These soft and fluffy donuts taste like pumpkin pie in donut form. They are easy to make and only require 2 ingredients to make the donut dough. The donuts don’t require any eggs, butter or yeast. The donuts need only a few minutes to prepare. You can have fresh, warm donuts in about 20 minutes.
I always try to make a few pumpkin-flavored recipes this time of year. These donuts are so easy to make. I like eating them while sipping on pumpkin spice coffee. The best thing about these donuts is that they can be fried or baked.
Ingredients
- Canned Pumpkin Pie Mix
- Self-Rising Flour
Pumpkin Pie Mix: You will usually find pumpkin pie mix next to canned pumpkin puree in the grocery store. Canned pumpkin pie mix is pumpkin puree that is already mixed with sugar and spices. It is what gives these donuts their pumpkin pie flavor. If you don’t have pumpkin pie mix, I have also made donuts with pumpkin puree.
Self-Rising Flour: Self-rising flour is all purpose flour already mixed with baking powder and salt. The baking powder in the self-rising flour allows the donuts to rise. If you don’t have self-rising flour, you can make your own by mixing together all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. I share the exact amounts needed in the notes section of the recipe card.
How to Make Pumpkin Pie Donuts
The pumpkin pie mix and flour are mixed together until the flour is fully incorporated. The dough is then ready to be cooked. The donuts can be fried or baked.
Fried or Baked Pumpkin Donuts
If you choose to fry the donuts, the donuts will come out like traditional donuts made with yeast. They will be light, soft and fluffy.
I also am sharing a baked version of these donuts. The donut dough is scooped into a mini muffin pan and then baked until done. The baked version will taste like cake donuts.
More Donut Recipes
2 Ingredient Pumpkin Pie Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup (125 g) self-rising flour
- 1/2 cup (128 g) canned pumpkin pie mix 1 cup +2 tbsp is needed for the baked version
- canola or vegetable oil for fried version
Instructions
- Add 2 inches of oil to a medium saucepan. Bring to medium heat (about 335-350°F). If you prefer to make the baked version of these donuts, you will find the instructions in the notes section.
- Add flour and pumpkin to a large mixing bowl. Mix with a spatula until flour is completely incorporated with the pumpkin and a dough forms. The dough should be a little sticky but you should be able to roll the dough between your palms.
- Scoop dough using a 1 tbsp cookie scoop. Roll dough between palms until it forms a smooth round ball. Set aside on a sheet of parchment paper and repeat with remaining dough.
- Once the oil has reached the desired temperature, gently place a few donut balls into the hot oil. I recommend cooking the donuts in 2-3 batches if you are using a medium saucepan so that the donuts don't get overcrowded. Cook donuts until both sides are evenly browned (you will need to flip the donuts halfway through to get both sides evenly cooked) and donuts are cooked. Remove donuts from oil. Place cooked donuts onto a plate lined with paper towel.
- When donuts are cool enough to touch, add toppings if desired. I rolled mine in cinnamon sugar. Donuts are best consumed within a few hours after they are fried. If you have leftovers, I recommend reheating them before eating.
Notes
- Baked Version: For the baked version of these donuts you will need 1 cup of self-rising flour and 1 cup + 2 tbsp of pumpkin pie mix. Mix ingredients together until no flour lumps remain. I usually start mixing with a spatula until the batter is wet enough and then switch to a whisk to make sure there are no flour lumps. Your mixture should look like a thick batter. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the interior of a mini muffin pan. Using a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop, scoop the batter into the greased muffin pan cavities. Bake donuts about 15 minutes or until done. Once donuts are cooled you can add toppings. I rolled mine in cinnamon sugar.
- Homemade self-rising flour: Whisk together 1 cup all purpose flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon salt.
- I used Farmer's Market Canned Pumpkin Pie Mix.
- The donuts are lightly sweet on their own (the baked version will be sweeter than the fried). But if you prefer sweeter, you can add a glaze or coat them in cinnamon sugar.
- Cinnamon Sugar Coating: For the coating, I mixed 2 (heaping) tbsp sugar + 1/2 tsp cinnamon and put it into a Ziploc bag. I then put half of the donut holes in the bag, sealed the bag, and shook the donuts until they were coated in cinnamon sugar. I then repeated the process with the remaining donuts.
- Nutrition estimate is for the dough only of the fried version and does not include toppings or oil absorbed by the donuts during frying. It is very difficult to determine the amount of oil absorbed during frying so I am unable to provide that information.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Anyone know what “canned pumpkin pie mix” is? I’ve only seen canned pumpkin at store, can we use this as a substitute? Or do we need to add other ingredients to make it a pie mix? Would it be sugar, or other ingredients too??
Pumpkin pie mix is the same thing as canned pumpkin pie filling – it’s usually in the baking aisle near the canned pumpkin puree.
Pumpkin donuts turned out awful. Tasteless .. like mostly flour balls? Even after shaking them in cinnamon sugar.
Did you use canned pumpkin pie mix or pumpkin puree? If you used the puree they will be bland – pumpkin pie mix (aka pumpkin pie filling) has other ingredients that adds spice and sweetness.
Yikes! I’m SO sorry!!!
It cannot get any easier than this. They came out perfect. I followed the recipe for frying them in oil perfectly but the dough was crumbly so I added a little bit more pumpkin pie mix and it came out perfect. I rolled them in brown sugar and they taste delicious. I made these in no time.
I’m so glad they worked out well for you!
Making pumpkin balls this Sunday brunch. Having out of state family visiting this weekend. Excited n I’m positive they’ll be a hit for me. Thanks Jennifer ??
I hope they were a hit!
Have you experimented with any gluten free options yet? Looks and soon yummy! Can’t wait to try and find GF way to do it!
I work healthcare and don’t have a lot of cooking time so these simply sweet recipes are perfect for me!
Keep them coming!
We haven’t but a cup4cup GF flour that is self rising may work. Let us know if you try it!
Fabulous. I gave up eating eggs and fish a while back and these recipes are really helping me stick to it!
We’re happy you love the recipes!
How to make using gluten free flour? Would love yo make these for my pumpkin spice loving daughter but she gluten intolerant.
We haven’t tried it, but maybe a cup4cup GF flour that is self rising will? Let us know if you try it!
What about air frying them? Maybe I’ll just have to make, air fry and report back!
We haven’t tried that – the dough may not hold it’s shape well in an air fryer, though. You might want to use our instructions for the baked method if you try it.
Can this be done with gluten free flour?
We haven’t tried it, but cup4cup self rising GF flour may work.
How ’bout air fryer?
We haven’t tried it – the dough balls may not hold their shape in the air fryer. The cook really fast when they’re deep fried so it’s not a problem.
Is there a way to air fry these?
Sorry, but we haven’t tried it!