Lemon Sourdough Donuts with Lemon Glaze

Soft, fluffy donuts topped with a beautiful marbled lemon icing – made with real lemon and lemon zest, these light and airy sourdough donuts are bursting with fresh lemon flavor. They’re the perfect breakfast or dessert for any lemon lovers in your life! 

Looking for more sourdough baking recipes? Check out my Nutella Sourdough Donuts, Blueberry Sourdough Bagels, or these cute Pumpkin-Shaped Sourdough Bagels. 

This recipe uses my classic sourdough donut recipe for the dough, with a little bit of fresh lemon juice and lemon zest to create the perfect flavored dough. If you’ve never made donuts at home (or never tried sourdough donuts), this recipe is super easy to follow with my simple process, so you can create the most amazing, bakery-quality donuts right in your kitchen. You only need simple ingredients, like flour, milk, sugar, lemons, and some basic kitchen equipment like a stand mixer. 

Unlike regular donuts, this recipe does not call for any yeast. These donuts are naturally leavened with sourdough starter, and go through a long and slow fermentation process so they have a rich flavor and all the gut healthy benefits of sourdough!

Why You’ll Love These Lemon Sourdough Donuts with Lemon Glaze

• Incredible flavor: Light and fluffy, pillowy soft, with a perfect crispy golden brown exterior and a delicious lemon glaze icing to top it all off. These donuts are packed with flavor and will impress any donut or lemon lovers in your life! 
• Real Lemon: This recipe calls for fresh lemons and a few simple ingredients to create the perfect lemon flavored dough and lemon glaze. 
• Sourdough: Sourdough donuts are naturally leavened with sourdough starter, so not just more flavorful, they have all the gut healthy benefits of a long and slow natural fermentation process too.
• Easy to Make: These donuts are super easy to make! Pretty soon you’ll be enjoying incredible bakery quality donuts from your kitchen!

Best Ingredients to Use For Sourdough Donuts

1. Flour: For the best results, I recommend all-purpose flour. 
2. Eggs: Eggs serve a variety of functions; the whites act as a binder for the ingredients and the yolks help soften the dough to create the perfect soft and fluffy texture. 
3. Milk: Instead of adding water, donuts use milk as the liquid. I recommend whole milk for the best flavor and texture in your dough. 
4. Sugar: Adds sweetness to the dough, develops flavor, and improves texture. 
5. Butter: Use unsalted butter softened at room temperature. 
6. Sourdough Starter: This recipe calls for active sourdough starter (no yeast required) to leaven the dough, so make sure to feed your starter roughly 8-12 hours before. Your starter is ready once it’s doubled in size and is bubbly and active. 
7. Salt: Adds flavor and helps to control the fermentation process. 
8. Lemon Juice: I recommend using fresh squeezed lemons but you can use store-bought lemon juice too. 
9. Lemon Zest: You’ll want about 4-5 lemons to create enough zest 
10. (Optional) Natural Food Coloring: To achieve the perfect lemon yellow color I like to use this all natural planted based food coloring.

Watch My Lemon Donut Recipe Video

Quick Overview: How To Make Homemade Lemon Glazed Sourdough Donuts

1. Mix the Dough: Combine the flour, milk, starter, eggs, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low for 3-4 minutes, then add the softened butter and mix for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. 
2. First rise: Transfer the dough to a grease bowl, cover, and let rise for 4-6 hours at room temperature. Perform 2-3 stretch and folds starting at the 30 minute mark, with 45-60 minutes in between each set. 
3. Optional – Make the lemon curd: This can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge until it’s time to make the glaze.  To make the lemon curd, follow the recipe and process in the recipe card at the bottom of this page. Lemon curd is not required, these donuts are great with a simple lemon glaze as well!
4. Cold proof: Transfer the dough to proof overnight in the refrigerator. This process helps develop flavor, improve structure, and enhances digestability (thanks for the long and slow natural fermentation process!). 
5. Shape the donuts: The next day, roll the dough into a ½’’ sheet and use a 3.5’’ donut cutter to cut out your donuts. 
6. Final Rise: Transfer the shaped donuts to a greased baking sheet or place on individually cut squares of parchment paper (this makes it easier to drop them in the frying oil later). Cover and let rise at room temperature for 1-3 hours, until puffy. 
7. Fry the donuts: Heat your oil of choice (I use coconut oil) to 375 and fry 2-3 donuts at a time,1 minute per side until crispy golden brown. Transfer the cooked donuts to a rack to cool.
8. Making the lemon glaze: Whisk together the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract (optional: and add the lemon juice and lemon zest if making a classic lemon glaze). Optional: If doing the lemon curd instead, add the lemon curd and use a knife to create a marbled glaze.
9. Dip the donuts: Dip the donuts in the lemon glaze and place on a rack to let the glaze set. 
10. Serve and enjoy!

More Sourdough Baking Recipes

• Strawberry Sourdough Donuts
• Nutella Sourdough Donuts
• Strawberry Sourdough Bagels
• Homemade Sourdough Croissants
• Blueberry Sourdough Bagels