Deliciously spiced and moist baked banana donuts are made in the oven! Covered in a silky smooth dark chocolate glaze, they’re decadent yet quick and simple to make. To bake as muffins, see my note below the recipe.
Homemade banana bread meets chocolate frosted donuts in today’s recipe for baked banana donuts. Bursting with sweet banana flavor, these moist and tender donuts are baked not fried. Like banana muffins, they’re a convenient and simple recipe any morning of the week.
Why You’ll Love These Baked Banana Donuts:
- Baked, not fried
- Easy to prepare—no mixer required
- Spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg
- Sweetened with brown sugar
- Made with banana and buttermilk for a soft, moist crumb
- Topped with chocolate glaze
- Fun to make and fun to eat!
Two Parts to Baked Banana Donuts
- Donuts: We’re using my standard baked donut recipe as the base. It’s what I use for my baked maple donuts, cinnamon sugar donuts, chocolate frosted donuts, lemon poppy seed donuts, and crumb cake donuts (doubled for that recipe). To make today’s banana variation, we add some mashed banana, leave out the yogurt, and reduce the milk. There’s a small handful of basic ingredients required like flour, egg, and leaveners. Banana and buttermilk add moisture and I like to sweeten them with brown sugar. Add cinnamon and a little nutmeg for that signature bakery-style taste. After you mix this donut batter together, the aroma alone will remind you of a donut shop—it’s those spices!
- Chocolate Glaze: We’re using the same chocolate glaze as we do for my chocolate frosted donuts. It’s like chocolate ganache, but we use butter. Butter helps it solidify and “set” on top of each donut. Water thins the glaze out while corn syrup (optional) keeps it smooth and shiny.
Quick Overview: How to Make Baked Banana Donuts
You only need a couple bowls and a spatula for these baked donuts!
- Make the donut batter. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Whisk to combine both. It’s that 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 glaze. I usually do this as the donuts bake. Melt the chocolate chips, butter, corn syrup, and water together until completely smooth.
- Dip into glaze. Dip the warm donuts into the chocolate glaze.
More Donut Recipes
- Apple Cider Donuts
- Chai Spice Donuts
- Maple Bacon Doughnuts (fried)
- Glazed Doughnuts (fried)
- Glazed Chocolate Donut Holes
- Pumpkin Donuts
Baked Banana Donuts with Dark Chocolate Glaze
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8-9 donuts
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Sweet banana donuts, baked not fried, then covered in a rich dark chocolate glaze.
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
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) melted butter, slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 medium banana)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) buttermilk or whole milk
Dark Chocolate Glaze
- 1/2 cup (90g) dark chocolate chips (semi-sweet works too)
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons light corn syrup*
- 2 teaspoons water
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 and brown sugar together in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisk in the butter, mashed banana, vanilla, and buttermilk until smooth and combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
- 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. (See the photo in my chocolate frosted donuts post for a visual.)
- 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 2-3 more donuts) and once baked, transfer to the wire rack. Allow donuts to cool down until you can handle them.
- Make the glaze: Place the chocolate chips, butter, corn syrup, and water in a medium bowl. Melt in 20 second increments in the microwave, stirring after each time, until completely melted and smooth. Dip the tops of the donuts into the chocolate glaze.
- Donuts taste best eaten the same day, though they may be covered tightly and stored at room temperature for 2 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: You can freeze the unglazed donuts for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, warm up to your liking in the microwave, and top with glaze.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Donut Pan | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Cooling Rack | Parchment Paper or Baking Sheet
- Milk: For best taste and texture, use buttermilk or whole milk. You can use lower fat or nondairy milk in a pinch, but the donuts won’t taste as moist or rich.
- 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 on top.
- Corn Syrup: The 2 teaspoons of corn syrup makes the glaze unbelievably smooth, shiny, and silky. If desired, you can leave it out without making any other changes.
Keywords: banana donuts, buttermilk donuts
Hi Sally! I’d like to make these but with cinnamon sugar coating instead of the chocolate glaze. I was thinking of brushing butter on and dipping into cinnamon sugar. Do you think that would work? Or would that not be enough moisture?
Hi Grace, that should work just fine! You can simply brush or dip the donuts into butter and then the cinnamon sugar mixture like we do with these baked cinnamon sugar donuts. Enjoy!
I’m a muffin lover, so I debated about making donuts. Do I really need donut pans? Won’t they just be round muffins? Nope. I was wrong. I gave in to the lure of chocolate glaze and colorful sprinkles. And I’m glad I did. So far we’ve made banana donuts, and pumpkin donuts. They are delicious, and they are much more than ’round muffins’! They are cakey, and flavorful. They are denser than muffins. And you can add cinnamon sugar, or chocolate glaze and sprinkles! Yum! Love both the pumpkin and the banana recipes. Added mini chips to the banana donuts. Mmmm! Thank you, Sally!
★★★★★
I have made these a ton of times now. Deliciously Devine but I have made a slight adjustment to make them eat like a donut does. I add 1/4 cup self rising flour and adjust the recipe accordingly . I also make a maple glaze with candied pecans. They become slightly denser with the added ingredient more cake like instead of muffin and with adding the candied pecans and maple glaze u can make them into a really yummy coffee cake. Every Sally’s recipe I have tried is yummy and never fails.
★★★★★
I live in Colorado Springs at about 6500 feet elevation. What if any adjustments would I need to make to this recipe specifically?
Hi Karin, I wish we could help, but have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Like a fluffy banana bread with chocolate glaze!
★★★★★
We make a lot of donuts, and in the past few months have made at least 5 different banana donut recipes. Compared to other recipes, these came out lighter/fluffier, but with full caloric density – so they feel like you’re eating air, but be careful because you’re not! Additionally, though all donuts with banana tend to be less “donut-like”, these in particular were more like muffins. Overall, we’re slightly disappointed, given the rave reviews.
With that being said, they’re tasty donut-shaped banana muffins. I would 100% make these as muffins (if that is what I was expecting).
★★★
Made these with my three year old
granddaughter today. She decided out of the blue she wanted to make donuts. She’s a very picky eater, so I wanted to use a recipe that could be made modestly healthy.
These donuts came out great. I substituted the baking powder with a sodium free version, but kept the regular baking soda. We used half the salt. Substituted carob chips for the chocolate, but did add about a teaspoon of milk chocolate chips for a more authentic chocolate flavor.
I was waiting for a grocery delivery to arrive with the corn syrup, but we couldn’t hold out. I used a tbsp. of ghirardelli caramel sauce instead. It had the same effect, keeping the icing glossy, but I think it also deepened the flavor of the icing. They were really delicious, and so quick and easy to prepare!
★★★★★
Can you help me with my donut glaze? It always looks prefect when I put it on but within a few hours it looks like it has run off and/or been absorbed into the donut. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Melissa, for a thicker glaze, we’d recommend adding a bit more confectioners’ sugar. That should help it from running or absorbing into the donut too much. Hope this helps!
AMAZING! Wanted to try something other than banana bread for some ripe bananas. HUGE hit. My husband gave it 10 stars out of 5. Will absolutely make this again!
★★★★★
They came out perfect let’s just say they we’re gone in 30 seconds flat
★★★★★
My daughter and I just made these! We followed the recipe to the T and they were absolutely amazing! We will definitely be making these again!
★★★★★
These came out so delicious and so pretty. Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
I made your recipe two days ago. I was a little disappointed. The donuts turned out fine. The chocolate glaze was wonderful! I need everything the way you did, including the piping the batter with frozen plastic bag. My husband and I both agree that they look like donuts but it still tasted like a banana muffin. I really didn’t care for them I should of known it would taste like a muffin. Anyway, that’s just me. Thanks so much Sally! I usually absolutely love all your recipes
★★★★
Hi Sally,
Wondering if a strawberry icing would work instead of the chocolate glaze. I was thinking about your raspberry icing in your mini pound cake recipe but using strawberries instead.
What do you think?
Thanks!
ps…my family loved the mini pound cakes! I’ve already made it twice within 2 weeks.
Yes, I think that would work! I also make a strawberry donut glaze in my post Homemade Frosted Doughnuts: 3 Ways.
I’m so glad you love the pound cakes 🙂
I make these all the time! So much better than store boight! This time I added a little bit of cherry juice to the glaze and called them banana split donuts. Everyone thought they were getting the best treat ever for breakfast! Thank you for all the great rwcipes, and congratulations on becoming a mom again! You will have so much fun sharing and passing on recipes with them! They are some of the greatest memories I have!
★★★★★
The last two weekends we have tried your cinnamon crumb donuts and cinnamon donuts with vanilla glaze. Next weekend we want to try these banana donuts, but I’m not a big fan of chocolate. Would you recommend a cream cheese glaze or the vanilla glaze? Thank you!!! Love love love your recipes 🙂
I love that you are making different donuts every weekend, Brooke! Honestly you can’t go wrong with either either one, but if you have cream cheese available the tangy icing would pair wonderfully with the banana flavor. Enjoy!
Hi Sally, just wondering between this recipe and your Banana bread Donut recipe which one is better in your opinion? Looking forward to baking one soon 🙂
Also just FYI I think this one didn’t come up in the Bananas ingredient search. Thanks!
You can’t go wrong with any donut – but I would probably make this one given the choice! The buttermilk and combination of spices are fantastic together 🙂
Thank you Sally! I made them (subbed in 1/2tsp chai spices instead of the nutmeg and added sprinkles) – they turned out perfect – banana bread taste but not dense, so divine!! Looking forward to using my donut pan more often with all your different donut recipes!
★★★★★
These are my 3 year olds favorite thing in the whole world. I substituted smashed pear for the butter today and they still taste just as good. I make them in a donut maker and use chocolate chips in the batter instead of the glaze to make them much less messy.
So, so good. Thanks for the great recipe as always, Sally!
Could you make these as mini donuts instead? What would be the baking time?
Yep! And I’d say 6-8 minutes. Or until a toothpick inserted into one comes out clean.
I never know what to do with only one banana, when I found this recipe. Just made these in my mini donut maker. 6 minutes was perfect. And no adjustments to recipe needed.
Just made these for Thanksgiving breakfast (minus the chocolate glaze and tossed in cinnamon and powdered sugar instead) and they were amazing- super tender and moist! My family ate them in the blink of an eye and want me to make another batch tomorrow!
It is a monumental day…I just made my first ever donuts and they are 1000000 times better than store bought ones. These are sooooooo good! Also, my sister thinks you should make chocolate donuts…hint hint. 🙂
I made these for a baby shower over the weekend and they were a huge hit! Ended up dipping them in dark chocolate and then chopped walnuts.. tasted like a light and fluffy banana bread!
I made a double recipe of these donuts this morning…..used the chocolate glaze on half for my husband and left the rest plain for me. They are tender, moist, sweet and delicious with most of the sweetness coming from the bananas which is good for my diabetic husband. And, they are super easy. I substituted sugar-free chocolate chips and left off the corn syrup in the glaze but it was still smooth and shiny. Once again, a big score you Sally!!!!
Made and loved these! We had them for breakfast this morning. You’re right, they are so easy! I like the cinnamon and banana together. Thanks for another great recipe!
These look fantastic, I’ve been on your site looking for the perfect brunch recipe to make this weekend and I have banana bread ready bananas! My question is does the chocolate glaze harden or does it stay soft? I’m wondering if I could stack them to travel with.
If you layer it on a little thin, it should set over a few hours.
These look so good. I have always heard when melting chocolate, be sure you don’t get any water in it or it will seize up. And that has happened to me. Any comments?
Jan, you’re very correct. However, with the addition of fat (the butter), the chocolate chips will not seize. And chocolate chips aren’t pure chocolate, too.
I started my day searching for a good banana recipe. As always, I start with your site. I guess it was fate for my two very sad bananas to be turned into such beautiful, and very tasty, donuts. My husband is not a big chocolate fan, so I powdered sugared his. My family and I thank you from the bottom of our full and very happy tummies!