauce. I made donut holes and it took 10 minutes per batch. And they deflated once I took them out of the donut hole maker to cool. I made a batch with a different recipe and they turned out wonderful. It called for baking soda also . Maybe it was me , idk but this did not work for me. Sorry,
Hi Marianne, I’m sorry to hear that was your experience. We have never had them deflate and made these a bunch of times. Did you happen to make any changes to the recipe when you were making?
Can I use grapeseed oil if I’m out of vegan butter at the moment?
yes, but you won’t get that buttery richness that comes with the vegan butter if that makes sense
How long would the batter stay good in the fridge for?
We love these donuts in our family! Some of them say they’re better than our local donut chain’s! 😋
Simple and delicious! Will definitely make again soon!
yay!