Baked Maple Bacon Donuts

These Baked Maple Bacon Donuts begin with a baked cake donut topped with an irresistible maple glaze and crispy bacon. A perfect fall breakfast!

I think it’s time the whole maple bacon craze be re-ignited. 

For a few years it seemed like maple bacon desserts were just about everywhere, and honestly, I didn’t take advantage of it at the time. 

In the moment, young, naive Michelle thought it was weird to put the two things together (in dessert form) that I’d spent years as a child ensuring never touched on a breakfast plate.

Maple Bacon was listed on everything—cupcakes, bread puddings, pastries, donuts, etc. 

Since the maple bar is and forever will be the holy grail of all donuts, a maple bacon donut was one thing I figured I could at least try so I could finally say I’d tried the trend and it wasn’t worth all of the hype. 

I’ll give you one guess what happened: I ate my words with a mouthful of a maple donut with bacon crumbled on top. It is absolutely worth the hype. 

Three Reasons These Are My Favorite Maple Bacon Donuts:

• Baked: These maple donuts are baked, not fried. Of course, I love a pillowy soft fried donut as much as the next person, but these baked donuts have an incredible texture that is very reminiscent of a cake donut. 
• Buttermilk: Making baked donuts with buttermilk is incredibly important, because the buttermilk not only gives them a buttery, tangy flavor, but it also makes for a very rich batter. Since the donuts are baked, the buttermilk helps them taste and feel like the texture of a fried cake donut.
• Maple Glaze: This glaze is to die for, and there is nothing more fall like than a maple glazed donut. These are double dipped in the maple glaze so they are full of extra maple flavor. 

Ingredients:

Baked Donut Batter:

• All Purpose Flour
• Granulated Sugar
• Brown Sugar: This adds a bit of moisture to the donuts (to keep them being dry baked donuts) as well as a subtle molasses flavor.
• Baking Powder and Salt
• Ground Nutmeg and Cinnamon: These pair well with the flavors of maple and bacon. The nutmeg also gives a very ‘donut shop’ flavor to the donuts.
• Egg
• Buttermilk: As mentioned above, the buttermilk gives flavor and yields a texture that makes these baked donuts taste more like a traditional cake donut.
• Sour Cream
• Vanilla Extract
• Unsalted Butter

Maple Glaze: 

• Unsalted Butter
• Pure Maple Syrup: It’s very important to use pure maple syrup and not a pancake syrup. Trust me, the flavors will be very different if you use a pancake syrup, like Log Cabin.
• Powdered Sugar
• Vanilla Extract
• Ground Cinnamon
• Bacon: You can use any kind of pork bacon—apple smoked, hickory smoked, etc. 

How To Make Maple Donuts with Bacon:

Dry Ingredients: Mix flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon together. Make a well in the center.

Wet Ingredients: Whisk buttermilk, egg, sour cream, and vanilla together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. 

Butter: Lastly, add in the melted butter and mix until combined.

Bake: Spoon the batter in a donut pan and bake until they lightly ‘spring back’ when touched. 

Glaze: Melt butter and maple syrup together. Then whisk in powdered sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Let sit for a couple of minutes so that the glaze can set up.

Bacon: Cook the bacon until crisp. Cut into smaller pieces. 

Assembly: Dunk the tops of each donut in the glaze. Then, if desired, dunk the tops again. Top with bacon crumbles while the glaze is still wet. 

How To Store Baked Donuts:

• Fridge: Store these in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. 
• Room Temperature: These can sit at room temperature for just a couple of hours, but because of the bacon on top, leftovers should go into the fridge fairly soon. 
• Freezer: I would not try freezing this with the glaze and bacon on top. My best suggestion would be to freeze the donuts after baking them, and adding the bacon and maple glaze right before serving them. 

Make Ahead Tips:

Baked donuts taste the best and the freshest the day they are made. If possible, make them the day you plan to serve them. However, if you absolutely have to make them ahead of time, let’s talk about how to make them the best and the freshest tasting. 

Tip 1: Make the donuts the day ahead of time, and store them either in the fridge or at room temperature (in an airtight container). Do not glaze the donuts. 

Tip 2: Warm the donuts in the oven to soften them and give them a freshly made flavor. 

Tip 3: After warming them, make the maple glaze and bacon.

Tip 4: Dunk the donuts in the glaze and top with bacon. 

Summary: If possible, make these right before you plan to serve them. If you have to make them ahead of time, make only the donuts ahead of time. Before serving them, warm them up and top them with bacon and the glaze. 

FAQs

Can I Make Donuts Without A Donut Pan?

• If you don’t have a donut pan, you can make these in a muffin tin. Of course, they’ll be donut muffins, but they will have the same donut texture. 
• They will take a little while longer to bake, but once they’re done in the center, you can glaze them and top with bacon. 

How Many Maple Bacon Donuts Does The Recipe Make?

• This recipe makes about 7-8 donuts, depending upon how much batter you fill in each donut cavity. 

What Kind Of Syrup Is Best For The Glaze?

• Use pure maple syrup for the glaze. Cheaper maple syrups dubbed as ‘pancake’ syrups have a very different flavor than pure maple syrup. While there is a significant price difference, pure maple syrup truly makes all the different in the world when it comes to flavor.

What Is Making A Well And Why Is It Necessary?

• When a recipe calls for you to ‘make a well’ in the center of the dry ingredients, it’s asking you to push the dry ingredients away from the center of the bowl, effectively make a hole or ‘well’ in the center of the bowl. 
• This is a technique often used in quick bread recipes (think muffins, donuts, loaf breads) because it helps you from over mixing the batter. The wet ingredients get poured into the well, which helps them disperse into the dry ingredients quicker when you’re mixing everything together.

Quick And Easy Baking Tips:

• Fresh: Make these donuts right before you plan to serve them (or look at my make ahead tips if you need to make them ahead of time). These Maple Donuts definitely taste their best when made fresh.
• Don’t Over Bake: As soon as the donuts ‘spring back’ when touched (meaning when you tap the tops with your finger, the indent quickly springs back into the donut shape), they are baked and ready to cool.
• Double Glaze: If desired, double the glaze the donuts (it gives them a very rich flavor). Glaze each donut once, then glaze them again.
• Crispy Bacon: I think the flavor of these donuts is best with a crispy bacon, because it’s a really nice contrast texture-wise. However, if you really dislike crispy bacon, then you can cook the bacon to your desired done-ness. 

Other Maple Recipes To Try Next: 

• Maple Glazed Banana Bread: This is my favorite banana bread recipe—it’s full of banana flavor, super moist, and comes out perfectly every single time. 
• Maple Pumpkin Spice Latte: Just like the pumpkin spice latte we all know and love, but with a little extra maple flavoring!
• Vanilla Pumpkin Bundt: This is my favorite pumpkin bundt cake, and it’s topped with the best maple icing.
• Maple Sugar Cookies: Thin and chewy, these sugar cookies have a maple icing that is killer.
• Maple Snickerdoodles: Soft, buttery, and chewy these are without a doubt, the best maple snickerdoodles of all time. 
• Maple Cream Scones: The best scones made with pure maple syrup and cream so they’re rich and flaky, and incredibly moist.

Breakfast is served. 

Print

Maple Bacon Donuts

Prep Time

25 mins

Cook Time

12 mins

Total Time

37 mins

 

These Baked Maple Bacon Donuts begin with a baked cake donut topped with an irresistible maple glaze and crispy bacon. A perfect fall breakfast!

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: maple bacon donuts

Author: Michelle

Ingredients

Donuts

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 Tbsp sour cream (or Greek yogurt)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Maple Glaze

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Topping

• 2-3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Instructions

Donuts

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and coat your donut pan with baking spray. Set aside. 

2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon together. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, buttermilk, sour cream, and vanilla extract together.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then mix until just combined. 

5. Add in melted butter and mix until combined.

6. With a spoon, scoop the batter into each donut cavity, filling about 2/3 of the way full. (This recipe yields about 7-8 donuts, and most donut pans have 6 cavities, so you will have some leftover batter for another batch.)

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the donuts are lightly golden brown and spring back when touched. 

8. Allow to cool a few minutes before removing from the donut pan. 

Maple Glaze

1. In a small saucepan, melt butter and maple syrup together over low heat. Once melted, pull off of the heat.

2. Sift the powdered sugar into the maple syrup, then whisk until smooth.

3. Add in the vanilla extract and cinnamon. Whisk until combined.

4. Allow the glaze to cool for a few minutes so it can set up. You’ll know it’s set up when it hardens on top. Once it does that, give it a quick whisk.

5. Dunk each donut about halfway into the glaze, then place it on a wire rack to let the excess glaze drip off. If desired, dunk each donut again to double glaze the donuts.*

6. Top each donut with your cooked and crumbled bacon while the glaze is still wet. 

7. Serve.

Recipe Notes

*If you plan to double glaze, let the first round of glazing set before you dunk them a second time. It only takes a couple of minutes for the glaze to set. 

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Originally posted 2016; updated 2021.