Homemade baked chai spice donuts are perfect for cool mornings. Each bite is flavored with cozy fall spices like cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and allspice. Ready in 35 minutes, use this recipe to make donuts or donut holes! Another favorite fall donut recipe is my apple cider donuts—try those next.
Do you have a donut pan? Add this fun baking tool to your collection because today we’re making baked chai spice donuts!
Why You’ll Love These Baked Donuts:
- Baked, not fried
- A quick & easy breakfast treat
- Double dose of chai spice—in the batter and the coating
- Just like baked cinnamon sugar donuts with a fall twist
- Soft, dense, and cakey (more like a muffin than a fried donut)
- Make donuts or donut holes with the same recipe
Two Parts to Baked Chai Spice Donuts
- Donuts: We’re using my standard baked donut recipe as the base. It’s what I use for my chocolate frosted donuts, banana donuts, baked sprinkle donuts, baked maple donuts, cinnamon sugar donuts, and crumb cake donuts (doubled for that recipe). It’s a very thick batter that produces tight-crumbed, cakey donuts. There’s a small handful of basic ingredients required like flour, egg, leaveners, sugar, and milk. I like to add a little sour cream to the donut batter for a moisture punch (Greek yogurt works too). Add cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and allspice for ultimate chai flavor.
- Chai Spice Coating: While I dabbled with the thought of glazing these donuts, I kept going back to my cinnamon sugar standard. Only with the addition of our chai spice mix. Each baked donut is dipped in butter and generously coated in a sugar/chai spice mixture. Just wait until you smell these easy chai donuts—you’ll wish this scent was available in candle form.
Quick Overview: How to Make Baked Chai Spice Donuts
These baked donuts are such an easy breakfast treat—essential as the days get shorter and our schedules get busier. No electric mixer required!
- Make the sugar & spice mixture. Combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and allspice. (We use the same spices to coat white chocolate chai snickerdoodles.) Part of this sugar/spice mixture will be for the actual donut batter while the other part will be for the donut coating.
- Make the donut batter. Whisk the dry ingredients together, whisk the wet ingredients together (including 1/3 cup of the sugar/spice mixture), then combine the wet and dry ingredients.
- Fill the donut cavities. Transferring donut batter into the donut pan can be tricky, so I always suggest using a zipped-top bag to pipe the batter. (You can see me doing this in my pumpkin donuts post.) Just spoon the batter into a large zipped-top bag, trim off a bottom corner, and squeeze the batter into the pan. The donut batter is thicker than you’d expect, so it pipes pretty neatly.
- Bake. They bake up VERY quickly!
- Top the donuts. If the remaining melted butter has solidified, re-melt it. Dip each warm donut into the melted butter, then dunk into the remaining sugar/spice mixture. Make sure to coat all sides! This coating would be equally delicious on pumpkin donuts.
Use This Batter for Donuts or Donut Holes
Make donuts or donut holes with today’s easy chai spice donut batter—you’ll get about 8 regular size donuts or 20 donut holes. While I love the look of classic donuts, itty butty donut holes are adorable—and perfect if you a) don’t have a donut pan or b) need to feed a crowd. Simply bake the donut holes in a mini muffin pan for 9-10 minutes. Super simple! I use a muffin pan to make these chocolate donut holes, too.
More Donut Recipes
- Pumpkin Donuts
- Maple Bacon Doughnuts (fried)
- Crumb Cake Donuts
- Glazed Doughnuts (fried)
- Lemon Poppy Seed Donuts
- Chocolate Frosted Donuts
- Powdered Sugar Donut Muffins
Easy Chai Spice Donuts
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 donuts or 20 donut holes
- Category: Donuts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Baked and completely easy chai spice donuts are extra delicious and ready in under 30 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled (divided)
- 1 large egg*
- 1/4 cup (60g) sour cream*
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Spray donut pan or 24-count mini muffin pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Make the donuts: Whisk the granulated sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and allspice together. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside. Whisk 3 Tablespoons of melted butter, egg, 1/3 cup of the sugar/spice mix (the rest is for the coating), sour cream, milk, and vanilla together until completely combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter will be thick.
- Spoon the batter into the donut cavities—I highly recommend using a large zipped-top bag for ease. Cut a corner off the bottom of the bag and pipe the batter into each donut cup, filling 2/3 – 3/4 of the way full. (You can see me doing this in my pumpkin donuts post.) Or, if making donut holes, spoon the batter into the mini muffin pan, filling each 3/4 of the way full. You’ll only need a couple teaspoons of batter for each.
- Bake the donuts or donut holes for 9–10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and when poked lightly with a finger, they spring back. Once done, transfer to a wire rack set on a large piece of parchment paper or on a large baking sheet. Bake the remaining donut batter (there is usually enough batter for 1-2 more donuts) and once baked, transfer to the wire rack. Allow donuts to cool down until you can handle them.
- Top the donuts: Re-melt the remaining butter if it has solidified by now. Dip the donuts in the melted butter, then dunk into the remaining sugar/spice mixture, making sure to coat all sides. Donuts are best served immediately. Leftovers keep well covered tightly at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: You can freeze the donuts for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm up to your liking in the microwave. I usually just zap ’em for a couple seconds.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Donut Pan or 24-count Mini Muffin Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Large Zipped-Top Bag | Cooling Rack
- Room Temperature Ingredients: I find it is best to have these 3 ingredients at room temperature. The batter comes together very easily. Any milk works, whether that’s whole milk, skim milk, soy milk, coconut milk, or almond milk.
- Adapted from baked cinnamon sugar donuts.