Healthy doughnuts? Breakfast just got better with these paleo-friendly coconut flour doughnuts! These are also egg-free and dairy-free. Enjoy!
Note from Tiffany: These coconut flour doughnuts were made by Heather of Cook It Up Paleo! [Note: Heather’s site is no longer active]. Heather was kind enough to share this recipe with Coconut Mama readers. Enter Heather…
Hi everyone, my name is Heather and I’m the 19-year-old blogger at Cook It Up Paleo. I’m very thankful to Tiffany for letting me guest post this recipe!
My family has quite few food allergies, such as gluten, dairy, and eggs. My blog is dedicated to recipes that are paleo-friendly and meet other allergen-free requirements, that still taste amazing! I create recipes for Autoimmune Protocol (AIP), nut-free, coconut-free, vegan, and more.
This recipe is for those who cannot eat eggs or nuts, plus it has a vegan option. Sometimes you just want a vanilla cake doughnut; no matter what your dietary restrictions! These doughnuts bake up fluffy and delicious! They’re the perfect dessert or brunch treat.
I am a coconut lover, so this recipe features a few of my favorite coconut products; coconut butter, coconut oil, and coconut flour! It also uses water chestnut flour, which works wonderfully in eggless recipes and is easily purchased on Amazon.
Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!
Coconut flour doughnuts ingredients + substitutions
Here’s everything you need to make these coconut vanilla paleo doughnuts (AIP):
- 2 tablespoons softened coconut butter
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, solid, not melted
- ½ cup coconut cream
- ¼ cup honey or maple syrup
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup water chestnut flour (also called Singoda Flour)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Substitutions
This recipe is dairy-free, vegan, gluten-free, paleo, and Celiac-friendly!
Since coconut flour tends to be very dry, it’s best to mix it with another type of flour when baking. That’s where water chestnut flour comes in! Water chestnut flour is made from dried, ground water chestnuts. It’s a starchy flour, often sold at Asian supermarkets or on Amazon and is sometimes labelled as “singoda flour”. It adds a wonderful texture to these cake-like donuts, and it will help make the outsides of the donuts slightly crispy.
Water chestnut flour: If you don’t have water chestnut flour, you can use tapioca flour/starch or arrowroot flour/powder instead, which have a similar starch content and are easier to find than water chestnut flour. You can also use chestnut flour or almond flour. But I don’t recommend using 100% coconut flour, as the texture won’t be as good.
Coconut butter: If you don’t need to make the recipe vegan, you can use regular unsalted butter.
Coconut cream: Similarly, you can use heavy whipping cream or even Greek yogurt, which have a high fat content.
Honey or maple syrup: If you like, you can use a keto-friendly liquid sweetener like monk fruit sweetener. Or we have a keto coconut flour doughnut recipe that might interest you!
We also have a paleo CHOCOLATE coconut flour donut recipe here!
How to make coconut flour doughnuts (step-by-step instructions)
- Preheat the oven to 350° F and grease a standard-sized doughnut pan.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the coconut butter, coconut oil, coconut cream, honey or maple syrup, and vanilla. Mix well.
- Add the coconut flour, water chestnut flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
- Divide between 4 doughnut “cups” in the doughnut pan.
- Bake for about 25 minutes.
- Cool. Remove from pan and enjoy.
Recipes and Tips:
- Keto doughnut recipe
- Coconut flour brownies
- Pumpkin muffins with coconut flour
- Coconut flour chocolate donuts
Coconut Flour Doughnuts
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons softened coconut butter
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, solid, not melted
- ½ cup coconut cream
- ¼ cup honey or maple syrup
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup water chestnut flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F and grease a standard-sized doughnut pan.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the coconut butter, coconut oil, coconut cream, honey or maple syrup, and vanilla. Mix well.
- Add the coconut flour, water chestnut flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
- Divide between 4 doughnut “cups” in the doughnut pan.
- Bake for about 25 minutes.
- Cool. Remove from pan and enjoy.
This article was originally written on April 6, 2016 and has recently been updated.
About The Author
My name is Heather Resler and I was diagnosed with celiac disease at age 16. I’m 19 now and I’ve turned my healing journey into a passion for creating allergy-free versions of favorite foods. I love cooking, photography, and social media. In my free time I love winning at Scrabble, lifting weights, rock climbing, and watching and Psych on Netflix. You can find me on my blog, , and on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Links on this page may be affiliate links, for which the site earns a small commission, but the price for you is the same
Hello! I want to try this recipe! I have this small question… for the chocolate donuts you use 4 eggs. But this recipe has no egg. Is there a way to add cocoa powder here and still make it vegan?
Hi Daisie! Great question – yes, you can definitely try adding cocoa powder to make a chocolate version while keeping it vegan. I’d start by swapping out 2–3 tablespoons of the coconut flour for unsweetened cocoa powder. You may need to add a little extra non-dairy milk if the batter gets too thick. Let me know how it turns out if you give it a go!
Hi, I don’t have doughnut baking pan. Can I griddle waffles or bake muffins? What is the consistency of the dough?
Hi Alina! The batter is fairly thick, so I think you should be able to make waffles or bake muffins using this recipe! Baking times may be different though, so just keep that in mind.
Would it be possible to add how many carbs are in each recipes – many thanks
Water chestnut flour?? I’ve seen a lot of alternative flours but NEVER that one. Where do you find it and/or can you sub with anything?
Ha! Never mind???? I just read through all the other comments asking the same thing
Yes, it’s found in most Asian countries or Asian supermarkets here. I believe it’s often used in Chinese cooking and baking. But it’s easiest to order it on Amazon or substitute it with something starchy like arrowroot or tapioca flour. Hope this helps! 🙂
Is it possible to get nutritional info for your recipes? I’m a Weight Watcher member and would love to be able to ‘count the points’ for your desserts.
Thank you.
I’m going to try this recipe soon
Let us know how it works out!
Water Chestnut flour is a starch. You should be able to substitute Arrowroot or Tapioca flour in a recipe. Looking forward to trying this recipe.
Yes! That is right. Thanks, Linda. Hope you liked it!
Hi I’m very interested in making the coconut doughnuts recipe but is coconut cream the same as coconut butter. When I click on the link on coconut butter in your recipe it seems to explain them as the same thing. Just a little confused…never used coconut butter or cream so don’t know. Thanks for the help.
Hi Brenda! Great question. They aren’t the same. Coconut cream is a thick, creamy liquid made from coconut flesh and water, while coconut butter is a solid paste made from pureed coconut meat. Hope that clears things up!
Mixing unmelted coconut oil results in lumps in the batter.
Oh no! I recommend using soft coconut oil, but not melted, so it’s a similar consistency to softened butter. That should help with the lumps.
Can another type of flour be used? Such as coconut, tigernut or cassava flour?
Hi Jennifer! If you’re referring to a sub for water chestnut flour, yes, I think tigernut or cassava flour would work well. I just don’t recommend using 100% coconut flour for this recipe.
This looks great. We keep kosher and I can’t find kosher water chestnut flour. Any other suggestions for a substitute? Thank you.
Hi Debbie! I recommend arrowroot or tapioca flour.
I am not familiar with water chestnut flour. Can I substitute almond flour?
Yes, almond flour should work. I recommend using a starchy flour in place of water chestnut flour, such as tapioca or arrowroot flour, but almond flour will also work fine. Hope this helps! 🙂
Why water chestnut flour….what does it do and are there subs for it?
thanks!
Good question, Aliyanna! Adding water chestnut flour with coconut flour improves the texture of the doughnuts. It’s a starchy flour, so arrowroot or tapioca flour would both work well as substitutes.
What can be substituted for chestnut flour? Thanks.
You may be able to use almond flour 🙂
Hi Tiffany / Heather,
How can I substitute water chestnut flour? This is not available at all where I live. Thanks.
Hi Sha! You can also use tapioca or arrowroot flour! 🙂
2 questions. What’s the difference between coconut cream and coconut butter? I’ve heard so many people say they are one in the same. Also, what could be subbed for water chestnut flour? I can’t find that readily available and don’t know what else I’d use it in. Thanks.
Hi Rebecca, for your first question, coconut cream is the creamy stuff in a can of full-fat coconut milk. Coconut butter, often sold as “coconut manna”, is the dehydrated coconut flesh ground into a butter. For water chestnut flour, it’s a pretty unique flour so I’m no totally sure of a substitute; it is available on Amazon. You might be able to use almond flour, though I haven’t tried it. Hope that helps 🙂