Fluffy and flavorful Chai-spiced Pumpkin Protein Donuts with a protein cinnamon sugar coating are the perfect Fall baked donuts! Healthy pumpkin protein powder donuts are sugar free and gluten free and will be your new favorite.
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Okay I think I say this pretty much every time I make baked protein donuts, but I really think this recipe for pumpkin protein doughnuts is the best I’ve gotten.
Without a doubt the most fluffy and soft cake donuts I’ve ever made!
This also happened to be the first time I baked a double batch of donuts all at once; Only because my open canned pumpkin had been sitting in the fridge for 2 weeks now.
That you-improve-with-experience thing really worked here because I already had a bunch of protein powder donuts under my belt!
Well this is going to be the base recipe for all my future ones now.
Ingredients For Chai Spice Pumpkin Protein Donuts
I like to call this a cross between pumpkin spice donuts, pumpkin cake donuts, and chai spice protein donuts.
These healthy and skinny pumpkin protein donuts are made with clean ingredients like protein powder for the sweetener, and have no oil or butter either – quite a sugar free and low fat and recipe!
They use gluten free all purpose flour for a light and airy texture, like pumpkin cake donuts for a fall dessert!
Here’s what you need:
- Pure Pumpkin Puree – either from the can like libbys, or homemade. Make sure its not pumpkin pie filling though. This also replaces the fat that’s in most donut recipes, to make a low fat version.
- Vanilla Protein Powder – This adds in sweetness, so this protein doughnut recipe has no added sugar; I used Quest Nurition Vanilla Protein Powder.
- Unflavored Protein Powder to replace some of the flour (and carbs) in the recipe for a slightly lower carb high protein pumpkin donut. I used a whey-casein blend from Quest Nutrition.
- Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
- Almond milk, or any other reduced fat milk, at room temperature
- Egg also at room temperature
- Melted Butter
- Chai Spices: Ground Cinnamon, Cardamom, Ginger, Nutmeg and Cloves
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda
And for the protein powder cinnamon sugar coating:
Unlike most pumpkin spice baked donut recipes, the coating for this one actually has protein powder in the coating along with the sugar free sugar-substitute.
Here’s the list of ingredients:
- Zero Calorie Sugar substitute – I use the sugar-free one from Lakanto, but you can also use regular sugar. Use the code HAYLSKITCHEN for a discount here.
- Vanilla Protein Powder – the same as above
- Cinnamon
- Melted Butter for coating. You want this completely liquid
Some Tips For Gluten Free Pumpkin Protein Powder Donuts:
- Use room temperature pumpkin puree, eggs and milk;
This is so the wet ingredients and dry ingredients can mix well.
- Don’t over-mix the batter!
Make sure you gently fold the dry mix into the wet to combine them.
If you over-mix it, the protein powder – will make it tough, dense and gummy.
- Make sure your mixture has enough moisture in it. The vanilla protein powder exteremely absorbent and if the wet ingredients are too little, the donuts will be dry and tough.
The mix should be like a slightly thick brownie batter.
- Taste the batter and see if you need some extra sweetener. I’d recommend using stevia powder to maintain the consistency of the batter and have sugar free protein donuts.
- Be sure to grease the donut pan if it your pan is not silicon.
- If you have no donut pan, you can make your own with a muffin tin. Check how to do that on my Vanilla Cake Donuts post.
How to store Baked Pumpkin Chai Protein Doughnuts?
These homemade pumpkin protein doughnuts keep really well at room temperature, in the fridge or freezer.
I left my pumpkin spice protein donuts on the countertop in an airtight container for 2 days.
Healthy pumpkin doughnuts last about 5 days in the fridge in an airtight container.
These pumpkin chai donuts are freezer friendly too. Let them freeze individually on a baking sheet and then transfer them to freezer safe zipper bags. They should keep up to 2 months; Early Thanksgiving baking plans!
When it’s time to eat, thaw the donuts to room temperature.
I *highly* recommend warming them in the microwave for about 5 seconds before taking a bite. These warm donuts make a beautiful pumpkin spice breakfast!
Alternate Ingredients for Healthy Pumpkin Donuts
I made these low calorie, low fat and sugar free healthy pumpkin donuts with the ingredients and brands listed above, but here’s some options to try:
- Whole Wheat Pastry Flour: All purpose flour or 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour in the same amount by weight not cups
- Almond Milk: Regular milk
- 1:1 Zero Calorie Sugar Replacement: Regular confectioners sugar (this won’t be sugar free though, and also higher in calories)
More healthy baking powder donut recipes?
- Double Maple Bacon Protein Donuts
- Chocolate Coffee Protein Donuts
- Sugar Free & Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Donuts
- Good-for-You Baked Chocolate Whole Wheat Donuts
- Carrot Cake Oatmeal Baked Donuts
More Pumpkin Protein Powder Dessert Recipes:
- White Chocolate Pumpkin Protein Blondies
- Pumpkin Protein Pancake Bread
- Fat Free Protein Pumpkin Bread (Whole Wheat)
- Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Protein Icing(Diet-friendly)
- Pumpkin Protein Brownies
Baked Pumpkin Protein Donuts (Chai-Spiced, Sugar Free)
Ingredients
- ½ cup Pumpkin Puree, not pumpkin pie filling, 120g
- ¾ cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 90g
- ⅔ cup Vanilla Protein Powder, Whey-casein, 60g (2 scoops)
- ¼ cup Unflavored Protein Powder, Whey-casein, 22g
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ¾ tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Ground Cardamom
- ¼ tsp Ground Ginger Powder
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg
- ¼ tsp Cloves
- ½ cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
- 2 Tbsp Non-fat Plain Greek Yogurt, 28g
- 1 Tbsp Melted Butter, 14g
- 1 Egg
Protein Cinnamon “Sugar” Coating:
- 1 Tbsp Melted Butter
- 1 Tbsp Zero Calorie Sugar Substitute, or regular sugar
- 1 Tbsp Vanilla Protein Powder, about 5g
- ¾ tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
Donuts:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 12-cavity donut pan with cooking spray (or use a silicon pan).
- In a large bowl, pumpkin puree, almond milk, Greek yogurt, melted butter and egg.
- In another bowl, whisk together flour, protein powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
- Add dry mix to wet and gently fold with a large spoon until just combined.DO NOT OVER-MIX or the protein powder will make the batter tough.
- Divide mixture evenly among donut pan cavities, filling about ¾ way up.Use a piping bag for a rounded bottom.
- Bake for 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the donut comes out clean.
- Let cool for 5 minutes and remove from pan. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool.
Protein Cinnamon Sugar Coating:
- In a bowl, whisk together sugar substitute, protein powder and cinnamon.
- Brush top of donuts with melted butter, or use finger tips to smear.
- Use a spoon to pour/sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on donuts, shake off excess and set down on a cooling rack (dry side down).
Notes
- Make sure your donut mix is not too dry – it should be something like a cake batter. Add more yogurt or milk if needed, since protein powder is quite absorbent and can make your donuts dry.
- Add more stevia sweetener if your protein powder is not sweet enough.
- Nutrition information is calculated using the products recommended below.
- Room temperature: 2 days in an airtight container.
- Fridge: 5 days in an airtight container.
- Freezer: 2 months, individually frozen on a baking sheet then transferred to a freezer-safe zipper bag.
- Quest Nutrition Vanilla Milkshake Protein Powder
- Lakanto 1:1 Sugar Substitute
- Use code HAYLSKITCHEN for 15% off your order
- Servings: 12 donuts (3” wide, 1” high) | Serving size: 1
- Calories: 82kcal
- Fat: 2.7g | Saturated fat: 1.5g
- Carbohydrates: 8.6g | Fiber: 1.5g | Sugar: 0.7g
- Protein: 7.5g
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