Baked Donuts filled with jelly are incredibly soft, airy and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Just like our donut holes, this homemade donut recipe is easy and always gets rave reviews!
Donuts are the ultimate comfort food. The aroma from the oven and the little hint of jelly peeking out of the side make these irresistible. I am a sucker for classic home-baked treats like blueberry muffins or chocolate chip banana bread and these baked donuts do not disappoint!
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Baked Donut Recipe:
Baked donuts are cotton-candy soft and fluffy. I remember my Mother making apple piroshki (Russian fried doughnuts) after school and it is one of the food memories I will always treasure. Baked yeast donuts are even easier and is a tradition I’m continuing with my own family.
I’ll take one of these over a Krispy Kreme any day because they are way more satisfying – the perfect balance of fluffy center to sugar coated surface without the greasy mouth feel and my belly is always happier eating a homemade baked donut!
Is it Donuts or Doughnuts?
Which is the correct spelling? This is heated debate because donuts… mmm doughnuts! There’s even a National Donut Day and it’s the first Friday of June. It is the ultimate comfort food. The real question is – when were doughnuts invented? ‘Doughnut’ is the original old-school spelling but ‘donuts’ took off when Dunkin’ Donuts launched in 1950.
Most people will search for “donuts” online and it is the clear winner in popularity. The dictionary now recognizes ‘donut’ as a variant of doughnut so the word doughnut came first but both terms are technically correct.
Here’s our argument – old school doughnuts are deep fried, but these are new school baked donuts so we called them so.
Are Baked Donuts Healthy?
To put it delicately, baked donuts are the healthier option compared to traditional deep-fried donuts. They don’t leave you feeling as guilty about your choices. You only need 1 Tbsp of melted butter to coat all 12 donuts! Are donuts good for you? In the end, they are still sugar covered carbs… glorious carbs! Eat responsibly.
What is the Best Filling for Donuts?
We enjoy changing up the type of jelly in these baked donuts; strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, huckleberry,.. you name it! Whether you are using jam, preserves or jelly, pick one that is:
- Thick – a thick jelly won’t run out of the donut as easily
- Fairly Smooth – so the piping tip doesn’t get clogged
- Your favorite flavor – these are, after all, for you!
How to Make Cream Filled Donuts:
For a cream filling, you will need a stable, thick cream that won’t ooze out. The pastry cream from our eclairs is easy and excellent. Let the cream cool then fill the pastry bag fitted with a sharp tip and generously pipe into each donut.
For Cinnamon Sugar Donuts:
If you choose to omit the jam inside, you can add more flavor with a cinnamon sugar coating. In a small bowl, stir together and roll hot buttered donuts in this mixture:
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Love Glazed Donuts?
We enjoy these without glaze but if you desire glazed donuts, you can skip brushing with butter and rolling in sugar. Once donuts are cool enough to handle, dip into this glaze mixture then place on racks until glaze hardens:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup milk or water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
More Classic Home-Baked Treats:
- Baklava – once you try homemade, there’s no going back
- Chocolate Chip Cookies – soft, moist and perfect
- Snowball Cookies are melt-in-your-mouth good
- Russian Tea Cookies – buttery and studded with walnuts
- Italian Cookies a chocolate filled sandwich cookie
How to Ensure Super Fluffy Donuts?
The correct balance of wet to dry ingredients is critical in any dough recipe. Be sure to measure the ingredients correctly. Stir your flour with a spoon then spoon it into a dry ingredient measuring cup. Pushing a measuring cup into a flour bin can result in 25% more flour than is called for which will result in dense donuts.
Also, be sure to allow your dough to proof in a warm room (never more than 110˚F) or you will deactivate the yeast and the donuts will not rise properly.
Baked Donut Video Tutorial:
Watch Natasha make this easy and super fluffy baked donut recipe. P.S. There’s a guest star in this episode!
I hope this becomes your go-to baked donut recipe! They are irresistibly soft and there is nothing like warm homemade donuts.
Baked Donuts Filled with Jelly
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided, plus more for dusting*
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast, quick acting, (1 packet = 7 grams)
- 2/3 cup warm milk, 110˚F - microwave 35 sec.
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted, divided
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup jelly or jam, (no large fruit pieces)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar , to roll donuts
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) instant yeast and 1/4 tsp salt.
- Add warm milk, 3 Tbsp melted butter, 2 egg yolks and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and whisk vigorously to combine well.
- Cover with plastic wrap and rest at room temperature 10 minutes, until some bubbles form on the surface.
- Add remaining 1 1/2 cups flour, adding just enough until dough holds together and no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl (Add the last 2 Tbsp of flour only if needed) and knead in the bowl 5 minutes. If dough is really sticking to your hands, dust lightly with flour then continue kneading with clean dry hands. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a 100˚F oven for 45 min or at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 375˚F with rack in the center of the oven.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll the dough out to just under 1/2” thick. Cut circles using a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter. Re-roll scraps if needed to make 12 donuts total. Place donuts on prepared baking sheet, cover with a tea towel and let rise in a 100˚F oven for 20 min or at room temperature 45 min, or until puffed. Bake uncovered in the center of a preheated oven at 375˚F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden on top.
- Right out of the oven, brush a hot bun all over with remaining 1 Tbsp melted butter and roll in a bowl of sugar to coat lightly with sugar. Cut a deep slit in the side of each donut and pipe jam with a pastry bag into each one.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Enjoy your home-baked donuts and “Do-nut Worry, be Happy!” I couldn’t resist! 😉
Hello Natasha !
Love all your recipes!
Wondering if I can replace granulated sugar with maple sugar ? (Trying to avoid refined sugar at home)
Hi Crystal, I have not tested this with maple sugar to advise. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
These are amazing! These baked donuts are as close as you can get to the real thing. I nailed them on the first try. Great recipe. Thank you!
I’m so glad to hear that, Veronica! Thank you for trying the recipe!
I made these filled donuts and they turned out okay and were good. My complaint was they taste like biscuits not donuts even though they rose up like they should have they weren’t the consistency of donuts from a donut place.
HI Joan, you might check your leavening to see if it isn’t expired. This could affect your rising. Also, make sure they don’t overproof which can exhaust your yeast. Lastly, too muc flour can make them more dense. I haven’t had them turn out biscuit-like though so these are my best guesses as to what may have gone wrong.
when I preheat my oven to 100 degrees and when I put my dough in there, do I keep the oven running the whole time or preheat it and turn it off then let it rise? Also what specific brand for jelly or jam do you use?
Hi Eliana! Yes, you can preheat the oven and then turn it off. I don’t have a specific brand of jam/jelly to recommend. I’ve used many, even homemade. Use a thicker jelly, it won’t run out of the donut as easily.
These are definitely a 5 star donut. I often fill mine with Nutella cuz thats what my family prefer.
My question is that I want to make these for a baby shower this week (in 4 days) but I don’t have time to make them the day of the party. Do they freeze well unfilled or what do u recommend in order to keep that fresh tender texture?
Hi Jody, I have not tested freezing the dough to advise, we always make them day of, I wish I could be more helpful.
Disappointed. I followed the recipe exactly and I’m disappointed. They aren’t soft, airy or melt in you mouth delicious. The pictures looks incredible and I couldn’t wait to make these. They are soft-ish. Not airy, and they taste like yeast.
Hi Karen, it sounds like something went wrong. It’s difficult to guess without being there but if they weren’t soft and airy, possibly too much flour was added. Also, they should not taste like yeast. I suggest watching the video tutorial to see where things may have gone wrong. If they dough didn’t rise as expected, that could indicate expired yeast and you may need new yeast. Lastly, see our tutorial on how to measure ingredients for baking which may help.
If I want to put some stock in the freezer. Or maybe in the fridge for the next day, I do this step before raising the dough or after?
Hi Mona! I have not tested freezing the dough to advise.
Can you make the dough ahead of time like the night before and bake it in the morning or do you have to do it in one go?
Hi Noelle, I haven’t tested them as make-ahead donuts but being a yeast dough, that should technically work if you refrigerate it before baking. If I were to experiment with making them as overnight donuts, I would place the rounds onto a prepared baking sheet, cover them and refrigerate before the last rise. Let them puff/rise the next day at room temperature before baking. I hope that helps!
These would be perfect for my homemade jam. I always weigh my flour for accuracy. What would the gram measurements be for the flour here?
Thanks.
Hi Jody! You can click on the “metric” button in the recipe card for the conversion. I hope you love the recipe!
Definitely a five star donut recipe.
I filled half with homemade strawberry jam and half with Nutella. Everyone loved them! Going to be making these time and time again!
How should they be stored and for how long will they keep?
Thanks 😊
Hi Jody, good to hear that our Baked Donuts were a great hit! You may refrigerate leftovers but as with any donut or baked good, they will firm up when chilled.
Can I use the glazed donut recipe for these? Only difference is oil vs butter.
Hi Connie, I think that would be fine but you’ll have to do an experiment as I have not tested that before.
Do you think that adding 1 egg instead of 2 egg yolks could work with similar results?
Hi Monika, I have not tested using 1 egg only to advise.
Do you think it would work to glaze these with chocolate instead of coat them in sugar? Just like your enclair recipe
Hi Doninique, one of our readers shared this “Just made the baked donuts and they came out unbelievably soft and fluffy.i filled some with jam and rest with chocolate. They were amazing. My daughters loved them.thanks and keep posting more of such healthy and delicious recipes 😋” I hope that helps.
Hi! I saw in your post you say that these can be glazed and that they can also be filled with pastry cream instead of jelly. Do you think it would work, or taste good, to fill and glaze them like your enclair recipe? With chocolate glaze and crème filling.
Hello Dominique, I saw one of our readers shared this comment “I’ve used many of your recipes. They all have been top notch and these donuts were the best! We opted to fill with the eclair creme and top with chocolate. My guys loved them so much! Can’t wait to actually do the jelly filled. Thanks for sharing this recipe.” I hope that helps.
So glad to hear that worked out for them! I want to try that along with trying it glazed and also trying the sugar coated! Excited to test it all out! Thank you!
You’re super welcome!
I see in the post that you said these could be glazed and that they could also be filled with pastry cream rather than jelly. Do you think these would taste good if glazed with chocolate glaze and filled with pastry creme? Just like the eclair recipe that you have!
I imagine that will work just fine too.
I am surprised no one has called this out, if they did I missed it when searching the page. Right before the second proof you tell us to preheat the oven to 375°F. This will make it nearly impossible to drop the oven temperature down to 100° for the second proof. Also is it expected that the dough has a bit of a “skin” on it after first proof? I don’t have a lot of time to watch a video unless you can tell me where I would find this info at a particular timestamp in the video.
Hi, if you cover the dough with plastic wrap it should not form a skin. it sounds like you might be proofing uncovered which would dry out the outside of the dough and create a skin. Also, if you have 2 ovens then you can have one proofing at 100 in one oven and preheat another oven, otherwise, you would need to proof at room temperature while the oven preheats. You don’t preheat the oven until after the first proof. Great questions and I hope I answered all of them sufficiently.
Thank you for the quick reply. I did cover the bowl with plastic, but the plastic did not touch the dough, it was just stretched across the top of the bowl.
These really are the best donuts ever!!! I was skeptical as they are baked but they are so much better than fried! Super soft and so delicious. Have made these numerous times! Thank you so much for sharing
It’s my pleasure, great to hear that you loved the results!
Hi! How will I know when the dough is under/over proofed? Is it possible to over mix the batter?
Thank you!
Hi Isabella! Watch my video so you can see my process and look at visual cues. Also, read through the full blog post and the recipe for tips that may help you. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a 100˚F oven for 45 min or at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size. That’s when you’ll know it’s done, the size.
Oh my gosh…these are beautiful, soft, pillows of deliciousness! This recipe will now be my “go to” for me.Lu donuts!
I’m so glad you loved the recipe! Thank you for sharing.
Natasha! You are the best! Your ponchiki are delish!Thank you!See you in nest recipe!
Thank you, Bella! So glad you loved it.
This is an easy recipe that turns out awesome. I tripled the recipe and it still turned out and then filled them with a cream lemon curd. Everyone loved them!
I’m so glad it was a hit, Jayme!