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Vegan Gluten-free Lemon Donuts Recipe. 1 Bowl or Blender. These baked gluten free doughnuts are amazingly soft and moist. They are Grain-free, Easy, Zesty Chickpea flour Donuts. Use lemon or lime. Baked Vegan Doughnuts. Glutenfree Grainfree Soyfree Yeast-free Paleo Can be nutfree.
I keep trying gluten-free baking on and off. Some recipes that I try from cookbooks turn out ok to a mess. Doughnuts are a difficult baking task esp if made gluten-free, as they are supposed to be soft, moist, airy and a bit chewy. These baked doughnuts come very close. And the best part is that they use a few ingredients(flour lemon, leavening, flavor), no xanthan gum, no rice flour, no oats, no grain!
I looked again to my Indian roots to make these doughnuts. Chickpea flour/besan makes a great dhokla, which is a steamed savory cake. It uses just 1 ingredient, chickpea flour and spices and some leavening and boom, you have a soft, moist cakey bread. I used a similar batter, added a bit of starch to hold the shape better, and some almond flour for texture and volume. You can easily make these without the almond flour. Just add more flour.
These doughnuts come out better with besan. Chickpea flour makes a stronger flavor and slightly less moist version. Yes they are not the same flour. Besan is flour of skinless brown chickpeas or chana dal and chickpea flour in the US is generally white chickpea /garbanzo bean flour. Besan is available online on amazon or in Indian stores(its very cheap in Indian stores). If you use chickpea flour, add more zest and dont store the donught longer than a few hours. The chickpea flour flavor gets more prominent. Lets get to these lemony bites!
* Jump to Recipe!
I used simple sugar glaze on these. Add some chia or poppy seeds on top. or use a cream cheese style frosting. These are good by themselves too. I generally add a drizzle of the glaze rather than dip the entire doughtnut in it. Just a bit of glaze is enough to add the moisture and sweetness.
Fore regular flour Yeasted Classic Doughnuts, see these.
More gluten-free vegan bakes from the blog.
- Zucchini Bread Loaf. GF Gum-free Yeast-free
- Pumpkin Banana Cranberry Bread – GF Yeast-free
- Almond Butter Blondies GF
- Banana Walnut Loaf – GF Gum-free Yeast-free
- Coconut Flour Brownies GF Gum-free
- Lentil Sandwich Bread – GF Gum-free Yeast-free
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So Soft! These take just 1 Bowl or a blender to make! Add a glaze or frosting of choice.
The batter is a thin pancake like batter that is blended and poured into a doughnut pan. The pan is kept on a baking sheet to reduce browning and hence drying of the doughnut surface. Then another baking sheet is kept on top of the pan to trap the moisture during baking, just like steaming a dhokla. This is an essential step so that the baked result is soft and not dry. Almost 3 gm of protein per doughnut, there are pretty filling.
Besan or chickpea flour can be an acquired flavor. The lemon masks a lot of it in these doughnuts. Bake 1 doughnut or a muffin to check how you like the flavor and if the batter is working well. Then adjust the flavor by adding more vanilla, more nutmeg.
If you make these, do let me know how they worked out in terms of flavor, texture. Feedback, suggestions, or anything else, comment on this post and rate the recipe!
Troubleshoot:
Bake 1 doughnut to check the texture and bake time. If the doughnut is a bit gummy, its probably either because it didnt bake through in time, so increase bake time, Or the batter needs more flour (depends on how the flour is packed, other wet measurements, sugar etc). Add a tbsp or so more besan and mix into the batter.
Vegan Gluten-free Lemon Donuts. Grain-free Baked Vegan Doughnuts
Ingredients
Dry:
- 3/4 cup besan, gram flour
- 3 tbsp cornstarch or potato starch, or more besan, you might need an additional tbsp of water with besan
- 2 tbsp almond flour, or use more besan
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Zest of half, or whole for zestier a lemon, or whole lime
- 1 tsp baking powder, divided
- 1/4 tsp baking soda.
Wet:
- Juice of a lemon or lime, 2 to 2.5 tbsp
- 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tbsp more for sweeter
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- a pinch of nutmeg
- 1.5 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup water, scant
- 1/4 cup oil
Glaze:
- 3/4 cup raw sugar , or powdered
- 1 to 2 tbsp non dairy milk , or lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F / 200ºc. Grease the doughnut pan really well. Also keep 2 baking sheets (larger than the pan handy).
- In a blender, add the flour, starch, almond flour, salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder and zest.
- Add the wet ingredients and blend until the sugar is combined and the batter is smooth. you want to add not more than total of 2/3 cup liquid(water and lemon juice). You can also mix these in a bowl. The batter should be like a pancake batter on the thin side.
- Now, add the remaining baking powder and baking soda and pulse a few times to combine or use a spoon to mix in well. Let the mixture sit for a minute to get slightly frothy. The lemon and baking powder will react to make the batter frothy.
- Pour into prepared donut pan. Fill not more than 2/3 of the height. Place doughnut pan on a baking sheet. Place another baking sheet on top. This will create chamber where some of the steam will stay during baking instead of escaping.
- Bake for 11 minutes, them remove the top sheet and bake for another 4 to 5 minutes. total 15-16 minutes.
- Take the pan out and let it sit for a minute, then pat to remove the doughnuts. Let the doughnuts cool completely for 15 minutes. Then frost and let the frosting sit for a few minutes then serve. If not serving immediately, store in airtight container for the day.
Easy Glaze:
- Powder the sugar in a blender with 1 tbsp cornstarch. Add to a bowl and add 1 to 2 tbsp non dairy milk or lemon juice and a good pinch of salt. Mix until smooth. Dip donuts in the glaze or drizzle some on the doughnuts. I usually like to drizzle so there is just a bit of glaze and hence less sugar for added moisture.
Notes
If you use chickpea flour, add more zest and dont store the donught longer than a few hours. The chickpea flour flavor gets more prominent. To make these into Muffins/cupcakes: Make the batter by following steps 1 to 4. Pour in a greased muffin pan. Place the pan on a baking sheet and place another tall baking sheet on top of the muffin pan. Bake for 12 minutes at 400 degrees F. Bake for 5 minutes or longer until toothpick from the center comes out clean. Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Amaziiingg! Who would have thought chickpea flour rises so much!
Oh wow, these donuts look stunning! I adore anything lemon-flavored! Can’t believe these are grain-free, either!
Have been waiting for this post since you posted the other donut recipe. Thanks! Can’t wait to try them.
Going to try these.! Thanks so much for the recipe. =)
Silly question – but I continue to hunt for a good donut recipe and this could be it – BUT I can’t eat citrus. Beyond flavor, does the lemon have a role as an acid or could I sub a different flavor (pure vanilla, cinammon, etc) and just slightly increase the water?
Thanks for any thoughts you might have,
So these doughnuts work because the citrus reacts with the baking powder and soda to leaven the batter Before it even goes to bake. That part leavening before baking is what makes these light and soft. You could use a different acid to do the reaction. Generally I would use citric acid but that might be citrus as well depending on how it is produced. It might work with some more vinegar but the flavor of the vinegar might show up in the baked doughnut. If you like the cider vinegar flavor, then give it a shot. Make half the recipe. You can also use a stronger flavored glaze or frosting with it.
Thank you!
I have never used besan or garbanzo flour for sweet stuff. I need to try this.
I’m mailing it to my wife who is the gluten free at home and is always complaining about not finding good recipes for sweets.
Thank you Richa! I had only garbanzo flour on had, I’ll try and find besan, and in the meantime maybe make a savory donut with the chickpea? I’ll have to order besan, no Indian grocery stores for 8 hrs! Yum!
you can use garbanzo bean flour. Add a bit more vanilla and eat the doughnuts within a few hours. The flavor gets stronger later with garbanzo.
So what I’m hearing is I can sub the flour as long as I eat all the donuts immediately and share with no one. Got it. Thanks!
You got that right.
Wow, it has been 21 years since I’ve tasted a doughnut. Thank you Richa????
OH MY GOSH! I made these into muffins and they were gobbled up before i could glaze, so making another batch! So good Richa.
It looks good but can we sub corn starch with potato or arrowroot starches to make it totally grain free?
Thanks
yes potato should work fine.
Arrowroot won’t work?
i havent tried it. it should work. When you make the batter, bake 1-2 donuts to check, so you can adjust the batter with a bit more besan flour or additional baking time if needed.
Can I make this with regular all purpose flour? And how much? Thanks
use this reecipe https://fettabbau-trim.today/2018/10/vegan-lemon-poppy-seed-donuts.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Me and my nany used this yay