Baked Vegan Doughnuts flavoured with warm chai spices are the perfect treat to make and serve at breakfast or brunch, to enjoy as snacks, or to have with your afternoon coffee or tea. They can also be made gluten-free!
This recipe for baked chai doughnuts brings the doughnut recipe count on this site up to FIVE.
If it wasn’t already clear, doughnuts of all types, especially baked vegan doughnuts, are one of my favourite things to make…and eat 🙂
Based on a few requests, I decided to go with chai doughnuts this time. If you aren’t familiar with warm chai flavours, you’re in for a treat with this recipe.
What is Chai?
I thought I knew, and after reading about it, it turns out, I didn’t! I read up a bit about it, if you’re interested, have a read through this article, but in a nutshell, what you will learn is this:
Technically, the word “chai” refers to any type of tea in India. The spiced tea that we refer to as chai, is actually masala chai or spiced tea, a tea made with a blend of spices commonly used in Indian cooking.
There are many ways to make chai, but the one thing in common is that the blend of spices used, go together nicely, they’re warm, and they work well outside of tea…like in desserts and treats!
For my version of chai doughnuts, I used cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom. That blend may not be the traditional spice blend, but like the article said, there are many ways to make chai.
This is my take and I like it a lot (and I hope you will too!)
For the doughnut toppings, I tested with two types: A chai glaze:
And a chai sugar glaze:
When it came time to decide which one to use for the recipe, I couldn’t decide, so lucky you, I decided to share both!
Both include the same blend of spices and both complement this baked vegan doughnut perfectly.
What is the doughnut’s texture like?
For the pictures you see on this page, I made both the vegan gluten-free version and the vegan version of the doughnuts.
In the picture below, you can see the inner texture of both. The vegan version (using all-purpose flour) is on your left, and the vegan gluten-free version in on your right.
The vegan doughnut rises a tiny bit more, making it a little fluffier than the vegan gluten-free doughnut. The vegan gluten-free doughnut is still fluffy, just a little more dense than the vegan doughnut.
And both taste amazing.
Can I use a different flour to make these baked vegan doughnuts?
Maybe 🙂
I don’t have a solid answer to that question because the flours listed in the recipe are the only ones I have tried, however, I do know that coconut flour will not work in this recipe.
I can take a guess, based on my baking experience, about some others I feel may work well, but since I have not tested with them, I don’t want to lead you astray.
What I can tell you is that this recipe was tested several times with the flours I ended up using, so if you follow the recipe exactly as it is written and make no substitutions, your doughnuts will end up looking like the doughnuts here.
What kind of chai should I use?
In addition to the spices, I also use chai tea in this recipe to infuse even more flavour. I used chai tea bags that come in a box, they’re inexpensive and after you make the doughnuts, you’ll have tea to drink with them!
And any brand will work! And once the tea has been brewed, don’t add anything to it, use it just as it is for the recipe.
What doughnut pan do you recommend?
I get this question a lot! There are many out there, and all will work fine, but the one I own, love, and highly recommend is this one by USA Pans.
It’s a good, heavy-duty, teflon-free, non-stick pan. I’ve had it for quite a while now and it gets used A LOT! The non-stick coating still works perfectly after all this time.
If you like this recipe for baked vegan doughnuts, you may also like these! Each of these recipes also contain instructions on how to make them vegan and vegan + gluten-free.
- Baked Chocolate Doughnuts
- Baked Lemon Doughnuts
- Baked Chocolate Mint Doughnuts
- Baked Maple Doughnuts
- Baked Cinnamon Sugar Vegan Doughnuts
- Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts
- Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts
So many of you have shared pictures with me of my doughnut recipes that you have made…and I love it, so please continue!
If you make these chai doughnuts, please share a pic with me on Instagram! (my IG handle is @delighfuladventures)
Chai-Spiced Baked Vegan Doughnuts
Suggested Equipment:
Ingredients:
For the Doughnuts:
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 cup gluten free flour OR all-purpose flour (see important notes about flour below)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 cup brewed, unsweetened chai tea
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Chai Glaze:
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons brewed, unsweetened chai tea
For the Chai Sugar Topping:
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 2 teaspoons melted coconut oil
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Grease your doughnut pan (if needed).
- Prepare your flax egg by whisking together ground flax seeds and water. Set aside to thicken.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom.
- In a small bowl, mix the chai tea, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, and flax mixture together.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well to combine. Don't over mix.
- Using a piping bag or a large Ziploc bag (see note below), pipe the mixture into each cavity of your doughnut pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let the pan sit for a few minutes before removing the doughnuts.
- Remove the doughnuts from the pan and place on a cooling rack.
While the doughnuts are cooling, make the chai glaze or the chai sugar topping:
For the Chai Glaze:
- Add the powdered sugar to a small bowl, add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cardamom and mix together.
- Add the chai tea and mix until everything has combined into a liquid glaze.
- When the doughnuts have fully cooled (they don't take long!), dip the tops of each doughnut into the glaze. Repeat with all the doughnuts.
- Place the doughnuts back onto the cooling rack for the excess glaze to drip off and for the glaze to firm up. (Place a piece of parchment paper under the rack to catch the drips!)
For the Chai Sugar Topping:
- Add the sugar to a small bowl, add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cardamom and mix together.
- When the doughnuts have fully cooled, one at a time, brush the tops with a little of the melted coconut oil and dip each one into the sugar topping until the top is coated. Repeat with all the doughnuts.
Recipe Notes:
- If you are making the vegan gluten-free version, it's important to know that every gluten-free flour blend uses different ingredients and ratios. Results will always vary when different flours are used. I have never used any other brand of flour to make these doughnuts, other than Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour in the blue bag, NOT the red bag, so please know that your results may not be the same as mine if you substitute with a different gluten free flour.
- Coconut flour will NOT work in this recipe.
- If you are making the vegan gluten-free version, the batter will be very thick. That's OK! Just pipe it into the pan as-is.
- Coconut sugar can be used instead of regular sugar in the doughnut batter, they will just be a little darker.
- A piping bag is recommended for getting the batter into the pan. If you don't have a piping bag, use a large Ziploc bag and snip off the end to stand in for a piping bag. If you don't have either, carefully spoon the batter into each doughnut cavity.
- It's best to eat the doughnuts the same day they were made. The glaze does not hold up well. If you have leftovers, refrigerate them but know that the glaze may melt into the doughnut if kept for too long!
- Nutrition info is based on 1 vegan gluten-free doughnut with chai glaze and is only to be used as a rough guide. Calorie count for 1 doughnut using the vegan only recipe is 194 calories. Click to learn how nutrition info is calculated on this website.
Steph says
Love these, easy and delicious!
Gwen says
Happy to hear you loved them, Steph! Thanks very much for your note 🙂
JE says
Made these today and CAN’T stop thinking about how soon is too soon to make them again. Moist, light and incredibly flavorful!
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
It’s never too soon 😉 We just finished off a batch yesterday, and I want to make some more already! I’m so glad you like them, thanks for your note 🙂
Lisa Viger is Planted365 says
Pretty! And they sound delicious!
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi Lisa! Thanks so much…I’m a little biased, but I do think they are delicious, and pretty too! 🙂 Thanks for your note.