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Super satisfying Paleo donuts are the right way to start your day eating grain-free. The perfect breakfast or after school snack!

Glazed Paleo donuts sitting on top of a metal rack
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Why I love these Paleo donuts

I really like the low-carb, high-energy-ness of Paleo baked goods for early morning school breakfasts. And my kids love this stuff. 

These plain Paleo donuts and moist and tender, and just sweet enough. They're packed with all the good fat you need to keep you going all morning long. 

I have a tendency to step up the Paleo baking in January, and most of it is for make-ahead breakfasts like these donuts and my Paleo breakfast cookies. Almond flour baking leads to really filling treats like these bakery style almond flour muffins, and that's what makes it perfect for school breakfasts.

Raw Paleo donut batter in a muffin tin

How to make a Paleo donut glaze

I originally posted this recipe in 2013, and I had made a perfectly simple honey glaze that looked and tasted great. I have been unable to recreate the exact same glaze ever since.

I believe heating some honey with a bit of water mixed with arrowroot powder would make a great glaze, but I haven't gotten the proportions quite right just yet. In most of the photos here, the glaze you see is a really simple one.

To make the lighter-colored glaze, simply grind coconut palm sugar in a blender or food processor with about 1 tablespoon arrowroot per cup of sugar until it has nearly the consistency of confectioners' sugar.

Place the ground sugar in a small bowl and add water by the half-teaspoonful, stirring until you have a very thickly pourable glaze. Dip the tops of the cooled donuts in the glaze and allow them to sit until the glaze is set.

The coconut sugar glaze has a strong flavor, as the sugar itself is quite flavorful. If you don't like the taste of coconut sugar, you won't like the glaze!

The donuts really don't need the glaze though. They're perfect without it. For nine other gluten free donuts recipes, come on over!

Paleo donuts on a wire rack, some with glaze

What are the best donut pans?

I feel like I've bought every sort of donut pan there is, and most have been awful. The biggest problem I've had is that the center of each well has a very short raised center. 

When the raised center is too short, the only way to make a donut with an actual hole that goes all the way through the donut is to fill the well no more than halfway through. And then it looks more like a ring than a donut. 

The only donut pans that I like are the nonstick ones made by Wilton, like this 6-cavity nonstick donut pan(affiliate link—feel free to shop around). They also make mini pans with 12 wells. 

I've actually rid my kitchen of any and all other donut pans since they seem to bake only heartache. For even more discussion about donut pans, see my recipe for gluten free apple cider donuts

A Paleo donut on a plate with a bite taken

What about the electric donut maker?

I love my electric donut maker. I have the Babycakes donut maker, and I got mine at Kohl's year ago (with a coupon! on sale!). But I seem to have misplaced it.

And it's not like I live in a huge house where that makes any sense. I'm beginning to suspect that I gave it away. I have a tendency to do that since I love “tidying up.” 

If I were to buy it again, I would buy this Babycakes multi-treat baker (affiliate link, but shop around for sure) since it's oddly less expensive than the just-donut-maker. Plus, you can use it to make miniature cupcakes, donuts or cake pops.

Although I haven't made cake pops since my blog posts looked like this. But now, of course, I feel that I must make cake pops. I'll edit this if (okay, when) I buy that little machine. 

Miniature Paleo donut with glaze on a wire rack

Ingredients and substitutions

Since these donuts are Paleo, they're already grain-free and dairy-free. They do contain some additional allergens, so here is all the ingredient information I can provide:

Almond flour: As in any Paleo recipe I write, the only almond flour that will work as described in the recipe is a finely ground, blanched almond flour. Blanched almonds are simply almonds that have had their skins removed.

I have had great success with both Honeyville brand and Nuts.com finely ground blanched almond flour. Almond meal is a much coarser ground, and will not yield good results. I'm afraid I can't recommend any of the Bob's Red Mill brand almond flour or almond meal products.

If you need to be nut-free, you can try replacing the almond flour with finely ground sunflower seed flour, but the donuts will likely turn green due to the reaction between the sunflower seeds and the baking soda in the recipe. It won't affect the flavor, though. 

Eggs: Since there are two eggs in this recipe, you can replacing each of them with a “chia egg” (one tablespoon finely ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel). It's not a perfect substitute, but it's the one I like best.

Coconut flour: The two tablespoons of coconut flour in this donut recipe really help give the baked donuts structure. I have made these donuts with a full cup of almond flour (120 g) and no coconut flour. The recipe works but the donuts are considerably more fragile once baked. 

Maple syrup: Be sure you're using real maple syrup in this recipe, not imitation syrup, which is really just high fructose corn syrup. The 1/4 cup maple syrup can be replaced with 3 tablespoons (63 g) additional honey.

The Perfect Paleo Donuts

5 from 10 votes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Yield: mini donuts
Super satisfying Paleo donuts are the perfect way to start your day eating grain-free. The perfect breakfast or after school snack!
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Ingredients 

  • ¼ cup (84 g) honey
  • ¼ cup (84 g) pure maple syrup
  • 6 tablespoons (72 g) nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening, melted and cooled
  • 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) unsweetened almond milk, at room temperature
  • 1 ¾ cups (196 g) finely-ground blanched almond flour
  • 2 tablespoons (12 g) coconut flour
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
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Instructions 

  • If using an electric miniature donut maker, warm the donut maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. Otherwise, preheat your oven to 300°F, grease a donut pan (full-sized or miniature) and set it aside.
  • Place all of the ingredients in the order listed in a blender and blend until smooth (alternatively, you can whisk the ingredients together by hand, but the batter will not be as smooth). The batter will not be pourable, but will be very soft and easily scooped.
  • If using an electric donut maker, fill the bottom of the donut maker wells completely with batter, then close and secure the lid. Allow to bake for 3 1/2 minutes.
  • Open the donut maker and remove the donuts with the remover tool included in the package. Transfer the donuts to a wire rack to cool completely, and repeat with the remaining batter.
  • If using the oven, fill the prepared donut wells about three-quarters of the way full.
  • Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 8 to 12 minutes (depending upon size), or until the donuts are just set and very lightly browned. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the donuts to sit in the pan for about 5 minutes or until they begin to shrink away from the sides of the pan. Invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Video

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Paleo Donuts (Gluten Free Grain Free Dairy Free)
Super satisfying Paleo donuts are the perfect way to start your day eating grain-free. The perfect breakfast or after school snack! #glutenfree #grainfree #Paleo #goodfat #dairyfree

About Nicole Hunn

Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough!

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22 Comments

  1. Meghan Poling says:

    I can’t wait to try these! With my histamine intolerance and recently discovered yeast allergy it’s been hard finding treats I can eat without much grief. Have you considered recipes using cassava flour? I have more tapioca starch than I know what to do with (but I LOVE your Against The Grain copycats!) and recently got myself a bag of cassava flour to play around at making pasta.

    Thanks for all your hard work!

    1. Nicole Hunn says:

      Hi, Meghan, I have experimented with cassava flour a bit, but learned that it’s relatively high in carbohydrates and I couldn’t see much of a benefit over other flours, so I stopped. I’ve been getting more and more questions about it, though, so I think I’m going to start up again and should have some recipes on the blog in the next month or so. Stay tuned!

  2. Deborah Nisson says:

    Made these this morning and they were really good. I got silicone donut pans for Christmas. Send at 300 degrees they took a LOT longer than the time specified. Should I. She st a higher temperature in silicone? They passed the grandson test!

    1. Nicole Hunn says:

      I’m really glad that you enjoyed the donuts, Deborah (and that your grandson did too!). I do find that baking in silicone does affect baking times and temperatures.