Cinnamon Sugar Baked Sourdough Donuts Recipe
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Enjoy these scrumptious baked sourdough donuts with cinnamon and sugar topping with a big glass of milk any time you want to give your family a special treat. You can have them for breakfast, brunch, a fun snack or a special dessert. You could even invite the neighbors over just for donuts! I’d show up!
Why You’ll Love These Sourdough Doughnuts
Uses sourdough discard. If you, like me, hate to throw the discard out — this recipe is perfect for you! It takes advantage of the wholesome goodness of sourdough discard while also lessening waste.
Easy. You don’t have to let the donuts rise, worry about yeast, wait for hours, or risk burns from deep frying to enjoy these donuts.
Customizable. Change up the flavors easily to give your family variety and fun. Check out our variations for more ideas!
What is Sourdough Discard?
Sourdough discard is an unfed sourdough bread starter. Sourdough starter has to be fed (active) in order to use it to bake sourdough bread recipes. When the starter runs out of the food that makes bread rise, it’s referred to as discard. Keep these Discard recipes handy for when you want to use it.
Ingredients For The Sourdough Donuts Recipe
Sourdough Donut Batter
- All-Purpose Flour. The perfect light flour for donuts.
- Baking Powder. For leavening.
- Baking Soda. For leavening.
- Salt. Just a little bit of salt is needed for the dough to work.
- Vegetable Oil. Corn oil or canola oil will also work. Do not use olive oil.
- Sugar. White sugar.
- Eggs. You want grade A large eggs for this recipe.
- Sourdough Discard. Save what you would normally throw away and make donuts. It’s a win-win!
- Vanilla Extract. I recommend pure vanilla extract.
- Half and Half. You can also use milk. You can also use a dairy-free substitute if desired.
Donut Topping Mixture
- Butter. You will melt the butter and mix these ingredients together before tossing the mixture with your cooled donuts.
- Sugar.
- Ground Cinnamon. Saigon cinnamon is very nice for this recipe.
Please note, that the printable recipe card has the full list of ingredients, quantities, complete instructions, and nutritional information. The following is a quick overview of the recipe.
How To Make Sourdough Donuts
Preheat your oven and spray your pan so everything is ready to go.
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
Stir the oil and sugar together and then add the eggs, sourdough discard, and vanilla extract.
Slowly add the flour mixture alternating with the half and a half to the egg mixture.
Fill the cavities to 2/3 full.
Bake in a preheated oven.
Let them cool.
Mix the topping ingredients.
Roll the donuts in melted butter and then in the topping mixture once cooled. Enjoy!
What to Serve with Your Sourdough Doughnuts
You can make these Cinnamon and Sugar Donuts any time you want to make your family a special treat. If you want to serve them for breakfast, you can pair them with yummy breakfast meats, any egg dish, or fruit salad. Sourdough Doughnuts are the perfect addition to any brunch for a sweet touch. Serve your donuts as a snack with a glass of milk or afternoon tea.
Substitutions & Additions
These donuts can be served with or without toppings. They are light and airy with the sourdough structure so the donut is not doughy at all!
You could serve the donuts with or without toppings and a little bit of jam.
You could add your favorite toppings to the dough, perhaps some cinnamon or chocolate chips.
Use a simple glaze powdered sugar glaze or a flavored glaze for the donuts instead of cinnamon and sugar.
Make a frosting of chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry and use this in place of the cinnamon and sugar. If frosted or glazed you can add toppings.
Some of my favorite toppings include:
- Powdered sugar
- Mini chocolate chips
- Crushed nuts such as pecans or peanuts
- SPRINKLES!! Everyone loves sprinkles, right?
How To Reheat & Store Sourdough Donuts
Best Way To Store
The donuts will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 to 3 days
or in the fridge for up to a week. If placed in an airtight container or a freezer-safe
bag, you can freeze the donuts, baked but with no topping for up to 60 days
How Long Will Sourdough Donuts Last In the Fridge?
You can keep them in a sealed, airtight container for up to a week in the refrigerator.
Can I Freeze?
Yes! Freeze donuts for up to two months as long as you keep them in an airtight container or freezer-quality zipper baggy. Freeze them without toppings. Then, thaw the donuts at room temperature and add toppings as desired. You can also thaw one donut at a time in the microwave for twenty to thirty seconds.
How To Reheat.
Place refrigerated donuts in the microwave for ten seconds each if you wish to eat them warm. Frozen donuts will take twenty to thirty seconds to thaw in a microwave. Start with smaller increments of time to avoid turning the bread into rubber.
FAQs
Do sourdough donuts taste sour?
Paired with a sweet glaze or topping such as my cinnamon sugar mixture, the sourdough is a subtle but complementary flavor.
Can sourdough donuts be made ahead?
Yes, they can. However, I think they taste the best when fresh.
Hostess Tips to Make the Perfect Donut
If you don’t have a piping bag, use a disposable plastic zipper baggy instead. Just add the batter and snip the corner and fill.
Don’t overmix. It will ruin the texture of the donuts.
If you overfill the donut pan you will get a ridge around the perimeter. It doesn’t affect the taste but if you will not have a perfectly round donut.
You can store sourdough discard in its own container in the refrigerator so you can bake up Sourdough Baked Donuts any time you want.
Other Donut Recipes You’ll Love
Glazed Blueberry Donuts – Homemade Fried Recipe
Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Cream Cheese Glaze and toasted Pecans
Cranberry Vanilla Baked Donuts Recipe
Dark Chocolate Baked Donuts Recipe
We love having a delicious homemade breakfast on Sunday morning such as these sourdough donuts. Other favorites are our sourdough pancakes , sourdough cheese scones, and these amazing blueberry muffins that use sourdough discard. What is your favorite?
I hope you enjoyed this delicious recipe as much as we do. Drop me a comment below, and don’t forget to give it a star rating. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Your comments and ratings help others decide if this recipe is for them too.
Cinnamon Sugar Sourdough Donuts Recipe – Baked
Equipment
Ingredients
Donut Batter
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 eggs – Grade A large
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup half and half – can also use milk
Topping
- ¼ cup butter – melted
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 °F Spray a donut pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a medium-size mixing bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until combined.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix oil and sugar until combined.
- Add the eggs, sourdough discard, and vanilla extract. Mix until all combined.
- Slowly add the flour mixture alternating with the half and a half to the egg mixture. Mix until combined, no more dry flour. Don’t overmix.
- Place the batter into a piping bag, if you don’t have one, place it in a Ziplock bag. Pipe the batter into the donut pan, filling the cavities to 2/3 full.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let them cool in the pan for 2 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack.
Topping
- In a small bowl mix granulated sugar, and cinnamon.
- Once the donuts are cooled, roll them in melted butter and then roll them into the sugar cinnamon mixture.
Video
Notes
- If you don’t have a piping bag, use a disposable plastic zipper baggy instead. Just add the batter and snip the corner and fill.
- Don’t overmix. It will ruin the texture of the donuts.
- If you overfill the donut pan you will get a ridge around the perimeter. It doesn’t affect the taste but if you will not have a perfectly round donut.
- You can store sourdough discard in its own container in the refrigerator so you can bake up Sourdough Baked Donuts any time you want.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note changing anything will cause the nutritional info to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.
Loved this recipe! So soft, fluffy and moist. I did some with cinnamon sugar and a few with plain and chocolate glaze. I put my batter into a large Pyrex measuring cup with a spout and slowly poured into my pan. It worked perfectly! My only issue was they all stuck to my pan. But I don’t think this is the fault of the recipe. And my pan isn’t really non stick. I’ll be making these again! I think these are perfect for brunches and other gatherings.
Great tips, Grace! Thank you for sharing. You can spray your pan with non-stick cooking spray and see if that helps?
Can I use active starter with this recipe ? If so, how much should be used in place of discard- and should I let it rise for a period of time ?
You would think this would be easy to do, but since the discard contains both liquid and flour, as well as fermenting properties that allow it to rise, you would need to make several adjustments to the ingredients as well as rise time. I would suggest that you use https://hostessatheart.com/cranberry-vanilla-baked-donuts/ recipe and change the topping using our Cinnamon Sugar Sourdough Recipe. Let me know if you have any questions, Bianca.
Modified the recipe to make it gluten free and dairy free. Used Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 gf baking flour and 3/4 cup almond milk instead of half and half. Turned out fluffy and yummy. Loved them. Great recipe!
Dori, I’m happy to hear that you are enjoying this recipe.
It’s so moist! Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you, Kathy!
My family loved these donuts! Perfect texture and flavor. I used extra-light olive oil instead of canola for the batter and couldn’t taste a difference. Can’t wait to make these again!
Thank you so much, Courtney! I’m so glad that you enjoyed them and I appreciate the tip using light olive oil.
This recipe was awesome!!! So I didn’t have donut pans or anything similar. I thought that I might be able to slowly pipe onto my griddle & form donuts. Nope! It didn’t work, haha. But they made awesome pancakes. The pancakes turned out nice & sweet, but sooooo fluffy. Incredible!!! Thank you for a great recipe, I can’t wait to eventually make them as donuts, haha.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I’ll have to try them as pancakes LOL!
is there an alternative oil that can be used?
Hi Christina, the reason we use canola or vegetable oil is because fried pastry will take on the flavor of the oil. However, you can use coconut oil or another oil that can withstand high temperatures. Does that help?
Hi. When does the half n half or milk go in? I don’t see it in the recipe instructions
Step 5. You’ll alternate it with the flour into the egg mixture.
These were amazing!! I’m new to sourdough, and have had a lot of bumps along the way trying to master a good loaf of bread. However, I was so pleased with how these turned out and how delicious they are! Thank you so much for the recipe – I’m sure I’ll be making them many times 🙂
Thank you, Kerri! This is one of my favorite recipes for Sourdough discard too! If you want an easy sourdough bread recipe check out https://hostessatheart.com/sourdough-bread-recipe/ and I have more discard recipes at https://hostessatheart.com/sourdough-discard-recipes/.
These turned out great! My family loved them. I let them ferment on the counter overnight (just flour, milk, sourdough discard, and sugar) and added rest of ingredients the next day. Great sourdough flavor.
Thank you for your comment, Jessica! We love these donuts too.
Delicious. Easy to make and not time consuming. The recipe made enough to share some with my neighbor.
Thank you for the thumbs up, Terri!
What a fantastic way to use sour dough!! Your donuts look so soft and mouthwatering. Literally!
Thank you, Susan! They’re so good!
I love love love that you put sourdough in your donuts! What an awesome idea.
Thank you, Ann!
These right here are the epitome of the world’s most perfect donut!!
Thank you, Michaela!
Made this over the weekend and everyone loved it! Thank you for an awesome recipe!
Thank you, Min!
A delish way to enjoy some discard! Thanks for the recipe, Julie!
Thanks, Lynn!
As usual, you are the place I come to for all things sourdough, so when I had discard the other day, made these! That melted butter cinnamon sugar topping! We added some mini chocolate chips to ours!
As a chocolate lover I like how you think! Thanks, Kathleen!