Description
Bright, tangy, and ridiculously easy — these baked lemon donuts capture the same sunny flavor as that beloved lemon loaf, but in handheld form. No mixer required, no frying, and the glaze is a simple sugar + lemon combo that hits sweet and sour just right. Make full-size rings or tiny donut holes in a mini muffin tin — both are winners.
Ingredients
Scale
Donuts
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 6 oz Greek yogurt (I used 0% Fage; sour cream can be swapped in)
- ¼ cup neutral oil (canola or vegetable)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon extract (use this — not lemon juice, not lemon oil; see notes)
- A few drops yellow food coloring (optional, for color)
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup powdered (confectioners’) sugar
- ~3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (add gradually until you reach the glaze thickness you want)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease or spray a 6-count donut pan and a 12-count mini muffin pan; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, Greek yogurt, oil, lemon zest, and lemon extract. If you want that sunny yellow look, stir in a few drops of food coloring.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry mix to the wet ingredients and fold gently with a spatula or stir carefully with a spoon. Stop when the batter is just combined — a little streaking is okay. Don’t overmix.
- Portion the batter into the prepared pans. Fill each cavity about three-quarters full. I spoon batter into the donut wells, but you can put batter into a large zip-top bag, snip a corner, and squeeze/pip it in for tidier rings. For donut holes, I use a 2-tablespoon scoop and fill about 1 heaping tablespoon per cavity.
- Bake for roughly 13–16 minutes. In my oven the full-size donuts took 15 minutes and the mini donut holes took about 14 minutes; your oven and pan sizes will vary, so bake until the tops are set and they spring back when touched.
- Let the donuts cool slightly in the pans while you mix the glaze.
Lemon Glaze
- Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Whisk in lemon juice a little at a time until the glaze is smooth and pourable but not runny — tweak the proportions to suit your taste and desired thickness.
- Dip the warm donut tops into the glaze. Allow them to sit for a moment so the glaze can set up a bit before serving.
Notes
Notes & Tips
- Lemon extract is essential. Do NOT substitute lemon juice or lemon oil for the lemon extract in the batter — extract provides concentrated flavor without changing the batter’s chemistry. Lemon oil is far stronger and lemon juice is too weak (and too acidic).
- If you only own one donut pan, you can bake in batches; keep finished donuts on a cooling rack (not piled) while the next batch bakes.
- For neater filling, use a zip-top bag as a disposable piping bag. For uniform mini donut holes, a 2-Tbsp scoop works perfectly.
- Baking times shift with pan material, fill level, and oven differences — check early and often.
Storage
- These taste best fresh and warm, but you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Don’t refrigerate unless you’ve added a perishable filling — refrigeration will dry them out. To refresh, briefly warm in the microwave or oven before glazing.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 380kcal
- Sugar: 44g
- Sodium: 259mg
- Fat: 10g
- Saturated Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 65g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 7g
- Cholesterol: 32mg