Clean Eating Protein Donuts are an easy, high protein treat. Made with simple ingredients, they’re gluten and dairy free while being totally delicious!
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These Clean Eating Protein Donuts are perfect for people who have a serious sweet tooth but want to eat healthy. They’re made with minimal ingredients like protein powder, oat flour and almond meal.
Plus they have a delicious nut butter ‘frosting’ and even some sprinkles for good measure!
As I’m sure you all know, donuts are loaded with refined sugar and fat (not the good kind). So what’s a girl to do?
Simple… swap out the frying for baking, the sugar with honey, the flour with protein powder… and a few other tweaks. Easy, and delicious!
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Helpful Tips for Making Clean Eating Protein Donuts:
- These donuts come out the best when you use whey protein powder.
- I used this Vanilla Whey Protein Powder. They come out perfectly moist, and I don’t think they have that protein-y taste.
- To make vegan: I used a plant based protein powder. This NOW Foods Vanilla Plant Protein worked great, but the donuts came out a little bumpy on top, rather than being smooth.
- See photo below. I think these also tasted great, but they do have a little bit of a protein like taste. Sub 1 egg for a flax egg and swap honey with maple syrup
- My favorite protein powder is this Egg White Protein Powder.
- It’s affordable, and only has one ingredient – egg whites! When I tried this the first time, they came out too dry. I would recommend adding 2 extra tablespoons of oil for best results.
I also have tested these with a few different flavor combos that are DELISH! You can use the recipe as a base and sub ingredients to make these flavors:
Substitutions for these Healthy Protein Donuts
- Blueberry Pie: Vanilla Whey Protein
, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 cup blueberries (add at the end and just push into the tops of the donuts) Frosting: Cake Batter Coconut Butter
- Apple Spice: Vanilla Whey Protein
- Mocha: Vanilla Whey Protein
- Chocolate Peanut Butter: Chocolate Peanut Butter Whey Protein
, 1/3 cup finely chopped dark chocolate Frosting: Dark Chocolate Coconut Butter
, 1 teaspoon 
, 1/3 cup finely chopped Now.. who’s ready to make some donuts??
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One of my favorite things about this recipe is that you can get so creative with it. You can use whatever protein powder flavor you’d like, and throw in your favorite add ins (fruit, chocolate chips
The possibilities are basically endless! I hope you love this healthy treat as much as we do!
Other delicious healthy donut recipes:
Clean Eating Protein Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1/2 cup oat flour
- 1/2 cup protein powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 4 tablespoons nut butter (optional, to use as frosting)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325
- In a bowl, whisk together almond meal, oat flour, protein powder, baking soda + baking powder. Stir in wet ingredients. The batter should be somewhat thick, but if it is clumpy or difficult to stir, add a little more milk or water.
- Spray your donut pan with coconut oil or cooking spray
- Spoon batter into a ziploc bag, cut the corner off, and 'pipe' donuts into your pan.
- Bake at 325 for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown
- Allow donuts to cool + 'frost' with nut butter of your choice!
Notes
- These donuts come out the best when you use whey protein powder. I used this Vanilla Whey Protein Powder. They come out perfectly moist, and I don't think they have that protein-y taste.
- To make vegan: I used a plant based protein powder. This NOW Foods Vanilla Plant Protein worked great, but the donuts came out a little bumpy on top, rather than being smooth. See photo below. I think these also tasted great, but they do have a little bit of a protein like taste. Sub 1 egg for a flax egg and swap honey with maple syrup
- My favorite protein powder is this Egg White Protein Powder. It's affordable, and only has one ingredient - egg whites! When I tried this the first time, they came out too dry. I would recommend adding 2 extra tablespoons of oil for best results.
Nutrition Facts
P.S. Here is what the plant based donuts looked like.. not super pretty, but they tasted yummy!
avalentin574
June 5, 2015 at 12:10 pmThese sound absolutely amazing I MUST try the blueberry recipe out! So excited!
Clean Eating & Focused Training
June 5, 2015 at 12:14 pmThank you!! Definitely try them- you will love them ?
Liz
June 5, 2015 at 1:18 pmYum! Will totally have to try!
Clean Eating & Focused Training
June 5, 2015 at 1:28 pmYes- definitely try them!
Sam @ PancakeWarriors
June 5, 2015 at 1:23 pmYou had me at protein donuts!
Clean Eating & Focused Training
June 5, 2015 at 1:29 pmHaha!
Emily @ Out and About
June 8, 2015 at 10:47 amOh my goodness! I need to find myself a donut baking pan now, too. Those donuts look AMAZING and I am blown away at the wonderfully healthy ingredients comprising them! Excuse me while I wipe the drool off of my computer keyboard… =P
Clean Eating & Focused Training
June 8, 2015 at 10:51 amEmily- Yes you totally need to invest in one!! I promise you won’t regret it ☺️
thetrainerlife
June 11, 2015 at 12:02 pmOMG this looks delicious! I will do my best to find a doughnut pan just to make these. The chocolate Peanut butter is speaking to me lol. Thanks for sharing.
The Clean Eating Couple
June 11, 2015 at 12:10 pmLOL! The Peanut Butter Chocolate and the Mocha ones are my fav 🙂 I bought my doughnut pan in a store, but they have them on Amazon.. I bought a Wilton brand one and I love it!
rachelinflight
July 15, 2015 at 5:09 pmThese look sooo yummy! I am a big fan of baking donuts at home and will definitely be trying these healthy versions soon! Thanks for the recipe!
Rachel
http://rachelinflight.com
The Clean Eating Couple
July 15, 2015 at 5:16 pmLet us know if you try them! They are so delicious!
superfitbabe
August 23, 2015 at 6:22 pmI would LOVE to make these!
The Clean Eating Couple
August 24, 2015 at 9:07 amYou should try them!! They’re so easy
marshasbakingaddiction
August 25, 2015 at 1:01 pmThese doughnuts look delicious! And they’re healthy – bonus! I might not feel so guilty eating the whole batch 😉
The Clean Eating Couple
August 25, 2015 at 1:36 pmLOL! Yes – they’re practically guilt free!
Karen Poole
March 18, 2016 at 11:48 amThese look delicious! Can’t wait to try them.
thecleaneatingcouple@gmail.com
March 18, 2016 at 11:57 amThanks, Karen! They’re super yummy 🙂
Angela
March 18, 2016 at 11:51 amMy mom bought me one of those donut press type things years ago. I thought at first that I didn’t need it and then I used it! So nice being able to have healthier treats available!
thecleaneatingcouple@gmail.com
March 18, 2016 at 11:59 amYes!! They’re so fun to make and they’re the perfect healthy snack 🙂
Shannon
March 18, 2016 at 5:00 pmYay for healthy donuts! These look delicious!
thecleaneatingcouple@gmail.com
March 19, 2016 at 10:06 pmRight?! What could be better?!
GiGi Eats
March 19, 2016 at 4:12 pmWHAT IS IT WITH ME AND Rainbow Sprinkles! They turn my taste buds on soooo much! You could throw some on pork and I would probably want to HOOVER IT! HA HA HA!
But thankfully they’re on something insanely DELICIOUS like these donuts!!!
thecleaneatingcouple@gmail.com
March 20, 2016 at 2:32 pmI totally feel the SAME way. Sometimes I just eat them with a spoon… they’re just SO good.
Chrissa - Physical Kitchness
March 20, 2016 at 12:13 amGAAAAAH and you even added SPRINKLES! This makes me want to run to Target right now and get myself a donut pan STAT!
Jess
October 24, 2016 at 11:41 amMust you use a donut pan, would a large muffin tin work too??
The Clean Eating Couple
October 25, 2016 at 11:47 amI’ve never tried this in a muffin tin – but it may work!
Liz
March 21, 2019 at 11:14 pmI realize this is an old post and my comment may not be seen, but I realized all the comments before stated how much they wanted to make these donuts and that no one commented after trying the recipe. Well, I made them! Twice! And they are delicious! I followed the original recipe and the blueberry alternative and neither has dissappointed! Thanks for the recipe! They are wonderful!
The Clean Eating Couple
March 22, 2019 at 8:21 amHi Liz – I’m so glad you liked them!! And I love that you tried the different flavors 🙂 That makes me so happy to hear!
Naomi Tarves
April 6, 2019 at 1:14 amJust got a doughnut pan on sale the other day, and was excited to find a healthy version of one of my fav guilty snacks? i used all oat flour instead of almond, and i suspect because of that they are pretty dense…closer to perhaps a bagel type of thing. However, still pretty darn good. Topped w/ blueberries, i suspect these are going to become my newest breaky on the go?
The Clean Eating Couple
April 7, 2019 at 12:13 pmI’m glad you liked them, Naomi! If you’re going to use oat flour I would try maybe adding a little more coconut oil. I’ve never tried it with that but I suspect that’s why they’re a little dry 🙂
Rachel
June 27, 2019 at 7:41 amInstead of almond meal and oat flour, have you ever tried with King Arthur GF flour or any other general gf flour product?
The Clean Eating Couple
June 28, 2019 at 12:00 pmHi Rachel – I’m sorry I haven’t tried this! It might work, but almond meal is kinda finicky so I can’t say for sure. If you try it let me know!