Potato Donuts Recipe
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These chocolate potato donuts are a delicious breakfast or snack that you can feel good about eating. They’re healthy compared to most donuts. Gluten-free, dairy-free recipe.
Several months ago, my family experienced the phenomenon that is the Holy Donut in Portland, Maine.
We’d heard about these special donuts from several people in the Boston area who always make sure to stop at the Holy Donut when they’re in Maine. The secret ingredient in these delicious donuts is mashed potatoes.
I love the fact that they use high quality ingredients in these donuts, and the guilt factor is minimized because they have potatoes in them. Vegetables and donuts don’t usually mix, so I was intrigued.
We weren’t disappointed by the rich, dense donuts we sampled at the Holy Donut. We each had a favorite, and mine was the dark chocolate sea salt donut. I’m excited to share my own version of these little delicacies with this recipe.
Fortunately, I was able to find one of the Holy Donut’s actual recipes in this Press Herald article. I adapted it to make a gluten-free, dairy-free version of chocolate potato donuts.
Maine Potato Donuts Baking Tips
The store’s donuts are fried in canola oil, but I baked mine using a donut pan. They came out better than I had even hoped, and my family devoured them in record time. I’m excited that I now have access to these delicious donuts without having to travel to Maine for them.
I like to use a potato ricer to mash the potatoes very smoothly. You won’t notice they’re in there when you’re eating these donuts.
This recipe is my gluten-free version, but I’ve also made these donuts with half wheat flour and half all-purpose flour. They come out tasting great either way, so you can substitute one cup of wheat flour plus one cup of white flour for the gluten-free flour if you prefer.
This recipe makes 18 donuts, so you may want to cut it in half if you want a smaller batch. You can always freeze the extras. No matter how you make them, I don’t think you’ll be able to look at regular donuts the same way again after you try these.
Chocolate Potato Donuts
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
Ingredients for Donuts
- 1 lb russet potatoes peeled and cut in half (2 medium potatoes)
- 2 cups gluten-free flour
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 3 tbs coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Ingredients for Glaze
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/3 cup coconut milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Fine sea salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling water, cook the potatoes until soft (about 20 minutes). Press them through a potato ricer to mash smoothly. It should yield about 1 1/3 cups of mashed potatoes. Set aside to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a donut pan with coconut oil.
- Stir together the dry ingredients in a small bowl (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt). Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the egg, maple syrup, coconut milk, coconut oil, and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Then stir in the mashed potatoes and mix well. The batter will be thick but somewhat pourable.
- Pour the batter into the donut pan. Fill each donut circle almost to the top, but don’t overfill or the hole will close up during baking. Smoothe out the batter for each donut with a small spatula. (This recipe makes 18 donuts, so you’ll need to bake them in batches.)
- Bake the donuts for 13 to 15 minutes, or until they’re set and a toothpick inserted in one of the donuts comes out clean.
- While the donuts are baking, make the glaze. Melt the coconut oil in a small pot over low heat, then add the maple syrup, coconut milk, and vanilla extract to the pot. Warm the ingredients briefly over low heat, then remove the pot from the stove.
- Let the donuts cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully remove them to a cooling rack. Pour the glaze over them while they’re still warm. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of fine sea salt if desired. (This gives a great flavor contrast.)
Notes
Approximate Nutrition Info
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Price Breakdown
This recipe costs a total of $7.90 to make, or $.44 per donut. The gluten-free potato donuts at the Holy Donut cost $3 each, so the homemade version is much more affordable. You can eat almost seven of these homemade donuts for the price of one donut at the shop (but for the record, I don’t recommend eating seven donuts in one sitting). Try these delicious chocolate potato donuts for a fun, healthier snack on the go.
Try my gluten-free pumpkin donuts for another delicious homemade snack.
Can I substitute coconut sugar for the 1 cup of maple syrup in the recipe? Maybe 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup coconut sugar? If not anything else I can do? That’s a lot of maple syrup and it’s pretty costly.
Can I substitute coconut sugar for the 1 cup of maple syrup in the recipe? If not anything else I can do? That’s a lot of maple syrup and it’s pretty costly.
Joanne, I’ve made these with organic white sugar, and they came out well. I haven’t tried them with coconut sugar. I think you’d need a bit more than the amount of maple syrup called for in the recipe since coconut sugar isn’t quite as sweet.
I found these to be really cakey and not sweet at all. It would also be helpful to put measurements in grams, or at least the weight of the potatoes.
Natalie, I will add the weight of the potatoes to the recipe. If you’re used to donuts from the big donut chains, these won’t be as sweet. These donuts are inspired by the homemade donuts at Holy Donuts in Maine, which are more subtle with their sweetness.
I love these at Holy Donut! Don’t use white whole wheat flour for this recipe…I tried it and they didn’t turn out well. The whole wheat flavor is too strong and overpowers the chocolate and sweetness and they are flavorless. I’ll have to try it again with a different flour! I bake a lot with almond and coconut flours, do you think those might work? Thanks for the recipe!
I agree that they wouldn’t turn out great with all white whole wheat flour. I’ve made them with half white whole wheat and half all-purpose flour, and my family enjoyed them. I haven’t tried these with almond or coconut flour, so I’m not sure how they’d be. Let me know how they turn out if you experiment some more.
Would you have the recipe for the blueberry lemon one?? I want to try it so bad!
Carly, I don’t have that recipe. Sorry!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!!
What a great breakfast donut! I can’t wait to make these for my family!
Potatoes in donuts? Definitely never heard of that before, but gosh they look incredible!
Those sounds outstanding. I think I would be in agreement with you on the dark chocolate/sea salt variety being my favorite.
Donuts made from potato? My mind is blown! I would totally try these out.
Mashed potato in doughnuts has grabbed my attention. I’m more than intrigued. They look wonderfully moist.
Hi made these today. Light and yummy cake like donuts.
Just scooped approx 2 rounded tablespoons on parchment lined sheet pan.
For glaze Used confection sugar and milk with a little honey.
Also sampled just confectioners sugar, not a fan.
Think I will use chocolate gaze next time.
Thanks for recipe, will make with dairy glaze for my young Niece since she can’t have any.
So glad you liked them!
Hi Annemarie, I made these last night and they were delicious! I substituted the gluten-free flour for plain flour, and cocoa for cacao, but they still worked so well!
So glad you liked them!
I NEED to try these as they look AMAZING! What a great idea adding potato into the mix!
These donuts look super Annemarie! I have some potato flour from King Arthur I bought a while ago to make rolls but I wonder if it would work in these. But I bet the fresh is just incredible. Soft and moist. Now I need these donuts!!!!
Thanks, Allie! You could try a combination of potato flour and rice flour for the two cups of flour in this recipe – I bet that would work.
SO so fun!! What can’t we do with potatoes? 😉
Yikes, these look so good. Love the sea salt addition. I don’t own a donut pan… any way they can be made without one? Maybe donut muffins!?
Thanks, Janice! You could definitely try them in a muffin pan – I can’t see why they wouldn’t work well in that form. You could also make them into little balls like Munchkins and bake on a cookie sheet. Another option is a donut cutter if you want to fry them.