Bright purple Ube Donuts are delicious for breakfast, brunch, or as a snack! You can enjoy them with a glaze or without. These are simply decadent donuts that are easy to make.
Donuts are a fun and delicious treat, and they’re easier to make at home than most think!
We love making these Baked Apple Cinnamon Donuts – especially in the fall. And these Air Fryer Donuts are perfect for those times you are craving something sweet but don’t have a lot of time.
When you’re in the mood for a donut that has a beautiful presentation and also tastes great, try this Ube Donuts recipe!
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🌟 Why this recipe works
These donuts will rock your world for many reasons.
- They’re baked and not fried, so they’re healthier than traditional donuts.
- The batter comes together quickly.
- You can make these with the glaze(s) or without — your choice!
- The bright purple color is irrisestible!
- This ube donuts recipe makes 24 donuts. So you can glaze some and enjoy them now and then freeze the rest for another day.
🛒 Ingredient notes
The ingredients pictured above are used to make the ube donut batter.
Ube jam and extract – The signature purple color and flavor of these donuts comes from using both ube jam and ube extract. Whereas these used to be difficult to find in the United States, you can now find them in Asian markets across the country as well as online.
The extract usually has a long shelf life, so you can use them again and again for many different recipes (like these Ube White Chocolate Chip Cookies!)
Eggs – Use room temperature eggs for this recipe. I almost always use room temperature eggs for any baking recipe. They incorporate more smoothly into the batter than cold eggs straight from the fridge.
You’ll need the above pictured ingredients to make the purple ube glaze. This is optional.
OPTIONAL: White Icing – If you want to make the white glaze that I used to drizzle over the donuts in these photos, simply whisk together 3 cups of powdered sugar with 1/2 cup of milk and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice.
✅ Step-by-step instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer or a large bowl and using a hand mixer, cream together the light brown sugar, eggs, ube jam, milk, vanilla, ube extract, and melted butter.
3. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
4. Mix together just until well combined.
5. Spoon or pipe into a lightly greased donut pans, filling just ¾ of the way to the top.
6. Bake at 350°F for 15 to 17 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Meanwhile, make the glaze.
Make the glaze
7. In a large bowl, whisk together ube jam, cream, confectioner’s sugar, and ube extract until smooth and there are no lumps of confectioner’s sugar visible. Place glaze in a shallow bowl wide enough to dunk the donuts.
8. Dip one side of each donut into the glaze and allow to set on a wire rack, glaze side up.
Optional: whisk together ½ cup confectioner’s sugar with 3 tablespoons of heavy cream.
9. drizzle over the ube glaze for added decoration.
👩🏻🍳 Recipe FAQs
You can find ube halaya (ube jam) and ube extract at most Asian markets and grocery stores in the United States. You can also find them both online – shop here for ube halaya and here for ube extract.
Ube is a purple vegetable similar to a sweet potato that is native to the Philippines.
There really is no substitute for ube jam (halaya) or ube extract. It is what makes these donuts distinctly bright purple and also gives them their slightly sweet flavor.
If unglazed: Allow the ube donuts to cool completely, then store in airtight containers at room temperature for up to four days.
If glazed: Allow the donuts to cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days.
🍳 Kitchen tools and equipment
You will need two non-stick donut pans to make these baked ube donuts.
🍽 Serving ideas
These ube donuts are delicious for breakfast, brunch, or as a snack. Enjoy them with a cup of coffee for meryenda (mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack).
The vibrant purple color also makes these donuts perfect to include in a Brunch Board along with Tropical Sangria.
More Filipino dessert recipes
Want to make more Filipino recipes? We have so many delicious Filipino food recipes on the blog! For more desserts, try one of these:
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to leave a 5-Star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card, and if you really loved it, please leave a comment further down on the page. Thank you!
Ube Donuts
Equipment
Ingredients
For the donuts
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- ½ cup ube halaya (ube jam)
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons ube extract
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
For the glaze
- 1 teaspoon ube halaya
- 3-4 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk
- ½ cup confectioner's sugar
- 1 teaspoon ube extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer or a large bowl and using a hand mixer, cream together the light brown sugar, eggs, ube jam, milk, vanilla, ube extract, and melted butter.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together just until well combined.
- Spoon or pipe into a lightly greased donut pans, filling just ¾ of the way to the top.
- Bake at 350°F for 15 to 17 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Meanwhile, make the glaze.
Make the glaze
- In a large bowl, whisk together ube jam, cream, confectioner's sugar, and ube extract until smooth and there are no lumps of confectioner's sugar visible. Place glaze in a shallow bowl wide enough to dunk the donuts.
- Dip one side of each donut into the glaze and allow to set on a wire rack, glaze side up.
- Optional: whisk together ½ cup confectioner's sugar with 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and drizzle over the ube glaze for added decoration.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The colour on these were amazing and the flavour was perfect. 10/10.
I have never used ube in any of my recipes so I am excited to try it!!
Yummmmm! I had never used ube jam before but I am hooked! All of the flavors really came together to make a tasty baked donut.
My daughter and I made these last Sunday. They had the best flavor and texture. Great with my cup of coffee
Enjoyed these for breakfast this morning and started my day off right! Easy, delicious and paired perfectly with my morning cup of coffee!