These lemon flavored donuts are soft and fluffy. They need just 3 ingredients and don’t require any yeast, eggs, butter or oil. The donuts are easy to make and also don’t require any frying. The donuts can be customized with different toppings.
These lemon flavored donuts have a bright zesty lemon flavor to them. I like how easy they are to prepare. The donuts are soft and a little chewy. The donuts can be baked in a mini muffin pan, donut pan, or donut maker.
Ingredients
- Self-rising flour
- Vanilla yogurt
- Lemon
Self-rising flour: Self-rising flour is a flour blend that already has baking powder and salt added to it. If you don’t have self-rising flour on hand, you can also make your own by mixing together all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
Vanilla yogurt: Make sure to use regular yogurt and not Greek yogurt or other high protein yogurts. Too much protein will make the batter too dry and the donuts too dense. I chose vanilla yogurt because it adds a little sweetness and vanilla flavor to the donuts. I recommend using a yogurt with a regular amount of sweetness and not a low sugar yogurt so that there is enough sweetness in your donuts.
Lemon: Lemon juice and zest are added to the donut batter to give them their fresh and bright lemon flavor.
How to Make Lemon Donuts
- The flour, yogurt, lemon juice and zest are all mixed together until a thick batter forms.
- Scoop the batter into your prepared pan. I use a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop for my mini muffin pan, a 1 tablespoon scoop for my donut hole/cake pop maker, and 3 tablespoon scoop for my donut pan.
- Bake the donuts until golden and done.
- Allow donuts to cool slightly before serving. You can also top the donuts with glaze or roll them in sugar before eating.
Texture
These donuts will not be the same as traditional fried donuts but they do have a similar soft, fluffy and chewy texture. However they do taste like donuts that are baked instead of fried. The donuts are only very lightly sweet on their own since donuts are usually topped with sugar or glaze.
Expert Tips
- Make sure to use regular yogurt and not high protein yogurt. Your yogurt should only have around 5 or 6 grams of protein per 170 grams serving. High protein yogurt will make the donuts too dense.
- I recommend using whole milk yogurt. The recipe will still work with low fat yogurt but whole milk yogurt will give the donuts a more tender and soft crumb.
- Don’t add extra lemon juice to the batter. It will make the donuts less soft and more chewy. Most of the lemon flavor should be coming from the lemon zest.
- If you want the donuts to have a more classic round shape like donut holes, you can use a donut hole/cake pop pan which is what I did for some of the donuts in the photos.
More Donut Recipes
3 Ingredient Lemon Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup (250 g) vanilla whole milk yogurt see note before starting
- 1 cup (136 g) self-rising flour see note before starting
- 1/2 tbsp (7 ml) lemon juice + 1 tsp lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease your mini muffin pan, donut pan, donut hole/cake pop pan or donut maker with cooking oil spray.
- Add yogurt, self-rising flour, lemon juice and lemon zest to a large mixing bowl. Mix with a silicone spatula until no flour lumps remain. Make sure to use a spatula and not a whisk so you don't overmix the batter. The batter should be thick but it should be a batter and not like dough. If your batter seems too thick, you can add a little more yogurt to it.
- Scoop the dough into your prepared pan using a cookie scoop. How big of a cookie scoop you need will depend on the size of your pan. I used a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop for my mini muffin pan, a 1 tbsp cookie scoop for my donut hole/cake pop pan, and 3 tbsp cookie scoop for my regular sized donut pan.
- Place pan in the oven and bake donuts for about 25-35 minutes or until golden on the surface and done. Mine took close to 30 minutes. The surface of the donuts should be golden and when you apply light pressure to the surface, they should bounce back. Please note, if you are using a donut maker and not baking these in the oven, the cooking time will likely be a lot less and you should use the light indicator on your donut maker to help you determine when the donuts are done. Let donuts cool slightly before topping with your favorite icing or rolling the donuts in sugar. Donuts taste best soon after they are baked. Store uneaten donuts in the fridge or freezer.
Notes
- Yogurt Note: This recipe needs a regular yogurt and not a high protein yogurt. Avoid Greek, Icelandic or other similar high protein yogurts. You want the protein amount to be around 5-6 grams of protein per 3/4 cup (170 g) serving. I also recommend using a yogurt with a regular amount of sweetness and not a low sugar yogurt because the donuts are not that sweet on their own and the only sweetness comes from the yogurt. For the best texture, use whole milk yogurt. You can use low fat, but the donuts are less tender and more chewy with low fat yogurt.
- I made this with Oui vanilla yogurt and Whole Foods vanilla yogurt.
- Self-rising flour note: There are 2 main kinds of self-rising flour sold in the US. One that is a lower protein (2 grams per 1/4 cup serving) flour and one that has a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup (30g) serving). The amount of protein affects how much liquid is absorbed. For this recipe, I tested it with Gold Medal self-rising flour* (regular amount of protein). Please use a self-rising flour with a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup), or make your own self-rising flour with the recipe below.
- I tested the donuts with this mini muffin pan*, donut pan* and donut hole maker.*
- *These product links are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
- Homemade self-rising flour: Whisk together 1 cup all purpose flour, 1.5 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Make sure your all purpose flour has a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup). Most brands in the US contain this amount but there are some brands with higher protein (4 grams per 1/4 cup) such as King Arthur Flour and Bob's Red Mill, which will not work well for this recipe.
- Sweetness note: These donuts are only very lightly sweetened on their own since donuts are usually covered in glaze or rolled in sugar. If you want to eat the donuts without any glaze or sugar, you may want to add about 2 tablespoons of sugar to the donut batter.
- Optional Lemon Glaze: For the lemon glaze on the donuts in the photos, you will need the following:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp lemon juice or more as needed
- additional lemon zest for topping
- Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Add more lemon juice as needed until the glaze reaches your desired consistency. Dip donuts in lemon glaze. Garnish tops of donuts with lemon zest.
- This recipe yields approximately 15 mini muffin donuts (1.5 tbsp scoop).
- Estimated nutrition does not include optional lemon glaze.
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.
