These fresh mini pumpkin donuts are soft, fluffy, and full of real pumpkin flavor and spice. You can make these cute mini donuts in a mini donut pan or a mini muffin pan for donut holes. Enjoy these fresh donuts warm out of the oven for the best fall treat!
📋 What's New In This Post (10/1/25) - Added new information to help you select the ingredients for the donuts.
✍🏻 Featured Comment - Jo said "OMG these are so cute and they look so delicious. I wanted to make donuts this past weekend but never got around to it, must make some this weekend. 🙂"
The Joy of Fresh Donuts
What is the best thing about eating a donut at an apple orchard? It is the fact that you can get them warm out of the oven or fryer. It is not that the donuts themselves are anything special.
I have worked in an apple orchard, and I can tell you that a lot of orchards make their donuts from a mix, just like many people make birthday cakes from boxes of Duncan Hines.
But what really gets people excited is that when they are warm, they are incredible, even if they come from a mix. I wanted to have that experience for myself at home. Having purchased some mini donut pans, I was ready to try making mini pumpkin spice donuts that not only deliver on the fresh-out-of-the-oven experience but also have the flavor to match.
Several years after I originally made this post, I decided to come back and give you more options for topping the donuts to make them even better. I am more than happy to help you enjoy that fresh donut experience at home too without much effort.
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🛒 Ingredients
Here is what you are going to need to make these delicious donuts.
- All-purpose flour - I use unbleached all-purpose flour when I can get it. I weigh the flour for this recipe using a digital kitchen scale.
- Cooking oil - Choose a cooking oil that doesn't have a lot of flavor such as vegetable, sunflower, canola, or grapeseed.
- Eggs - The eggs should be at room temperature before you make the donuts. If the eggs are warmer they will incorporate into the flour faster, so you don't have to mix too much. Overmixing will create too much gluten and your donuts will be tough, not tender.
- Sugar - I normally reach for Zulka Pure Cane Sugar. I get it at places like Winco Foods and ALDI.
- Homemade pumpkin purée - Pick up a pie pumpkin or two at your local grocery store or farmer's market. They are usually available from mid September through Thanksgiving and sometimes later. My favorite pumpkin for cooking with is the Long Island Cheese pumpkin. If you can't find any fresh pumpkin, check out our list of substitutes for pie pumpkins.
- Ground cinnamon - My favorite is Burlap & Barrel Royal Cinnamon
- Whole nutmeg - It's worth it to buy whole nutmeg and grate it yourself.
- Ground ginger - My favorite is Burlap & Barrel Buffalo Ginger
- Salt - Redmond Real Salt is what I use for this recipe.
- Baking powder - If your baking powder has been opened for more than 6 months, I would replace it before making this recipe.
💡 Tip - It's better to have the individual spices on hand than just a container of pumpkin pie spice. That way you can pick out the best possible spices. You could make your own custom pumpkin spice blend. This is great if say you really love cinnamon and only sort of like ginger. Or maybe you really live ground cloves or ground allspice and you want to add that to the mix.
Making Mini Donuts Without a Donut Pan
While making the donuts in a mini donut pan is really sweet, if you don't have one you can make them in a mini muffin pan, they will just need a little more time to cook and they will be missing the trademark hole. You could call them pumpkin donut holes instead!
You could use a Dash Mini Donut Maker. There are several on the market now. The Dash brand is probably the most well known right now. I do have several of their mini waffle makers that I love to have in my camper.
The donut pan is going to be the cheaper option. The mini donut maker is going to take up more space in your kitchen, so if you are going to buy one, it should be something that you use at least a few times a month. Or if it's going to be fun for the kids.
So unless you have those reasons or your oven is broken, stick to using a pan.
📋 Step-by-Step Instructions
Let me take you through the steps of making homemade mini pumpkin donuts.
Using a hand mixer, beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Then add in all of the ingredients except the flour. Mix to combine. You can do this whole thing using a stand mixer as well.
Now add in the flour. It's important here that you don't overmix the flour. Your not making bread! Your donuts will be tough if you do mix too much. Just mix slowly, so flour doesn't go everywhere, until just combined. If it's lumpy, don't worry about it, it will work itself out later.
In September 2019, I attended my first blogging conference called Tastemaker. As part of our swag bag we received the Whiskware Batter Mixer. This thing is perfect for dispensing small amounts of batter, say into a mini donut pan 🙂
Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray before adding the donut batter. Even if using non stick, you really should oil the pan, or they probably will still stick some. Fill the mini donut pan or mini muffin pan halfway up with the batter.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 5-6 if using a mini donut pan or 8-9 minutes for mini muffin pan.
💡 Tip - To know when your donuts are done use a toothpick. It should come out clean if done. Better yet if you have an instant read thermometer test the temperature of the donuts it should be at 195 degrees for them to be done.
Give them a couple minutes to cook before turning the pan upside down over a cooling rack. If you oiled the pan good enough they should come right out.
🍩 Topping Ideas
You could enjoy the donuts as is. What would be more fun is to add some finishing touches. Here is what I like to use
- Cinnamon Sugar - Just combine cinnamon and sugar to coat the donuts once they are cool enough to handle. Don't wait until they cool all the way though.
- Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting - My favorite choice by far. See Video Below on How to Make It. I add festival fall sprinkles to this one.
- Vanilla Drizzle - In a small bowl combine powdered sugar, water, and vanilla extract. I just eyeball it and add more sugar or more water until I get the right consistency.
I want to try a crunchy cinnamon sugar topping kind of like the one from Panera Bread for their bagels. I will let you know when I figure out how to do that! But in the meantime, I found these delicious maple crunchy sprinkles during a trip to Vermont. They are made of pure maple syrup. Those would be amazing on the donuts. Add them like sprinkles.
🎃 How to Make Pumpkin Buttercream
If you want to give pumpkin buttercream frosting a try, watch the video below (under 60 seconds).
🙋 Storage Tips
If some how you end up with leftover donuts, give yourself a pat on the back for your self-control. Then get out an airtight container to store your donuts in. If you have toppings you don't want to stack those donuts. Just put them in a single layer. If it's just cinnamon sugar it's not an issue.
I would try to enjoy the rest by the next day. Share with your neighbors if you need to. You also could try putting them in the freezer. This usually helps keep them longer. I have been to bakeries that sell already baked donuts out of their freezer.
🍎 Optional Add-Ins
If you want to add some chopped up apple to the batter, you could totally do that. Then you would have fall's two favorites. Dice the apples into really small pieces.
I know some people like to add chocolate chips to their pumpkin baked goods. I am not one of those people, but don't let me stop you!
🥄 Try These Delicious Recipes Next
If you have leftover pumpkin puree, you can use them to make Overnight Pumpkin Yeast Waffles or Pumpkin French Toast for breakfast.
Want more donut ideas? Try our Mini Chocolate Peppermint Donuts or Make Donuts Out of Biscuits.
Easy Mini Pumpkin Spice Donuts Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz all-purpose flour
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups homemade pumpkin purée
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
Optional Toppings
- cinnamon sugar
- Pumpkin Buttercream (see NOTES)
- vanilla drizzle (sugar + water + vanilla)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Combine all ingredients except the flour in a mixing bowl, beat to combine
- Then add the flour. Mix until combined. Don't overmix. We aren't making a loaf of bread here.
- Ladle batter into mini donut or muffin pan that you have liberally sprayed with oil.
- Bake for 5-6 minutes in the donut pan or 8-9 minutes in the muffin pan or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from pan as soon as you can.
- Add toppings if desired (see NOTES)
Notes
- Cinnamon Sugar - Just combine cinnamon and sugar to coat the donuts once they are cool enough to handle. Don't wait until they cool all the way though.
- Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting - Beat 1 stick of butter til smooth. Add ½ cup pumpkin puree and mix to combine. Add powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until you reach your desired consistency. For me it normally around 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar.
- Vanilla Drizzle - In a small bowl combine powdered sugar, water, and vanilla extract. Just eyeball it and add more sugar or more water until you get the right consistency.
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OMG these are so cute and they look so delicious. I wanted to make donuts this past weekend but never got around to it, must make some this weekend. 🙂
Eric Samuelson
Thank you much for the kind words! They are really easy to make.
Dina
they look yummy!