It’s time to make an amazing chocolate eggless donut recipe!! Donut or Doughnut… you decide. Either way, I’ll show you how to transform simple ingredients into yummy donuts. In addition to being egg free, this chocolate donut recipe is gluten free, dairy free, top 9 free, top 14 free, truly corn free, and more.
However, do NOT let that free-from status fool you. People without food allergies and dietary restrictions have been RAVING about these egg free donuts, and are asking me to make more. So, grab your kitchen scale and let’s get to work.
Allergy Status
Free From: Wheat/Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Soy, Tree Nut (including Coconut), Peanut, Fish, Shellfish, Sesame, Top 9 Allergens, Top 14 Allergens, Alliums, Apple, Avocado, Banana, Beans & Lentils, Berries, Buckwheat, Carrot, Celery, Cinnamon, Citrus, Corn, Cruciferous, Garlic, Latex Cross Reactive Foods (H/M), Legume, Lupin, Mushroom, Mustard, Nightshade, Oat, Onion, Pea & Pea Protein, Potato (Nightshade Variety), Poultry, Red Meat, Rice, Seeds, Squash & Gourd, Strawberry, Sweet Potato & Yam, Tapioca/Cassava/Yuca/Manioc, Tomato, Yeast
Friendly To: EOE, FPIES, Vegan
Low FODMAP Reminder: Watch your portions. The cacao limit is 4.5g. There’s 35g of cacao spread over 12 doughnuts, so you should be fine with one, so long as that works for you.
Tools to Make This Eggless Donut Recipe
- Kitchen Scale (this is the one I love so much that I have three)
- Stand Mixer OR Mixing Bowl (I like this set that has a large bowl included, and they all have lids)
- Donut Pan (this is the one I LOVE)
- Large Measuring Cup for Pouring (this is the one I use and love to bits)
- Pipping Bag (if you plan on glazing your baked doughnuts)
Chocolate Eggless Donut Recipe Ingredients
Part 1 Ingredients (dry ingredients)
- 150g Organic White Cane Sugar
- 120g Sorghum Flour, superfine OR Brown Rice Flour, superfine
- 75g Millet Flour, superfine
- 35g Organic Cacao Powder (I use this brand)
- 30g Arrowroot
- 3 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
Part 2 Ingredients (wet ingredients)
- 160mL Milk of Choice (5.5 ounces)
- 85mL Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (3 ounces)
- 2 tsp Organic Vanilla Extract (this is the brand I use)
Part 3 Ingredient (final wet ingredient)
- 145mL Hot Water (5 ounces)
Ingredient Notes & Helpful Information
White Sugar: You can swap the organic cane sugar for organic maple sugar, organic coconut sugar, or organic date sugar. You can also use caster sugar, and brown sugars as well. So long as you use a granulated sweetener, it’s a 1:1 swap by weight.
Gluten Free Flour Flour: This recipe uses a gluten free flour blend of sorghum, millet, and arrowroot. Their combined weight is 225g, and you can swap them for an all purpose flour that you know will work in this style of baking. I can’t guarantee that every saw and combination will work, so always swap at your own risk.
Milk of Choice: This is nature a dairy free recipe, however, any mammal milk or plant based dairy free milk will work. You can use cow’s milk, almond milk, sheep milk, oat milk, camel’s milk, soy milk, rice milk, or anything else in between. The only milk you’ll want to avoid is full fat coconut milk from a can. It’s OK to use boxed coconut milk.
Olive Oil: This is a room temperature liquid fat. Should you need to swap it, you’ll want to use another oil that’s liquid at room temp. I always suggest tiger nut oil (tuber, not a tree nut) and it produces amazing results. Other oils will slightly alter the taste and texture of your baked doughnuts.
Eggless Donut Recipe Directions
Preheat your oven to 350f/177c and get your hot water going. Next, combine all of your dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. For baked doughnuts I like to use a stand mixer with the wire attachment. You can absolutely mix these by hand in a mixing bowl or with an electric handheld mixer. Mix on low speed to combine your dry ingredients.
Now, add your wet ingredients one at a time. I like to have the mixer on low speed as I do this, but you can turn off the mixer so you can add them in a bit faster. Be sure to let each wet ingredient become mostly incorporated before moving on to the next one. When all of the Part 1 Ingredients and Part 2 Ingredients are well combined, add the hot water.
Once the hot water is mostly combined, mix on high speed for 30 seconds. Transfer the batter to a large measuring cup so it’s EASY to pour. Even if your mixing bowl has a pour spout, the transfer option is still easier because of the handheld nature of the measuring up. There’s just more control.
If you’re using silicone molds like me, place 2 molds on a large baking tray. This will ensure you can move your filled molds easily and stabilize them for baking.
Pour batter into your doughnut pan mold. I use these silicone molds and I really enjoy them because the doughnuts are mega easy to eject and cooking spray isn’t required.
Bake for 14 – 16 minutes at 350f/177c. Your doughnuts should pass a toothpick test with little to no crumb.
A Critical Note on Freshness
This recipe tastes good fresh for 14 hours before it starts to taste like a day old doughnut. Also, if you apply glaze, then leave the donuts at room temperature for several hours, the glaze “gets absorbed” by the doughnuts. It’s hard to explain, but if you do it, you’ll learn never to do it again. Been there, done that, and now I can tell you all about it.
Just know that for best results, eat glazed donuts within an hour of applying the glaze. You can always store extra glaze and add it as you eat your tasty treats.
More Delicious Egg Free Recipes
If you’re looking for more eggless doughnuts or perhaps other delicious treats, I’ve got you covered.
- Pumpkin Eggless Donuts Recipe
- Baked Vanilla Donuts (delicious fluffy donuts, seed free, vegan)
- Egg, Gluten, Dairy Free Desserts Cookbook (very allergy friendly, and a mostly vegan cookbook)
- Gluten Free, Egg Free, Top 9 Free Cakes, Frostings, and Pastry Cookbook (almost all recipes are vegan, and these are award winning bakery quality recipes)
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Egg Free Doughnut Storage
After making this eggless donut recipe you’ll want to store them in the freezer. I will say this: my recipe is uniquely egg free, gluten free, vegan, top 9 free, seed free, and more. These instructions apply to these donuts. If you make someone else’s recipe, follow their storage guidelines, or do some testing.
To freeze unglazed doughnuts, line a large baking tray with parchment paper and place donuts on the tray, in a single layer. Top with a large piece of parchment paper and add another layer of doughnuts if needed. It’s OK if the sides are touching, but tops and bottoms need to be separated so you don’t end up with stuck together doughnuts. Freeze the whole tray and once they’re solid, transfer to an airtight container such as a Ziploc bag or container with a lid.
You CAN freeze these donuts glazed, which is awesome if you ask me. To freeze glazed donuts, line a large baking tray with parchment paper and place donuts on the tray, in a single layer. Do not stack. Freeze the whole tray and once they’re solid, transfer to an airtight container such as a Ziploc bag or container with a lid.
Either way, don’t forget to label the container with the flavour and date. To thaw your egg free baked donuts, pop one on the counter top and leave it at room temperature for about an hour. Do not reheat.
The Power of Glaze: How to Change the Flavour Profile
The best part about adding a glaze, in my humble free-from opinion, is that there’s SO much room for creativity. You can take the average baked doughnut and pump up the volume on flavour, without too much extra effort (a glaze only requires a few basic ingredients). It’s also a nice way to try things you normally wouldn’t since you don’t need to use too many ingredients to make a good glaze.
This chocolate eggless donut recipe would pair so well with quite a few standard, and highly creative glazes. Here are several ideas to get you started:
- Vanilla glaze with sprinkles.
- Fruit preserves mixed into a basic vanilla glaze.
- Cayenne pepper mixed into a chocolate, cinnamon, or vanilla glaze for a spicy doughnut.
- Chocolate mushroom glaze with a pinch of salt on top (bonus points if you have smoked salt).
- Chocolate glaze with a dusting of freeze dried raspberries for a tart kick (use strawberries or cherries for a sweeter kick)
Now, will a simple glaze on top of the doughnuts suffice? Of course. However, I’m all about exploring new options and creating opportunities for those who manage food allergies and restricted diets that normally aren’t available to them.
A Few Glaze Tips
Application tip: I’ve found that it’s easier when making egg free donuts in the pan that I use to transfer glaze to a piping bag, cut a small hole, and use that to apply said glaze. You have SO much more control over the flow, and ultimately, how much glaze ends up on the top of the doughnut. Additionally, there’s less glaze waste since you aren’t pouring a large amount to coat the doughnuts.
Glaze tip: Unless you want a melty mess, never apply glaze to hot donuts. If you want to eat donuts hot, put a little glaze in a small dipping bowl, break off a piece of donut, dip, and enjoy. My kids do this when I make fried donut holes for them. They love them hot, but absolutely want that cinnamon sugar glaze that I like to make.
Dairy free tip: you don’t need to make a simple glaze with cold milk. You can use water instead. I do this all the time and it turns out great.
Baked Donuts vs Yeasted & Fried Donuts
I thought it would be good for us to take a moment to look at the contrasting differences between baked donuts, like this recipe, and a more traditional doughnut that’s fried.
With a traditional donut that’s fried, the first step is to combine instant yeast with warm water. Once the yeast has proofed, you add the yeast mixture to your donut dough and combine the two. If you’re using a gluten based recipe, you’ll knead the dough (similar to bread dough), let the dough rest at room temperature (or a warm place in your kitchen), punch it down, and let the dough rise a second time.
From there, the soft dough is shaped with a rolling pin and round cookie cutter, then you deep fry it in hot oil.
Unlike yeast donuts, you don’t need a donut cutter to make this eggless donut recipe since it’s batter based, and you certainly don’t have to do all of the steps needed when working with yeast. Overall, if you look at all of the steps, when compared to baked doughnuts, yeasted doughnuts take a long time to make. Now, some argue that the time spent is well worth it. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a quick evening snack or dessert, you just want to pop it in the oven and be done.
In the end, it’s easy to remember this way to visualize the difference: rolled dough that’s a cross between cookies and bread, versus a cake batter. Both types of doughnuts absolutely have their place in the world, and my favourite thing about donuts is the infinite number of combinations you can create. They’re a vessel for flavour and creativity, so have FUN when you make them.
Answering Your Questions About This Eggless Donut Recipe
If I add an egg replacer, will these baked donuts turn out better?
Honestly, this eggless recipe doesn’t need the additional egg replacer. It’s not crumbly and falling apart, so no additional binding agent is needed. It’s designed to be a little dense, so an egg replacer that contains a leavening agent isn’t needed either.
You absolutely want to experiment and try it, you could add some to half the batter and do a side by side taste test.
Could I use 1 teaspoon vanilla extract instead of 2?
Yes, you can reduce the amount of vanilla extract that you use. For some, the taste difference will be obvious, whilst others won’t notice. In the end though, you’ll still have a very tasty egg free doughnut.
Do these taste like regular donuts?
I’ll come right out and say it: no. When you take your first bite of these homemade donuts, your brain isn’t going to scream “Woah! it’s just like Krispy Kreme!” If anything, these baked donuts have a bit of a fluffy texture and read a lot closer to old fashioned donuts which are a bit dense, cake like, and have some chew to them.
When most people refer to “regular donuts” they’re usually referencing fried doughnuts, which these also are not. As long as you walk into your kitchen with the right mindset and expectations, I think you’ll be very happy with this eggless donut recipe. If you’re expecting those big fluffy glazed donuts, you’ll feel let down.
Can I use whole wheat flour in place of the gluten free flours?
For this baked donut recipe, I’d suggest an all purpose flour rather than a whole wheat flour. Whilst I am a gluten free and free-from baker, I have some knowledge about different types of wheat flour. Whole wheat will alter the overall taste and texture of these baked doughnuts, whereas an AP flour will get you much closer to the original recipe. Just be sure to avoid self-rising flour, as that has additional ingredients you don’t need.
Is it possible to make glaze without icing sugar?
Icing sugar, also called powdered sugar is a critical component to making a traditional glaze. You can make powdered sugar at home in your blender along with a starch, then use that in place of store bought icing sugar.
Now, if you’re needing to avoid cane sugar, you can make a sort of powdered sugar with organic maple sugar and arrowroot in your blender, then use that in place of icing sugar. I’ve done it and it’s not super duper uber smooth like a traditional icing sugar, but it gets the job done.
If you can’t have that either, you could try making a glaze alternative with jam or fruit preserves, or just eat the doughnuts straight without a glaze.
Could I use this recipe to make donut holes?
The only way you could make donuts holes with this recipe is to purchase a specific baking pan. Since this recipe makes a runny batter and not a soft dough you can mold, it needs to be contained somehow.
I looked online and this mold looks like it could get the job done. Here’s is a metal version that could work. I’ve never done this though, nor have I used those particular molds, so no promises.
Can I use cocoa powder instead of cacao powder?
I don’t suggest it, though, the recipe would still function properly. Cocoa powder is more processed than cacao, the flavour profile is different, and the acid levels are different between the two.
I use cacao powder in my recipes because it brings in a rich, authentic chocolate flavour. This is the brand that I use, and everyone says my chocolate baked goods taste miles and miles better than what they can get in stores (even though mine are free-from). It’s a testament to the quality of the ingredients and function of the recipe, so stick with the cacao if you want the best results.
Should I cool my baked donuts on a wire rack?
It’s not necessary to cool these tasty doughnuts on a wire rack. Personally, I let them cool in the silicone mold for about 10 minutes, then flip them out on to the baking tray that I used to stabilize the silicone molds.
Now, if you just really like using wire racks, sure, you could. Just know it’s not a critical step to take.
Would cake flour work in place of the gluten free flour?
Before I answer, full disclosure: I manage a lot of food allergies including a wheat allergy. I have zero hands on working knowledge with cake flour. That being said, given the style of this egg free donut recipe, I think it’s worth a try.
Since the size of this recipe is on the small size, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it didn’t work out, but I’m pretty confidant that you’d be happy, based on what I know about cake flour.
Could I use unsalted butter in place of the olive oil?
No, you wouldn’t be able to use unsalted, melted butter in this recipe. Olive oil is liquid at room temperature whereas unsalted butter (and coconut oil) isn’t. You’d need to use a different oil that’s also liquid at room temperature such as tiger nut oil (tuber, not a tree nut).
