These Baked Lemon Blueberry Donuts are fluffy, packed with citrus flavor and bursting with blueberries and covered in a tangy glaze! Baked donuts are the perfect healthy breakfast or snack. Includes step by step recipe video.
It was a big day here on The Recipe Rebel the day these first appeared: my first successful batch of baked donuts.
I have no idea why it took me so long to get on board.
I first posted this recipe more than TWO years ago (what?!?) but it needed a little love and a new recipe video, and — well — I needed another batch of these doughnuts.
I received a doughnut/donut pan way too long ago for Christmas. I baked doughnuts once, they sucked, and then I put it on the bottom of my stack of baking pans for a couple years.
When we were grocery shopping the other day, my husband told me he’d seen a mini doughnut maker in the clearance section for $9, and I had to buy it. Because if there’s anything better than eating a homemade doughnut, it’s eating a dozen mini homemade doughnuts.
(I also saw a pumpkin shaped cake pop pan for 94 cents, and absolutely wasn’t going to leave it there. But then I thought about sharing some pumpkin cake pops on the blog, and Step 3 being “now whip out your pumpkin-shaped cake pop pan”, and all of you leaving and never returning. So I left it there.)
So I bring home my mini doughnut maker and some blueberries and lemons.
Lemon Blueberry Doughnuts.
I had a big hankering for citrus and warm weather, so I mixed up some doughnut batter, and stir in some lemon zest and blueberries. The batter is thick, and I’m a little worried they’re going to be dense and chewy like my first batch.
Nevertheless, I scoop it into a large disposable piping bag and try piping it into the mini doughnut maker but the blueberries are just too big and it’s not really working.
Back to my trusty doughnut pan.
Turns out, they weren’t dense and chewy at all. They are soft, and cakey, and lemony, and springy, and PERFECT.
And they’ve made me a hardcore believer in the homemade baked doughnut. So there’s a good chance you’ll see about 713 variations of them in the next couple months.
I hope you won’t be mad?
More Lemon Blueberry love:
- Lemon Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
- Cream Cheese Filled Blueberry Lemon Bread
- Greek Yogurt Lemon Bundt Cake
Baked Lemon Blueberry Doughnuts
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
- ¼ cup oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
- 2⅔ all-purpose flour (350g)
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar (220g)
- 7-8 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 2-3 lemons, divided)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Grease two donut pans with butter or spray with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter, and oil and whisk about 2 minutes, until smooth.
- Add the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest and whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda, and whisk until just combined. Stir in the blueberries. (The batter will be thick.)
- Spoon the batter into a large disposable piping bag or zip-top bag. Cut off the end of the bag so the opening is about ½- ¾” wide. (Big enough for the blueberries to get through!) Pipe the batter around each donut hole. (The batter should just fill the indent because the donuts will expand and rise.)
- Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before transferring the donuts from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the Glaze
- In a medium-sized shallow bowl, combine powdered sugar and 6 tablespoons of the juice. Add an additional 1 to 2 tablespoons of juice if needed. (You want the glaze to be thin enough to evenly coat your donuts, but thick enough that it will set completely.)
- When the donuts are completely cool, dip the tops into the glaze, overturn and set on a cooling rack so the glaze runs down the sides. Set aside for the glaze to set. (It happens quickly!)
Notes
*If you like more lemon flavour, use fresh lemon juice for the glaze. If you like less lemon flavour, use milk.
*If you’re making these ahead of time, I recommend baking them, letting them cool, and storing in an airtight container, then glazing up to a few hours before serving them. The glazed doughnuts become softer and stickier when stored in an airtight container. I baked and glazed them in the morning, and let them sit on the counter the whole day so the glaze would stay set.
Nutrition Information
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Mai says
The crumb of this donut is phenomenal but I had to adjust some things because I found it to be quite bland too, even with the glaze.
I added the zest of one whole lemon, 3 tbsp of lemon juice and was generous with the vanilla extract. I also suggest doing a vanilla bean glaze rather than a lemon (icing sugar, vanilla bean/extract, and milk). It balanced out beautifully. It was a 10/10 with these adjustments, my family ate them in one sitting! Thanks Ashley 🙂
Wendy says
I made these and they turned out fine. It’s healthier than a fried doughnut for sure. I used the wrong blueberries, I use.the wild frozen blueberries so i found i couldn’t taste the berry but that was my mistake. I will be making these again. I made 24 of them with the recipe. They will be gone around here. Thanks for the recipe!!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks for sharing Wendy!
Faith says
Are these donutty donuts or more like cupcakes? I have a donut pan and was very disappointed with the donuts I baked. It has been living in the bottom of my cupboard ever since. Your recipe sounds delicious. Thank you.
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Faith! These are like cake donuts, not like yeast donuts.
Pam Graule says
Could these be baked in mini doughnut pan? Time to bake? Oven temperature adjustment?
Ashley Fehr says
Absolutely! I can’t say exactly how long, but take a few minutes off and then check for doneness.
Destiny says
Could I make them in just a regular loaf pan?
Ashley Fehr says
I don’t think this recipe would work well in a loaf pan, but you might like this lemon blueberry bread: https://www.thereciperebel.com/cream-cheese-filled-blueberry-lemon-bread-recipe-video/
Emily says
Could these perhaps be made in a muffin pan? I don’t have a donut pan
Emily says
Okay just made them in a regular muffin pan – used two pans. Used an ice cream scoop to portion (about 1/4c. per doughffin (donut/muffin lol)
Baked a little longer ~13m
And halved the icing recipe, using one lemon for the zest and juice part. I zested the whole lemon for the batter cause I love lemony things.
These came out devine!! Thank you for the recipe!
Ashley Fehr says
I’m so glad it worked well!
kelly polizzi says
what donut pan do you use?
Ashley Fehr says
Just a Wilton non stick donut pan
Anonymous says
Heather says
Surprised this had so many stars. Followed the recipe exact. They were just okay. The donut part was boring, we dipped them in the glaze twice to give it added flavor.
The Recipe Rebel says
I’m sorry to hear the recipe wasn’t to your taste, Heather. The donut is not meant to be served without the glaze. I highly recommend reviewing the recipe as a whole.
Jenna says
I had a similar experience. I just made these a few days ago and found the donut part very bland. I followed the recipe exact as well.
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Jenna! The donut is not intended to be eaten without the glaze, so yes, the donut by itself does not have a ton of lemony flavor.