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Baked pumpkin spice donuts are the ultimate fall treat. Soft, moist, and packed with warm pumpkin spice flavors, these baked pumpkin donuts are perfect for breakfast, a cozy snack, or even paired with your favorite pumpkin spice latte made with this pumpkin spice latte syrup!
Quick Look: Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts
- 🍩 What it is: Baked pumpkin donuts in a large donut pan, brushed with butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar.
- ⭐ Why it works: Made in a large enough silicone donut mold to create those donut shop looking donuts even when baked.
- 💛 Why you’ll love it: Baked, not fried. One bowl, a piping bag, no oil to heat or throw out.
- ⚠️ What to watch for: Stir only until combined. Overmixed batter bakes dense instead of fluffy.
- 🍳 Pan notes: The large donut pan is what makes them look like the photos. A mini pan works, just bake less.
- ❄️ Make ahead: Best the same day. To keep them, store uncoated and add the cinnamon sugar before serving.
Let’s Chit Chat!
Nothing makes me happier than the smell of fresh homemade pumpkin donuts. We start making them as soon as September hits, usually with an apple crisp macchiato in hand.
They’re baked, not fried, so they come together fast and store well for grab-and-go breakfasts. Just use a large donut pan to get the full size donuts you see in the photos. When I don’t even want to turn the oven on, I make a pan of pumpkin treats with rice cereal instead.
Why you need to make this recipe!
- Super easy fall breakfast or snack.
- Packed with cozy pumpkin flavors and warm spice.
- A great way to use up leftover pumpkin puree, right alongside my pumpkin cream cheese muffins and easy pumpkin bread.
- One-bowl, make-ahead recipe.
- Baked, not fried, for easier clean up and a slightly healthier twist!
Ingredients
- Flour- Perfect for fluffy donuts. You can also use 1:1 gluten-free flour.
- Pumpkin pie spice– Gives these baked pumpkin donuts that classic fall flavor. If you want to make your own pumpkin pie spice, here is the recipe.
- Cinnamon- For coating the donuts. Optional: Use pumpkin pie spice instead.
- Baking powder- Leavening agent.
- Salt- Balances out the sweetness.
- Pumpkin purée– Make sure you use pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
- Olive oil or canola oil- Adds extra richness.
- Butter- Melted for moisture and flavor.
- Vanilla extract- Adds depth.
- Egg- At room temperature.
- Brown & granulated sugar- For the batter and cinnamon-sugar coating.
How to make pumpkin spice donuts
- Preheat oven and grease your donut pan. Mix pumpkin puree, brown sugar, granulated sugar, olive oil, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until combined.
- Fold in dry ingredients (all purpose flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, salt) into the wet ingredients until smooth.
- Pipe batter into donut pan using a piping bag or Ziploc bag with the tip cut off. Bake until lightly golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool slightly before brushing with melted butter and coating in cinnamon-sugar.
- Serve with your favorite drink, I personally love this with the Starbucks pumpkin cream cold brew.
Pro tip: Using a piping bag ensures clean, even donuts every time
You can also ice your donuts with:
- Maple glaze or something similar to what I did with my homemade pumpkin cinnamon rolls.
- Brown Butter frosting
- Vanilla Icing
- Chocolate icing
Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts FAQs
Best enjoyed same day. Store in an airtight container without cinnamon-sugar coating for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Yes! Freeze cooled donuts in an air tight container for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or on the countertop for a few hours. Freeze without toppings for best results.
Absolutely! Make sure the donuts are completely cooled before icing. Try maple, vanilla, or even a chocolate glaze for fun variations!
Baked pumpkin donuts are lighter than the fried versions and include nutrient-rich pumpkin (yay fiber!), but these are still a treat since they use a good amount of sugar and fat as well.
I haven’t tried making these vegan, but they can definitely work! Replace the butter with plant-based butter, eggs with flax eggs or apple sauce instead.
You have to use the right donut pan that I used! It’s a lot bigger than the traditional mini donut pans you would find in stores.
Other Favorite Pumpkin Recipes
Eight donuts is a lot for two people, and I get that. If you want the same flavor without the leftovers, I have a pumpkin donut recipe that makes just four using this exact same pan.
If you tried this Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you it goes in the comments! I love hearing from you!
Pumpkin Spice Donut Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1&1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 egg at room temperature
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
for the coating
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup butter melted
Instructions
- First, preheat the oven to 350F then lightly grease the large donut pan with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, olive oil, butter, vanilla, egg, brown sugar, and granulated sugar and whisk until smooth.1&1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup butter, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 egg, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- Add the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and sea salt. Stir the mixture just until combined. Do not overmix.2 cup all purpose flour, 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt
- Place the batter in a piping bag or a plastic bag over a cup and transfer the donut mixture to the bag. If using the plastic bag method, snip off one of the corners and "pipe" the batter into the prepared donut pan. This recipe should make 8 large donuts.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until a knife of a toothpick inserted in comes out clean. Let the donuts cool for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
The coating
- For the coating, stir the sugar and cinnamon together in a shallow container.3/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon
- When the donuts are completely cool, melt the butter and brush each donut with the melted butter. Making sure to get every corner of it. One by one dip the donuts in the cinnamon sugar to coat them.1/4 cup butter
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Firstly, not the biggest fan of using cups rather than grams when looking at a recipe (yes, i realize I can change to metric, but that only gives an estimate if the OG recipe is in cups. OP could have packed her flour etc) and guessing if the butter indicated for the recipe has salt. HOWEVER, I made do and that doesn’t alter my rating. I changed half of the oil to applesauce and used a different puree, maybe that’s why my donuts were very dense (almost rubbery). But the next day, it softened up and was very tasty but still dense. Next time, I’ll tweak my technique.
Appreciate your detailed feedback! 😊 Swapping half the oil for applesauce and using a different purée could definitely have affected the texture, making the donuts denser. If you try again, maybe mixing the batter less or adding a touch more leavening could help! Glad they still tasted great the next day. Thanks for giving them a try! 🎃🍩✨
Great baseline recipe you can work with and expand from there. The fall flavors are there – especially if you sub out a little of the puree and sub in some chunky applesauce. Baked out fine and the crumb is very moist. People love these. Well done!
Mmm I love the addition of the apple sauce, that’s smart and creative! Thanks for sharing!
Gave some great moisture to the cake donuts that makes it work. l also found that tossing the donuts in a gallon bag with your sugar and spice gives it a great coating and crunch without adding an additional butter load to the product. Love this recipe
I did these for church service yesterday. I did the 3x recipe and this ended up making 4 dozen donuts (I used both the standard rubber donut pan and the larger Bundt aluminum donut pan). Recipe tends to require 2 to 3 minutes more bake time in my oven. These came out great and we were asked to please bring more next week so I’m going to say the taste was right there.
Batter kept well in the fridge so this is a a great recipe. Note that you rotate out the spice base and puree and you can rotate in something like apples and apple cider or other fruits for this one. Versatile and useful crowd pleaser outcome. Well done.
That’s a great tip, thank you!
Edit to my previous comment. This recipe made enough to fill my 6 hole regular sized donut pan, my 6 hole regular size muffin tin & one regular sized mug muffin. They all turned out delicious, so if you don’t have a donut pan, you will still enjoy this recipe. Everyone loved them, myself included.
These were beautiful & delicious. Made them in my regular sized 6 hole donut pan & had enough for 7 muffins. Cooked one as a microwave mug muffin on high for 1 minute) as only had 6 hole muffin tin. All were delicious! Beautiful color & flavor. Had 2 donuts yesterday & 2 muffins this AM. Yum! My friend loved them too. Definitely a keeper.
Awesome! I’m glad everything turned out great!
Amazing recipe! I forgot the butter and they were still amazing! I used the stick of butter to dip the donuts in and then dip them in the cinnamon/sugar mixture! Delicious….glad I doubled it!! I would leave the butter out next time since they were still so amazing!
Thank you and I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I don’t have a doughnut pan so I made these as muffins! They turned out so good!!
Nice thinking! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Can I use vegetable oil instead of olive oil
Yes!
We have a gluten free family member, if I substitute gluten free flour, would I just use equal amounts as AP flour?
Yes 🙂 an even 1:1 ratio substitution will work.
Amazing! Followed the recipe exactly and they turned out perfect! I had to put the cinnamon/sugar coating on the night before because I knew I wouldn’t have time in the morning and they tasted great! Will for sure make again!
Thank you so much Kelly!
These donuts are so easy and soo amazing!! They are super moist and not too sweet, so when you add the cinnamon sugar coating it’s not too overpowering in terms of sweetness. I also did some with maple butter frosting which was also really delicious! My whole family loved them, and I will definitely be making them again.
Thank you so much Nicki!