These two-ingredient pumpkin donuts are as simple as can be. Pumpkin puree and dry cake mix are combined and baked into moist, soft, fluffy donuts. You can have warm homemade donuts ready to eat in less than 20 minutes!
I love the taste of everything pumpkin. Whether it’s pie, muffins, pumpkin ice cream, soup, or bread, I’m there for it! Fall baking and pumpkin season typically kick off with some easy pumpkin recipes. I wouldn’t claim today’s recipe produces healthy pumpkin donuts; after all, one of the two ingredients is cake mix. But, they’re certainly tasty, super fast to prepare, and healthier than a pile of fried donuts.
Love this easy pumpkin donut recipe? You’re also going to want to check out our two ingredient CHOCOLATE applesauce donuts! And for more scrumptious pumpkin recipes, you HAVE to try our Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, Pumpkin Apple Muffins, Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce and Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls!
Love a donut? Try our brownie chocolate donut in this Bronuts recipe! It’s the best of both worlds, a donut and also a brownie.
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🎃 Ingredients:
- pumpkin purée – use 100% pure pumpkin either from a can or homemade if you have it. Do not use pumpkin pie filling. The can of pumpkin provides all the moisture and pumpkin flavor that you’ll need to make these donuts.
- dry cake mix – any flavor will work – we like yellow cake mix, white cake mix, or spice cake mix.
- spices – adding spices is totally optional. Sometimes, I’ll add in about ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon or a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Optional Garnish:
These pumpkin donuts are delicious straight out of the pan, but if you’d like to jazz them up, we top them with a variety of things:
- powdered sugar – a light dusting is easy and yummy, you can also stir powdered sugar with a couple teaspoons of water to make a simple glaze
- caramel sauce – a drizzle of brown sugar caramel sauce is my favorite topping
- sprinkles – after dipping the tops of the donuts in a glaze or applying frosting, add some festive sprinkles or mini chocolate chips
- frosting – top with any canned frosting or make some homemade frosting – a cream cheese buttercream frosting pairs well with the pumpkin flavor
Equipment Needed:
We use a simple Donut Pan
(affiliate link). I use the Wilton brand pan and have it in the regular size and the Mini Donut Pan
. The pan helps the donut batter cook up into nice uniform rings. The batter is very thick, however, and some readers have simply piped the batter in rings right onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. This will work, too.
Substitutions and Variations
- Mix-ins – add in additional flavors or textures – chocolate chips, chopped pecans, vanilla extract, maple syrup, or warm spices can all be mixed in.
- Cinnamon Sugar Coating – Use a pastry brush to coat the pumpkin spice donuts with melted butter and then dip into a cinnamon-sugar mixture.
- Keto Donuts – Use a keto cake mix and stir in the pumpkin puree, following the same baking instructions.
- Pumpkin Spice Muffins – mix the batter exactly the same and spoon into muffin tins lined with cupcake liners. Adjust cook time as needed and bake until a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean (about 15 minutes).
🔪 Instructions:
Prep: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray donut pan with non-stick baking spray. Pam works fine or you can use the baking spray with flour added.
Step 1: In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients (cake mix) and can of pumpkin. You can add any additional spices or flavorings that you like, but it’s not necessary.
Step 2: To easily transfer the pumpkin donut mixture into the donut pan, scoop the batter into a piping bag. Pipe into the greased donut pan. The batter is thick. You will want to fill each pan cavity ½ full. The donuts will rise during baking so you don’t want to overfill the pan or the donuts will become misshapen.
Step 3: Bake for 8-10 minutes. Check for doneness by gently pressing your finger into the top of the donut. If the donut springs back to shape, they are done.
To make a simple sugar glaze, follow the instructions in our Cake Mix Donuts recipe – vanilla or chocolate glaze recipe included. Add some maple extract or maple syrup to make a maple glaze or maple cinnamon glaze.
Step 4: Transfer to a cooling rack and cool donuts completely before adding a caramel drizzle, frosting, sprinkles, and/or confectioners’ sugar. Eat immediately.
Step 5: Mix powdered sugar with a few teaspoons of water and dip the donuts in the glaze or drizzle over the top.
Tips for Making Baked Pumpkin Donuts
Store the baked pumpkin donuts in an airtight container for up to 1 day, but do not add caramel, frosting, or powdered sugar until you are ready to serve them.
For glazing: You will have the best results if you set the pumpkin doughnuts in a single layer on a wire rack and drizzle the glaze over the top so the baked donut isn’t sitting in a puddle of glaze. Catch the excess glaze on some paper towels or on a cookie sheet.
This recipe works with gluten-free cake mix and keto cake mix.
Applesauce works in the same way as the pumpkin puree and can be used to make applesauce donuts.
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely! Follow the same recipe using gluten-free cake mix. The pumpkin puree adds just the moisture that is typically lacking in gluten-free baked goods, so this is one of my favorite gluten-free treats to make.
Frying this pumpkin donut recipe will be a challenge because the batter doesn’t have the same elasticity that a yeast donut would have. I haven’t tried it, but since this pumpkin batter is so thick, you may be able to pipe it straight into hot oil and fry them that way. Your best bet is probably to make pumpkin donut holes and just pipe drops of batter into the fryer. Fry in oil that is 350°F.
This 2-ingredient donut recipe is healthier than traditional donuts since they are baked rather than fried. Pumpkin puree itself also has some great nutrients. Packaged cake mix, on the other hand, is comprised of processed flour and sugar, so it’s not considered healthy.
If you tried this Pumpkin Donuts Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Pumpkin Donut Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 package yellow cake mix 15.25 oz. package
- 1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Mix the dry cake mix and can of pumpkin. You can add any additional flavorings that you like, but it's not necessary.
- For easy filling of the donut pan, scoop the batter into a piping bag and piped it into the greased donut pan. The batter is thick. You will want to fill each pan cavity ½ full.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. Check for doneness by gently pressing your finger into the top of the donut. If the donut springs back to shape, they are done.
- Cool donuts completely before adding a caramel drizzle, frosting, sprinkles, and/or powdered sugar. Eat immediately.
- You can also store the plain donuts in an airtight container for up to 1 day, but do not add caramel or powdered sugar until you are ready to serve them.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Mary Jane Weltmer says
I made this pumpkin donuts for Thanksgiving, They were a hit!
I mix powder sugar and pumpkin spice together. They WERE so……..good.
I used a gluten free cake, my guest said they were so good.
Brittany says
Thank You For An Easy Recipe That My 3 Year Old Can Help With! They Look Delicious!
Astri says
Thank you so much for sharing this easy recipe. They were delicious! I used a little cinnamon and clove like you, but only had a heart shaped donut pan. They were a BIG hit with the family. I posted about them with links to your site here: http://www.appleblossomdreams.com/2013/10/quick-and-easy-autumn-treat.html
Emily says
They’re even better (I think) with spice cake mix! I usually make a mixture of donuts and “donut holes” made in a mini muffin tin. My son loves them for kindergarten snack time.
Lollyjar says
H we don’t have canned pumpkin can you boil and mash fresh pumpkin, my son would love these being donuts and I would love that there is a vegetable in there? I’m in Australia and we just don’t get the variety of things you guys do? They look delicious though, would love to make some for Halloween..
Amidel says
I wouldn’t boil the pumpkin, I would bake it and then mash it. Should work just fine :). I often use fresh over canned pumpkin for my recipes
Brittany says
As am Australian who loves baking things with pumpkin in them I’ve always steamed my pumpkin and mashed it when they asked for tinned pumpkin. That way it isn’t to moist and you don’t change the flavour or risk crispier bits like you do when you roast it.
Gail Valleau says
Try baking the pumpkin. Cut in half. Remove seeds…clean and season those for toasting after the pumpkin is roasted. Place pumpkin cut side down on a baking sheet and add 1/4 inch water. Bake at 350°F (177°C) until tender, approximately 45-60 minutes. Scrape cooled pumpkin from shell and mash thoroughly or puree in a blender or food processor.
Tom says
If you can’t find fresh pumpkin, see if butternut squash is available. In your area may also be called gramma. The taste and texture are near identical to pumpkin. Bake or steam cubes or slices with skin removed. Purée in a food processor for several minutes to get similar consistency as canned pumpkin. Can google search Alton Brown for some instructions to make puréed pumpkin or squash to use for recipes from soup to baked goods.
Josie says
Hello — I am an avid baker. My favorite pie is pumpkin. I tried using fresh pumpkin, boiled, for a pie. It was horrible.
Retained a lot of water and the pie wasn’t good. However, baking the fresh pumpkin and scraping the flesh from
the rind would be okay. Personally, at 83 years of age, I now use canned pumpkin and am quite happy with that.
Ele says
This is amazing. I’ve made lemon cookies before using boxed lemon cake mix and ricotta plus a few other ingredients but I love recipes like this that are super quick without all the measuring. I have to try this! I’d love to share this.
Dominique says
Do you think these may be edible if using a cake pan, instead of making doughnuts?
girlinspired says
Hey Dominique – they definitely work in muffin tins – I made a million last year. I’m not sure about a loaf pan – the batter is pretty dense and it might take a while to get the inside cooked through. Have fun!
Heather says
I bake this all he time as a 9×13 with no problem.
Tweety says
Definitely! Just put itin a cake pan following cooking directions on box.
Debbie says
These sound wonderful. Would they freeze well? One day is too short.
girlinspired says
Hi Debbie, You know…we devoured all of ours in an afternoon, but I’m a big fan of freezing most anything – I don’t see why they wouldn’t freeze okay. If you try it, let us know how it works out!
Cindy says
I made these today with my daughter. FUN! we rolled some in sugar and cinnamon and others we drizzled with melted chocolate and vanilla candy melts. They were a big hit. Thanks so much for posting the recipe!
Mary N says
I was wondering if anyone had made these without the donut pan but since they are being piped with a pastry bag, if they would keep their shape while baking?
kristin says
oh YUM. thanks, stef! don’t have a donut pan but now i might need one.
Michelle says
I wonder if I could use a GF cake mix?
Hmmm. I will give it a whirl!
B says
Judging by how my GF brownie mix and canned pumpkin experiment turned out, I suggest adding at least half the amount of oil it indicates. If your pumpkin is really liquidy, forgo the oil, but my canned pumpkin was pretty dry, and the GF mix seemed to need more help.
Jezz says
I make mine with GF cake mix. I don’t add anything extra. They turn out wonderful.
Lauren says
Oh man, these look amazing..
rachel of OddModicum says
Oh wow, what a treat! I’m about the least culinary domestique woman alive, but I think even I could pull these off! And I adore pumpkin pancakes, but they’re only available seasonally, so thinking these will be a welcome addition! Might even make them MORE fattening by drizzling on some cream cheese icing. 😉 Thanks for the fabulous recipe… had NO idea donuts were this easy, and could be made without a fryer!
Hugs & Hope,
rachel of OddModicum
http://www.OddModicum.etsy.com
kristin says
This looks great. My girls love pumpkin muffins for breakfast. I use a flour with the pumpkin–they LOVE them! However, we can store in the freezer for a good week until they are gone. The one day (unless alot of people) may not work for us 🙁 And great pics as always!
Sarah says
Oh please, please, please share the recipe!!!!
Tracey says
Could they be fried ? I’m making these today , also I don’t have a donut pan , I noticed a muffin pan works , but any other alternatives? Thank you in advance!
Vanessa says
Hi, I tried using ramekins, large ones and placing greased shot glasses filled with water and they worked.
Janet Homyer says
The batter is thick enough that you could extrude it directly into the hot oil.
Kathy says
I think properly wrapped they would last more than a day! Cakes do and have eggs and other ingredients. Just my opinion they all sound great!