Baked Pumpkin Donuts coated in cinnamon sugar! This easy homemade recipe makes 1 dozen soft, fluffy donuts that are ready in 30 minutes! One of the BEST Fall Pumpkin dessert recipes! If you love these donuts you’ll love my Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Muffins too!
Pumpkin Donut Recipe
Seriously, I love everything about this time of year. The beauty brought about by the changing of the seasons, the delicious fall produce being harvested daily, and the eager anticipation for the holiday season. And lets not forget that it’s pumpkin season and I love me some pumpkin recipes!
These Baked Pumpkin Donuts are easy to make and ready in 30 minutes. The donuts are baked (not fried) and made with simple ingredients, including a delicious cinnamon sugar coating. They’re a must have to make during the Fall season!
If you’ve never tried making baked donuts at home, you’re in for a real treat. They’re very straightforward, no complicated methods or ingredients needed. If you have an oven and a donut pan, you can easily make donuts at home.
If you don’t have a donut pan, it’s time to invest in one! You can find one at the department store, or buy it online. I’d recommend having (2) 6 donut pans, so you can easily make a dozen donuts without having to wait and reuse a pan.
Ingredients
The dough for this recipe is a simple mixture of oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree (here’s how to make homemade pumpkin puree), pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking powder, sugar, vanilla extract and flour. You’ll also need a little bit of cinnamon and extra sugar for the outside coating of the donuts.
How To Make Baked Pumpkin Donuts
The donut batter is whisked together by hand in minutes. That’s right, no mixer required. And you only need one bowl for this recipe!
Start by stirring together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking powder and vanilla until fully combined in a large mixing bowl. Now, stir in the flour and continue to mix until smooth.
You can spoon the batter into the donut pan, but sometimes that makes a big mess. Here’s my trick for no mess and easy cleanup. Once the batter is all mixed together, simply spoon it into a large zipped-top bag and pipe it into the donut cavities through a little corner you’ll cut out. That makes it so much easier!
Bake the donuts for 15 minutes. While they are baking, mix together the cinnamon and sugar in a large plastic bag.
Once donuts have cooled for about 5 minutes, one at a time, put your donuts in the bag(one at a time) and shake lightly to cover. Remove donut from the bag and let each one cool completely.
And just like that you have a dozen of Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Donuts! Now my favorite part – time to eat them all!
How to Store Donuts
If you plan on eating the donuts the day they are made, simply leave them out on the cooling rack or on a serving dish at room temperature.
To keep them fresher longer, store the pumpkin donuts in the refrigerator. I recommend putting them in a single layer in an airtight container. Stacking them can cause the loss of some of cinnamon/sugar coating. They will last 2-3 days in the refrigerator
Tips For Baking Donuts
- Be careful not to overfill your donut pan, the indentations should be no more than 3/4 of the way full. If you add too much batter, the donuts will expand over the edges of the pan and lose their shape.
- Let the donuts cool only 5 minutes before coating them in the cinnamon/sugar mix. If they are completely cool, the coating will not stick very well.
- The donut batter can be made the night before, and then stored (covered) in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.
Need more donut recipes?
Here’s some of my favorite donut recipes!
Chocolate Chip Donuts
Sugar Donuts
Baked Strawberry Donuts
Chocolate Donuts (dairy free option)
Carrot Cake Donuts
Pin for later:
Baked Pumpkin Donuts
PrintIngredients
For the donuts
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
For the sugar coating
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray donut pan with nonstick spray.
- Mix together oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking powder and vanilla until combined. Stir in flour and continue to mix until smooth.
- Fill the donut pans up about 3/4 of the way.
- Bake donuts for 15-17 minutes.
- Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes, then remove donuts from pan.
- Combine sugar and cinnamon in large plastic bag. One at a time, put your donuts in bag and shake lightly to cover. Remove from bag and let cool completely. Store donuts in air tight container.
Mary Harwood says
It’s a great beginner recipe. I found the recipe to be less flavorful than I expected. I made a second batch and added clove, nutmeg and cinnamon. Much better with the addition!
The texture was perfect and the recipe itself was super simple and quick to whip up!
Thank you!’
Sarah says
Delicious and easy to bake!
Mario says
Can I substitute butter for oil?
Pamela Reed says
Disclaimer: I don’t, but if you try I’d go with a 1:1 ratio. Enjoy the donuts!
Beth says
Could I make donut holes by using a mini muffin pan?
Pamela Reed says
Absolutely, I do this all the time! Time will be about 15 to 17 minutes.
moxxie says
This was my first time making baked donuts and i’m so glad it was this recipe I used! My family was super proud (even my grandma who wasn’t very fond of pumpkin enjoyed it a little!). I would only suggest one thing to change with this recipe. Before topping the donuts with cinnamon sugar, make sure to butter them with a pastry brush and melted butter to make the mixture stick. I also found that when you shake the mixture onto the donut in the ziplock bag, the mixture kind of separates and you get WAYYY too much cinnamon onto the donut. I suggest just rolling the donut in a bowl with the mixture. Anyway, i will be making these again! I made cinnamon sugar topped ones, powdered, and of course some with a classy vanilla glaze!
Vicki says
What donut pan did you use in one of the pictures above that shows a lot of donuts? I see that the donuts in the foreground look plump and high, and the ones behind them are flatter….the way my donuts came out looking when I used my Wilton donut pans. Are there pans that have deeper wells that produce a fatter, higher donut? Or, I’ve seen silicone donut molds……maybe they are what I’m looking for? Just wondering….
Paula says
Can you freeze them?
Pamela says
You can absolutely freeze these donuts!
Merlou says
Awesome recipe! Since I have celiac, I substituted tiger nut flour (in equal measure) for the regular flour, and the donuts were perfect. Great texture and flavor.
Anjali says
They were SO good!!!
Kristina Dorn says
I ended up using a mini muffin pan to make donut holes and I think I like them better. More cinnamon/sugar coverage 🙂
Pamela says
Glad you liked the donuts Kristina! 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
Cindy Landini says
Easy, tasty but sugar cinnamon mixture does not stick.
Taryn says
I made them this weekend and the sugar mixture stuck fine for me. The key is only letting them cool for a few minutes so they’re still warm. Warm donuts will allow the sugar mixture to stick. Anyways, they were delicious and I’ll make again.
Kourtney says
Making these now!
Do they freeze well? (I did a double batch)
Pamela says
Yes! These donuts freeze wonderfully, but good luck not eating them all in 1 week! 🙂
Elianna says
Hi Pamela, just got a donut pan and I’d love to try these! I’ve already tried a simple recipe which seems similar to yours (apart from the pumpkin puree) but they didn’t turn out as pretty as yours… most of them didn’t even have a hole in it 🙁 any tips on how you get yours so perfect looking?
Pamela says
Hey Elianna, welcome to the donut pan world! It’s really trial and error to see what works best with your pan and ingredients. If they don’t have a hole in them you might be filling the pan up too high with the batter. When pouring the batter in, I like to take a towel and wipe the middle part clean too – that way they usually come out looking more pretty. Hope this helps!
M says
Just made these. They are very good and if you make 12 they are roughly 135 calories each. Will definitely make again.
Pamela says
Glad you enjoyed these M! Thanks for the additional calorie information, it will help future readers!
Barrie says
These look so good! If I put pumpkin in them and bake them, aren’t they healthy?! I would definitely not feel guilty about giving these beauties to my kids! Now all I need is a donut pan!
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life says
I think I need a donut pan in my life too. I did the same thing last fall. Thought about it and thought about it and never bought one. I think I should just get one at this point. I want to make donuts…especially THESE!
lana says
Those look amazing! I can taste the crunchy sugary crust and anticipate the soft pumpkiny center!
Kristina Dorn says
I ended up using a mini muffin pan to make donut holes and I think I like them better. More cinnamon/sugar coverage 🙂
Kristal says
These look delicious! Wondering if any one has tried these replacing the oil for applesauce?
Kathryn Doherty says
I’m embarrassed to say that I have two donut pans (that I requested as a Christmas gift last year) that I have NEVER used. How is that possible?! I’m with you on the pumpkin and sugar cravings, so I will have to make this ASAP. Thanks for the nudge!
Jenn says
Oh wow, girl!! These look so good.
Pamela says
Thanks Jenn!