Everyone will be asking for more when you make them these sweet, tangy, vegan baked lemon doughnuts with lemon glaze! Instructions on how to make them gluten-free are also included!
I didn't have to share a doughnut recipe to know that everyone loves doughnuts. Of course, everyone does! But the response to my baked chocolate doughnuts surprised me a little bit.
So knowing that you love those doughnuts so much, I'm sharing another recipe with you, but this time they're sweet, tangy, vegan baked lemon doughnuts that can also be made gluten-free!
Ever since buying my now beloved (ha!) doughnut pan (I bought this one and I highly recommend it! <-- (Amazon Link)), I've been thinking up so many different recipes. Here are those that I've shared here already:
- Chocolate Doughnuts
- Chocolate Mint Doughnuts
- Chai Doughnuts
- Maple Doughnuts
- Apple Cider Doughnuts
- Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
- Pumpkin Doughnuts
Since it's spring, and since I seem to be on a citrus kick lately (have you seen the vegan key lime cups I shared not long ago??), vegan lemon doughnuts won out as the next recipe I wanted to share.
You can make these vegan and gluten free or if you don't need them to be gluten free, you can just make them vegan. I've included instructions for both, you pick the one you need!
Now let's talk about the doughnuts!
Like my chocolate doughnuts, these took me a few tries to get. More tries than the chocolate doughnuts, actually.
Have you ever heard the saying baking is a science? It's so true.
I originally wanted to use fresh lemon juice in the doughnut batter but they way the acid reacted with some of the other ingredients didn't always produce a great result.
After many tries, I still couldn't get the recipe to work the way I wanted it to with the fresh lemon juice. The doughnuts always tasted delicious and looked perfect, it was the texture that was always off.
I didn't want to share a recipe that I wasn't 100% happy with, so I pivoted a little and tried lemon extract instead of the juice. Thankfully, this change gave me a result that I'm now happy to share.
To me, the lemon glaze makes these doughnuts, so don't skip the glaze!
The doughnuts on their own are delicious but the tangy, sweet, lemony glaze just takes them over the top.
The lemon zest I added to the glaze is optional but it does give a little extra "punch" of lemon flavour.
Before you head to the recipe, I wanted to answer a question that I've been asked a lot since I published the last doughnut recipe.
Readers who have never made or eaten baked doughnuts were curious to get a little insight into what they were in for when they made them.
The most asked question I received?
What Do Baked Doughnuts Taste Like?
I went into this a little in the baked chocolate doughnuts recipe.
One important thing to keep in mind is that baked doughnuts are nothing like fried doughnuts. Baked doughnuts are more like cake. Doughnut shaped cakes with sweet glaze on top!
The texture is like cake, they're light, fluffy, and they're a nice alternative if you're aiming to stay away from fried foods.
If you have any questions about baked doughnuts, let me know in the comments!
I hope you love these as much as you love the chocolate doughnuts!
If you like this recipe, you may also like these:
- Chocolate Doughnuts
- Chocolate Mint Doughnuts
- Maple Doughnuts
- Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
- Lemon Strawberry Cheesecake Bites
- Lemon Blueberry Waffles
And if you make them, let me know in the comments or tag me on Instagram to show me! I'm @delightfuladventures over there.
Vegan Baked Lemon Doughnuts
Suggested Equipment:
Ingredients:
For the Doughnuts:
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds (I used golden flax seeds, see note below)
- 3 tablespoons (45ml) water
- 1 cup (148g) gluten free flour OR all-purpose flour (125g) (see important notes about flour below)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (50g) sugar
- 1 ¼ teaspoons lemon zest
- ½ cup (120ml) unsweetened dairy-free milk
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) melted coconut oil
- ¾ teaspoon lemon extract
For the Lemon Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
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 the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and lemon zest.
- In a small bowl, mix the milk, melted coconut oil, lemon 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.
- 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 glaze:
- Add the powdered sugar to a small bowl and add the lemon juice, and lemon zest (if using).
- 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!)
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.
- I used golden flax seeds for this recipe but regular flax seeds can be used if you don't have golden seeds. They both work the same and your results will not be affected based on the type of seeds you use. You'll just have brown (tasteless) specks in your doughnuts!
- 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.
- 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 glaze and is only to be used as a rough guide. Calorie count for 1 doughnut using the vegan only recipe is 211 calories. Click to learn how nutrition info is calculated on this website.
Melanie says
Amazingly good donuts! I made a batch with half almond flour (I ran out of other flour) and they were great. Glaze is also terrific. Thank you!
Gwen Leron says
You're welcome! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave your note, I'm so happy to hear you love them, Melanie! 🙂
Britt says
Could these be put in the freezer without the icing, and iced later after thawed?
Gwen says
Hi Britt, I haven't tried doing this, but it should be fine to freeze without the icing. Let me know how it goes!
Martha Murray says
Try making your own lemon extract using lemon zest and vodka, there are many instructions on Pinterest
Gwen says
Thanks for the tip, Martha!
Priscilla says
Can we replace something else with the white sugar?
Gwen says
Hi Priscilla, you can replace the white sugar in the doughnut with coconut sugar which is unrefined, but the colour of the doughnut will end up being a bit darker. As for the powdered sugar in the glaze, I don't have a suggestion for a replacement for that. If you try the recipe, let me know how it goes 🙂
Leonie says
Can I use oatmeal flour instead of the regular gluten free flour
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi Leonie! I have not tested this recipe with oat flour, so I'm not 100% sure it will work, but based on experience, I don't think it will give you the same results you see here. For this recipe, if you were to use oat flour, you would have to blend it with another flour or a starch to get similar results. However, if you do end up trying it, let me know how it goes 🙂
shelby says
...THESE sound delish, a " Must try"...! I was looking for a gluten free bread recipe when I came across your site, and I have to order the pan, from Amazon....so I will be baking these as soon as it arrives. 🙂 As for the glaze, I think making more and keeping in a sealed container would be fine, Ive done this with my homemade frostings and works wonderfully. 🙂
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
They are really good, Shelby! I hope you like them when you try. I also have a chocolate doughnut recipe on the website that you may like and I have a few more in the works. When my doughnut pan arrived, I wondered why I waited so long to get one 🙂 When you make them, let me know how things go!
Liz says
Can I use coconut flour instead of GF flour?
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi Liz! No, coconut flour will not work in this recipe as a straight substitute, I would not use it. Other ingredient ratios would have to be changed as well. Coconut flour is a tricky one to work with as it's more dense and requires a lot more moisture to work well. I would stick with a gf flour blend for this recipe. The only one I've tested this recipe with is the one I link to and it works perfectly, but if you try with another blend, let me know how it goes! 🙂
Marsha Farmer says
this is one of the simplest doughnut recipes I have ever learnt, and tasty too, have tried and loved the item.
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Yay! I'm so glad you tried it and like it, Marsha! Thanks for your note 🙂
Katie says
Can I change lemon extract for something else? I can't find it in my country : (
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi Katie, sorry you can't find the lemon extract where you live. When I was testing this recipe, I really wanted to use fresh lemon juice, but I could not get the doughnuts to rise as high or be as fluffy with lemon juice as I wanted. They were still good and tasted great, though. You can replace the extract with 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice, but know that the result will not be as fluffy or rise as high as when the extract is used. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Jessie says
I used the same gf flour you listed and my batter came out more of a liquid consistency rather than a thick batter that you wrote. Should I be concerned?
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi Jessie! How did they turn out? Yes, the batter should be more on the thicker side rather than the more liquid side. Did you make any wet ingredient substitutions or change any measurements? I hope everything turned out OK!
Natalie says
Can I replace the coconut oil with Earth balance?
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi Natalie! I can't say for sure that it will turn out fine since I never tested with Earth Balance, but I think it will be OK. If you do try, please let me know if it worked out 🙂
Tami says
I don't have a doughnut pan! Yet! Can they be made in a muffin pan?
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi Tami 🙂 I haven't tried in a muffin pan but I think it would work. If you do try, please come back and let me know how it went!
Ali says
Not sure if anybody ever got back to you about baking these in a muffin tray opposed to a doughnut tray, but I tried these as muffins FIRST since I was also lacking a doughnut tray! SO good. I used a smaller muffin tray, so they weren't your stereotypical muffins with the big tops. Followed your instructions the exact same way and they came out perfectly. Even my "I'd never eat vegan/go vegan" friends raved about them. Awesome recipe, thank you for sharing 🙂
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
No one got back to me about the muffin tray, so thank you so much for letting me know, Ali! I'm so glad they turned out! I be if you didn't tell your friend these were vegan, they'd never know 😉 Thanks so much for your note!