Perfectly spiced, moist, and full of flavor, these vegan pumpkin donuts are the perfect fall treat! These dairy-free and egg-free baked donuts can be topped with cinnamon sugar or a tasty glaze with festive seasonal sprinkles.

There are certain things you miss when you make a life-style/dietary change like one does when eating vegan. Especially when it’s the time of year we reminisce about favorite food traditions…like pumpkin pie, pumpkin spiced coffee, pumpkin cookies…AND BAKED PUMPKIN DONUTS!
This recipe is a vegan adaptation of the Baked Pumpkin Donuts found on Sally’s Baking Addiction. Luckily, with a little kitchen magic, we don’t need to give up anything! Chances are, these vegan pumpkin donuts are exactly what you have been looking for – a seasonal yummy treat!
Check out this post with all the vegan pumpkin recipes – both sweet and savory – from Veggie Fun Kitchen!
Reasons you’ll love these baked pumpkin spice donuts! They are:
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
- Egg-free
- Moist
- Spiced just right
- Made easy with a few vegan baking hacks
- Fun to decorate!

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- Reasons you’ll love these baked pumpkin spice donuts! They are:
- Pin now to save for later
- Watch my TikTok
- Ingredients needed to make the tastiest vegan baked pumpkin donuts ever!
- How to make vegan baked donuts
- Step 1: Prep the donut pan and preheat the oven
- Step 2: Make a flax egg and sour milk – a vegan baking hack
- Step 3: Prep the dry ingredients
- Step 4: The Wet Ingredients
- Step 5: Combine the wet with the dry
- Step 6: Filling the donut pans and baking
- The best step: decorating the donuts!
- How long will these vegan baked donuts keep?
- Will the donuts freeze?
- The printable recipe card for vegan pumpkin donuts
Pin now to save for later

Watch my TikTok
For my TikTok friends….because sometimes I crack myself up!
Ingredients needed to make the tastiest vegan baked pumpkin donuts ever!
- ground flaxseed
- plant milk (I used oat milk)
- apple cider vinegar
- all-purpose flour
- white and brown sugars
- pumpkin pie spice and ground cinnamon
- cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, salt
- vegetable oil
- vanilla
- pumpkin puree
- You absolutely have to have a donut pan (affiliate link) for this recipe!

How to make vegan baked donuts
Vegan baking can be a bit of mystery science. I’ve learned a few tricks over the years to make it easy. Follow along with me as we make it easy without giving up flavor or texture!
Step 1: Prep the donut pan and preheat the oven
An absolute must for this recipe is a donut pan! I use this one by Wilton, found on Amazon (affiliate link).

Even though my donut pan is non-stick, I still spritz a little cooking spray so that the baked donuts will just pop out. Wipe away any excess oil from the top of the pan before filling with donut batter and baking.
Step 2: Make a flax egg and sour milk – a vegan baking hack
This is the most important vegan baking hack for making donuts – or any vegan baked goods! We need to replace the egg and will do that by making a flax egg for binding and sour (plant) milk to help the vegan donuts rise.

Simply add the ground flaxseed to a little warm water and the apple cider vinegar to the plant milk and set aside while you are prepping the other ingredients.
Step 3: Prep the dry ingredients
Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl. It’s really important that all the dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed before you add the wet ingredients. Make sure that any lumps of brown sugar are broken up and mixed in. The last thing you want to do is to over-stir this baked donut batter. Making sure the dry ingredients are mixed before adding the wet ingredients is the best way to ensure this. (See below under “wet ingredients”.)

Another vegan baking hack – the cornstarch
Why do we add cornstarch to the dry ingredients? If you have followed me for any amount of time, you’ve likely noticed that I add a little cornstarch to most of my vegan baked goods. Adding cornstarch helps give egg-free baked goods a more tender texture. This is another vegan baking hack I’ve discovered over the years.
Step 4: The Wet Ingredients

The flax egg and sour milk need to sit for at least five minutes. This will take about as long as it takes to mix the dry ingredients and prepare the wet ingredients.
Add all of the wet ingredients along with the flax egg and the sour milk to a medium-sized bowl and mix well.
Step 5: Combine the wet with the dry
Make a little “well” or center spot in the bowl with the dry ingredients. Pour in the wet ingredients all at once and begin mixing.

Once you add the wet ingredients, you will want to just stir to combine well and moisten. If you are stirring too long or too vigorously, you risk over developing the gluten which will cause a tough donut. These donuts are super tender! We like tender baked goods:)
Your mixed batter should be the consistency of a quick bread batter. Thicker than a cake batter but thinner than a soft cookie dough.

If you are having trouble incorporating all of the dry ingredients you will want to add a little more plant milk – one Tablespoon at a time. I have noticed that different cans of pumpkin might have different levels of moisture. That’s just the way it is; but as a result, you’ll need to add a little more moisture to make up for it.
Check out the photo below – I made two batches of donuts with a different can of pumpkin in each. The last batch I made did require me to add in a tiny bit of extra liquid. But what I want you to notice is the different colors in the final product. One is definitely darker than the other. Just goes to show that each can of pumpkin will be unique!

Step 6: Filling the donut pans and baking
You don’t want to just glob the batter into the pans with a spoon. First of all that will be messy and make for ugly donuts. Secondly, it would be tedious and frustrating trying to fill each little donut space that way.
You can easily fill the donut pans with a pastry bag! Fill each little donut space about half-way. Overfilling will cause a messy finished product that will be hard to remove from the pans.

To easily fill the pastry bags, simply place the bag (uncut) into a drinking glass, pointy end down – and then fold the top over. Fill the bag a little over half full. Take it out and gather/close the open top part and then just snip the tip off. You will want the opening to be about the size of your finger-tip.

Step 7: Baking and cooling the donuts
This recipe will make about 18 donuts so you will need to cook it in batches. Put your pan/s into the preheated oven and bake for 13-16 minutes. These baked donuts take exactly 14 minutes in my oven; but every oven is a little different.
You will know they are finished when you do the press test. Just give a baked donut a gentle press with your finger tip. If it bounces back you know it’s ready. If it shows a depressed or indented spot, put them back in for another minute.
When the donuts have finished baking, remove them from the oven and place them on a backing rack for about 10 minutes. The pan should then be just cool enough to touch. Turn the pan upside-down on the rack and give the edge a little whack. The donuts should pop out! These donuts are best iced warm if topping with a glaze or cool if using frosting (see below).
The best step: decorating the donuts!

There are a few options for you to top your donuts: You can ice with frosting, ice with a donut glaze, or sugar the donuts with a sugar/pumpkin pie spice mixture.
Frosting the donuts
If you ice with frosting, you will want to make sure the donuts have been thoroughly cooled. You can use your favorite vegan frosting recipe. My Crazy Good Salted Caramel Date Frosting would be amazing as would my Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting (coming soon).
Glazing the donuts
If you choose to glaze the donuts, you’ll want the donuts to be warm when glazing to avoid cracking the glaze. Try my Brown Sugar Cinnamon Glaze, Browned Butter Glaze, or Maple Glaze (coming soon). Or just do a standard glaze with plant milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar.

Spiced Sugar Topping
Make a spiced sugar topping with one cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. Mix together in a shallow bowl.

Melt four Tablespoons of vegan butter in a small bowl. Working with one donut at a time, brush the top and bottom of the donut with melted butter. Place it into the bowl with spiced sugar. Gently move around to cover well, then turn over to get to the other side. Use a spoon to cover with the sugar if necessary.

Are sprinkles vegan? Where can I find vegan sprinkles?
Sprinkles are often not vegan but they are an important part of life! Sprinkles might contain a red die made from beetles or “confectioner’s glaze” also made from bug secretions. Read more about it on Taste for Life What to Know About Confectioner’s Glaze.
Luckily, it’s a new world filled with vegan-friendly products!
I find my vegan sprinkles at Baking Time Club. (They also have an Etsy shop). When you shop at Baking Time Club, you can be sure the sprinkles you are getting are vegan! (Not sponsored.)
I’ve also found vegan sprinkles at Fancy Sprinkles. Most of their sprinkles are NOT vegan, but many are. Just read the descriptions, they say if they are vegan. (Not sponsored.)
Sprinkles are so much fun!

How long will these vegan baked donuts keep?
Idk….or I wouldn’t have know till this last weekend when I made three batches for photos.
We eat them pretty much right away so I had not had a true test of time before. Of course, we were not able to eat three big batches of donuts at once! Even we have our limits lol.
I made the donuts on Saturday morning and by Sunday night they were starting to taste a little…dry. By Monday afternoon they were chewy and not edible. So if your crew has more patience than mine and can make 18 donuts last more than a day and a half, just cut the recipe down by one half.
Will the donuts freeze?
I don’t recommend freezing with the glaze on. It will crack and you will be sad. If you freeze then glaze afterward, the glaze will also crack. You can thaw and cover with sugar or regular frosting.
Looking for some other delicious seasonal treats?
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Pumpkin Apple Bundt Cake
- Apple Spice Cake in the Slow Cooker
- Pumpkin Dump Cake
- Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream
- Harry Potter Pumpkin Juice
- Apple Cinnamon Dumplings in the Instant Pot
The printable recipe card for vegan pumpkin donuts
Did you love this recipe?
Want to share the love? It would be great if you could leave five ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ stars and even a comment. Did you know that this will help Google to find this recipe when others are looking for something similar? Thanks, Cindy

Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts, Vegan
Equipment
- donut pan
Ingredients
Flax Egg and Sour Milk
- 3 Tablespoons warm water
- 1 Tablespoon ground flax
- ½ cup plant milk I used oat milk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Dry Ingredients
- 1¾ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup white granulated sugar
- ½ Tablespoon ground cinnamon equals 1½ teaspoons
- ½ Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice equals 1½ teaspoons
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients
- 1 cup pumpkin puree NOT pumpkin pie mix
- ½ cup vegetable oil I used avocado oil
- ½ Tablespoon vanilla extract equals 1½ teaspoons
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°Lightly spritz non-stick donut pans with cooking spray. If your donut pans are not non-stick then use a thin layer of Crisco and flour on each portion.
Flax Egg and Sour Milk
- Add the ground flaxseed to the warm water and set aside for 5 minutes
- Add the apple cider vinegar to the plant milk and set aside for 5 mninutes.
Dry Ingredients
- To a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugars, cornstarch, pumpkin pie and cinnamon spices, baking soda and baking powder, and salt. Mix well ensuring no clumps remain. Set aside.
Wet Ingredients
- Add the oil, vanilla, and pumpkin puree to a small-sized mixing bowl. When the sour milk and flax egg have been working for five minutes, add to the wet ingredients. Mix well.
Finishing, Baking ,and Cooling
- Make a "well" in the center of the mixed dry ingredients and add the mixed wet ingredients all at once. Mix well with a large spoon, scraping up the bottom and sides. Once everything is mixed in then stop. Don't overman.
- Put about 3/4 cup mix in a pastry bag to fill the donut pans, one at a time. Only fill till about half full. Repeat with more mix in the pastry bag. The bags tend to get messy so I use disposable bags and just use a new one each time. You could also use a food baggie.
- I use two six-place pans at once. You will have enough mixture too make 18 donuts. Either set the mixture aside and make more later, freeze it, or make yourself a little muffin or two with the extra!
- Bake for 13 – 16 minutes in a 350° oven. They are finished when they spring back when lightly touched.
- Allow to cool in the pan on a baking rack for about 10 minutes. Carefully turn upside-down to remove. Continue cooling until completely cooled before icing. See topping suggestions in the notes below.
Notes
- Brown Sugar Cinnamon Butter Glaze (coming soon)
- Browned Butter Glaze (coming soon)
- Maple Glaze Icing (coming soon)
- Spiced Sugar Topping
- Melt 4 Tablespoons vegan butter in a small container
- Mix together 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice together in a shallow bowl.
- Working with one donut at a time, brush the tops and bottoms of each with the melted butter.
- Dip each side in the spiced sugar mixture. The donuts are a little delicate so you can spoon if necessary. Dip each side a second time.
- Fancy Sprinkles has SOME vegan options. You’ll need to read the description – they are always labeled as vegan if they are.
- Baking time club is 100% vegan. They have a website and an Etsy shop.
Loved these donuts so much!
NOTHING better than baked doughnuts. I mean seriously who needs to deep fry doughnuts??
Pumpkin spiced donuts?? What more could a girl ask for! Absolutely delicious!
My favorite fall donut!
So perfect for fall! Love these.
Give me ALL the pumpkin spice donuts! Seriously, these are fabulous and the blend of spices makes them truly wonderful!
I’m a pumpkin everything gal and this recipe is amazing! I can’t wait to make these again.
I love baked donuts, and pumpkin spice? The best!
These are amazing, so easy to get right and I LOVE the piping bag tip for filling the pan.
these were so good, I can’t believe they’re vegan!
The best Halloween pot luck recipe! Can’t wait to make these for my next get together!
These are so cute and they taste amazing!
These were really delicious! Tho I’m not a vegan, I made this recipe because I have tons of vegan friends and we can all eat together 😀
My daughter has been bugging me to make fall doughnut. Your recipe was so easy and delicious to make!!