These Baked Banana Bread Donuts are soft, cake-like and made healthier with whole wheat flour, applesauce and zero refined sugar for the perfect morning treat that comes together in just 20 minutes! Such a great way to use up those overripe bananas!
For more healthy donut recipes, check out these baked apple cider donuts, these gluten-free pumpkin spice donuts or these delicious strawberry banana donuts!
We LOVE making banana bread in our house, but here is another great way to use up those overripe bananas! These delicious baked banana bread donuts are soft, moist and made healthier using a mix of whole wheat flour and almond flour, applesauce in place of oil, two whole mashed bananas and maple syrup instead of refined sugar. My daughter absolutely loves these donuts and the best part is this donut recipe can also make wholesome banana muffins or yes, a whole loaf of banana bread!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Delicious banana bread in donut form!
- Made healthier with zero butter, oil or refined sugar and baked, not fried.
- Easily made in just 20 minutes.
- This recipe can easily be made into a banana bread loaf or muffins!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- whole wheat pastry flour – I used whole wheat pastry flour as it has all the nutritional benefits of whole grain flour while making these donuts light and fluffy. I highly recommend using this, but if you don’t have any on hand you could use regular whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour or gluten-free 1 to 1 baking flour.
- almond flour – nutrient dense flour that adds additional fat (the good kind!) to these donuts making them even more moist without the use of butter or oil. If you can’t use almond flour, feel free to substitute with all-purpose flour.
- baking powder + baking soda – acts as a leavening agent to help give these donuts their height.
- bananas – the star of this recipe and you’ll want to use two very ripe bananas. Not only do the mashed bananas add a natural sweetness to these donuts, but it also makes them so moist!
- applesauce – I used unsweetened applesauce which takes the place of oil in this recipe. If you don’t have applesauce, feel free to use melted coconut oil.
- eggs – you’ll need 2 large eggs to add moisture and help bind these donuts together.
- maple syrup – naturally sweetens these donuts without using any refined sugar. If you don’t have maple syrup, feel free to use honey or other natural sweetener.
- vanilla extract – boost of flavor.
- cinnamon + salt
Baking Tools Needed
- Donut pans – I use these Wilton donut baking pans which come in a set of 2 and are on sale right now for $14.50!
- Pastry bag – this is not a necessity, but definitely makes piping the batter into the donut wells so much easier and highly recommend them.
- Mixing bowls – you’ll need two mixing bowls to separately mix the dry ingredients from the wet ingredients before combining everything to make the donut batter.
How to Make Banana Bread Donuts
- Make the batter. In a large bowl, stir together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt while in a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, mashed bananas, applesauce, maple syrup, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined (you don’t want to over mix the batter). You could also use a stand mixer for this, but it’s not necessary.
- Get out your donut pan. To make these donuts you’ll need two 6-count donut pans like these. Spray them really good with nonstick spray so that your donuts will pop right out! Then, using a pastry bag or ziplock bag, spoon the donut batter into the bag and snip off the corner. Pipe the batter into each donut mold until they are all filled (this recipe makes exactly 12 donuts).
- Bake the donuts! Pop the donuts into the oven at 350 degrees F for about 11 to 13 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean (mine came out perfect at 11 minutes). You want to be careful about over-baking them because donuts actually bake really quickly! Transfer the donuts to a wire cooling rack so they can cool.
- Optional glazed icing. This is completely optional as these baked donuts honestly taste amazing plain right out of the oven, but you could also add a glazed icing on top. Once the donuts have cooled completely to room temperature, mix together about a 1/2 cup of confectioners’ style erythritol (or you could use powdered sugar), 1 tablespoon of milk and a 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, mixing until smooth. Dip the tops of the donuts into the glaze and let the glaze harden a bit before serving.
Other Baking Methods
- Banana bread – you can easily make this recipe into a loaf of banana bread by simply pouring the batter into a 9×5-inch loaf pan sprayed with nonstick spray or lined with parchment paper and baking at 350 degrees F for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Mini loaves – you can also make three mini loaves of banana bread which is perfect for gifting. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. When making for friends and family, I like to double this recipe and make 6 mini loaves!
- Muffins – to make banana bread muffins, divide the batter evenly into a regular muffin pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 18 to 22 minutes.
- Mini muffins – distribute the batter into 24 mini muffin cups sprayed with nonstick cooking spray (or muffin liners) and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 17 minutes. Perfect treat for little hands!
Tips, Tricks and Substitutions
- Make sure you DO NOT over mix the batter. This results in super dense donuts which we don’t want. We’re going for fluffy and soft!
- Feel free to sub the whole wheat pastry flour with 1:1 gluten-free baking flour or even all-purpose flour. I don’t recommend subbing this recipe entirely with almond flour.
- You can easily swap out the mashed banana for pumpkin puree (pumpkin donuts!), Greek yogurt or unsweetened applesauce.
- Mix in other fun additions like chopped nuts or mini chocolate chips.
Prepping and Storing
To Store: These baked banana donuts will last for about 3 days in a sealed, airtight container and will last up to 6 days stored in the refrigerator. I highly recommend warming them up in the microwave for about 10 to 15 seconds or so to really bring out those warm flavors!
To Freeze: These donuts also freeze really well too and will last in the freezer for about 3 months. Let them thaw out in the fridge overnight and warm up in the microwave for about 10 to 15 seconds.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItFollow on Instagram
More Donut Recipes You’ll Love
More Banana Recipes You’ll Love
- Banana Breakfast Muffins
- Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
- Whole Wheat Banana Waffles
- Grandma’s BEST Banana Bread
- Mini Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Hope you all enjoy these Baked Banana Bread Donuts and if you love this as much as we do, please leave me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using the hashtag #eatyourselfskinny! I love seeing all your delicious recreations!
Baked Banana Bread Donuts
These Baked Banana Bread Donuts are soft, cake-like and made healthier with whole wheat flour, applesauce and zero refined sugar for the perfect morning treat that comes together in just 20 minutes! Such a great way to use up those overripe bananas!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour*
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup mashed overripe bananas, about 2 bananas
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the optional glazed icing:
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ style erythritol, or powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt while in a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, mashed bananas, applesauce, maple syrup, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined (you don’t want to over mix the batter).
- To make these donuts you’ll need two 6-count donut pans like these. Spray them really good with nonstick spray so that your donuts will pop right out! Then, using a pastry bag or ziplock bag, spoon the donut batter into the bag and snip off the corner. Pipe the batter into each donut well until they are all filled.
- Bake the donuts into the oven at 350 degrees F for about 11 to 13 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean (mine came out perfect at 11 minutes). You want to be careful about over-baking them because donuts actually bake really quickly! Transfer the donuts to a wire cooling rack so they can cool.
- To make the optional glazed icing: This is completely optional as these baked donuts honestly taste amazing plain right out of the oven, but you could also add a glazed icing on top. Once the donuts have cooled completely to room temperature, mix together the confectioners’ style erythritol (or you could use powdered sugar), milk and vanilla, mixing until smooth. Dip the tops of the donuts into the glaze and let the glaze harden a bit before serving.
Notes
*For nut allergies, feel free to substitute the almond flour with all-purpose flour or gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour.
Nutrition
Serving: 1donut | Calories: 137kcal | Carbohydrates: 24.3g | Protein: 3.5g | Fat: 3.4g | Saturated Fat: 0.5g | Sodium: 61.5mg | Fiber: 2.7g | Sugar: 11.6g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Really enjoyed these. Tasted just like banana bread!
can you use a muffin tin instead of donut molds?
Yes you can! Just bake at 350 for about 18 to 22 minutes for regular sized muffins 🙂