Baked Lemon Blueberry Donuts
Lemon blueberry donuts topped with a simple, two-ingredient lemon glaze. These baked lemon blueberry donuts are incredibly easy to make and perfect for breakfast!
Ever since the first time I made baked donuts, I’ve been completely in love with them. As much as I love a fried donut, they’re also super heavy and not exactly what I want to eat for breakfast first thing in the morning.
While these baked donuts aren’t exactly health food, they’re a little bit lighter and also incredibly easy to make.
Baked donuts are cakey and a little dense, but they taste absolutely delicious. I’ve made several baked donut recipes over the last few years, but I wanted to make a lemony one this time around.
Because it’s January and freezing cold outside, I think we could all use a sweet lemony treat in our lives right about now. Since so many of you love the lemon berry desserts on my site, I settled on these lemon blueberry cake donuts.
Recipe Ingredients
You likely have all of the ingredients required to make these baked blueberry donuts. Here’s what goes into them:
- All-purpose flour: Spoon and level the flour when measuring it. Don’t scoop it straight from the bag with the measuring cup, otherwise you could accidentally measure out too much.
- Baking powder: Helps the donuts rise in the oven.
- Salt: Enhances the lemon-blueberry flavor and balances out the sweetness of the batter.
- Milk: Use any type of milk you’d like.
- Granulated sugar: Sweetens the donuts without making them too sweet.
- Egg: Needs to be room temperature before being mixed into the batter.
- Butter: I always use unsalted butter in my baked goods so I can control the amount of salt in them.
- Lemon juice and zest: Rinse the lemon under warm water before zesting it to remove any lingering dirt.
- Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla will give the best flavor.
- Blueberries: I’ve only tested this recipe using fresh blueberries, and that’s what I recommend using.
- Powdered sugar: Used to make the lemon glaze.
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Donuts
The donut batter only takes about 10 minutes to mix up and the donuts take another 10 minutes to bake. The lemon flavor isn’t too overpowering in these donuts, but there is a little lemon juice and zest in the batter.
To start, you’ll need a donut pan to make this recipe. Simply whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another. Combine the two, mixing just until combined. Gently fold in the berries last.
Divide the batter between eight donut cavities and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the donuts cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack.
Once cool enough to handle, dip in the lemon glaze and dig in!
Can I Make This Recipe Without a Donut Pan?
Yes, you can also bake the batter in a standard muffin tin (about 15 to 20 minutes). Obviously, you won’t have traditional donuts, but they’ll still taste good!
Baking Tips
- Make sure to measure out your blueberries so you don’t end up with too many in the batter. I’ve found that 1/3-1/2 cup of fresh blueberries is the perfect amount in this recipe. Any more than that and the donuts end up with way too many blueberries and are a little too delicate to handle.
- Use a piping bag (or ziplock bag with the corner cut off) to pipe the batter into the donut cavities. The piping bag makes it so much easier to get the batter into the pan and way less messy too.
- To really amp up the lemon flavor, I used some lemon juice in the glaze. You can use milk if you prefer, but if you’re a total lemon lover then try the lemon juice in the glaze.
More Baked Donut Recipes to Try!
- Baked Chocolate Donuts
- Baked Key Lime Donuts
- Baked Apple Cider Donuts
- Baked Pumpkin Donuts
- Baked Carrot Cake Donuts
Baked Lemon Blueberry Donuts
Ingredients
For the lemon blueberry donuts:
- 1 cup (125 grams) all purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup (80ml) milk
- 1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) butter , melted and slightly cooled
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
For the lemon glaze:
- 1 cup (120 grams) powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons (30-45 ml) fresh lemon juice (or milk)
Instructions
To make the donuts:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 8 cavities in a donut pan (or pans) well with non-stick cooking spray. If using a 6-count donut pan, you will need to bake in separate batches. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the milk, sugar, egg, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla until fully combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined, making sure not to over mix the batter. Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
- Evenly distribute the batter between all 8 cavities of the prepared donut pan (a piping bag or spoon works well).
- Bake at 350°F for 9-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the donut comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool.
To make the glaze:
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until well combined. Add more lemon juice to thin out the glaze or add more powdered sugar to thicken the glaze as needed.
- Place a piece of foil under the wire rack with the donuts to catch any glaze. Dip each donut into the glaze and place onto the wire rack. Allow the glaze to harden for a few minutes, then serve, and enjoy!
Wow!! I made these with my Granddaughter and she loved them! Easy to make and very tasty! I will make often, fresh blueberries make them even better.
Can I refrigerate the dough, then cut out donuts and bake on a cookie sheet?
The batter is more like cake batter, so that wouldn’t work for this recipe.
This is my second try making blueberry-baked donuts. Finally, using that donut pan I bought but never gave a whirl. I love this recipe. I used spelt flour and added a tsp of cornstarch. The stronger the lemon oil, the better.
These donuts came out very light and fluffy. They were very tastey, but how do I keep them from being a little soggy on the bottom? Also, how can I get them a little crispier?
Are you making sure that your blueberries are dry before adding them to the batter? If so, you can try adding 1 to 2 more tablespoons of flour and see if that helps.
How about banana bread donuts, Can the same recipe be used?
No, you would need to adjust this recipe quite a bit to make banana bread donuts.
Does this recipe double well or it is best to do separate batches?
It would be fine to double it!
So good! Thanks! Just need to make in big batches:)
Is it unsalted butter or salted butter?
I used unsalted butter, but either one would be fine since it’s such a small amount.
Hii, love this recipe. I used a little less sugar and omitted the berries since we didn’t have any on hand.
Will make again, thank you for sharing the recipe
Only the second time I have used my donut pan. I found the donuts took 15 minutes in the oven and I got 9 donuts instead of 8. They are delicious. I put the blueberries into the donuts after putting the dough into the pan. Worked great!
I am not sure what I did wrong. I made these in a silicone donut pan and cooked them for approximately 15 minutes before the toothpick came out clean, but the dough around the blueberry was not cooked and they were all more or less uncooked doughy? Any ideas.
Hi, Julie! Did you double check the recipe to make sure all of the measurements were correct? If so, it may have just needed to bake a bit longer.
Hello I started making baked donuts few weeks ago and came across your recipe. I like this recipe and it came out very tasty ?. And I like the fact that the sugar was put into the wet ingredients instead of adding into the dry ingredients. It worked better! Thank you!
Hi I want to make these, can I use almond milk or cashew milk?
That would be fine!
If I dont have a donut pan, can I use a muffin tin?
Yes, that would be fine!
I have never commented on a recipe but for this one I had to! Hands down so delicious! My husband and son couldn’t stop eating them!!! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!
Wonderful recipe! These are a perfect dessert for me. They satisfy my sweet tooth without being overly sweet. I made mine without the glaze (no powdered sugar in the house) but next time I will try the glaze.
This is definitely a keeper.
Tip on the blueberry to dough ratio: Since it is a donut pan, don’t mix in your blueberries to the batter. Instead, make your batter, fill the pans (not as much as you normally would) and press the berries into the batter. If you do it correctly, you’ll have perfectly suspended berries and no soggy bottoms!
How long would you recommend baking mini doughnuts for this recipe?
I would guess somewhere around 6-8 minutes. Just keep an eye on them and test them with a toothpick to make sure they’re done.
Amazing recipe just as is. I bought a pan yesterday so this was my first foray in donuts. But… I didn’t listen and out too many blueberries in. A few were a bit delicate but they were the first to be eaten so it was ok. 🙂
Just made the luscious Lemon Blueberry doughnuts and they were incredible!
Great recipe and easy to make!
So glad you enjoyed the donuts, Diana! 🙂
Any advice on making the glaze “set”? LOVE the recipe it’s anazing!!! Tastes great, however my donuts just soaked up the glaze and they ended up mildly soggy…
I’ll keep trying, any tips are appreciated ❤️
I find that the thicker the glaze, the better it will set up on the donuts. If you make another batch, try adding some more powdered sugar to the glaze (or use less lemon juice) and see if that helps.
Excellent, thank you!! Already subscribed and am scouring your site for recipes. 🙂
So glad you subscribed, Lynn! Let me know if you try any other recipes!
Do you have the calorie content of the plain Lemon donut without the topping?
Hi, Diane. I’m unsure of the calories in this recipe, but My Fitness Pal has a great app/website that you can use to get a more accurate calorie count based on the products that you use. I hope that helps!
Your stuff looks so beautiful and delicious. I almost never have time to bake, but your recipes always make me want to. Yummy 🙂
You’re so kind, Anna! Thank you!
Can you use Stevia instead of sugar?
Hi, Jill! I haven’t tried using stevia in these yet, it may change the texture a bit if you do. If you give it a try, I’d love to hear how they turn out!
I’m excited and inspired to give this recipe a shot! This will be a nice change up to muffins. And thanks for your tips with the recipe!
It would definitely work great as muffins! Let me know if you give it a try, Nova! 🙂
Your recipe would be good for muffins! I meant that I always seem to make blueberry muffins so your donut recipe would be a great change up at my home. And my kids would probably love it more! I’ve printed your recipe to make Donuts!!!
Oh my goodness, I’m completely misread your first comment Nova haha 😉 I’m so happy to hear that you printed out the recipe and I hope you and your kids enjoy the donuts!
You are the donut queen Danielle! Love the combo of lemon and blueberry! Pinning!!
Thank you, Jess! 🙂
These look amazing! Can I make them a day ahead?
That would be fine. I would wait to add the glaze until the day you plan to serve them though.
What would be the best way to store them when baking the night before?
You can store them in an airtight container at room temperature overnight, then add the glaze the next day.
I prefer baked donuts any day — and these look so light and fluffy! I’ve missed blueberries so much and baked with them this weekend — they’re my favorite berry. I love the addition of the lemon here — I need to whip these up soon!