Baked Apple Cider Donuts. These Cider donuts have amazing spiced flavor with concentrated cider. Perfect for fall. Vegan Soyfree Recipe. Nutfree Refined Sugar-Free Oilfree Glutenfree option Jump to Recipe
These Apple Cider Donuts are perfect for fall or any time of the year for that matter. The key to all the fall flavor is reducing the cider! Apple Cider gets cooked for a bit to concentrate all that amazing flavor of apples and spices. Concentrated cider, flour, more spices all baked into a flavorful spiced donut! Toss in cinnamon sugar or drizzle icing of choice. These will be a hit with everyone. 15 mins of Active time, no refined sugar!
The donut batter does not use yeast, so it can also be baked into regular size muffins or mini muffins as well. Add some finely chopped apples to the batter, top with a streusel and they are ready for to go breakfast. Lets make these!
More Donuts and Muffins
- Pumpkin Donuts – yeasted
- Spiced Sweet Potato Doughnuts with Cinnamon sugar SF
- Gluten-free Lemon Donuts
- Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
- Classic Donuts.
- Banana Bread Donuts
The batter also makes fantastic muffins. The concentrated cider adds a ton more flavor than regular cider. It also makes the donuts slightly dense, which means even more packed flavor!
Baked Apple Cider Donuts Vegan
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups (354 ml) + 2 tbsp apple cider (not vinegar, but the fermented apple drink)
- 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar (coconut sugar, date sugar, regular or use maple syrup), 1/3 cup for sweeter
- 1 cup (125 g) flour (I use a mix of 1/4 cup whole wheat and 3/4 cup all purpose), see note for gluten-free
- 1 tbsp almond flour , or use more flour
- 3/4 tsp (0.75 tsp) cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp (0.13 tsp) cardamom or nutmeg
- dash of black pepper
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) baking soda
- 1 tbsp oil or applesauce (or both for extra moisture when using whole grain flours)
Cinnamon sugar topping:
- 1 tbsp cane sugar
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 deg F(180 C). Grease a donut pan or line muffin pan. Cook 1.5 cups cider and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat for 20 to 25 mins to reduce to a scant 1 cup. Cool the cider to room temp. (cooling will reduce the cider further to about 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp)
- In a bowl, mix the rest the dry ingredients. Add the concentrated cider and oil/applesauce. Mix well to combine. If the batter is too thick, mix in non dairy milk 1 tbsp at a time until it is just a bit flowy to be able to spoon it in. If the batter is too thin, add in 1-2 tbsp flour
- Immediately spoon the batter into the donut pan or muffin pan. Even out the batter for even shape for donuts.
- Bake for 11-12 mins for donuts or mini muffins, 20-22 mins for regular muffins. Cool for 5 mins, then release from the pan.
- Mix the cinnamon sugar into a ziplock.(or add to a shallow bowl)
- Cool the donuts for another 5 mins. Brush donuts with the non dairy milk or cider, or use oil/melted vegan butter. Add to the ziplock and shake, or dip in the sugar mixture.
A
These came out to be delicious! I doubled the recipe to make muffins and mini muffins. I added 3T oil rather than 2T as the recipe would have called for, and went with both nutmeg and cardamom (plus a little allspice) and they were not too spicy. Love the addition of the black pepper too! I put some chopped apples on top since I was making muffins. Great recipe, this one’s a keeper.
Vegan Richa Support
good to know- yes, black pepper makes them distinct
Debbie Miller
Everyone loves this recipe every time I make it. Thank you so much! We enjoy these much better than those that are made in oil.
Vegan Richa Support
healthy & yummy for the win!
Iris
Hi! These look amazing! What size donuts is your pan making? Is this recipe for full size 3 3/4” donuts or for smaller 2.8” donuts? I’m going to buy a donut pan to make these but want to make sure I get the right size! Thank you!!
Vegan Richa Support
its’ a standard donut pan – same size as a 12 muffins pan.. so , yes, the full size 3 3/4 ” ones. Enjoy!
Dale
These donuts are delicious and so easy to make! The flavors are wonderful.
Richa
Awesome
CHAZNEY Spears
I have been wanting apple cider muffins for a while now and I came across this recipe. I don’t have doughnut molds so I made muffins and these are nothing short of amazing! I only made 6 the first time and my family devoured them and I have been all but threatened with making more of them lol. Thank you for such a simple, dense, and delicious recipe. These are surely a perfect holiday treat!
Vegan Richa Support
thank you kindly =)
CS
Simple & yummy. Made this morning as a Thanksgiving treat!
Vegan Richa Support
Perfect! I’m so glad that you enjoyed a Thanksgiving treat
Lisa
Love the cardamom! I doubled the recipe and it made 12 donuts and 9 mini muffins (maybe my donut pans are small?). Will make this a fall regular. Thanks!
Praniti Amin
I made these last year and once again this year! They are delicious!
Connie Moultroup
Easy as could be. And DELICIOUS!!!!
Richa
Thanks
Laura
My 4 year old says these are “one billion yummy, and better than peanut butter and jelly!” They’re THAT good! 🙂
Nina
A little time consuming because I had to reduce the apple cider, but boy, was it worth it! Love these donuts! I’m about to bake another 12! I used half spelt flour and half AP flour. I added cashew butter instead of oil and also used the applesauce. I’m going to add little bits of apple in this next batch! Yum!
Vegan Richa Support
awesome!! I’m glad that worked out so well
Hazel
Hi! Would arrowroot powder work for the starch part?
Richa
Yes
Karla Schlosser
Apple cider is obtained by the fermentation of apple cider or apple must which is made from crushed organic apples. Just for your information, fermentation means an act of conversion. Organic apples have some kind of bacteria and yeast on their skins. So when they are crushed, you get pure apple juice with a mixture of bacteria and yeast.
Mariela
These are so good and it’s easy to make. Had to make a new batch the following day…
Richa
yay!
Adi
Really good!
diane
Do you store these in the fridge or on the counter?
Richa
on the counter for the day, refrigerate for longer
Valerie Scrafford
Excellent! Yum!!!
Richa
Thanks!
Kristen
Hi! I want to make these gluten free but I I can’t find rice flour, what brand and which one would you recommend or could I just omit and use all almond flour? I also found a flour with white and brown rice and the potato starch in it would that work too? Also I have a mini donut try how long would you think is a good time for that tray?
Richa
Yes use all almond flour or use the blend to sub the rice flour. For mini donuts, check at 7-8 mins
Sapna
Do you think using 1:1 Gluten free flour will work okay?
Richa
it usually doesnt work for me.
Sapna
Thank you so much! I made these as the recipe suggested and they were a hit! Thank you for your amazing recipes.
Richa
yay!
Brittany
Are these supposed to be very dense and almost gummy inside or did I mess up? They’re a very different texture than most dairy/egg free baked goods.
Richa
no they should be cakey like donuts. What flour did you use?
Allyson Keyser
Mine came out gummy too. I don’t know what it could have been. I even tried putting them back in but nothing changed. 😩
Richa
Putting them in again won’t change anything if they didn’t rise in the first baking. There are 2 reasons they could be gummy. 1. The Apple cider did not agree to use enough. So that was more liquid to flour in the batter. How was the consistency? It should be a thick batter. 2. The baking powder was old so the donuts didn’t rise enough.
Allyson Keyser
The texture before it went in looked exactly the same as yours. Could it have been because I didn’t cool the cider reduction first?
Richa
Yes that would kill the baking powder and that means nothing left to help raise the donuts while baking
Kelly
Hello I would love to make these but I was wondering if you think I could use oat flour.. I can’t have almond flour so if you would know how to make these gluten free hopefully using oat flour that would be amazing… thank you so much!!
Richa
You can use a mix of oat flour and starch.Oat flour tends to dry out on baking, so add a generous icing (sugar and non dairy milk and dip or drizzle all over)
Kelly
Thank you so much….i will dip them in apple cider…. Can’t wait to make them🍎❤️
Tiffany Tisdale
I just made them and they barely filled up three donut holes?? Wondering if I did something wrong or if it’s supposed to make only 3 donuts??
Richa
I usually get 6 or 5 if i fill the pan a bit more per donut. I think the cider might have reduced too much (was the batter too thick? ) or maybe the donut pan. Even with the regular size donuts, i’ve noticed that some pans have deeper holes than others, which may affect the amount of batter needed.
Concetta
These look delicious! I was thinking of adding some grated apple. Would I need to change any other amounts to do this?
Richa
add about a half cup grated apple and if the batter is not thick, then add a few tbsp more flour.
Jessica
Hi Richa! Looks absolutely delicious but I can feel my blood sugar rising just reading about it! I will try it with half the amount of coconut sugar.
Amy D
Thank you so much for this recipe, my husband called at least 8 apple places near us asking if they had vegan apple cider donuts and they sadly ALL had dairy and eggs.
So I searched for a recipe like this one! Delicious!!
I followed the recipe exact using all purpose flour and oil but it only yielded 4 donuts and the batter was very thick. Any suggestions for next time?
Thanks in advance, awesome website!!!
Richa
the cider may have thickened and reduced more. You can add in some non dairy milk a tbsp at a time to make it less thick (like a slightly thick pancake batter consistncy), and then drop into the donut pan and bake.What flour did you use?/ the flour may have absorbed more moisture as well.
Nic
Delicious donuts! Thank you for the great recipe. I have tried my fair share of baked vegan donuts recipes and they have never gone over well. But my family loved these. We ate them all last night right away! I had to make more this morning.
Richa
awesome!
Leemor
These turned out great!
Obsessed with all your recipes. Haven’t been disappointed by any yet.
Richa
❤️❤️
Sue
Delicious 😋
They did not last!
Thank you for helping me learn healthier ways of cooking
Richa
yay!
Natalie
These donuts look so delicious! So unique and perfect for this season!
haya
Very delicious of the most successful recipes I have made Thank you I have baked a cupcake
Rita
Wonderful tasty recipe! I love that it is lower in oil. It only yielded 5 donuts for us. We skipped dusting it with sugar or cinnamon and it still tasted perfect. Didn’t read the recipe closely enough the night before so the time required to reduce the cider caught us off guard while we were still foggy from waking up. The prep or cook time should take the reduction time into account. Will definitely make this again, probably reducing the cider the night before so we can have fresh warm donuts for breakfast. Another winning recipe from Richa!
Richa
awesome! yes, i thought i noted it, but must have forgotten. added it to the times.
Sue
Richa, these are delicious as muffins. I’m wondering if next time (yes, there will definitely be a next time), if I can put the topping on before baking the muffins. They smell and taste so good. Thanks for another winning recipe!!!
Richa
yes you can put cinnamon sugar on before baking just like my cinnamon swirl cake
Carol
Hi Richa. Made these today and they’re delicious! Just a couple questions. Should it be TBS instead of tsps of cider reduction to reserve for brushing the finished donuts? I forgot to do that, so I mixed some cider and maple syrup to brush them with. Used way more than 2 tsps.
Also, my batter wasn’t pourable at all, but it looked the same consistency as yours. I doubled the recipe so maybe that’s why? I spooned the batter into the donut pans and it worked ok. Just not as pretty as yours. I was tempted to pipe the batter in but wasn’t sure if it would wreck the batter.
Thanks. Great recipe. I’ll be making it again. I’ll try the gf version with some cream cheese frosting, I think.
Richa
awesome! yes the batter can thicken as flours absorb moisture differently.
I used less than a tbsp of the cider mix to brush as i was brushing very lightly. thats a great idea to to just use cider + maple as much as you like later!
I also used a spoon as I dont have the patience to pipe :). Once you put the batter in, you can use a fresh spoon, lightly coat it in oil and use that to oven out the top. or a small spatula. Even the thicker batter should even out.
When doubling in baking, you often will need slightly less than double the flour/dry. So start with 1.75 times the flour and see if the batter needs any more and then add more. My batter looks thick but its pretty fluffy inside with the baking powder starting to react already.
Carol
Thanks. I thought it was cool that the batter was fluffing up so fast. I was afraid of “deflating” it with my slow pan filling skills! I’m a pretty good cook, but baking is another story. They still came out great
Teri
Is that 1 1/2 cups of apple cider vinegar?
Richa
no just cider. vinegar would be insanely vinegary 🙂 .
You an also use just apple juice. You can buy cider from the store or make your own, use sweetener or not , eg https://divascancook.com/easy-homemade-apple-cider-recipe/
Yogitha
Really amazing recipe… My mom just loved it… And I love all of your cooking ideas… Keep sharing and lao support me
lisa
how is the texture of these different from cupcakes?
Richa
these are denser. You can use use the batter for cupcakes if you add 2 to 3 tbsp oil for a softer crumb.
Kathleen
Made this tonight as mini muffins and they didn’t last long! Loved the dense texture and bright fresh apple cider tartness. Excellent, easy recipe thanks!
Richa
awesome!
Joanne
How many doughnuts does this make?
Richa
6
Trish
Can these be made using all whole wheat pastry flour or is it best to use a mix?
Richa
For baking its best to use a mix as they will get a bit too dense with the limited fat and sugar. You can use a mix of spelt flour and wheat flour. Spelt is whole grain but bakes up lighter than wheat. You can use an icing to help keep them more moist.
Zuzana
Hello Richa, this looks absolutely fabulous, but I cannot get apple cider in my country. Can I use apple juice instead? Ir anything else?
Richa
Yes use apple juice. Cook it to concentrate similarly. Cider generally has spices added, so just add a bit more of the spices listed to the flour