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.
Louise Laczko says
This looks like a delicious recipe! Can I use Truvia instead of maple syrup and do I need to add anything to the Truvia?
Thanks so much
Louise
Elana says
Louise, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Sarina says
Omg these look delicious! I have a mini donut pan! Can’t wait to try this recipe and make a bunch of mini donuts!!
Elana says
Thanks Sarina!
Susan Z. says
3rd time making them for visiting nephews, but 1st time tasting myself and Oh goodness, they’re just heavenly!! Thanks Elana!!
Elana says
Hi Susan, thanks so much for letting me know these donuts are heavenly! I hope you’re having a blast with your nephews :-)
Tina says
Just wondering if you have suggestions for those of us who react badly to coconut???? I did try this and it was great, but I can no longer eat coconut ?
Elana says
Tina, I know it’s totally different, but here’s an awesome cake recipe for you that does not contain coconut flour:
https://elanaspantry.com/carrot-cake/
I hope you love it as much as we do!
Elana
Amy says
These donuts are declicious!! Yum!! I used silicon donut molds, which worked just right with this recipe. Thank you for a healthier version of a family favorite!!
Elana says
Amy, you’re welcome! I’m so happy to hear these donuts were delicious :-)
Marie says
I don’t have Coconut flour but I have Bobs Red Mill 1 to 1 flour. Can I use that instead?
Marie
Elana says
Marie, I haven’t tried that so not sure. I went grain-free in 2001 and haven’t eaten typical gluten-free flours since then. Sorry I can’t be of more help with this :-)
Hayley says
Anyone tried an egg free version? I usually use chia eggs but after two eggs I get worried about texture.
Elana says
Hayley, I haven’t had much success with egg replacements in this type of recipe. Here’s a link to my Egg-Free recipes page for you:
https://elanaspantry.com/diets/egg-free/
Enjoy!
Elana
Hayley says
Thank you!
Elana says
You’re welcome!
Laura says
I have tried many of your recipes in the past and I have loved them all. My kids however, weren’t 100% sold on the taste of the donut with coconut oil so I tried the recipe again substituting with grapeseed oil and they absolutely love them. I’ll definitely be making a bigger batch next time around.
Elana says
Laura, thanks for letting me know your kids absolutely loved these :-)
Leslie says
You don’t mention if the coconut oil should be melted. I didn’t and they came out greasy and stuck in the silicone mold. The batter is as thick. Mine made 10 donuts very thick
Elana says
Leslie, this typically happens when the brands of coconut flour that I recommend are not used. For more on that go here:
https://elanaspantry.com/ingredients/coconut-flour/
Enjoy!
Elana
Elise says
These are fabulous! I made mini donuts with the batter.
Elana says
Elise, thanks for letting me know these are fabulous!
jodi says
could you substitute the palm shortening with butter and if so how much do you use in place of the 1 Tablespoon of palm shortening
Elana says
Jodi, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Karla says
Can I leave out the cocoa powder for a plain donut flavor? Or how can I substitute the cocoa powder?
Elana says
Karla, I haven’t tried that so not sure, if you do please let us know how it goes :-)
Lori says
You may need to reduce the amount of egg if you remove the cocoa powder. That would be a trial and error thing.
Kathy C. says
Oh wow! I wonder if you could use a plain or vanilla flavored protein powder instead of the cocoa? (Such as whey or plant based powder).
Elana I thank you so much for creating and sharing all these wonderful alternative recipes with us. I’m not gluten sensitive, I just love cooking with many other flours.
Elana says
Kathy, you’re welcome! I haven’t tried that experiment so not sure. So glad to hear you are enjoying my recipes :-)
Cammie jauregui says
Do u think u could use protein powder to make them protein donutS?
Elana says
Cammie, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)