Baked Donuts with Lemon Glaze - Handle the Heat
Filed Under: Breakfast | Dessert | Donut

Baked Donuts with Lemon Glaze

  |  
April 13th, 2015

Baked Donuts with Lemon Glaze are wonderfully light, fresh, and take just 30 minutes without any guilt, making it the perfect spring recipe!

Yield: 6 doughnuts

This post was written by me on behalf of Imperial Sugar. All text, photos, and opinions provided are my own.

Tessa's Recipe Rundown...

Taste: Ultra bright and fresh, perfect for spring! Texture: The donuts are soft and light while the glaze is thick and rich. Ease: Super easy 30 minute dessert recipe. Appearance: I just love the cracked appearance of the glaze once it sets and that you can see little specks of fresh lemon zest. Pros: Fresh and fun, much easier and less indulgent than fried donuts. Cons: None! Would I make this again? Absolutely.

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Baked Donuts with Lemon Glaze - so much easier and healthier than fried!

You guys know my obsession with donuts is strong. Some of my most popular posts have been donut recipes, so I know the obsession is mutual. It seemed only right to share a bright and fresh spring donut recipe with you in the form of these Baked Donuts with Lemon Glaze. They’re a million times quicker and easier than fried donuts and while the texture isn’t exactly the same as fried, they’re positively addicting. Not only are these baked, but they’re made mostly with yogurt instead of tons of oil or butter making them even lighter! Perfect for all the shorts, tanks, and bikinis spring and summer require.

30 minute spring dessert recipe!

These healthier baked donuts only take 30 minutes and are so addicting!

The full Baked Donuts with Lemon Glaze recipe can be found on Imperial Sugar’s website!

This post was written by me on behalf of Imperial Sugar. All text, photos, and opinions provided are my own.

Easier and healthier than fried, 30 minute recipe! These are ADDICTING!

How to make
Baked Donuts with Lemon Glaze

Yield: 6 doughnuts
Baked Donuts with Lemon Glaze are wonderfully light, fresh, and take just 30 minutes without any guilt, making it the perfect spring recipe!

Ingredients

For the donuts:

  • 1 cup (4.5 oz) all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Imperial Sugar Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 6 ounces unsweetened nonfat Greek yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

For the Lemon Glaze:

  • 1 1/2 cups Imperial Sugar Confectioners Powdered Sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Directions

For Doughnuts:

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a 6-cup donut pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl whisk together egg, yogurt, oil, and lemon juice. Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into the hole. Gently fold everything together until combined. The batter will be thick; do not overmix.
  3. Scoop batter into a piping bag or freezer bag and snip a bottom corner with scissors. Squeeze out batter evenly into prepared donut pan.
  4. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for a few moments and then flip over onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

For Glaze:

  1. Whisk together the glaze ingredients until smooth. Add more sugar for thickness, more lemon juice for thinness. Dip the doughnuts in glaze and place on a lined baking sheet. Let stand until glaze has set before serving.
Course : Dessert
Cuisine : American
Tessa Arias
Author: Tessa Arias

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

Tessa Arias

About Tessa...

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

Find Tessa on  

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Recipe Rating




  1. #
    Bella — May 19, 2023 at 11:57 am

    Hi Tessa,
    I want to make these donuts, but my plain yogurt isn’t Greek, it’s just regular. Should I add a little more flour to the batter or do you think it will be ok as is? Thanks.

    • #
      Emily — May 22, 2023 at 6:06 am

      Hi Bella! No, the fat content in Greek yogurt isn’t the same as regular yogurt, so it won’t work well as a substitute. Adding additional flour will result in denser donuts. Other readers have successfully substituted sour cream for the yogurt though, if you’d like to give that a try!

  2. #
    Ginger Piatt — November 23, 2020 at 8:44 am

    Can’t find recipe Imperial Sugar site not found I wanted to make
    these today BUMMER

    • #
      Tessa — November 23, 2020 at 4:18 pm

      Hey Ginger, the recipe is updated now! Sorry for the inconvenience. I hope you give these donuts a try!

  3. #
    Ju — November 9, 2016 at 10:36 pm

    This is a great and FANTASTIC recipe they were delicious thanks for sharing!!

  4. #
    Vicky Lynn — June 10, 2016 at 10:36 am

    I loved these! While I am mostly a chocolate glazed/jelly filled kind of woman, I chose these because the prep-to-consumption ratio was definitely in my favor, lol. 20 minutes, start to finish is great by me. I tweaked the recipe a bit based on what I had on hand, subbing sour cream for the yogurt and adding just a couple drops of vanilla extract. The glaze is so good, I may cover myself in it to see if I can get a fella. 🙂 These were tender and flavorful with the glaze providing the perfect accent. I look forward to making these again.

    • #
      Tessa — June 12, 2016 at 12:14 pm

      Haha! That’s awesome Vicky, thanks for your fun comment 🙂

  5. #
    PAULENE — May 18, 2015 at 9:38 pm

    Just made this the other day and it was FANTASTIC!!! It has the right balance of sweetness and tangy flavor of the lemon….refreshing!! Gonna make this again!!! Thanks for this great recipe Ms. Tessa!!!

    • #
      Tessa — May 20, 2015 at 1:55 pm

      Yay! Thrilled to hear it 🙂

  6. #
    JK — April 13, 2015 at 2:15 pm

    If making mini-donuts, how long should they be baked for?

    • #
      Karina — October 12, 2022 at 2:00 pm

      If I want to make plain baked glazed donuts, should I omit the lemon juice in the batter? Should I add some vanilla extract instead? Thank you!

      • #
        Kiersten @ Handle the Heat — October 13, 2022 at 10:52 am

        Hi Karina! Yes, just omit the lemon juice from the batter, and omit the juice and zest from the glaze. You don’t need to worry about the juice in the batter so much, but can replace the juice in the glaze with milk. You can add some vanilla extra in place of part of the lemon juice, but 2 Tablespoons of vanilla might be a bit too strong, so I’d suggest maybe adding 1 teaspoon vanilla and the remaining 1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons or so of milk. I hope that helps 🙂

  7. #
    Jen @ Baked by an introvert — April 13, 2015 at 8:18 am

    Baked donuts are the best. And lemon glaze just makes them better! Love these to pieces!

  8. #
    Erin@WellPlated — April 13, 2015 at 5:56 am

    Yay for spring and donuts! Love that these are healthier too.

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