Chocolate Donut Holes (Air Fryer)

These chocolate donut holes made in the air fryer are the real deal — deep, rich, cocoa-flavored bites made from scratch, finished with a sweet glaze, and ready in about 20 minutes with zero deep frying required. If you’ve ever reached into a Dunkin’ box for a chocolate Munchkin, you already know exactly what we’re chasing here. These are better.

Here’s what makes this recipe stand out from every other air fryer donut hole recipe you’ll find: it’s made from actual chocolate dough, not biscuit dough coated in cocoa glaze. Real unsweetened cocoa powder goes right into the batter, so the chocolate flavor is baked in from the inside out. The result is a soft, cakey, intensely chocolatey donut hole that tastes like a bite of chocolate cake crossed with your favorite donut shop treat.

No hot oil to heat. No yeast to proof. No rising time. Just mix, fill, air fry, glaze, and eat. That’s the whole recipe, and it genuinely takes about 20 minutes from start to finish.

Whether you’re making a weekend breakfast treat, an after-school snack, a fun dessert for a party, or just satisfying a serious chocolate craving — these air fryer chocolate donut holes deliver every single time.

If you are looking for even more Air Fryer Donut Recipes, some of my favorites are AIR FRYER BACON SALTED CARAMEL DONUTS, AIR FRYER BANANA DONUTS, and AIR FRYER RASPBERRY LEMON DONUTS.

Why These Air Fryer Chocolate Donut Holes Are Better Than the Rest

• Real cocoa dough — chocolate flavor baked in from scratch, not just a coating
• No deep frying — the air fryer does all the work cleanly and quickly
• No yeast, no rising time — this is a cake-style recipe, ready in 20 minutes flat
• Soft and cakey inside — the texture rivals your favorite donut shop
• Simple pantry ingredients — nothing unusual, nothing hard to find
• Dunkin’ Munchkins vibes at home — for a fraction of the price
• Fully customizable — glaze, sprinkles, powdered sugar, chocolate drizzle, stuffed with filling
• Kid-friendly and fun — a great baking project for the whole family
• Works in any air fryer — basket, oven-style, Ninja Foodi, Cosori, PowerXL, and more

Ingredients You’ll Need

• All-Purpose Flour: creates soft structured base for donut holes
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: deep chocolate flavor rich baked donut holes
• Granulated Sugar: sweetens dough for balanced classic chocolate taste
• Baking Powder: helps donut holes rise light and fluffy
• Salt: enhances chocolate flavor and balances sweetness perfectly
• Large Egg: binds ingredients and creates soft tender texture
• Milk: adds moisture for smooth rich donut batter
• Unsalted Butter: melted butter adds richness and soft crumb
• Pure Vanilla Extract: adds warm sweet aromatic flavor depth enhanced
• Optional Mini Chocolate Chips: folded in extra chocolate bursts throughout dough
• Powdered Sugar: creates smooth sweet base for glaze
• Chocolate Sprinkles: fun crunchy topping for extra chocolate sweetness
• Crushed Oreos: adds cookies and cream crunchy texture
• Sea Salt Flakes: enhances sweetness with salty flavor contrast
• Cinnamon Sugar Roll: warm spiced coating for donut holes

Flavor Variations to Try

• Double chocolate donut holes. Add mini chocolate chips to the batter AND finish with the chocolate glaze. Top with chocolate sprinkles. For serious chocolate lovers only.
• Mocha donut holes. Add 1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder to the dry ingredients before mixing. The coffee deepens the chocolate flavor without tasting like coffee — it just makes the chocolate taste more chocolatey.
• Mexican chocolate donut holes. Add ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper to the dry ingredients. The warmth of cinnamon and the faint heat from cayenne creates a complex, grown-up chocolate flavor.

• Peppermint chocolate donut holes. Replace the vanilla extract with ¼ teaspoon of pure peppermint extract and top with crushed candy canes after glazing. A perfect holiday treat.
• Filled chocolate donut holes. After air frying and cooling, use a small piping bag or a zip-top bag with a corner snipped off to inject each donut hole with Nutella, vanilla custard, strawberry jam, or caramel sauce for a bakery-style filled donut hole.
• Powdered sugar chocolate donut holes. Skip the glaze entirely. While still warm, roll each donut hole in sifted powdered sugar for a simple, classic finish. The powdered sugar against the dark chocolate dough is visually gorgeous.
• Cinnamon sugar chocolate donut holes. Instead of glaze, brush warm donut holes with melted butter and roll in a mix of ½ cup granulated sugar and 1½ teaspoons cinnamon. The cinnamon-chocolate combination is surprisingly wonderful.

Equipment Needed

• Air fryer (any model)
• Silicone donut hole mold or silicone half-sphere mold (that fits in your air fryer basket)
• Two mixing bowls
• Whisk
• Cookie scoop or tablespoon (for filling the molds evenly)
• Cooling rack
• Small bowl (for glaze)

No mold? See the FAQ section below — you can absolutely make these without one.

How to Make Chocolate Donut Holes in the Air Fryer — Step by Step

Step 1: Preheat your air fryer. Set your air fryer to 320°F and preheat for 2–3 minutes. Lightly grease your silicone donut hole mold with cooking spray.

Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt until fully combined and no cocoa lumps remain. Sifting the cocoa powder is optional but recommended — it prevents bitter cocoa clumps in the finished donut holes.

Step 3: Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract until smooth and well combined.

Step 4: Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined. The batter will be thick and scoopable — this is correct. Do not overmix. Overmixing develops the gluten and produces dense, chewy donut holes instead of soft, cakey ones. A few small lumps are completely fine. If adding mini chocolate chips, fold them in now.

Step 5: Fill the mold. Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, fill each cavity of your greased silicone mold about ¾ of the way. Don’t overfill — the donut holes will puff up as they cook. If you don’t have a mold, see the no-mold method in the FAQ below.

Step 6: Air fry. Place the filled mold into the air fryer basket. Air fry at 320°F for 7–10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a donut hole comes out clean. Check at 7 minutes — every air fryer is different. The tops should be set and spring back lightly when touched.

Step 7: Cool slightly. Remove the mold from the air fryer and let the donut holes rest in the mold for 2–3 minutes. Then carefully pop them out onto a wire cooling rack. They need to be warm — not hot — before glazing.

Step 8: Make your glaze. Whisk together sifted powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a shallow bowl. Start with 2 tablespoons of milk and add more a teaspoon at a time until the glaze is smooth and loose enough to coat. For the chocolate glaze variation, whisk in cocoa powder as well.

Step 9: Glaze and finish. Once the donut holes are warm but not hot (about 3–5 minutes out of the air fryer), drop them into the glaze and toss to coat, or dip the tops individually. Let any excess drip off on the cooling rack. Add sprinkles immediately while the glaze is still wet. Allow the glaze to set for 5 minutes before serving.

Step 10: Serve warm. These chocolate donut holes are at their absolute best served warm, with coffee, milk, or hot chocolate.

What Makes Scratch-Made Chocolate Donut Holes Better Than Biscuit Dough

Most “chocolate donut holes” recipes you’ll find online start with canned biscuit dough, then add a chocolate glaze on the outside. There’s nothing wrong with that approach — it’s fast and easy — but the result tastes like a glazed biscuit, not a chocolate donut. The chocolate flavor lives entirely in the coating, not the dough.

This recipe is different. Cocoa powder goes directly into the batter, so every single bite — even the very center — is deeply chocolatey. The texture is soft and cakey, like the inside of a good bakery donut, because the recipe is built from the ground up as a donut recipe, not a biscuit hack.

The air fryer does the same thing here it does with every other donut recipe: crispy, golden exterior, soft interior, fraction of the oil, fraction of the mess. No hot oil to heat up, no thermometer to monitor, no splatter to clean. Just the air fryer doing what it does best.

Tips for Perfect Chocolate Donut Holes Every Time

Use Dutch-process cocoa powder for the best flavor. Dutch-process cocoa has been treated to neutralize acidity, producing a smoother, deeper, richer chocolate flavor than natural cocoa. Both work in this recipe (it uses baking powder, not baking soda, so acidity isn’t a leavening issue), but Dutch-process gives you a noticeably more intense chocolate taste. Brands like Droste, Valrhona, and King Arthur all carry Dutch-process.

Sift the cocoa powder. Cocoa powder clumps easily and bitter pockets in the dough are almost always caused by unsifted cocoa. Thirty seconds of sifting makes a real difference.

Do not overmix the batter. This is the single most common mistake in cake donut recipes. Stir just until the wet and dry ingredients are combined. A few lumps are fine. Overmixing creates dense, rubbery donut holes.

Fill molds only ¾ full. These donut holes puff up. Overfilling causes them to dome over the top of the mold, lose their round shape, and sometimes overflow into the basket.

Check doneness with a toothpick, not color. Because the dough is already dark from cocoa, it’s impossible to judge doneness by color alone. Insert a toothpick into the center — if it comes out clean or with just a few dry crumbs, they’re done.

Cool slightly before glazing. If the donut holes are too hot, the glaze will slide right off. If they’re completely cool, the glaze won’t adhere properly and stays thick and clumpy. Aim for warm but touchable — about 3–5 minutes out of the air fryer.

Double-dip for a thicker glaze. Dip each donut hole, let it sit on the rack for 3 minutes while the first coat sets, then dip again for a beautiful thick glaze coating.

Add chocolate chips to the batter for extra indulgence. Fold in ¼ cup mini chocolate chips before filling the molds. They melt slightly as the donut holes cook and create little pockets of molten chocolate inside

How to Store and Reheat

• Room temperature: Store in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Glazed donut holes may soften the glaze slightly overnight — this is normal.
• Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Bring to room temperature or reheat before serving for the best texture.
• Reheating: Warm in the air fryer at 300°F for 2–3 minutes. You can also microwave for 10–12 seconds. The glaze will melt slightly when reheated — if you want a clean finish, reheat unglazed donut holes and re-glaze fresh.
• Freezing: Freeze unglazed donut holes in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet, then transfer to a freezer-safe bag for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature, reheat in the air fryer, then glaze fresh. Do not freeze glazed donut holes — the glaze weeps and becomes sticky as it thaws.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make chocolate donut holes without a mold? Yes! Roll tablespoon-sized portions of the thick batter into balls between your palms (lightly flour your hands if the batter sticks). Place on a parchment-lined air fryer basket, leaving space between each. Air fry at 320°F for 7–9 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. They won’t be perfectly round, but they taste identical. A small cookie scoop makes shaping much easier.

What’s the difference between Dutch-process and natural cocoa powder? Dutch-process cocoa has been treated to neutralize its natural acidity, producing a darker color and smoother, richer chocolate flavor. Natural cocoa (like Hershey’s) is lighter in color with a slightly more acidic, sharp flavor. Both work in this recipe, but Dutch-process gives noticeably better results in terms of flavor depth. If you only have natural cocoa, your donut holes will still be delicious — just slightly different in flavor.

Can I make these without eggs? Yes. Replace the egg with a flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 2.5 tablespoons of water, rested 5 minutes until gel-like) or a store-bought egg replacer. The texture may be slightly denser, but the flavor will still be great.

Why are my donut holes dense instead of fluffy? Almost always caused by overmixing the batter. Stir only until the dry and wet ingredients are just combined — a few lumps are totally fine. Also check that your baking powder is fresh (expired baking powder won’t provide enough lift). Overfilling the molds can also cause density by not allowing the donut holes room to expand properly.

Can I bake these in the oven instead? Yes! Place the filled donut hole mold in an oven preheated to 350°F and bake for 10–14 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Oven times vary so check at 10 minutes. The texture will be very similar to the air fryer version.

Are air fryer chocolate donut holes healthier than deep-fried? Significantly so. Deep-frying donut holes requires submerging them in cups of hot oil, which adds substantial fat and calories. Air frying uses just a light spray of cooking oil on the mold — the donut holes themselves contain no frying oil at all. They’re also cake-style (no yeast), which keeps the recipe simple and the calorie count lower than a yeast donut.

Can I use a silicone muffin mold instead of a donut hole mold? Yes! Mini silicone muffin molds work great. The donut holes will be slightly more muffin-shaped on top, but the flavor and texture are identical. You can also use a standard muffin mold for larger “donut muffin” style portions — just add 3–4 minutes of cook time.

How do I get the glaze perfectly smooth? Two things: sift your powdered sugar before mixing (unsifted sugar creates lumps that never fully dissolve), and add milk one teaspoon at a time to control consistency. The glaze should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon but thin enough to drip off when you hold a donut hole up.

More Air Fryer Donut Recipes to Try

• AIR FRYER BACON SALTED CARAMEL DONUTS
• AIR FRYER GLAZED BISCUIT DONUTS
• EASY AIR FRYER APPLE PIE BOMBS
• EASY AIR FRYER CINNAMON ROLL BITES
• AIR FRYER EASY FUNFETTI CAKE MIX DONUTS

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Made these chocolate donut holes in the air fryer? Leave a star rating and comment below! Tag @forktospoon on Instagram — I love seeing what you create.