These Vegan Apple Cider Donuts are the most delicious fall donuts packed with cinnamon and apple flavors. Plus, they are baked donuts, not deep-fried, and so are healthier for you, made without refined sugar and packed with whole wheat flour.
These vegan donuts are a delicious alternative to Vegan Waffles or Vegan Crepes and you can make them in less than 25 minutes! They are small, soft, moist, and less chewy than my Peanut Butter Donuts.
Why You’ll Love Vegan Apple Cider Donuts
The secret of apple cider donuts is to use sweet apple cider vinegar that has been boiled until it looks like a sweet syrup.
The result is sweet, lightly tangy apple donuts coated with cinnamon sugar that taste like classic donuts with a healthy twist.
How To Make Vegan Apple Cider Donuts
This is a very easy vegan apple cider donuts recipe, without eggs or dairy and using minimal ingredients.
Ingredients
All you need to make these healthy baked donuts are:
- Whole Wheat Pastry Flour or all-purpose flour.
- Coconut Sugar or brown sugar.
- Melted Coconut Oil – You can also use melted vegan butter or any oil like light olive oil or canola oil.
- Cinnamon – for a classic donut taste.
- Ginger – to give it extra zing.
- Unsweetened Applesauce – applesauce acts as a binder in the recipe.
- Almond Milk or any non-dairy milk you love, like oat milk, soy milk, or coconut milk.
- Vanilla Extract – for even more taste.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – You can use pure apple cider vinegar or boil a cup of apple cider vinegar and reduce it to 1/2 cup to make a true apple cider donuts recipe. Boiling the vinegar makes the recipe less tangy and sweeter, but it takes more time because you will have to cool the boiled vinegar in the fridge for an hour before using it in the recipe.
- Baking Powder – this gives the donuts a bit of rise.
Preparing The Boiled Vinegar Ahead
If you choose to boil the vinegar, place one cup of apple cider vinegar in a non-stick saucepan and bring it to a boil over high heat.
Reduce to medium heat, and on low-boil, cook until it reduces to 1/2 cup. It takes a good 30 minutes.
Cool down in a glass bowl, then refrigerate before using the vinegar in the recipe. You can make this step the day before.
Most recipes won’t boil and reduce the vinegar. In fact, this recipe also works without boiling the vinegar but the donuts then taste tangy and vinegary.
You may like to increase the sugar by 1/4 cup to balance the sour taste of the vinegar if you don’t boil it.
Another idea is to replace all the vinegar with apple juice or 1/3 cup of apple juice with two tablespoons of vinegar for a quick no-boil vinegar donuts recipe.
Donut Batter
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a donut pan with cooking spray and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, stir all the dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, salt, ginger, and cinnamon (photo 1).
- Fold in the wet ingredients: melted vegan butter or oil of choice, cooled vinegar, vanilla extract, apple sauce, and almond milk (photo 2).
- Stir with a spatula until the batter is smooth and lightly thick (photo 3).
- Fill a piping bag with the donut batter and pipe the batter into the greased donut mold (photo 4).
- Fill the donut pan to 3/4 their level (photo 5). If you don’t have a piping bag, fill the donut pan with a spoon.
- Bake the donuts on the center rack of the oven for about 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the donuts comes out clean.
- Remove the donuts from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack for about 20 minutes.
- While the donuts cool down, melt vegan butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Set aside at room temperature. Prepare the cinnamon sugar coating in another bowl by stirring sugar and ground cinnamon together (photo 6). Set it aside.
- When the donuts are still lukewarm but easy to handle by hand, brush melted vegan butter on both sides (photo 7).
- Dip them in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat them.
Variations
You can use this recipe with variations of spices or flavor. Try some of the below ideas for a range of tasty treats this fall.
- Swap the applesauce for pumpkin puree to make pumpkin apple cider donuts.
- Swap the ginger for nutmeg or allspice.
- Swap the applesauce for mashed banana to make banana apple cider donuts.
- Swap the vinegar for apple juice or orange juice.
Storage Instructions
Store the apple cider vegan donuts in the fridge in a sealed container for up to four days.
Freeze the vegan apple cider donuts in sealed freezer bags for up to one month. Thaw at room temperature the day before eating.
Allergy Swaps
Below are some ingredient substitution ideas if you need.
- Nut-Free – Swap the almond milk for soy milk, oat milk, or coconut milk.
- Vegan Butter Swap – Use melted, cooled coconut oil, light olive oil, or canola oil.
- Gluten-Free – I didn’t try all-purpose gluten-free flour for this recipe. I guess it could work with similar ratio if your gluten-free flour blend contains added gum.
- Apple Cider Vinegar Swap – If you don’t have apple cider vinegar, you can use 1/3 cup of apple juice with two tablespoons of white vinegar for this recipe. The recipe works with apple juice only if you prefer a sweet apple donut recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are my answers to your common questions about these baked vegan apple cider donuts.
The secret of apple cider donuts is using a sweet, boiled, reduced apple cider vinegar that looks like apple cider with a tangy, sour taste.
Vegan donuts are made without eggs or dairy, while regular donuts contain eggs, butter, and milk.
Also, most vegan donuts recipes are baked donuts recipe, healthier since they are not fried in oil.
More Baking Recipes
If you like these donuts, you’ll love these other recipes:
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Vegan Apple Cider Donuts
Ingredients
- ½ cup Reduced Apple Cider Vinegar - from 1 cup boiled, cooled apple cider vinegar (note1)
- 1 ½ cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour - or all purpose flour
- ½ cup Coconut Sugar - or sugar
- 2 tablespoons Dairy-Free Butter (Unsalted) - melted
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Fresh Ginger
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Applesauce
- 3 tablespoons Almond Milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
Sugar Coating
- ½ cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ cup Dairy-Free Butter (Unsalted) - melted
Instructions
- A few hours before or the day before, add 1 cup of apple cider vinegar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce to medium boil, and cook until it has reduced in half and reaches 1/2 cup of sweet apple vinegar/syrup. Cool down before using in the recipe for preferably 1 hour in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 6-hole donut pan with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and baking powder.
- Fold in the liquid ingredients: melted vegan butter, vanilla extract, unsweetened apple sauce, almond milk, and reduced-cooled apple cider vinegar.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the liquid ingredients until the batter is well combined.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the donuts are golden brown and a pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, make the cinnamon sugar. In a small mixing bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Set aside on a cooling rack for a few minutes, then brush with melted vegan butter and dip in cinnamon sugar to coat.
- Place the donuts back onto the cooling rack and repeat until all donuts are glazed.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge or freeze in zip-lock bags for up to one month.
I didn’t see the coconut sugar added in the instructions I’m guessing it goes in with the dry ingredients?
Yes indeed!
OK I was a bit on the fence about making something with apple cider vinegar, not too fan of the taste, but it turned out surprisingly good!