Donuts are a delicious way to start your day! And when the fall season rolls around, what could be better than pumpkin donuts? The next time you have a craving for one of those sweet, round treats, skip the oil and use your air fryer instead!
Pumpkin donuts in the air fryer
These light and fluffy pumpkin donuts made in the air fryer taste just like fried pastries without the mess or the added fat!
These homemade pumpkin spice donuts use a biscuit-like dough that’s perfect for cooking in the air fryer. You’ll love the crispy exterior and fluffy dough inside of these pumpkin flavored treats. But the best part about this easy recipe is that it’s made with just a handful of simple ingredients.
Other dessert ideas you will love:
- Easy soft yeast donuts
- Sugar cinnamon donuts
- No bake banana split dessert
- Instant pot peach cobbler
- Carrot cake bars
- Apple coffee cake
- Banana and walnut bread
- Pumpkin bundt cake with frosting
- Pumpkin ice cream
- Vegan baked donuts
- Baked chocolate donuts
Air Fryer Donuts Cooking Tips
While these simple donuts are so easy to make, having a few tricks in your back pocket is always helpful. Try these simple air fryer tips to ensure your donuts come out amazing.
- Use a biscuit or cookie cutter for more even donuts. Rolling out the dough and forming circles is a quick and easy way to prepare your donuts. But if you want your pumpkin donuts to be more uniform in size, a cookie cutter is a great option. Use a large round cookie cutter to cut out the donut, then grab a small round cutter to cut out the center hole. Use can re-roll the center pieces or use them to make pumpkin donut holes.
- Keep the donuts from touching for even cooking. The key to properly cooking air fryer donuts is to avoid overcrowding your basket. Make sure your donuts aren’t touching as they cook to allow the air to circulate in the air fryer properly.
- Use nonstick cooking spray to reduce the fat content. While vegetable oil is a great way to get a crispy exterior on your donuts, it does increase the fat content in this recipe. To reduce the fat and calories in your donuts, try spraying them with nonstick cooking spray before frying instead of brushing them with oil. You can also use nonstick cooking spray to help the cinnamon sugar stick to the outside of the donuts in place of melted butter.
Air fryer Pumpkin Donuts Toppings
Once you have your pumpkin donuts prepared, you can enhance the recipe with the help of toppings – because who wants to eat plain donuts? Try these topping ideas on your pumpkin donuts:
- Pumpkin spice sugar. Combine pumpkin spice with sugar and sprinkle it on the top of each of your donuts before serving.
- Cinnamon sugar. Whisk together cinnamon and sugar, then dip each donut in the mixture.
- Vanilla glaze. Combine one cup powdered sugar with ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract and one tablespoon milk. Whisk until smooth and dip your donuts in the glaze.
How to Store Air Fryer Donuts
Just like fried donuts, air fryer donuts taste best when they’re fresh. Just let them cool, then top them with sugar and enjoy! But if you have leftover donuts, they’ll be good for up to two days when stored properly. Make sure your donuts are completely cool, then place them in an airtight container. Store them at room temperature for best results.
Pumpkin Donut recipe
Makes 12 donuts
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 8 minutes per batch
Ingredients for Pumpkin Donuts
To make these pumpkin donuts, you’ll need:
- All purpose flour
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Salt
- Butter
- Pumpkin puree
- Milk
- Vegetable oil
How to make these pumpkin donuts
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Add the pumpkin puree and ¼ cup of milk. Stir until the dough begins to come together. If the mixture is too dry and crumbly, add more milk one tablespoon at a time.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Separate the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece dough into a long tube and connect the ends to form a circle.
- Preheat the air fryer to 375 degrees. Place the donuts in the air fryer basket, making sure they’re not touching. Brush each donut with vegetable oil.
- Cook in the air fryer for 8 minutes, until golden brown. Continue cooking in batches until all the donuts have been cooked.
- Transfer the cooked donuts to a wire cooling rack to cool. When the donuts are cool, whisk together the sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Brush each donut with melted butter and dip in the sugar mixture until coated.
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Air fryer pumpkin donuts
Ingredients
For the donuts
- 1 ¾ cups flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter cut into small pieces
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
For the topping
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
- Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- Add the pumpkin puree and ¼ cup of milk. Stir until the dough begins to come together. If the mixture is too dry and crumbly, add more milk one tablespoon at a time.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Separate the dough into 12 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece dough into a long tube and connect the ends to form a circle.
- Preheat the air fryer to 375 degrees. Place the donuts in the air fryer basket, making sure they’re not touching. Brush each donut with vegetable oil.
- Cook in the air fryer for 8 minutes, until golden brown. Continue cooking in batches until all the donuts have been cooked.
- Transfer the cooked donuts to a wire cooling rack to cool. When the donuts are cool, whisk together the sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Brush each donut with melted butter.
- Dip in the sugar mixture until coated.
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