Tender keto chocolate donuts with a sweet sugar-free peanut butter glaze. These chocolate peanut butter donuts are an easy and fun breakfast treat!
Have I ever mentioned how much I love peanut butter? Oh maybe about a billion times! But chocolate and peanut butter together have an extra special place in my heart!
It’s just a magical combination and I try to marry these two flavors as frequently as possible. I make my own Keto Peanut Butter Cups regularly, and my whole family adores Keto Peanut Butter Pie.
And these chocolate peanut butter donuts are another huge hit. Why wouldn’t they be? Keto chocolate donuts with a deliciously drippy peanut butter glaze? Sign me up!
Keto donuts are fun and easy
As it turns out, I also love my donut pan. It was an impulse purchase, but one that has turned out to be tremendously useful for such a specialized kitchen gadget. Especially on the keto diet, when conventional donuts are off limits, being able to make my own keto donuts is priceless.
I have a lot of fun creating interesting donut recipes, like sugar-free maple bacon donuts or my Girl Scout-inspired Samoa Donuts.
You might be surprised to learn that this chocolate peanut butter donut recipe is one of the first I ever created, way back in July 2011. I recently gave it an update and it’s even better than ever!
Ingredients
For this keto donut recipe, you will need:
- Almond Flour – See FAQ section for nut-free alternatives
- Swerve Sweetener – granular and powdered
- Cocoa Powder
- Protein Powder – whey protein or egg white protein
- Baking Powder
- Eggs
- Water
- Butter
- Vanilla Extract
- Peanut Butter – creamy, all natural
- Heavy Whipping Cream
How to make chocolate peanut butter donuts
- Whisk the dry ingredients: This are easy almond flour donuts and the batter comes together quickly.
- Stir in the wet ingredients: If your batter is overly thick after you’ve added everything, use some additional water to thin it out. It should be scoopable, but not pourable.
- Spoon into the donut pan: If your donut pan has less than 10 wells, you will need to work in batches. Additionally, there is no standard size for donut pans so you may get more or fewer donuts.
- Bake until firm to the touch: Touch the tops of the donuts and take them out when they feel firm, without too much give underneath.
- Let cool in the pan: But don’t leave them there too long, as they can start to stick again. About 30 to 45 minutes should suffice.
- Melt the peanut butter and butter: I do this in a glass bowl in the microwave but you can use a pan on the stove. Just keep the heat super low!
- Whisk in sweetener, cream, and vanilla: Depending on your peanut butter, your glaze might be thick. You can thin it out with some water for a glaze consistency.
- Dip the donuts: I like to dip the tops of the donuts for that drippy look but you can also spread it on with a knife.
- Sprinkle with chopped peanuts: The finishing touch!
Frequently Asked Questions
Easy, my friends! Use sunflower seed flour in place of the almond flour. It’s essentially a 1:1 replacement.
Absolutely, that should work well. Just make sure to stir any oils in before measuring it out for the glaze.
Yes, you can. Try using coconut oil in the donuts and the glaze, and replace the whipping cream with coconut cream. Then use egg white protein powder in place of the whey protein.
The donuts should be fine with any granular sweetener but the glaze really needs a powdered (confectioners) style for proper consistency.
I love my USA Pan Donut Pan. It only has 6 wells so I have to work in batches, but it’s non-stick, non-toxic, and extremely durable. It’s lasted me far better than any other donut pan.
I have talked extensively about the importance of protein powder for keto baking. In the absence of gluten, it helps keto baked goods rise properly and hold their shape. Although it may seem expensive, a canister or bag of protein powder will last you months and you will see a marked improvement in your keto recipes.
Liquid egg whites are not a good replacement for protein powder as they will throw off the wet/dry ratio in the recipe.
Store the donuts in a covered container on the counter for up to 3 days and in the fridge for a week. They can also be frozen, tightly wrapped, for up to two months.
More delicious keto donut recipes
- Keto Cinnamon Donuts
- Mint Chip Donuts
- Keto Apple Cider Donut Bites
- Lemon Poppyseed Donuts
- Boston Cream Donuts
- Instant Pot Donuts
- Blueberry Cake Donuts
Keto Chocolate Peanut Butter Donuts
Equipment
Ingredients
Donuts
- 1 ¾ cups almond flour
- 6 tablespoon Swerve Granular
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoon unflavored whey protein powder (or egg white protein powder)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 6 tablespoon butter melted
- ⅓ cup water
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze
- ¼ cup creamy natural peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 tablespoons warm water to thin as needed
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped peanuts for decorating
Instructions
Donuts
- Preheat the oven to 325F and grease 10 wells of a 12 well donut pan. If you have a smaller pan, you may need to work in batches.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, cocoa powder, protein powder, baking powder, and salt. Add the eggs, butter, water, and vanilla extract and stir until well combined. If your batter is overly thick, add a little more water, a few teaspoons at a time. It should be scoopable but not pourable.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan, filling the wells about three quarters full. Bake 18 to 23 minutes, or until set and firm to the touch.
- Remove and let cool completely in the pan before flipping out onto a wire rack.
Glaze
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt the peanut butter and butter on high in 30 second increments, stirring until smooth. Alternatively, you can melt them carefully in a small saucepan over very low heat.
- Whisk in the sweetener, whipping cream, and vanilla. If the glaze is very thick, whisk in the water a few teaspoons at a time until a dippable consistency is achieved.
- Working quickly, dip the tops of the cooled donuts into the glaze and place on a baking rack to set. If the glaze thickens up too quickly, you also spread it onto the donuts.
- Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts and let set, about 20 minutes.
Lorry Norton says
Hi Carolyn. I just wanted to let you know that the image on my Pinterest home page of this recipe shows a hamburger. 😲 The bun looks like it might be a keto recipe, so I was curious to see what you had come up with. Imagine my surprise when I saw this recipe for donuts! It looks awesome. I don’t know if the wrong image is a Pinterest thing or not. Or just a glitch in my feed. I just want your recipes to be seen. 😁
Christina says
This recipe looks great. I look forward to trying it out.
Curious, could this recipe be modified somehow to create a keto version of Tim’s walnut crunch?
Carolyn says
Feel free to experiment!
Michelle B says
I bought the cutest little donut maker at Walmart. It’s the size of our DASH waffle maker. Makes 3 tiny donuts! Printing and off to try it out!
Nancy Tufte says
LOVE these donuts!! Came out perfect!!
Mary wilson says
what brand of whey protien do you use? I’m a type 2 diabetic, so something with no sugar and no carbs, if possible. it’s all so confusing. thank you
Carolyn says
This is my favorite: https://amzn.to/3mwnC3p
Nancy Tufte says
I use egg white powder, worked great
Jyl Milner says
I’m also T2D, and I don’t see Premier Protein powder. I used vanilla in this recipe, and they came out great!
julie says
came out nice and moist tasted horrid I still have a weird feeling/taste the doughnut itself had no real flavor and no sweetness at all. will keep looking….
Carolyn says
What sweetener did you use?
Sue says
these are so yummy!!!!
Lydia says
I’m going to have to make these again. They looked great so I took them out of the oven, but they were very delicate and fell apart easily. I didn’t have whey protein powder, so I used collagen powder. Perhaps I should leave them in the oven a couple minutes longer. They taste great. I just ate the cake crumbs with icing this time.
Carolyn says
It was the collagen protein… you can’t replace whey or egg white protein with collagen, it doesn’t have the same affect.
Sara Welch says
I love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter and this was no exception! Easily, the best way to start my day; hands down delicious!
Allyssa says
This tasted so amazing! Thanks a lot for sharing this super easy to make donuts recipe! Fam really loves it! Will surely have this again!
Bird says
My macro calculation method requires me to count grams of protein–any chance you know the protein in one serving?
Carolyn says
This is a very old recipe and I no longer have that info but you can enter all the ingredients into MyFitness Pal.
Stacie says
What can be substituted for the coconut oil? I am allergic to coconut (as well as pecans).
Carolyn says
Any oil you wish.
Brandi says
I just pulled these out of the oven and couldn’t wait to try them. I had to make a couple of modifications due to a lack of ingredients. First, I used almond flour because I cannot get peanut flour in my area. Second, I used heavy cream instead of the almond milk. Third, I did not have any stevia extract, so I just used more Splenda. Last, I used a muffin tin as I do not have a donut pan.
The muffins turned out well. They are a little grainy in texture, I think due to the almond flour and not adding water with the heavy cream.
The taste, though, is wonderful. Very chocolaty and great with a cup of coffee. Now I just need to find a good low-carb substitute for milk….
Thank you so much for sharing your recipes. I will definitely be making these on a regular basis.
Lorry Norton says
Have you tried almond milk or coconut milk? There’s even a combination of the two. Or you could mix heavy cream half and half with water. It’ll still taste like cream, but it won’t be as thick.
Brandi says
I just pulled these out of the oven and couldn’t wait to try them. I had to make a couple of modifications due to a lack of ingredients. First, I used almond flour because I cannot get peanut flour in my area. Second, I used heavy cream instead of the almond milk. Third, I did not have any stevia extract, so I just used more Splenda. Last, I used a muffin as I do not have a donut pan.
The muffins turned out well. They are a little grainy in texture, I think due to the almond flour and not adding water with the heavy cream.
The taste, though, is wonderful. Very chocolaty and great with a cup of coffee. Now I just need to find a good low-carb substitute for milk….
Thank you so much for sharing your recipes. I will definitely be making these on a regular basis.