These Baked Vegan Donuts With Lemon Glaze are lightly sweet and lemony. Since they're baked instead of fried, they aren't oily at all. These homemade donuts can be a delicious sweet treat or an indulgent breakfast. Make a batch to share!
Donut Ingredients
This recipe uses simple ingredients:
- Flour - I highly recommend all purpose flour. Whole wheat flour would make these too dense.
- Sugar - Plain white sugar works best in this recipe.
- Corn starch
- Baking powder and soda
- Poppy seeds
- Salt
- Lemon juice and zest - If you can find Meyer lemons, I highly recommend using them.
- Non-dairy milk - I use unsweetened soy milk for all my cooking and baking but almond milk or oat milk would work well too.
- Oil - I recommend using a neutral oil like vegetable or canola.
- Vanilla extract
- Confectioner's sugar
- Lemon extract
Making the Vegan Donuts
To begin, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the donut pan by lightly coating with oil spray.
There are different sizes of donut pans. Mine make pretty small donuts which I actually love. If you're also using a smaller donut pan you might get more than 12 donuts out of the recipe.
In a large or medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds, salt and lemon zest.
Whisk until well combined. I love a strong lemony flavor so I use the zest from a whole lemon. If you want it to be more subtle, use can use it from half a lemon.
In a separate bowl, combine the non-dairy milk, oil, fresh lemon juice and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. After a minute or two the mixture will start to curdle and act like buttermilk.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine with a rubber spatula.
Next, place the donut batter in a pastry bag or a piping bag. If you don't have a piping bag, you can use a large Ziploc bag. You only need to cut the corner of the bag. Pipe the batter into the donut pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes depending on the size of the donut pan.
They should be a lightly golden brown color. When done, remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before removing from the pan to a cooling rack.
Meanwhile, make the sweet lemon glaze. Sir together the powdered sugar, non-dairy milk, lemon juice, lemon extract and vanilla extract. Dip each donut in the glaze and return to the cooling rack. If you want, you can sprinkle some poppy seeds on top of the donuts.
Storage
Store the donuts in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
FAQ
Can I skip the glaze?
I definitely wouldn't. The donuts themselves aren't very sweet so you really need the glaze on top.
Do I have to put the poppy seeds in?
No, you can leave them out. You can also substitute chia seeds for some added nutrition.
Can I make these with gluten free flour?
I haven't made them with gluten free flour but I would love to hear how they turn out if you try it.
Instead of a lemon glaze, could I try something else?
Of course! I think a blueberry glaze would be amazing. Check out Easy Blueberry Glaze for Desserts by The Cozy Plum.
Summary
The entire family loves these yummy Baked Vegan Donuts with a lemon glaze any time of year. The citrus flavor is light and refreshing and the sweet lemon glaze is amazing. If you want to have any leftover, you might want to make a double batch.
Interested in other vegan lemon desserts? Check out:
Baked Vegan Donuts (Lemon Glazed)
Ingredients
Donut
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ tablespoon poppy seeds
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- grated zest from one lemon
- 1 ⅓ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 3 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1 tablespoon non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Prepare the donut pan by coating with nonstick spray.
- Combine the flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds, salt and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl. Whisk thoroughly.
- In a small bowl, combine the non-dairy milk, oil, lemon juice and vanilla extract. The mixture will slightly curdle.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
- Pour the batter into a pastry bag or a large Ziploc bag. If using a Ziploc bag, cut the corner. Pipe the batter into the pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes depending on the size of the donut pan.
- When done, remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before removing from the pan and cooling on a wire rack.
- Meanwhile, make the glaze. Stir together the confectioners sugar, non-dairy milk, lemon juice, lemon extract and vanilla extract.
- Dip the donuts into the glaze and return to the cooling rack.
- Store donuts in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Jill says
I tried these without the icing but they weren’t sweet enough for my kids. With the icing they were great. Thanks for the recipe. I love lemon desserts.
jencardenas says
I definitely need the icing on them too! Glad you liked them.