I didn’t mention it at the time, but last Thursday was my birthday and as a present to me, Sienna made some delicious gluten-free buttermilk donuts. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve had a donut, but during my donut-eating days I became quite the connoisseur. In fact, that’s one of my complaints about Portland – there are a lot of bad donut places. I’ve heard that there’s a place on NE Sandy that makes good donuts, and of course there is also Voodoo Donuts, whose donuts I like. Of course, sadly, this is all academic at this point.
I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite donuts is the plain donut. I’m also very partial to glazed buttermilk donuts. If you like these kinds of doughnuts, then I have the recipe for you! The recipe is here: Amazing Gluten-Free Buttermilk Donuts.
As you can probably guess from the name, there is buttermilk in the recipe. There are also eggs, some spices, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, and xantha gum. The flour mix is made with white rice flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch.
The recipe lists a temperature for the oil, and that’s important. Too high and you burn your donuts before they’re done inside. Sienna used a kitchen thermometer, and found that to get the right temperature, she had to turn our burner up to low-medium. She also found that when she dropped the doughnuts in, the temperature went down ten degrees.
These babies look good. And they were awesome! The only thing we thought could use adjusting was the sweetness. They barely need any frosting or sugar to make them taste good, and are sweet enough just by themselves, which is how we ate them!
For more amazing-looking gluten-free recipes from this same chef, check out her website, Gluten-Free Bay.
We want to know: Do you have a favorite gluten-free doughnut recipe? The last time I was at Whole Foods I noticed that they had gluten-free donuts. Have any of our readers had one? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!
Times we have visited: 1 (So your mileage may vary.)
Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same (except that gluten-free flour is expensive!)
Gina says
The only GF doughnuts I have made were done with Pamela’s baking and pancake mix. I got the recipe from the Gluten-free Taste of Home. It was really good! It sounds similar to what you made.
holly cupala says
I tried this recipe because of your blog, and oh my gosh! I can’t stop eating them! Fantastic. Instead of mixing up the flour substitute, I just used the gf bulk baking mix from Manna Mills in Seattle and skipped the xanthan gum. So I’m guessing other all-purpose baking mixes would do the trick. Thanks!
Sienna says
Holly, we’re so glad you tried the recipe–and liked it! And great to hear that the bulk baking mix worked out. That would be much easier. Or Pamela’s mix, as Gina suggested here. All this talk about donuts is making want to make more donuts now!
Carolee says
I had some Kinnickkinnick GF chocolate-dipped doughnuts from my local farmer’s market grocery (similar to Whole Foods). They come frozen in the box and can be defrosted in the microwave.
They were reasonably similar to bread-aisle grocery doughnuts, but the chocolate was a bit messier. If you’re looking for good “bad” cake-style doughnuts, they’ll do the trick.
For me, though, when I saw the price and the cost in calories for each one, I decided it wasn’t worth it. But I may just have to try the recipe, because those look like they might be! Thanks for sharing!
Holy Donuts says
If your ever in Eugene come visit Holy Donuts! We serve a variety of gluten free goodies. Our GF donuts are also Vegan.
Kyra says
I HEAR that Voodoo Doughnuts has GF options (though it’s unverified, and I’m not sure if they know they need to fry them in their own special vat of oil in order for them to truly be GF) . If someone verifies this, will you post and let us know?
Stephanie says
Voodoo does not make gf donuts… I asked them and they said they probably never will b/c they only get one request per day… so, if we all start asking on a daily basis… just sayin’ 🙂
Johanna Draper says
Went google searching for gluten free donut recipes, and your blog turned up. My, these do look yummy! I’ll have to try these sometime in the near future. Thanks!
Jennifer says
I’m writing to follow up on Kyra’s comment above. I contacted Voodoo Doughnuts by email today to ask about any gluten free options and this was their response – too bad:
We would love it if you could try one of our doughnuts but unfortunately we don’t make gluten free doughnuts! There is flour all over our shop and we just don’t have the right work space to make anything wheat free. I
hope that you guys have a great time in Portland and at our shop and apologize for the inconvenience!
Sierra says
Holy Donuts in Eugene has GF donuts, Voodoo will never carry GF donuts because they dont care about the health of their customers, and that’s just a pure observation. But Holy Donuts does. Check out their facebook page, if you don’t believe me. Gluten, Dairy & Egg free options. Sounds like heaven, right?
Sierra says
OUr Facility is not a dedicated Gluten Free environment. We are preparing our GF items for the intolerant and wheat free by choice. We do prepare our Gf pies,cookies,cakes,donuts,scones,biscuits,cupcakes,ice cream sandwiches at the start of every day. We never prepare our wheat items at the same time. We also have a dedicated marble rolling table and a gf covered bakers rack. Our Storage for gfs is separate and sealed food grade buckets. We also greet our gf customers with pro active allergy alert and ingredient run down. My daughter is GF and many of my friends. We are very upfront about our methods. At some point i hope to rent another kitchen for a Dedicated GF Bakery in addition to our current facility. Just like many other restaurants, food carts, cupcakeries, and delis we are a facility providing baked goods to people without serious allergies and celiacs. We wish we had our extra facility right now! We will be sure to let u Know when we do.
Candi says
I made your recipe out of my whole grain gluten free flour blend. They are so wonderful that I am making another batch right away. They remind me of the mini donuts at the fair. Thanks for sharing.
Maria says
Those look great, can’t wait to try the recipe! Just a warning about Holy Donuts in Eugene. They are not safe for people with Celiac disease or other serious gluten allergies because the “gluten free” donuts are fried in the same oil as all the other donuts. They are also made with the same equipment and kept in the same display case.
Sierra says
yes, this is true. they are not for people with celiac disease. they are for folks with a gluten intolerance
holydonuts says
Maria is correct. OUr Facility is not a dedicated Gluten Free environment. We are preparing our GF items for the intolerant and wheat free by choice. We do prepare our Gf pies,cookies,cakes,donuts,scones,biscuits,cupcakes,ice cream sandwiches at the start of every day. We never prepare our wheat items at the same time. We also have a dedicated marble rolling table and a gf covered bakers rack. Our Storage for gfs is separate and sealed food grade buckets. We also greet our gf customers with pro active allergy alert and ingredient run down. My daughter is GF and many of my friends. We are very upfront about our methods. At some point i hope to rent another kitchen for a Dedicated GF Bakery in addition to our current facility. Just like many other restaurants, food carts, cupcakeries, and delis we are a facility providing baked goods to people without serious allergies and celiacs. We wish we had our extra facility right now! We will be sure to let u Know when we do.
Sandi B says
I was googling for donut recipes and yours came up. They are a very good donut and great for those times when the donut craving hits hard. Easy to make and the dough can be frozen to use later if you do not want to make the whole batch, that way you can fry up just one or two — just let come to room temperature before frying. Thanks for the recipe.
Bonnie says
Does anyone have a gluten free recipe for dougnuts that are baked not fried?
Emily says
Babycakes NYC is a gluten/wheat free/vegan bakery, and they just released a cookbook that has baked doughnuts. I recently had some in their LA bakery, and they were SO GOOD.