Fluffy, tender, and spiced to perfection, these Keto Pumpkin Donuts will delight your tastebuds! These easy baked donuts are brushed with butter and dipped in a cinnamon “sugar” coating for a delicious fall treat.
Pumpkin spice lovers, are you with me? Because it is time to make the donuts!
I whipped up these Keto Pumpkin Donuts recently and was delighted by both the flavor and the texture. They have all the cozy goodness of a donut from Starbucks or Dunkin, with a mere fraction of the carbs.
They are just the thing to satisfy that pumpkin spice craving! You also can’t go wrong with my Keto Pumpkin Muffins.
Why you will love this recipe
Nothing quite satisfies like biting into a cinnamon “sugar” encrusted donut. Especially when that donut doesn’t actually contain any sugar and won’t blow your healthy diet.
Pumpkin spice has its own particular delights. If you love that flavor, you’re always looking for new ways to enjoy it. These Keto Pumpkin Donuts are the perfect marriage of the two.
They’re also take only about 35 minutes to make from start to finish. And they have a wonderfully fluffy, light texture. With less than 4g of carbs per serving, you can enjoy them for a quick breakfast or an easy snack whenever you want.
Ingredients you need
- Pumpkin puree: Look for pure pumpkin, and make sure you aren’t buying pumpkin pie filling.
- Brown sugar replacement: Brown sugar replacements like Swerve give these keto pumpkin donuts a richer, more authentic flavor. But regular granulated sweetener will work as well. Please see the Expert Tips section for more info.
- Almond flour: Use a finely ground almond flour for better texture. This recipe won’t work with coconut flour but you can use sunflower seed flour for a nut-free version. Make sure to add a tablespoon of lemon juice to offset the green reaction.
- Protein powder: Adding whey protein powder makes the donuts lighter and fluffier, as well as helping them hold their shape. You can use egg white protein if you prefer.
- Pumpkin pie spice: I usually use a spice mix, but you can also make it yourself with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little bit of cloves.
- Granular sweetener: An erythritol based sweetener works best for the coating. See the expert tips section for more information.
- Cinnamon: A little added cinnamon in the coating adds wonderful flavor.
- Pantry staples: Eggs, butter, vanilla extract, baking powder, salt.
Step by Step Directions
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, butter, sweetener, eggs, and vanilla extract until well combined.
2. Add the almond flour, protein powder, baking powder, and salt and stir until well mixed. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you have a thick but easily scoopable consistency. It should be like a thick cake batter.
3. Spoon the batter into 10 wells of a greased donut pan, filling the wells about 3/4 full. Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 350ºF, or until the tops are just firm to the touch. Remove and let cool in the pan 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the sweetener and spice mix.
6. Brush the donuts with the melted butter on both sides, then dip into the sweetener mixture. You can also simply sprinkle the sweetener mixture overtop the donuts.
Expert Tips
The amount of water you add depends on a number of factors, including how thick your pumpkin puree is. Some are very wet and thin and you may not even need any additional water at all. You want the batter to be like a thick cake batter. It shouldn’t be so thin that you can easily pour it into the pan.
Ground cinnamon can be overpowering at times. So I used both cinnamon and some pumpkin spice mix in the coating, so the cinnamon didn’t overpower the other spices.
Make sure to grease your donut pan very well and don’t let them sit too long after baking – more than 30 minutes and they can begin to stick to the pan again. Gently loosen each donut with a knife and flip them out onto a wire rack.
No donut pan? Make them into muffins! You should get about 8 muffins from this recipe.
Sweetener Options
You can sweeten the donuts with whatever sweetener you like best, although I do think a brown sugar replacement gives them more flavor. Do keep in mind that using allulose will cause the donuts to brown a little faster so keep your eye on them.
For the coating, I found that an erythritol sweetener worked best. I tried a few with allulose and while it looked great at the beginning, the coating softened and became wet when they were stored overnight. They were still delicious, though!
You could always make the donuts and dip in the coating just prior to serving. That would work nicely as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
Pumpkin is an acceptable ingredient on keto. When used in baked goods, pumpkin adds flavor and moisture without adding a lot of carbs. A half cup of pumpkin puree has about 10g of carbs and 3g of fiber. But this is usually spread out over a number of servings and adds minimal carbs to the final product.
Conventional pumpkin donut recipes can have upwards of 35g of carb per serving. Yikes! But these keto friendly donuts have only 5.9g of carbs and 2.5g of fiber. So they have 3.4g net carbs per donut.
Store these donuts in a covered container on your counter for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze the donuts for several months.
More delicious pumpkin recipes
- Keto Pumpkin Pancakes
- Easy Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Cream Pie
- Keto Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Breakfast Bars
Keto Pumpkin Donuts Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Donuts
- 1/2 cup (122.5 g) pumpkin puree
- 6 tbsp (85.21 g) butter, melted
- 1/3 cup (60.67 g) Swerve Brown
- 2 large eggs, room temperature.
- 3/4 tsp vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups (180 g) almond flour
- 1/3 cup (36 g) unflavored whey protein powder, or egg white protein powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 to 4 tbsp water
Coating
- 1/3 cup (63.33 g) granulated sweetener
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp melted butter
Instructions
Donuts
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and grease 10 wells of a non-stick donut pan. If yours only holds 6 like mine, you may need to work in batches.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, butter, sweetener, eggs, and vanilla extract until well combined.
- Add the almond flour, protein powder, baking powder, and salt and stir until well mixed. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time until you have a thick but easily scoopable consistency. It should be like a thick cake batter.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling the donut wells about 3/4 full. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are just firm to the touch.
- Remove and let cool in the pan 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Coating
- In a shallow bowl, whisk together the sweetener, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. Brush the donuts with the melted butter on both sides, then dip into the sweetener mixture.
- You can also simply sprinkle the sweetener mixture overtop the donuts.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Your recipes do not disappoint! I made these into 12 muffins today and buttered and sugared the entire muffin. They have a wonderful flavor and texture. Thanks for all of your hard work perfecting these recipes, they are wonderful.
Only had one little issue but I caught it. The pumpkin pie spice in the ingredient list for the batter is not in the instructions (or I missed it somehow). But I had no problem with them sticking in my metal donut pan using coconut oil spray. I used a piping bag to get the batter into the pan wells and managed to get a baker’s dozen! And they are DEEEE-LICIOUS!!!!
wow wow wow
so moist and yummy. next time I’m in going to add chocolate chips and add pecans to the cinnamon sugar
Those are great ideas! I’m gonna add those too.
Wow, such great tender texture! Loved the flavor, especially with the topping. Mine stuck to the donut pan, but you better believe I ate the crumbs. Since the pan held 6 and was a mess after the first batch, I made the rest (5) in a silicone muffin pan.
Allison, thank you for posting about the silicone muffin pan. I have the silicone donut pan and I was curious how that would work. Seems like it would work ideally for this. I’ve yet to use it, why??? I don’t know. haha
These doughnuts are AWESOME!
100% satisfied my craving for a pumpkin spice treat 😋
Hi Carolyn, I come from a ‘Land down under’ & have always wondered about canned pumpkin that features in so many recipes. Is this just cooked, mashed pumpkin? We don’t have canned pumpkin here & simply cook whichever variety we prefer (but then we mostly use it as a roast vegetable or I make my favourite soup, etc from them). I looked at the Amazon link you included with the recipe & that showed a pumpkin on the can, & referred to it as pumpkin but then said the ingredient was “Simply made with only Certified organic sweet potato” which is a completely different vegetable! (I think you call them yams) So which is it please?!
We don’t have many of the products you have in the USA including pumpkin spice but that can be created from an assortment of individual spices so that’s easy. Thanks for all your fab recipes, Cheers Jane =]
Yup, cooked pumpkin then pureed. That’s all it is.
Okay, I love anything with pumpkin in it, and these donuts!! These DONUTS!! Are so good. I highly recommend this recipe to you. I will be keeping this recipe in my go to yummy desserts file. Thank you again for your hard work in making these delicious recipes! Please keep them coming!
Any tips for baking at higher altitudes? Just moved to Colorado Springs from TX where I made many if your recipes successfully
I am so sorry, I’ve only baked a handful of times at elevation! The only thing I can say is that all the same accommodations for regular baking apply to keto baking too.
Can I substitute Beef Protein Pwd for Whey Protein Pwd?
You mean like bone broth protein or collagen? No, they tend to make baked goods very gummy.
One of my family members can not have dairy or whey. How can I convert this recipe to dairy free? Could I use egg white protein instead of whey protein? Do you have a different recommendation?
Please read the recipe a little more closely…
My story is similar to yours… but I had gestational diabetes with 3/5 of our children. My numbers went back to normal until years later. We are learning how to bake and cook with all these new low carb foods. You have protein powder listed in this recipe. I’ve never used this before, and it looks expensive. Is there a replacement option?
Fantabulous, Carolyn!
I had to try your new donut recipe today after seeing it pop up on FB this morning. And because the oven is a no no right now, I used my toaster oven for 6 of them and used the rest of the batter in my mini Dash donut maker. Perfectly moist and delicious! WOW!
I’ll be making a double batch this week to use up the rest of the pumpkin and stocking my freezer. Yay!
Thank you, thank you, thank you… :-)))
Excellent!
Great idea to use batter in mini Dash waffle-maker! I’ll have to try that.
I’ve done that with the apple cider doughnut hole recipe too. Worked perfectly with about 4-5 minutes bake time.
To clarify, that’s the mini DONUT maker that was mentioned. but I bet the waffle maker is good too, just don’t know the timing.
“She made me do it.” was what I said. I saw the recipe in my inbox, knew I had all ingredients on hand and so I made them this morning. Carolyn can make me bake and cook even if I don’t want to. Not only that but her recipes always taste wonderful. I’m already looking forward to breakfast tomorrow when I will allow myself to eat another donut.
Love this! <3
I am definitely going to try the as soon as I get some pumpkin. 😋
There are no nutrient amounts provided. Mistake?
Fixed!
I only have a silicon donut/bagel pan. I know you said metal works best. Do you think the baking time will differ if I use the silicon pan? I don’t know the differences between the two other than I expect the metal conducts heat better. Thanks!
It will change and I also find that silicone causes the donuts not to rise as well. So… just be forewarned.