Wake up to warm baked cinnamon sugar donuts! Ready in 45 minutes, this simple from-scratch recipe yields perfectly spiced and ultra moist donuts. Always a crowd pleaser, I recommend making a double batch for larger gatherings.
Do you have a donut pan? Add this fun baking tool to your collection because today we’re making baked cinnamon sugar donuts. Most of my donut recipes are baked, not fried, so you have many delicious ways to use that pan!
Why You’ll Love These Baked Donuts:
- No electric mixer required
- Baked, not fried
- Buttery and flavorful
- Soft and cakey
- Spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg
- Sweetened with brown sugar
- Generously coated in cinnamon sugar
- Just like your favorite donuts from a bakery
Two Parts to Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
- Donuts: We’re using my standard baked donut recipe as the base. It’s what I use for my baked maple donuts, chocolate frosted donuts, lemon poppy seed donuts, and banana donuts. In fact, today’s donuts are just like my chai spice donuts but without the chai spices. It’s a very thick batter that produces tight-crumbed, cakey donuts. You’ll need a small handful of basic ingredients like flour, egg, leaveners, and milk. I like to add a little Greek yogurt to the donut batter for a moisture punch (sour cream works too) and prefer sweetening them with brown sugar. Add cinnamon as well as a little nutmeg—it truly gives these donuts that special bakery taste and aroma.
- Cinnamon Sugar Topping: A mixture of cinnamon and sugar finishes off these donuts. Dip each donut into melted butter, then generously dunk each into the cinnamon sugar. If you love this cinnamon sugar addition, you will flip for these Nutella stuffed cinnamon sugar muffins! Prefer icing on your donuts instead? Try my strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla donut frostings instead.
Quick Overview: How to Make Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
You only need a couple bowls and a silicone spatula—no mixer required.
- Make the donut batter. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Whisk to combine both. So easy!
- 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!
- Make the topping. Combine the cinnamon and sugar together in one bowl and melt the butter in another. I usually do this as the donuts bake.
- Dip into topping. Dip the warm donuts into the melted butter, then dunk each into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Make sure to coat every side!
No donut pan? Use a muffin pan instead! For 8-10 donut muffins, bake at 350°F (177°C) for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts Video Tutorial
More Donut Recipes
- Glazed Doughnuts (fried)
- Baked Sprinkle Donuts
- Pumpkin Donuts
- Apple Cider Donuts
- Maple Bacon Doughnuts (fried)
- Powdered Sugar Donut Muffins
Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 donuts
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
There is nothing like waking up to fresh-baked cinnamon sugar donuts, but what makes this recipe a winner is how EASY it is.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (65g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk*
- 1/4 cup (60g) yogurt*
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Topping
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Spray a donut pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Make the donuts: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Set aside. Whisk the egg, brown sugar, milk, and yogurt together until smooth. Add the melted butter and vanilla, whisking until fully combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter will be very 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 to 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Allow to cool for about two minutes and 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. Cool donuts for at least 10 minutes before topping.
- Top the donuts: Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Dip the donuts in the melted butter, then dunk into the cinnamon sugar mixture coating 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 | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Muffins: You can make this recipe into 8-10 muffins using a muffin pan. Bake at the same temperature for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Milk: Skim milk, 1%, 2%, whole, almond milk, soy milk, or coconut milk is OK. I like to use buttermilk. Room temperature is best for this recipe.
- Yogurt: Nonfat, low fat, vanilla, plain, Greek or regular yogurt is OK. I like to use low fat plain Greek yogurt. Room temperature is best for this recipe.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Wow these were excellent! I am a terrible baker but my kids said these were the best donuts ever!
Will this work using a mini donut pan? How long should I bake them?
They will! The bake time will be shorter but I’m unsure of the exact time.
Made these last weekend…SOOOO easy and yummy!! Thank you so much!!
Thank you, these turned out perfect & you’re right about the nutmeg!
Hello,
Curious if these could be made me 1/2 cup of buttermilk vs both milk and yogurt?
Thank you!
Yes that should work, Jill. Enjoy!
Is it okay to not use yogurt for this?
You can use sour cream instead. OR replace BOTH the milk and yogurt with a 1/2 cup buttermilk.
Easy and delicious! I didn’t bother dipping in melted butter. Instead, I simply dipped both sides of the donuts in the cinnamon/sugar.
They were a nice “tea time” pick-me-up for the sheltering workers and college students here.
Thank you!
Made them today as 9 muffins. Used all required ingredients. Skim milk. They are light and non greasy. So good. Inside quarantined, so needed something yummy to make and these were perfect! Thank you.
Quick, easy, and delicious. I made them after dinner tonight, and my family loved them!
Great recipe! Easy to follow. Quick and most importantly delicious!
Can these be made without the donut pan?
You can use a muffin pan. See my recipe note.
How deep should we fill if we use a muffin pan?
Hi Alicia, If you divide this batter between 8-10 muffins they will be about 2/3 full. Enjoy!
I can’t wait to make these but I don’t have yogurt on hand. How do I adjust the recipe? More milk?
Hi Teresa, You can use sour cream in place of the yogurt.
This is the first baked donut recipe that’s actually worked for me in my little donut baking tin!
Thank you so much for sharing this one – it’s excellent! 🙂 I did half of the batch coated in cinnamon sugar, and the other half with a maple glaze.
The BEST and most simple donut recipe we have tried! We made them today for “Foodie Friday” at “school” and they were sooooo good!! Thank you!
These were so easy to make and absolutely delicious. Highly recommend <3
Can these be reheated a day later?
Hi Calvin, These donuts are best served immediately. However you can keep them well covered tightly at room temperature for up to 2 days and reheat to your liking.
Hi Sally,
I have already commented previously, but I LOVE these donuts. They are so incredibly soft and moist….but that is also my dilemma as well! I wanted to make these for a donut wall (varieties of it including your glazed ones) but because they are so soft, they fall apart easily enough that I don’t think they could be hung on a peg for a donut wall. Do you have any recommendations on how to make them slightly ‘harder’ but not stale! I was wondering if I removed the yogurt, would that work. Thanks!
Hi Jane! Sounds so fun!! So happy to help. The best way to make a firmer donut would be to replace the milk with more yogurt/sour cream. They’ll be a bit more dense and sturdier that way. Same bake time.
Hi Sally,
My mother loves donuts! We are celebrating her 80th birthday and I’m going to make her a giant donut cake – when I stumbed across your recipe I starting thinking hmmmm hmmm do you think this would would baked up in a giant silicone donut shaped cake pan — or too dense? I can always go with cake but how much fun would it be for the actual cake to be a baked donut or 2 sandwiched together? Thanks Diana
I think that would be great– what a fun birthday cake! I’m unsure how many batches of this batter you would need to fill a donut shaped cake pan, though. The bake time will obviously be a little longer. Let me know if you try anything out!
Diana, how many batches did you end up using for the giant donut cake? I am planning on doing something similar for my daughter’s birthday. Thanks for any help!
Hi Danica you can get away with a single batch. Slice through the middle and fill. I ended up doubling the recipe. It was a hit with the older crowd, but the little boys next door who are my taste testers loved it too. It’s a really good recipe. Good luck. I don’t know how to post a picture.
Also I used a silicone giant donut form from Amazon. It released beautifully.
I just tried these and are delicious. However when I dunked them in butter before adding the cinnamon sugar they absorbed a ton of it and didn’t taste that great. Any suggestions?
Hi Mari! Try dunking them, while they’re still warm, directly into the cinnamon-sugar. Skip the butter. That should help!
Worked great!! thanks!
Any non-dairy? My son is allergic to dairy thats why I cant use yogurt.. Thank you!
Try applesauce. That worked great for me
what is the best method for storing them if I make them the day before my party ? How should I heat up if at all?? Obviously not enough time to freeze but I want them tasting fresh!
They keep well covered tightly at room temperature for up to 2 days. You can serve at room temperature but if you want to warm them up I usually just put them in the microwave for a few seconds!
So good and so delicious!! I will be definitely be making these again and again!!
I didn’t have any yogurt so I subbed in sour cream. It worked well and tastes delicious. Thanks for this recipe, I’ll be making it again soon.
Can I substitute whole wheat flour in place of all purpose? Thanks! Can’t wait to try them:)
Absolutely! But the baked donuts may taste a little dense and dry as a result. Keep that in mind! Maybe half WW and half all-purpose?!
Just made these and they were a big hit! No donut pan so I used a mini muffin pan. Worked out great! Also used the ziplock bag method – so easy! I am thinking there will be no leftovers tomorrow as my husband just came over a popped another one in his mouth as I was writing this! Another fabulous recipe, Sally! Thank you.
I’d like to make a double batch and freeze some. Do you freeze these donuts plain before dipping in cinnamon sugar or after? Thanks! Can’t wait to make these for my kids!
Usually after they are dipped. Enjoy!
I made these the day after you posted this recipe and they are fabulous! And so easy! Love how quick and simple all your recipe’s are.