Name: The Best Air Fryer Protein Donuts Holes from Scratch
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 9 min
Total time: 19 min
Ingredients: ½ cup Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour (60-80g depending on flour, or regular AP); ½ cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (60g, or more regular flour); ⅓ cup Vanilla Protein Powder (1 scoop, 30g); 1 tsp Baking Powder; 2 Tbsp Cold Butter (cut in small cubes); 6 Tbsp cup Unsweetened Almond Milk (or other); ¼ cup Non-fat Greek Yogurt (56g); 1½ Tbsp Unsweetened Almond Milk; 1 Tbsp Non-fat Greek Yogurt (14g); 1 Tbsp Vanilla Protein Powder (about 5g)

Soft and sweet, these really are the best Air Fryer Protein Donut Holes made from scratch with no yeast! With protein powder and greek yogurt, these healthy donut holes can also be baked. Beautifully glazed, sugar free, gluten free and Vegan too!

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Omigosh you guys. I am IN LOVE!

I really have no words for how soft they tuned out.

Ate these donut holes straight out of the air fryer just dipped in some maple syrup coz I was too lazy for the glaze. To be honest even that wasn’t needed, because they were perfectly sweet as is.

It took me 3 attempts; The first 2 were a bit too dry – wrong flour and too little moisture (I’ve got notes on that below) – but this third time. Oh my!

I *highly* recommend warming them in the microwave for about 7 seconds!

Ingredients For Air Fryer Protein Donut Holes

My favorite part about these air fryer donut holes is that they have no yeast and use baking powder instead. They’re also made with other healthy ingredients like whole grain flours and use protein powder, so there’s no sugar

Here’s what you need:

Gluten Free (All Purpose) Flour – or a regular all purpose flour
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour or some more of the all purpose. Don’t use whole wheat, I’ve got more details on that below.
Vanilla Protein Powder – This adds in sweetness. I used Quest Nurition Vanilla Protein Powder since its sweetened with stevia for sugar free doughnut holes.
Non-Fat Greek Yogurt for extra protein
Almond milk, or any other reduced fat milk, at room temperature
Cold Butter this has to be straight out of the fridge and cold
Baking Powder

For Vegan Protein Donut Holes

The original recipe here has no eggs and no milk, so these protein donut holes can be easily turned Vegan.

All you need to do for that is replace the Greek Yogurt with Coconut Yogurt, and use a Vegan butter substitute. I actually used Vegan butter for these donut holes so I know that substitute definitely works.

Make sure you use a plant based protein powder in this case as well, but try to use one that is low in carbs and has no sugar added either.

For Gluten Free Air fryer Donut Holes with No Yeast

I used half whole wheat pastry and half gluten free all purpose flour for this recipe, so if you want a fully gluten-free recipe, just use all of the gf version!

How do you make air fryer donut holes from scratch?

Other than being healthy, making air fryer doughnut holes is super easy and quick too since there’s no yeast here!

Process dry ingredients and butter in food processor – gluten free flour, whole wheat pasty flour, vanilla protein powder and baking powder – and butter. You should have rough crumbles.

Stir the wet ingredients in large bowl: Greek Yogurt and almond milk

Add the dry mix into the wet and mix with spoon. You should have a shaggy ball of dough.

Lightly dust a work surface and your palms with flour, transfer the dough over to the surface and knead it to form a proper ball. This should take about 30 seconds.

Don’t over-mix or the donuts will be too dense because of the protein powder, and you’re going to end up with gummy donuts.

Divide the dough into 12 parts and roll into balls.

Line the air fryer basket with parchment paper and place balls in; Leave enough room so the air can circulate.
Work in batches if needed.

The perfect temperature and timing for making protein donut holes in the air fryer

Since protein powder dries up and burn very quickly, you want to air fry these donut holes for exactly 9 minutes at 325°F.

How to make Baked Donut Holes

If you don’t have an air fryer, you can also make these protein donut holes in the oven – with no donut pan or muffin tin needed!

All you need to do is place the dough balls on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake the doughnut holes at 350°F for about 10 minutes.

The Icing for Protein Donuts

I made these donut holes with a high protein icing using protein powder and Greek yogurt.

Here’s the list of ingredients for the protein powder Greek yogurt glaze:

Non fat Greek Yogurt or the Coconut Yogurt for a Vegan version
Vanilla Protein Powder
Almond milk or any other dairy or non dairy milk

Now to glaze!

Step 0: Let the donut holes cool a bit before you glaze them, so the icing doesn’t melt away.

Step 1: Whisk together the Greek Yogurt, protein powder and almond milk in a bowl.

Step 2: Dip the air fryer or baked donut holes in the vanilla protein glaze, lift them out, shake off the excess and set the donuts on a cooling rack – the dry side down of course.

If you want a thicker coating, let the glaze dry a bit and dip again!

Tips for the perfect Healthy Donut Holes

Use whole pastry flour and not whole wheat flour since the latter will make the donut holes really tough. There is no egg in here that would give them the rise you need.

Make sure to use cold butter for these airfryer donuts so that it creates those nice airy pockets in the middle when exposed to the high temperature.

To prevent your protein air fryer donut holes from being too dry, make sure you have enough moisture from the milk and yogurt; The vanilla protein powder is extremely absorbent and can make the donut holes dry hard hard – make sure your dough is a little sticky (it should slightly stick to your hands when kneading).

Don’t over-mix the dough or add too much flour – this will give you dry and tough donuts. It should take about 30 seconds and the dough should be a bit sticky when you’re done kneading. It will stick to your palms a bit.

How to store Glazed Protein Donut Holes:

These homemade protein doughnut holes keep really well at room temperature, in the fridge or freezer depending on whether or not you’ve added the glaze.

Without the glaze, they keep on the countertop in an airtight container for 2 days.

Store the glazed donut holes for up to 5 days in the fridge in an airtight container.

For a freezer friendly option, freeze the donut balls individually on a baking sheet and then transfer them to freezer safe zipper bags. They should keep up to 2 months.

When it’s time to eat, thaw the donuts to room temperature and warm them in the microwave for extra goodness.

More Air Fryer recipes you’ll love:

Some more easily Gluten Free Protein Donut recipes to try: