If you have a sweet spot for donuts, then try these heavenly Matcha Donuts with a semi-sweet chocolate glaze. Sprinkles are optional, but they make the kids smile. These donuts are baked, so you can have more than one!
Have you seen or tasted Matcha Donuts (抹茶ドーナツ) before? They are actually pretty popular in Japan. From matcha latte, and matcha tiramisu, to green tea KitKat and Pocky, the Japanese like to make sweets and desserts with matcha (green tea powder).
Well, I’m definitely not an exception; I’ve made cookies, ice cream, Crème Brûlée, and steamed cake with matcha on Just One Cookbook so far. And guess what, there will be more green tea dessert recipes coming up soon (call me matcha lady!).
We only eat donuts once in a while, like when there is a fundraising bake sale at my children’s school. We like good donuts but we haven’t quite found one that we love around where we live. In Japan, we love it when seasonal matcha donuts are available at Mr. Donuts!
I bought my donut pan a few months ago thinking that baked donuts are an easier alternative to make at home. Since there is no deep-frying, they are a little healthier too. Have you had baked donuts? They are pretty awesome! I actually didn’t think it was going to be so easy to make; otherwise, I would have tried baking these a long time ago.
Baked Donuts vs. Deep Fried Donuts
Since some of you might have not tried “baked” donuts yet, I thought I should quickly compare how different they are.
First of all, baked donuts will NOT taste the same as donuts right out of the deep fryer. Like how deep-fried fries are different from baked fries… but they are both good in their own ways.
The texture is more cake-like and moist. And you can skip the chocolate glaze if you prefer less sweet. I’m happy with just plain matcha donuts. Of course, my children have to have chocolate on theirs!
We needed to buy a donut pan (about $10) to make these donuts, but I think it’s a good small investment. Compared to fried donuts, it’s much easier and quicker to make baked donuts, not to mention they are fewer calories! The recipe is for 6 donuts so don’t worry about over-consuming! You can double or triple the amount you want to prepare easily with this recipe.
Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
Matcha Donuts
Video
Ingredients
- ¾ cup cake flour (weigh your flour; for weights, click the Metric button above; or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off; you can make homemade cake flour)
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp matcha (green tea powder) (1 Tbsp matcha is 6 g)
- 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) (beaten)
- ⅓ cup whole milk
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter (melted)
- 1 Tbsp honey
For the Chocolate Glaze
- ¼ cup chocolate chips (I use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but white chocolate goes well, too!)
- sprinkles of your choice
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale for this recipe. For weights, click the Metric button at the top of the recipe to convert the measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC). For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). Lightly coat your donut pan with cooking spray.
- To a large mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients: ¾ cup cake flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, ½ tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and 1 Tbsp matcha (green tea powder)) and whisk to combine.
- To the same mixing bowl, add 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) (beaten), ⅓ cup whole milk, 2 Tbsp unsalted butter (melted), and 1 Tbsp honey. Whisk until just incorporated. Don‘t overmix.
- Use a pastry bag fitted with a round tip (or a large Ziploc bag with one corner snipped off) to pipe the batter into the donut mold. Fill each mold about three-quarters full.
- Bake the donuts for 8 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean and the donuts spring back when you lightly press your finger into them. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
To Make the Glaze
- To make the chocolate glaze, melt ¼ cup chocolate chips in a double boiler. Alternatively, you can microwave the chocolate chips: Place the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat. Microwave the chocolate in three 30-second intervals, stirring between each. When the chocolate is mostly melted and only a few tiny pieces remain, stop microwaving and mix at room temperature; the last few pieces will melt.
- Dip the cooled donuts into the melted chocolate and top with sprinkles of your choice. Enjoy!
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and keep it in the refrigerator for a day or two.
Hi Nami, Can I fry it? a Donut is fried dough. I know from Falafel the difference if I fried and I backed. So what is your thought? Thank you
Hi Ruthy! Thank you for reading Nammi’s post and experimenting with her recipe!
We’ve never fried this donut before, so we’re not sure how it’ll turn out.
If you give it a try, please let us know how it goes!
Hi Namiko, what temperature should I use if I were to make these in a 12 pc mini doughnut pan ?
How long should I bake them for ?
Hi Lisa, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
You can bake it at the same temperature but please shorten the baking time. 6~7 minutes is recommended.
We hope this helps!
Can I replace Matcha Powder with Vanilla Extract? How much Vanilla Extract would I need for 6 donut servings?
Hi Jia! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post!
We have never tried the Vanilla version of this, but how about replacing the Matcha powder amount with cake flour and adding about 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla extract to see how it goes? We hope this helps!
Is it ok to prepare and store the batter in the fridge overnight, and bake them in the morning?
Hi Simon! If you keep it in the airtight container and place it in the fridge just for overnight, it should be fine.
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Can I substitute egg whites for one whole egg?
Hi Sarita, We have never tried using just egg whites for this recipe before, and not sure how the outcome will be. But many baking recipes can replace with two egg whites for one whole egg. We hope this works!
Let us know how it goes!😉
I made these yesterday and OMG they are so good! Made them the same way you did with chocolate. Posted on my tiktok and added your website for people to come find it. Awesome job!
Hi Charity, Wow! Thank you very much! ❤️
We are glad to hear you enjoyed the Matcha Green Tea Donuts!
ohhh nooo Nami-san i forgot to put the melted butter (i put it to cool behind me) and didn’t double check *facepalm* so i made them AGAIN and it’s good ! they are cooling right now, and i’ll cover them in melted dark chocolate. i baked them in muffin silicone molds, since i haven’t found donuts molds in my new city yet.
Hi Bee! Oh that kind of things happens to me often. LOL! I hope you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you for your feedback. xoxo
They turned out quite okay ! I’d need a better oven and appropriate molds to bake them well. The taste is delicious !! I’ll have to try again and again to perfect the recipe, what a pity 😉
Hi Bee! Thank you so much for your feedback. Yeah, get the mold to make it easier. 🙂 Glad it tastes good! Thank you for writing!
Hi Nami! These look amazing! I can’t wait to try to make donuts for the first time – especially green tea ones!
Something that’s been popular around my area recently is mochi donuts. What are your thoughts on substituting the flour with mochi flour? 🙂
Hi Ashley! I hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂 Yeah, I’ve tried Mochi Donuts from Third Culture in Berkeley (they call theirs Butter Mochi Donuts though), but not the ones from Hawaii.
I don’t think you can simply substitute. I haven’t made it so it’s hard to tell. Sorry I wish I can help…
(P.S. Please don’t get confused with my Pon de Ring recipe as Mochi Donuts even though it looks similar – https://www.justonecookbook.com/pon-de-ring-donut-recipe/). 🙂
I just made these and they were so good! I made your homemade cake flour but forgot to remove a 1/4 cup afterwards so mine turned out more dense but still delish. The matcha flavour was strong and the donut not too sweet, which is what I was looking for.
Hi Janice! Yay! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe. Next time, remove the 1/4 cup for less dense texture. 🙂
An amazing donut recipe, so easy to do as well. Thanks!
Hi David! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe and thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
Hi, Nami! I made this recipe and it was delicious. My whole family loves it. However, when I dipped the donut into the melted chocolate, it fell inside the chocolate! Is there any way to prevent that? Thanks
Hi Ashlynn! Glad to hear you liked the recipe and thanks for trying this recipe. Typically you would use 2-3 fingers to hold the donut and dip into the frosting / chocolate, instead of dropping the entire donut. You can also use less chocolate at a time so you won’t have too much chocolate? 🙂
These are great! But i would use baking soda instead of powder. They come out a bit darker but the taste is magnificent.
Hi Sophie! Thank you for your kind feedback and helpful tip!! I’ll try it with baking soda next time too! 🙂
Obviously, baking powder and baking are not interchangeable in a recipe because they are totally different things. A recipe with baking soda usually needs some acidic component like buttermilk. Anyway, I made this a while ago, a super easy and quick recipe if u need to satisfy a sweet tooth. Came out nice and fluffy, taste great with cream cheese glaze. But of course, baked donuts are never a real thing, cause they are considered “quickbreads” like muffins – with baking powder or baking soda as a leavening agent, not yeast. So yes basically you are making donut-shaped muffins 🙂 Overall great recipe! For those of you using gram, use 12g of cornstarch + 78g all-purpose flour as the cake flour substitute! An easier way is to mix all dry, in a separate bowl mix all wet. Then pour wet into dry and mix until just combined, it takes seconds, this method will prevent overmixing – you do not need a super smooth batter, once there are no streaks of dry flour it is good to go 🙂
Thank you for that cool recipe. I use it to make some muffins and I also add some little chocolate pieces to the dough and it works just fine.
Also very delicious.
Greetings from Germany.
Hi Sebastian! Great to hear it came out well! Thank you very much for your kind feedback! 🙂
Hello! I tried making these donuts but the mixture was very thick almost dough like. I’m not sure why but do you have an idea as to why it’s not liquidy like yours?
Hi Mabel! It sounds like you had more dry ingredients. Did you use a kitchen scale? It’s not “required” but it is important that you have the accurate amount of ingredients. When you scoop up with a measuring cup, 1 cup of flour, for example, may weigh more than 120 g (4.25 oz). If you don’t use a kitchen scale, try to stir the flour in the bowl, scoop it up with a spoon into the measuring cup and level off the top. It’s much more accurate than scooping the flour with a measuring cup.
Now, if you used a kitchen scale… I’m not too sure what was wrong. Egg should be “large” and if it wasn’t, it won’t give enough moisture to the batter. Sorry I wish I can help, but I can’t think of any other reason… I’ve seen other readers made these and shared on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter. I am confident that the measurement/recipe should work (I tested this recipe several times prior to sharing too). I hope it’ll come out well next time. 🙂