This Low-Carb Chocolate Donuts recipe is my first one here on the blog. My boys and their friends go gaga for this low-carb dessert and once you try it you will too!
Low-Carb Chocolate Donuts Recipe with Coconut Flour
Thankfully, this is another super easy low-carb recipe, with only 7 ingredients total. All you need to whip these up is coconut flour, cacao powder, salt, baking soda, eggs, coconut oil, and maple syrup. To make it simply dump the ingredients into a food processor, throw the mixture in the doughnut pans, bake it, and bam! You’ve got gluten-free, grain-free low-carb donuts.
Nut-Free Low-Carb Donuts
My husband said this nut-free Paleo dessert tasted like an Entenmann’s cake style doughnut. My boys simply scarfed them down. They love my low-carb treats and are total suckers for anything with sprinkles. I tested this doughnut recipe with both coconut oil and palm shortening and found that coconut oil was far superior in this recipe. When I tested the donuts with palm shortening it was a challenge to get them out of the pan and their texture was too dry.
Low-Carb Chocolate Donuts

Ingredients
Donuts
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup cacao powder
- ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup coconut oil, melted
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
Topping
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon palm shortening
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse together coconut flour, cacao powder, salt, and baking soda
- Pulse in eggs, coconut oil, and maple syrup until thoroughly combined
- Fill each well of a donut mold half way full of batter
- Bake at 350°F for 15-18 minutes
- Remove doughnuts from pan and place on a cooling rack
- Use a paring knife to cut hole in center of each doughnut
- In a saucepan, melt chocolate chips and shortening
- Drizzle doughnut with chocolate glaze
- Cool and serve
Equipment
Creating and Testing a Low-Carb Nut-Free Donut Recipe
As with all of my recipes, I tested this one several times. Each time I test something, I make a very minor change, so that I can investigate how this single change impacts the recipe overall. For one of my test batches, I played with the amount of batter needed to make each doughnut. From that test, I can tell you a couple of things. First, do not fill up the donut wells in your donut mold all the way. Fill the wells around halfway with batter, and spread the batter evenly in each well. This batter will rise and the wells will be full when you are done baking. You’ll have perfect homemade doughnuts.
How to Make Low-Carb Donuts
I use two silicon doughnut molds for this Low-Carb Chocolate Donut recipe which yields eight donuts. I also use these molds to make my Paleo Bagel recipe. The metal molds (which are unfortunately non-stick) do not work very well and everything I’ve baked in them is a total mess to remove. These donuts, however, pop right out of the silicone molds.
Low-Carb Donuts for Kids with Sprinkles
You can eat these adorable low-carb donuts with or without the glaze. For the boys, I add India Tree sprinkles which make these an incredibly festive treat. If you use sprinkles (Let’s Do Organic
is an even healthier brand, though not as colorful) be sure to let your glaze cool for 10 minutes or so prior to applying sprinkles, otherwise they will melt down into the glaze.
Keto Dessert Recipe with Erythritol
If you’re looking for recipes for a very low-carb diet (VLCD) check out my Keto Diet Recipes page. If you’re in need of a keto dessert, you’ll want to make my Keto Brownies recipe sweetened with erythritol! Although I can’t eat erythritol because it’s made with corn and is a sugar alcohol that I can’t digest, I created my Keto Brownies recipe for my readers and I hope you all enjoy it!
This post is an oldie but goodie from the archives. I first published this recipe in February 2015.








Thomas says
Wait….this is paleo? Score!!!!
Kathy Hoogeboom says
What size donut pan are you using, I have a mini donut pan.
sophie says
Elana, would you mind providing the measurement of coconut flour in grams from now on?
Coconut flour is finicky and there are so many different brands…
Thanks!
Monica says
Perfect! Loved them!! Made them in my baby cakes donut maker. Made 12 perfect little donuts. Thank you for the great recipe!
John says
Wow. I’m really impressed with the texture of these donuts. They were pretty close to the texture of cake donuts I’ve had in the past. Usually coconut flour creates a weird mouth-feel that ruins the texture of things for me. Well done!
Emily K. says
Just made these delectable donuts for breakfast this morning! They turned out amazing & I love that they have just the right amount of sweetness. I’ll definitely be making these again.
Globalspiced says
I didn’t know before that donuts can look sooo beautiful. You should get some fresh tree branches from the garden and hang them with the help of a small satin gift ribbon. Cheers to the spring.
Chrissy says
I made these for what will probably be our last snow day of the year (sob!) and we loved them! Thanks for yet another great recipe!
Rebecca says
I made these for a snow day treat today and they are delicious. My kids LOVE them! My 10 y/o said they are better than any donut you will get at Winchells. Thank you, Elana!
carole says
over the last few years i have made probably half a dozen different paleo/primal donut recipes. this one is THE. BEST. the batter is the easiest to work with than any other, and the flavor is extraordinary. my kids are in heaven. and thanks for the advice to fill the wells only half full — for the first time ever my donuts are pretty. so happy i made these!