The Best Baked Mochi Donut Recipe Experiment (Pt1)

If you're a mochi-lover like me who's been on a search to find a baked mochi donut recipe that's chewy, fluffy, but also better for you, you've come to the right place! Here I look into how various ingredients can turn mochi donuts into a more healthy, easy-to-make treat you can enjoy for breakfast, snack or dessert!

It's hard to pinpoint what exactly makes a perfect mochi donut. Off the top of my head, I'd say a great mochi donut is chewy, springy and glutinous (sticky) while still being light and fluffy on the inside.

But perfect? It would also have to be quick & simple to make, easy to clean-up, somewhat light on carbs and calories, and healthy, too!

While I wasn't sure if that was even possible, I wanted to take on this fun and interesting challenge for me and any mochi-lover out there who, like me, loves any excuse to eat anything and everything mochi 🙂

First, this is how mochi donuts are traditionally made. Deep-fried in oil, made with copious amounts of carbs and fat, with barely little protein and fiber. Moreover there's that mochi-flour (a.k.a. sweet white rice, glutinous white rice) which is notorious for its high glycemic index (GI ~ 86), even higher than that of white wheat flour (GI ~ 80).

My ultimate goal for this project was to explore different ingredients that could be used in mochi donuts without sacrificing too much of their unique texture and mouthfeel.

What I wanted in my final mochi donut recipe was this:

• Chewy, springy, glutinous (sticky) in texture
• Light and fluffy on the inside
• Takes less than 30 minutes to make
• Under 10 ingredients
• Easy on clean-up
• Not deep fried --> baked
• Lighter on carbs and calories than original
• Healthier than original

After doing some homework, and inspiration from this ultimate cookie guide by Tessa from Handle the Heat, I decided to divide this project into multiple parts. The first part will cover flour substitutions, the second will cover healthy add-ins (applesauce, pumpkin puree, banana, greek yogurt, etc.), and the third part will be about paleo substitutions.

Equipment

_{**I’ve linked some of these equipments / ingredients to amazon.com to give you an idea of what they are, but you should also be able to find them in your local grocery store (usually, the baking aisle or natural & organic food section). They are also affiliate links, which means that I earn a commission as an Amazon Associate if you decide to purchase the items. The price will be the same for you, link or no link} 

At first, I tried using both metal and silicone donut pans. Later on, I went with the silicone one because the donuts were easier to remove from the pans. IMPORTANT TIP: spray or grease the pans (even the silicone ones) with oil before using. It'll save you a lot of frustration when taking your donuts out of the pans.

Method:

I used a basic baked mochi recipe that I adapted from a previous post of mine, to use as a reference / control

Basic Recipe (control):
1 cup mochiko flour (a.k.a sweet rice flour)
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp baking soda
⅓ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions: Mix all ingredients together with a whisk.

Spoon or pour into a well-greased donut pan (fill to ¾ full).

Bake in a 350F preheated oven for about 15-18 minutes (about 20-22 minutes for silicone donut pan).

Makes 6-8 donuts depending on pan size.

Review of Control (Mochi Donut Recipe):

This basic mochi donut is ridiculously easy to make (just mix and bake!). There's also no danger of over mixing the batter because there is no gluten contained in rice flours. The control mochi donut has a satisfying, firm chew, was elastic and springy -- I liked how fluffy they were, even though they weren't exactly tender or light. See below to see how I evaluated them.

Evaluation Method

I evaluated the donuts based on the outer texture, mouthfeel, appearance, and crumb. I decided to assign number (star) values to each recipe where the number would represent relative ranks. Since I couldn't exactly rank donuts on ambiguous terms like "mouthfeel" or "texture" (for example, a cakey donut could have better or worse texture as a chewy donut depending on preference), I picked more specific rankable traits like "chewy," "glutinous," "volume," "tenderness," and "nutrition."

Here's what each trait means in this guide

Most 5 >>>4>>>3>>>2>>>1 Least

The Experiment Begins! Flour Substitutions

Experimental Recipe:
1 cup mochi flour (a.k.a sweet rice flour) --> REPLACE ½ cup with healthier flour
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp baking soda
⅓ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

• Directions:
• Mix all ingredients together with a whisk.
• Spoon or pour into a well-greased donut pan (fill to ¾ full).
• Bake in a 350F preheated oven for about 15-18 minutes (about 20-22 minutes for silicone donut pan).
• Makes 6-8 donuts depending on pan size.

Whole Wheat Flour / Sorghum Flour

In this recipe I substituted ½ cup of the mochi (sweet rice) flour with whole wheat flour. Full recipe here. Since mochi donuts depend on the sweet rice flour to give it that unique mochi texture, I couldn't replace more or all of it. The result? I got a springy, almost yeasted-dough-like donut that had a soft subtle chew. The crumb was on the more tender side, with a soft, light inner crumb. The donut rose beautifully and was extremely easy to lift out of the pan. Unfortunately, these donuts had a very subtle "mochi" / glutinous / sticky texture that I missed.

Update 5/8/2021: For those who are gluten-sensitive, sorghum flour is a gluten-free flour that is most like whole wheat flour in terms of texture and flavor, and can be used to make mochi donuts, too. Just as with whole wheat flour, use ½ cup of sorghum flour to replace the ½ cup of mochiko flour.

Recipe:
½ cup mochi flour (a.k.a sweet rice flour)
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp baking soda
⅓ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Review of Whole Wheat Flour Substitution

Chewy	★★	2
Glutinous	★★	2
Tender	★★★★	4
Volume	★★★★★	5
Nutritious	★★★	3

Oat Flour

The oat-mochi donuts were surprisingly delicious! (see recipe below the chart) Made with ½ cup oat flour and ½ sweet rice flour instead of the regular 1 cup sweet rice flour, these oat donuts were chewier and had a more glutinous (mochier) texture compared to the previous whole wheat donuts. The inside of the donuts was also tender and moist, but the outer layer had a firm, almost cookie-like chew that made the oat mochi extra hearty. I was also surprised how soft and springy they stayed the day after. I'm guessing that's probably because the oats do such a great job of absorbing and keeping in moisture.

Recipe:
½ cup mochi flour (a.k.a sweet rice flour)
½ cup oat flour
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp baking soda
⅓ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Review of Oat Flour Substitution

Chewy	★★★	3
Glutinous	★★★	3
Tender	★★★	3
Volume	★★★★	5
Nutritious	★★★	3

Almond Flour

In this recipe, I substituted ½ cup of the sweet rice flour with almond flour. This ended up being my favorite! You can probably see from the photo below how tender these donuts look. But the surprising part about the texture--it was also chewy and springy! The only little trouble I ran into was taking these out of the metal pans because they seemed to stick more (the silicone pan gave me no troubles!) The almond flour mochi donuts had a silky, glutinous mouthfeel that reminded me of a steamed cake, maybe even a custardy bread pudding; it was also very tender and soft. I felt like this was the recipe that had a buttery flavor and soft chew that was very close to the deep-fried mochi donut.

Recipe:
½ cup mochi flour (a.k.a sweet rice flour)
½ cup almond flour
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp baking soda
⅓ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Review of Almond Flour Substitution

Chewy	★★★	3
Glutinous	★★★★	4
Tender	★★★	3
Volume	★★★	3
Nutritious	★★★★	4

Coconut Flour (2T)

I replaced ½ cup of the sweet white flour with 2 Tablespoons of coconut flour. The reason why I used 2 Tablespoons and not ½ cup of coconut flour is because of how coconut flour differs from other flours (it absorbs about 3-4 times more water than almond flour and so it is NOT a good 1:1 replacement).

Review: the coconut flour donut reminded me of a springy pound cake! I was surprised by how yummy it was and how easily it came out of the pan. There were a slight mochi-like mouthfeel and a subtle coconut flavor that made these donuts so interesting. I took a mental note to add a tablespoon of desiccated coconuts in this recipe later because I thought it'd make a terrific coconut cake base!

Recipe:
½ cup mochi flour (a.k.a sweet rice flour)
2 Tbsp coconut flour
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp baking soda
⅓ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Review of 2T Coconut Flour Substitution

Chewy	★★	2
Glutinous	★★	2
Tender	★★★★	4
Volume	★★★★	4
Nutritious	★★★★	4

Coconut Flour (¼ cup)

I made the coconut-mochi donut again, but using ¼ cup of coconut flour instead of the ½ cup sweet rice flour. You can see how dense it is compared to the one before (where I use 2 Tbsp of coconut flour). I still liked this recipe because of its flavor, subtle chew, and unique "heartiness." Coconut flour is particularly high in fiber, so the result was a dense, chewy and filling donut. See full recipe below!

Recipe:
½ cup mochi flour (a.k.a sweet rice flour)
¼ cup coconut flour
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp baking soda
⅓ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Review of ¼ cup Coconut Flour Substitution

Chewy	★★	2
Glutinous	★★	2
Tender	★★	2
Volume	★★	2
Nutritious	★★★★	4

Conclusion

Order of preference: Almond > Oat > Coconut (2T) > Whole Wheat > Coconut (¼ cup)

I think it's important to note here that everyone's preferences are different, and that you may like another variation more than the almond flour one. And depending on how you choose to frost them, you might choose differently! For example, I thought the coconut version paired so much better with lemon, coconut and white chocolate than whole wheat flour or oat.

The Final Takeaway: try all of these variations if you can. Despite ½ of the sweet rice flour being replaced with other flours, the mochi donuts were still fluffy, chewy and springy to make them fantastic treats! However, if you would rather want a more chewy mochi donut, I found that you could also use ¼ cup of the alternative flours and increase the mochiko (sweet rice flour) to ¾ cup. See what I mean below:

Here is part 2 of the mochi donut series (where I bake donuts with healthy add-ins like applesauce, pumpkin and bananas)

Meanwhile, check out these mochi recipes