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Paleo & Keto Donuts take just 10 minutes to mix together! Perfect for low carb, gluten-free and GAPS diets, you’ll love the tender crumb and different topping options.
I’m not sure why it took me so long to make Paleo donuts! I think I needed a recommendation for which donut pan to buy, for starters. (Here are the ones I use.) After that, this recipe was handed to me, by a friend, via her new e-book. We love them, and I’m not sure when I’ll make my own recipe. Although now that I have my new donut pan it won’t be too long.
How to make Paleo and Keto Donuts
One thing I love about this recipe is how fast and easy Paleo and Keto Donuts are to make, 20 to 30 minutes total (including baking time)! Just one medium size bowl and mixing the few ingredients by hand.
What they taste like
These donuts turn out really light, a bit sponge-y and, with the glaze, they are cake meets healthy candy — so yum!
The credit for this recipe goes to Andrea Wyckoff. They’re from her cookbook, Pure and Simple Paleo, published with her permission. Please see her blog, ForestandFauna.com, for some other lovely whole food recipes.
Tips for buying blanched almond flour
I don’t usually bake with almond flour because it is high in omega-6s, and almonds as a crop have some environmental concerns. (Read these articles if you’re curious to learn more: 1, 2, 3)
But this donut recipe does use blanched almond flour! So, to buy smart 🙂 , consider these two choices:
- If you like using almond flour, make sure it’s organic. (Here‘s a good one.) Most people buy conventional almond flour because it’s cheaper. But almonds retain heavy amounts of glyphosate residue due to spraying just before harvest. Humans get the poison that remains.
- Try using another nut! 🙂 I really like putting walnuts or pecans in my blender or food processor to make happy omega-3 nut meal. Different nuts will create different textured donuts, but they’re all yummy! Have fun enjoying different nuts and textures. Either use low carb macadamia nuts (because they’re the nut lowest in anti-nutrients like phytic acid) or consider soaking and dehydrating your nuts and seeds for best digestion. (Learn how here.)
Best donut pan
If you want the best donut pan, for texture and performance, find the ones I have here. You’ll love these pans. We tried out several before landing on these.
How to store Paleo and Keto Donuts
You can keep your donuts on the counter, covered and sealed, for a few days, or in the fridge.
To freeze your donuts, simply wrap well, and freeze for up to 3 months. To defrost, leave them out at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours, or overnight.
Paleo and Keto Donuts
Equipment
- silicone donut pan: Use a full sized donut baking pan with space for 9 standard donuts (or more if making mini- donuts). If your donut pan is silicone, set it on a full metal baking sheet for ease in getting it in and out of the oven.
- oven
Ingredients
- 1-½ cups blanched almond flour or you may also use another nut meal like macadamia, walnut or pecan
- 3 large eggs
- ¼ cup honey for Paleo OR low carb liquid sweetener for Keto (Paleo may also use maple syrup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar (omit for GAPS; the donuts turn out great without it)
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon optional
- ½ teaspoon baking soda sifted
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg optional
- 2 pinches sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Whisk eggs. Add in remaining ingredients, and mix well by hand.
- Grease donut pan thoroughly. Spoon batter into a piping bag (or use a zip lock bag, then cut off the corner). Pipe donut filling into baking pan. ( If your donut pan is silicone, set it on a full metal baking sheet for ease in getting it in and out of the oven.)
- Bake 10 to 16 minutes (cooking time varies depending on the type of baking pan used).
- After baking, let donuts *fully cool* before removing from pan. It is super hard to wait for these to cool; but do. They will break if you try to pop them out early.
- If you are going to top them with my simple chocolate glaze, put the donuts into the freezer to chill for 20 minutes while you make the glaze.
- Dip the chilled donuts in the chocolate coating, sprinkle on chopped nuts or freeze dried fruit, and serve. Or you can make a small batch of my vanilla icing to top them (recipe below), and stir in freeze dried strawberries for flavor and a nice pink color.
Notes
Find liquid keto sweetener HERE.
Toppings and Decorations
Optional garnish: Use Andrea's simple chocolate coating for a glaze or her vanilla icing (both recipes are below), chopped nuts, dried coconut flakes, crumbled freeze dried fruit, or roll in maple sugar and cinnamon. I garnished my donuts, after glazing, with shaved unsweetened chocolate, powdered hibiscus blossoms and lavender blossoms (very herby but yummy). I also made a honey glaze with ½ cup melted cocoa butter + 2 T. honey (or Keto sweetener) & ½ tsp. vanilla extract.Vanilla Icing
- 1 cup organic palm shortening (best one here)
- 2 to 3 Tablespoons honey or maple syrup (or powdered sweetener for Keto and Low Carb here)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Tiny pinch sea salt
Chocolate Glaze for Donuts
- ½ cup fair trade cacao butter (here)
- ½ cup fair trade cacao powder (here)
- 2 to 4 Tablespoons maple syrup (or stevia, to taste) or low carb liquid sweetener here
The Nutritional Facts below represent the Keto and Low Carb version of this recipe.
Nutrition
LOVE Paleo, Gluten-free and GAPS baked goods?
Here are a few other favorites:
- Butternut Squash Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Pumpkin Scones with Glaze (and Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip variation!)
And here are some fun Keto, Low Carb treats:
Andrea Wyckoff says
Megan your donuts look so beautiful! I could sink my teeth into them right now, especially the one with honey lavender glaze! Are you kidding!! YES PLEASE!
I am so thankful to have met such beautiful kindred spirit in this world of blogging and cookbook writing. My heart is so warmed by your review of my book! Thank you ever so kindly!!
Cheers to Eating Beautiful!
xoxo,
Andrea
Megan Stevens says
My privilege and pleasure, too, Andrea. SO lovely to know and work with you. So much fun to review your beautiful, loving book!!!
Renee Kohley says
Oh gosh these look great! and so does the book!
Megan Stevens says
Thanks, Renee!! 🙂 The book is so much fun. 🙂
Tomo says
These look soooo good! I would love to try it, but the cream of tartar is NOT allowed in GAPS diet, to my knowledge. Is it allowed now? I could make this donuts without cream of tartar, but they won’t stay fluffed without it. Right? Can I substitute something else?
Megan Stevens says
Hi Tomo! I’m SO glad you asked that! I’ll update a note on the recipe for everyone. I made the donuts both ways, because you’re right we are all, in my family, on the GAPS Diet; and I wanted to see. You don’t need it. Baking soda needs an acid to react with; it receives enough of that from the eggs. So just leave it out completely. Add 1/2-1 tsp. of sustainably-sourced gelatin to make the donuts stronger, if you want to. Enjoy! And…as I’ve written about in other posts, I always take Betaine HCl when I consume baking soda, to protect the ph of my belly and to bless my digestion. 🙂
Emily @ Recipes to Nourish says
Wow these look so fun! I would love to make these for my family. Yum!
Megan Stevens says
Thanks, Emily! I agree~ fun! 🙂
linda spiker says
Wow. Every one of those donuts looks amazing! I haven’t had breakfast yet, and now I want donuts.
Megan Stevens says
Me too!!
Loriel says
This. is. amazing.
Megan Stevens says
Lol, thanks, Loriel.
thefoodhunter says
the donuts look delicious!
Megan Stevens says
Thank you!!
Sylvie Shirazi says
Sounds like a fabulous book, all the recipes sound great!
Megan Stevens says
Yay, Sylvie; thanks! I agree!!
Lindsey Dietz says
How beautiful! Now to go find a doughnut pan….
Megan Stevens says
Thank you, Lindsey!! Yes, this silicone one is really good! The cookbook author tried out 4 before loving this one the best! So she did the research for me/us. 🙂
Megan Stevens says
Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/2xW4QGG
Jennifer says
What would be a good substitute for the almond flour? Whole wheat flour 1:1 (we don’t have to be on paleo diet… but my son is allergic to almonds)?
Megan Stevens says
I don’t personally eat that many almonds, either. My favorite choice actually is to sprout walnuts and to put them in the blender. Even if you can have real flour, walnuts make great nut flour and, sorry, this recipe isn’t designed to use grain flour. Do you already soak and dehydrate nuts or seeds? Not sure if you want to do that; but if so, it’s fun and they’re super yummy. Soaking makes the nuts digestible and more nutrient-dense. Here’s a post on how-to, if you’re interested: http://eatbeautiful.net/2014/04/22/how-to-sprout-nuts-and-seeds/ Also, next month I’ll be publishing a sourdough donut over at Traditional Cooking School, if that sounds good. Cheers.
Carissa says
These paleo donuts look amazing!
Megan Stevens says
Thanks, Carissa. They’re really fun to make and decorate!
Mikki says
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and leaving such a sweet and thoughtful comment.
If I wasn’t trying to stay away from sweets I would totally be making these donuts! They look amazing and very easy to make. I’m gonna pin them for future reference. I’m thinking my Ladies Bible Study would like these!
Megan Stevens says
You’re welcome, Mikki!! 🙂 Good for you to stay away from sweets; that’s great!! These are to pull through all those folks who need a treat, which is sometimes me! But yes, so much good healing and health can happen when we are sweets-free. A ladies’ Bible study sounds like just the crew to appreciate these! Cheers!! Thanks for pinning!
GiGi Eats Celebrities says
OMG THESE look like utter PERFECTION!
Megan Stevens says
Thanks, Gigi!!
Symin says
Made these a couple days ago and am blown away. We have almond allergy in our house so I subbed pecan flour. They came out incredible! Thankyou! I actually used these as a base for strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries and coconut cream on top, delishhhhh!
Megan Stevens says
Oh, that sounds amazing!! Yes, I can see that being awesome. Since they bake up a bit spongy, they’d be great to absorb all the sauciness of strawberries and coconut cream; yummm!!!
Carrie D says
My son has a nut allergy, are there any other flours we could use? I know coconut flour would completely change the recipe, but could it be adapted? Cassava? We have not tried sunflower seeds yet so can’t use that either.
Megan Stevens says
I can relate and sympathize! It’s time for me to make a cassava flour donut recipe, for sure! You can try to sub it here; I haven’t tried that yet. Let us know how it goes if you do. 🙂
Rhoda says
I’ve heard of some who use ground pumpkin seed flour in place of almond flour. I’ve used it and it works great just adds greenish flecks to the baked good
mags says
What are some of the other doughnut toppings you used. They look great!
Megan says
Hi Mags, I think most of them are in the recipe! 🙂 Lavender blossoms, dried hibiscus (I love this one!), the cocoa butter glaze …
Kristine says
Does this have to be fine almond flour? Or can I just put my sprouted and dehydrated nuts in the food processor and pulse? Thanks!
Megan says
Hi Kristine, I love the idea of using your home sprouted nuts. You’ll just want to make sure they’re as fine as possible. That’s actually how I make this recipe. I use home sprouted walnuts. I allow a teeny bit of walnut butter to form so the rest of the grind is pretty fine. Good luck and enjoy. I’d love to hear how it goes!
Kristine says
Is using store bought almond flour allowed on GAPS? I’m exhausted cooking so much it sure would be a break. I wouldn’t use it very often. I get 6 hours a sleep a night because I don’t want cooking to cut into my kids life and teaching during the day. I’m just always terrified always of my son regressing. I got him diagnosed a mo th after starting the diet and he was radically different, before I don’t think he would be high functioning autistic. Could not using crispy nut flour hurt his stomach? His digestion is normally pretty normal now with maybe one lose stool a week. Before he was having lose stools 8 times a day and vomiting a few times a month. Sorry for all the information
Megan says
Hi Kristine, the main thing with almonds is that they are super high in glyphosate residue (think Round-up). This is a scary poison that affects detox pathways, among other things. So you can buy almond flour for very occasional use, but it needs to be organic. Also, almonds are high in omega-6s, so not an ideal food for any of us to eat often, even when organic. BUT I totally get the stress of the cooking and exhaustion, and you need to take care of you. For sure. Probably best to choose a batch cooking day and make some sprouted walnut flour. (Keep it in the freezer to prevent rancidity.) Then you could rotate flours: occasionally use organic almond flour, occasionally use hulled hemp seeds or hulled tahini, occasionally use your homemade sprouted flour. Sending encouragement, empathy and love! Hang in there. You’re doing beautiful work that will pay off!!
Megan says
Also, if you buy organic almond flour, make sure it’s blanched. The antinutrients are in the almonds’ skins. Here’s a good one: https://amzn.to/2LUbYuu
Kristine says
Costco has organic almonds. But do walnuts have to be organic? I do try to cut costs where I can. Thanks!
Megan says
Hi Kristine, great question. According to worldwellnesseducation.org: “Walnuts have a lot of pest issues and as such are saturated with pesticides and more chemicals than any other nut. Their fat content allows them to absorb these chemicals so again buy organic.” I know what you mean. I try to save money wherever I can too, for sure! But walnuts are not the place to be thrifty by buying conventional.
STACEY CRAWFORD says
I’ve been craving donuts all week! These look awesome & I can’t wait to try them.
ChihYu says
Donuts!! The simple preparation and the fact that they’re paleo & keto is so awesome!
Raia Todd says
I cannot tell you how much I love these. Haha! I was craving donuts so badly on the GAPS Diet and then I found these. They’re perfect! I’ve made them a few times now and they come out beautifully every time. I’ve even made them in a muffin tin and they’re still wonderful. 🙂
Megan says
Yay Raia! Thank you so much for sharing! That’s really helpful for other readers. 🙂
paleoglutenfreeguy says
Um, I’ll take one of each. These look that good. And I’ve been looking for a good doughnut pan so thanks for the rec!
Jean Choi says
Yum, these are fantastic! Especially the chocolate glaze.
jennifer says
What a treat that fits into my diet! I can’t wait to try a batch this weekend
heather says
I need to tuck into a huge batch of these NOW
Zuzana says
Keto is the way and we are making those right now
Suzanne says
This looks so good! What a great option to still enjoy a brunch favorite! A great one to share with your fitness group too!
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! How long do they keep in the freezer?
Megan says
Hi Vanessa, Paleo and Keto Donuts keep in the freezer for 3 months really well. 🙂 Thanks for the great question.
Judith Dunbar says
Can you tell me how to buy Andrea Wyckoff’s recipe book? Her website, ForestandFauna no longer works online. I have made a few of her recipes from her website before it disappeared but it’s gone! Her AIP recipes are just amazing.
Megan says
Hi Judith, I have seen the same happen, but I’m sorry; I don’t have forwarding or other information for her blog or her book. 🙁