These low carb donuts taste just like the real thing, just without all the sugar and carbs! They are deliciously moist and spongy, with a hint of vanilla and rolled in granulated sweetener. Perfect for Keto, sugar free and gluten free diets. Healthy donuts, friends. I’m lovin’ it!
On a scale of one to ten, donuts score at least a 14. You put a plate of donuts on a table, and within minutes it’ll be empty, guaranteed.
I’ve never been a fan of Krispy Kreme and the like – just too fake-tasting – but I do salivate over a proper bakery donut, especially when they’re fresh out of the oven, still warm and deliciously soft. And if you were to hold one within reach right now I’d probably tackle you, grab it and gobble it up.
There is a 24-hour bakery on Brick Lane in London where we used to go to after a long night out. We’d join the queue of bleary-eyed party-goers, stock up on bagels for breakfast and munch on a donut or two on the way home. Saturday night wouldn’t have been the same without it!
These days, I’m more likely to be found on my sofa than partying (ok, full disclosure – on the sofa until 10pm, then in bed). But donuts. I miss them.
Friends, it was time for a healthy low carb donuts recipe.
I used my sugar free lemon mug cake recipe as a starting point. This cake is ultra moist, which I absolutely love. It also uses almond flour, which mimics the texture of wheat flour very well. I increased the amount of butter in the recipe to make the donuts spongy and rich at the same tome, just like real donuts should be. Using almond flour also means the recipe is gluten free.
These sugar free donuts come in at exactly 1 net carb per donut, which makes them perfect not only for anyone who’s diabetic, living low carb or watching their sugar intake, but also for peeps on Keto. I sweetened them with granulated erythritol, which is a brilliant natural sugar alternative.
You could also use xylitol – some people find it has less of a cooling taste than erythritol. Xylitol is higher in carbs, so do take this into consideration if you need to. Also, when purchasing xylitol, look for a brand that extracts it from birch trees and not from GMO corn. This one is a good option.
As I find almond flour is rather filling – this is because it’s actually got nutritional value and contains plenty of healthy fats – , I decided to use a mini silicone donut pan as opposed to a regular size pan. You can use a larger mould if that’s what you have at home – simply increase the oven time by 5 minutes if they’re not done after 15 minutes.
Regular readers of this blog know that I adore silicone moulds. Read all about my 10 essential low carb kitchen gadgets here.
For this Keto donuts recipe, the silicone mould really was perfect. I had no problem at all prising the donuts out of the mould. Check it out in the video below!
I decided to go for a “sugar donut”, because that’s my favourite type (obviously I did not use real sugar, but erythritol). If you like, you could add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the bowl to make cinnamon “sugar”.
If you prefer donuts with a glaze, simply mix powdered erythritol with some double cream. Add a drop of vanilla for extra flavour.
One last idea – some of my donuts did not have a hole in the middle because I overfilled the mould. I ran a knife around the centre to get my hole “back”. But if you wanted, you could also leave it and fill the inside of the donut with sugar free raspberry jam. I’ll definitely try that next time.
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Sugar Free Low Carb Donuts
These low carb donuts taste just like the real thing, just without all the sugar and carbs! They are deliciously moist and spongy, with a hint of vanilla flavour. Perfect for Keto, sugar free and gluten free diets.
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 100g almond flour ground almonds work as well
- 1/3 cup / 75g unsalted butter melted
- 1/4 cup / 50g granulated sweetener
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp heavy / double cream
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 175 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit.
Melt the butter. In a bowl or with a food processor, blend the butter, cream and sweetener until smooth.
Add the eggs and vanilla extract and blend until combined. Then add the almond flour and baking powder and mix.
Spoon the dough into a well-greased donut pan. I used a silicone mini donut pan. Do not overfill!
Bake ca 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool.
Roll in granulated sweetener. I used erythritol, but xylitol would work too.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
My donuts had a diameter of 6 cm and weighed between 20-24g each.
If you prefer a glaze, mix 2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp double/heavy cream and 2 tbsp powdered sweetener with a couple of drops vanilla extract.
The nutrition is calculated per donut.
If you have a large donut pan, you should be able to make 6-7 donuts, depending on size. Increase the oven time if necessary by up to 5 minutes.
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Jo says
Oh my goodness, thankyou so much for this recipie!!! I recently found out I have gestational diabetes and have a massive sweet tooth and these doughnuts were so easy to make, I won’t lie, I was sceptical and imagined they’d taste very eggy but they are perfect with recipies this good maybe I can leave sugar out of my diet once baby arrives too 🙂
Katrin says
First of all, congrats on the pregnancy! It’s the beginning of all kinds of wonderful things (and lots of work, haha!) I’m so happy you found my site and that you like the recipe. Let me know if you try anything else, I’d love to hear what you think!
Daffy says
I followed your recipe exactly but only subbed out the vanilla for almond extract. I filled standard cupcake tins half full and baked at 350 for 15 minutes-PERFECT!
Let them cool and split them to be topped with sweetened whipped cream and strawberries…HEAVENLY!
Thanks for this recipe that can be tweaked to suit nearly any sweet craving one may have 😉
Katrin says
Mmmmh, I do love almond extract. Great variation!
Eniko says
Our favourite one. My hubby’s keep asking for it
Katrin says
That’s good to hear!!
Lucretia Goodwin says
Absolutely amazing!!!
B says
Heyy, it’s my third day on keto but i won’t make these until a week or so. My question was, realistically, if i ate 2 of these doughnuts, will this stall my weight loss? xx
Katrin says
Hi there, if you’re focusing on eating savoury foods with plenty of vegetables and the occasional treat in between, you should be fine. I’d stick to one at a time though 🙂
Kimberly says
Absolutely love this recipe and loved they did not use coconut flour as i don’t like coconut lol. I have a silicon mold ( love it) but it 9 regular sized donuts and i am having trouble figuring out how to tweak the recipe to fill all 9 spots otherwise i dont get 6 our oit. Can you please advise 🙂
Katrin says
Hi Kimberly, I’d try to increase the amounts of the ingredients by 1/2 each. That way you should have enough to fill all 9 moulds!
Chloe says
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I’m a month into keto and I have never craved a donut more in my life. This recipe was extremely quick to make and definitely a 14/10. I did have one question. I used a muffin tin so I had a total of 12 servings and I used myfitnesspal to calculate the total carbs. I found that if I subtracted fiber from the total carbs to get net carbs I got only 0.6 carbs PER little donut! Is this recipe really that amazing or did I mess up in my calculations somewhere??
Thank you for your amazing recipes!!
Katrin says
Glad yo like them!! Nutritional values can differ from brand to brand, so it may be that the almond flour saved in your fitness pal has a lower carb count. The carbs should be somewhere around my or your calculation – both pretty good. 🙂
Di says
Hi
How long will these keep? Should they be kept in the fridge?
Katrin says
I think they’re fine on the counter for a couple of days and up to 1 week in the fridge.
Marc says
I made these tonight, and while they were good, it tasted like a cross between a donut and an egg souffle. I’m wondering if the eggy taste is normal, or if I either need to try with 3 eggs, or perhaps blend things better. Any suggestions? (Also, I only had powdered erythritol on hand, could that have been an issue?)
Katrin says
Hi Marc, I did not think mine were eggy, but we all have different ideas of what eggy is. I don’t think the type of sweetener would affect the taste. If you want to taste less egg, just leave out one or 2 egg yolks the next time. The egg whites taste neutral and are important to hold everything together. Let me know how you get on if you do try again!
Donna says
If you put eggs in bowl of warm, not hot eat for five minutes, that’s supposed to get eggs to room temp, help with taete
Melissa Fikuart says
These donuts really hit the spot this morning! I added a little cinnamon to the batter before baking and then dredged them in cinnamon sugar (erythritol, monk fruit blend sweetener) after I popped them out of the pan. So light, not too dense and just sweet enough. The donut itself was tender and just downright delicious! Thank you for all your recipes!! I have been keto for coming up on 2 years now and have tried some of your other recipes, which were all delicious too. I have a blog about my keto journey and recipes I have found and I will be sure to share your recipe for these donuts (giving you full credit of course). Thank you for all you do !!
Katrin says
Hi Melissa, I’m so glad you like the recipe! Adding cinnamon to the batter sounds great. I’ve been meaning to make the donuts again and add some Christmassy spices to such as cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. So you got there before me! I must check out your blog too 🙂 I’d be very happy for you to share the donuts – you’re welcome to use a photo of mine (if you want to) with a link to my recipe (please don’t copy the text of the recipe itself). Thank you!
Tessa says
I threw these in the air fryer for a few mins on 400 and they are delightful! Thanks 🙂
Katrin says
THanks for your comment. It’s so helpful to know how you can tweak the recipe!!!!
Patti says
Yum!!! And I just passed up a sale that Amazon had on donut pans!!!
Katrin says
There’s always Christmas 😉
Rashila says
Is there an alternative to eggs please?
Katrin says
Vegans make a flax egg out of flax and water, but I’m not sure how this would change the taste of these donuts.
Jessie says
Hi…
I JUST FOUND OUT IM PREDIABETIC. I M CRUSHED. I RUN AND TAKE CARE OF MYSELF. ITS GENETICS…MY BIRTHDAY IS OCT 15…MY KIDS ALWAYS BUY ME A BIRTHDAY CAKE FROM AN ELITE BAKERY. I CANT HAVE IT THIS YEAR. I M NEW TO ALL THIS…DO YOU HAVE A CAKE RECIPE? AND DO THE SUGARS HAVE ANY EFFECT ON THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM? ESPECIALLY LITTLE ONES.
THANKS IN ADVANCE
Katrin says
Hi Jessie, I’m so sorry to hear about this. The good news is though that you can reverse even full-blown type 2 diabetes with a low carb diet. And once you get into it, you won’t feel like you’re missing out at all. I haven’t made a big cake in a while – I’m planning on posting a couple of recipes soon. You could check out my healthy almond berry cake or this recipe for a chocolate mug cake which a reader recently made into a cake with great success. Any of the muffin and cupcake recipes can be turned into a cake too, if you increase the baking time by a bit. I’m glad you found my site and hope you’ll try some of the recipes on it. Is it too early to wish you a happy birthday, too? 😉
Angie says
Any idea what the protein macro is on these?
Katrin says
I just added it – it’s 3.6g per donut
Edna G Luna says
what heavy/double cream do you use?
Katrin says
I live in the UK, so I use the double cream from either Sainsbury’s or Waitrose, which are my local supermarkets. I often but the Yeo Valley organic double cream brand, which has 45% fat. In the US double cream is called heavy cream.
Edna G Luna says
Thank You!!! i’m excited to try this recipe!
BETH BRANDT says
I am so confused I made these today and they were delish! however when I added the ingredients( I used exactly as listed it gives me 7 grams of carbs per doughnut?
Katrin says
I can only guess here – we‘d have to compare the individual ingredients. The one thing I think it could be is that I never count in the erythritol – it has carbs but as they are not absorbed by the body I do not include it.
Fiona says
Is the mixture supposed to be really runny before putting in the tin? Tastes okay from the bowl!,
Not sure if I’ve done anything wrong but they are currently in the oven so here’s hoping they turn out okay!,
I used Ground Almonds instead of flour and wondered if that would make a difference?
Katrin says
Mine was not super-runny, kind of soft instead – you can check the consistency in the video. Ground almonds are fine. Most almond flours are no more and no less than ground almonds anyway 🙂 – it’s only the super fine fat reduced almond flour such as the Sukrin brand that behaves significantly different to regular ground almonds. It might have been that your eggs were larger than the ones I used? Let me know how they turned out.
Nan says
Can you use the electric mini donut Baker?
Katrin says
I’ve Never tried, but if it’s there for making donuts it should work. I find that pancake and waffle batter, for example, are pretty much interchangeable – different cooking methods, same result. This one is a little bit thicker, but not dissimilar
T T says
Is there an alternative to the almond flour?
Katrin says
You could try coconut flour, but you’d have to use less. Start with 1/3 the amount, wait a few minutes for the flour to absorb the liquid and check the consistency. Coconut flour absorbs a lot more liquid than almond flour. Normally, when concerting almond flour recipes use 1/3 – 1/2 the amount of flour if using coconut flour.
Darcy says
Coconut flour behaves differently than almond or any other low carb flour. I’d suggest making your own nut lower based on whatever nut(s) you like. For example, I’d use hazel nuts and sesame seed flours, conbined.
Ashley says
I made these just a few minutes ago following the posted recipe. I noticed in the photos yours look more like a dough consistency while mine was more like cake batter…..hoping they work! Which is right–dough like or ore liquid?
Katrin says
The thickness of your mix can vary slightly depending on the size of eggs and the consistency of the almond flour. Most of the time, the end result will be yummy. Let me know how yours works out, and then you can always make your own variations next time.
Tory Jourdain-Hutchins says
Absolutely fabulous. Drizzled them with melted Atkins chocolate.
Katrin says
Chocolate drizzle – what a great idea!
tracy says
LOVE THESE. . super easy to make .. I added a few drops of vanilla liquid stevia… yum!
Katrin says
Great news! I’m happy they hit the spot 🙂
Alex says
I entered all of these ingredients into carb manager and I’m really upset that it’s 6 net carbs as opposed to your 1.9. What is wrong?
Katrin says
You’d have to look at the single ingredients listed in your carb manager to see where the difference could have happened. I based the calculations on Bob’s red Mill almond flour, for example. Had I used simple ground almonds/almond meal, the carb content would have been roughly the same, but the fibre content would have been higher. I also do not include erythritol in the carb count as polyols are not digested. I use the calculator on sparkrecipes
Betty says
What can I use as a substitute for heavy whipping cream?
Katrin says
You could try coconut cream, or maybe milk, I’d use 1 tbsp instead of 2 because it’s more liquid than the cream. It’s about keeping to the same wet/dry ratio so your donuts come out nice and moist and spongy
Nicole says
I didn’t have the patience to wait until I acquired a donut pan… so I essentially made donut-cakes… still delicious, kids and I are consuming them with the glaze at the very moment! I’ve been on Keto for a few weeks now and gluten free for years, and I know I have to respect when I have a true craving for a food I can’t eat anymore. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe so I can enjoy a donut again.
Katrin says
Donut cakes – sounds perfect! I’m glad you all liked them!!
AMommyBiz says
I did the same!!! My lil one and I didn’t want to wait to get the donut pan so donut/cupcakes it is lol and 10mins to go!! Very excited.
Daniehl says
Are these donuts crumbly? I’ve tried low carb donuts in the past and they crumble apart so I’m hoping for something that doesn’t. Thanks.
Katrin says
They are not crumbly at all, actually. The only thing I’d recommend is to wait until they have cooled down before you release them from the mould, because they are more fragile when hot. I hope you’ll give them a try – and if you do, let me know what you think of them!
Ramona W. says
They’re in the oven RIGHT NOW!! Can’t wait to try them! I’ve used the lakanto monkfruit seeetner… fingers crossed ☺️
Katrin says
Great! Let me know what you think of them 🙂
Adam M says
Oh yeah, just made these with my wife for date night. I’ve tried, and bought, a few different low carb /sugar donuts and deserts. I have found all of them to be very dense, Eventually giving up making a yummy keto desert.
These on the other hand are actually soft and fluffy which I have been craving for a year and a half.
#guiltfreedonuts
Thank you for this recipe
Katrin says
That’s great to hear! I’m glad they were a success. And you’ve got a lucky wife 🙂 I’m going to suggest to my husband he should start baking for date night!!
Kathy says
Yum! Just made these! They are so light & yummy! Can’t wait to make more in different flavors! I put cinnamon in the batter, that’s why they are darker & put cinnamon sugar on them!
Katrin says
Great to hear they were are success! Thanks for your comment 🙂
Jenny says
Delicious. We made a batch yesterday. The hardest thing was to stop myself from having seconds. And thirds…
Katrin says
I know that feeling!!! I try to get around that by freezing the batch soon after baking. If they’re out of sight it gets a bit easier…. but not much!
Megan B says
I want to make them this weekend. Do you have a recipe for a chocolate glaze?
Katrin says
Hello Megan, sure! I loved the chocolate glaze I used for my chocolate chip Keto mug cake. If you want a glaze that hardens, just use the chocolate chips and butter and leave out the cream. If you cannot get hold of sugar free chocolate chips, use a very dark chocolate (85% cocoa solids minimum) instead. se the ratio of chocolate and butter and add stevia glycerite or powdered erythritol required to sweeten further.
Linda says
This is the best low carb donut recipe i’ve ever tried. They taste so REAL!
Katrin says
Thank you so much for the thumbs up. Feeling honoured 🙂
Barbara says
These donuts look incredible. I’ve just ordered a mold so I can make them asap. I’ll keep you posted!!
Katrin says
Great news! Can’t wait to find out how you like the recipe
Joanie says
Made these yesterday and they taste amazing! I added a bit of cinnamon to the sweetener which worked a treat. Thank you for another great recipe.
Katrin says
That’s great to hear. Glad you like them!!
Joanne says
I always keep almond flour in my pantry, and these donuts are going on my baking list this weekend.
Katrin says
Can’t wait to hear how it went!!