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.
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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.
Jessica says
I made these before and they are delicious! But, they never last till the end of day..!! I am going to be making them for Easter, but need to make them in advance. What is the recommended storage for 2 days? Or should i just make them Sunday morning??!
Thanks!
Elana says
Jessica, these are so quick to make that I make them the day I’m serving them :-)
Jessica says
Ok. Thank you! :)
Lori says
We had leftover donuts on the counter in a sealed container for a week and they were fine.
Scott Williamss says
These donuts went down nicely with fresh organic milk and I absolutely loved the photos which motivated me to try the recipe.
Elana says
Scott, I’m so glad you enjoyed the donuts!
Susan says
I just made these and they are so delicious. I, too, am very late to the doughnut party. My mom used to fry them at cut the holes out with a Coke bottle. These are a guiltless treat! I made them exactly as the recipe instructed, but had to use a Nordic doughnut pan, so I feared they’d stick and I sprayed them with coconut oil. They came out easily. I will have to find the silicone molds now. And more healthy baked doughnut recipes! Can’t wait to try your bagels!
Elana says
Susan, I’m so glad these were delicious!
Angie Whitten says
Hello I am wondering if these are best kept at room temp or in the refrigerator?
Elana says
Angie, let them cool overnight on the counter, then store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to one week :-)
Katie McC says
I will be making these very soon! My boyfriend and I don’t really care to celebrate V-Day but we do get each other gifts. I want to bake these for him and give some to my sister also. I plan on putting pretty valentines day pink, red and white sprinkles on them- although I know the sprinkles are not healthy ha!
Elana says
Katie, that is such a cute idea! I love it :-)
Kaye says
I hate the noise and energy waste of using extra kitchen appliances so I tried to mix this by hand instead of using the processor. It did not work well at all. That is not the recipe’s fault of course, but I just wanted to warn people.
Elana says
Kaye, thanks for letting us know that your experiment with the method of this recipe did not work out. I know that when you use the ingredients I recommend, and follow the instructions, you will love these!
Holli says
Hi Elana,
I don’t have a food processor, and I don’t think I will be getting one for awhile. Why wouldn’t it work to just mix by hand? If you have advice, I appreciate it. Thanks.
Elana says
Holli, I haven’t tried that so not sure if it will work :-)
Bronwyn Reading says
Hi, for those that are curious I used a stand mixer the second time and I did it by hand the first. The second time was more successful and delicious!
Elana says
Thanks Bronwyn!
Janet D. says
Made these donuts this morning and they were delicious! I had a little trouble getting the coconut oil to mix in because it was so hard, but was able to get it worked in. I may try to warm it a little next time. I let the chocolate cool a bit and then dipped the donuts in and sprinkled India Tree snowflakes on top. https://www.instagram.com/p/BP2lD9hFuS2/
Elana says
Janet, thanks for your comment and for sharing the link to your photo of the delicious donuts on Instagram! I’ve already shared your gorgeous photo with all of my readers on my Instagram account!
MamaCassi says
I don’t like chocolate much but my man does. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to whip up a batch for snacks in cake form just to see if I liked the proportions (still playing with coconut flour) and hubby was so impressed. Makes a rich cake and the texture and flavor are wonderful!
Elana says
MamaCassi, your family is very lucky to have you taking care of them and cooking up all of this healthy food! I’m so happy to hear this donut recipe made a rich, wonderful cake! Here’s a link to my Paleo Vanilla Birthday Cake for you since you don’t love chocolate:
https://elanaspantry.com/paleo-vanilla-birthday-cake/
Enjoy!
Elana
Michelle says
Ate these today and LOVED them. Thank you so much! Happy holidays. :)
Elana says
Michelle, Happy holidays to you and yours! So glad to hear you loved the donuts!
Lynne says
On the glaze, can I use coconut oil instead of palm shortening?
Elana says
Lynne, I haven’t tried that so not sure, if you do experiment please let us know if it works :-)
Summer says
these are fantastic! I didn’t have donut molds, so I used this recipe as chocolate cake. It’s moist, soft, and held together perfectly. The texture is amazing for a grain-free dessert. I substituted the maple syrup with 1/4 cup water and some powdered stevia, and it still turned out super yummy. I also added vanilla. So great. thank you!
Elana says
Summer, glad to hear these were fantastic!
Nancy says
Thank you, Summer. I was looking for a maple syrup substitute. Making these today!!
Sonya says
These are SO good! I halved the recipe in case they didn’t turn out, but they are delicious and it still made 8 donuts. Thanks!
Elana says
Glad to hear these are so good Sonya!