The Most Beloved Donut Shop in Every State (How Many Have You Been To?)

What’s not to love about donuts? They’re great when you’re on the go, small enough to satisfy your sweet tooth without overwhelming you, and can turn the Monday blues mood of your entire office on its head.

We’ve compiled a list of each state’s most popular and beloved donut shops to help you avoid wasting money on a so-so ring of dough.

The shops on our list below sell everything from gluten-free and vegan donuts to traditional sugar-soaked cake donuts, so there’s sure to be a tasty treat out there just waiting for you.

Hero serves quite a bit more than just doughnuts and buns.

Start with loaded hashbrowns (fried egg, onions, jalapeños, and your choice of meat) and or the “dad burger” (spicy mayo, pepper jack cheese, and bourbon bacon jam).

However, the donuts are the real hero at the heart of Hero’s menu. Whether you choose a pistachio, cereal milk, or bread pudding donut, there’s no question you’ll go home happy.

The Kobuk is your one-stop shop for eclectic only-in-Alaska gifts, including polar bear pendants carved from ivory and loose-leaf local teas.

Even better, its small cafe sells old-fashioned glazed donuts made fresh in the back. If you’re not in a donut mood, you’ll find the homemade scones, strudels, pies, and cookies equally as delicious.

Pro tip: If you're traveling around trying donut shops in multiple states you may want to choose a credit card that can help you earn travel rewards. 

Prefer your donuts fancy but not too fancy? Classic but not too plain? The Local Donut sells a full range of donuts to suit any style.

These include what it calls traditional donuts, classy donuts, fancy donuts, and schmancy donuts (presumably, the “fancy” is implied).

Whether you’re in the mood for a traditional raised glazed donut, fancy PB&J; donut, or schmancy Ferrero Rocher donut, you’ll find it at The Local Donut.

Mark’s Do-Nut Shop keeps things simple, which is fair — why try to improve on perfection? Customers can choose from glazed, filled, chocolate-frosted, or coconut donuts, each one costing $1.20 apiece or $11.52 a dozen.

The filled-donut flavor changes daily and ranges from raspberry to chocolate creme, but otherwise, you won’t find many changes to the traditional donut menu.

That’s fine by the store’s loyal customers, who start lining up at 5:30 a.m. to nab one of these fluffy, homemade donuts.

Craving a retro vibe to accompany your old-fashioned donut? Stan’s Donuts was founded in the late 1950s by a couple whose kids and grandkids run the shop today.

The old-school diner sells staples like rainbow-sprinkle and glazed donuts every day of the week, but its specialty flavors vary by the day.

For instance, you can get glazed and chocolate crullers Wednesday through Sunday or strawberry and blueberry crullers Friday through Sunday.

Apple fritters are only available Mondays, so if you’re an Apple fan, make sure to hit the shop at the very start of the week.

Whether you want a cozy favorite like a basic raised glazed or are in the mood for an innovative spin on an old classic, The Donut House is happy to cater to you.

Its croissant-style donut squares are mouthwatering just the way they are, though topping them with strawberries and cream takes them to the next level.

The shop caters to your budget, too: On Mondays and Tuesdays, you can buy a half-dozen donuts and get another half-dozen free.

At Neil’s Donuts’ four locations, bakers make 3,600 donuts a day to serve more than 4,000 customers a week.

Its cinnamon rolls are made from the same dough as its donuts and come in two flavors: sugar-glazed or cinnamon-sugar dusted.

Along with typical raised-donut fillings, Neil’s fills donuts with flavors like blueberry crumb, key lime, powdered lemon, and vanilla buttercream (complete with rainbow sprinkles).

The Fractured Prune originated in Maryland, but it’s become a staple across the East Coast and has three Delaware locations (Rehoboth Beach, Millville, and Selbyville).

Hours and menus vary by location, but if you can, try the chocolate-covered cherry (cherry glaze with mini chocolate chips), morning buzz (Oreo-dusted mocha glaze), or the plain Jane (no glaze, frosting, or icing).

Pro tip: Use a credit card to buy your donuts and you may earn cash back. 

Mojo Donuts is a South Florida staple with its one-of-a-kind donuts, such as the guava and cheese gourmet donut, “flantastic” donut, and “abuelita” donut (with arroz con leche).

The company also gives back to the community by hosting raffles and giveaways where winners get both a dozen donuts and a perk like two free tutoring sessions for kids.

Revolution Doughnuts makes its donuts entirely by hand, with no machines involved. It also uses local, in-season ingredients to bring you a true-blue, homegrown Georgia donut.

The shop’s vegan options include birthday cake, strawberry rose pistachio, and mint julep donuts. Its blueberry almond crumb cake donut is entirely gluten-free and dairy-free.

If you’re in the mood for something savory, try the savory Crunchy Mister donut, which distills a French croque monsieur sandwich down to the basics, with bechamel sauce and black forest ham on an airy, donut-style bun.

Leonard’s Bakery was founded in 1952, which makes it one of the oldest bakeries on our list. Rather than traditional donuts, the shop sells malasadas, or puffy Portuguese donuts.

Fillings for the hole-free donuts include guava, coconut, chocolate, and macadamia nut, as well as a seasonal flavor that rotates frequently.

Guru Donuts uses locally sourced ingredients whenever possible, including locally sourced flour for its yeast-raised vegan donuts and traditional cake donuts.

The donut shop also sells donuts made from 100% Idaho potatoes with flavors like cinnamon sugar and the “healthy Homer,” a take on Homer Simpson’s beloved pink-frosting-with-sprinkles donut.

Guru Donuts also sells locally roasted coffee and loose-leaf craft tea.

Most donut shops worth their salt have at least a few flavors of old-fashioned donuts, like glazed and chocolate or strawberry and vanilla.

Chicago’s Doughnut Vault takes their buttermilk old-fashioned donuts a step further with weekly flavors like coffee caramel, wedding cake, and pistachio.

Along with a rotating cast of old-fashioned donuts, the shop sells seasonal jelly donuts, gingerbread stacks, and three varieties of glazed donuts (chocolate, vanilla, and chestnut).

If you like your hand-crafted donuts with a serving of family fun, Doughnuts and Dragons is happy to oblige.

While enjoying your white chocolate raspberry or lemon blueberry donut, you can pull from a massive library of board games that range from kid-friendly classics like Clue and Chutes & Ladders to hours-long strategy games like Settlers of Catan.

The shop also brings the community together through after-hours trivia nights, charity fundraisers, and, most recently, hosting a small-business craft fair.

Donutland’s history follows the opposite trajectory of most businesses: It used to be a franchise that has since shrunk to just three remaining stores.

Now, the former franchise sells donuts from its two shops in Cedar Rapids and one shop in Iowa City.

Its old-fashioned donuts come in more than 30 flavors, including vanilla peanut butter and cherry, and its buttercream-filled Long Johns are local favorites.

Mr. D’s handmade donuts are deeply tied to Kansas’ local foodie scene. Its most recent flavor special — a raised salted caramel chai donut — was made with Fair Trade chai tea micro-brewed by a local coffee company.

The company isn’t shy about inviting customers into its inner processes. The Facebook page explains exactly how Mr. D’s makes its mochi donuts, including why it takes five bakers and four glazers to produce the perfect batch of donuts.

Nord’s cookies and pastries are nothing to scoff at, especially its homemade melt-in-your-mouth pretzels — made with pastry dough — and German cakes, or Kuchen.

But its donuts truly take the cake, starting with the semi-savory French Fry donut.

Specials are only available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday when customers can enjoy long-time favorites like double-chocolate cake donuts, glazed crullers, and the flavor of the month.

Beignets might be New Orleans’s traditional fried bread of choice, but the city’s donuts are just as soft, airy, and delectable.

At Blue Dot Donuts, for instance, diners rave about the quality of the dough itself, which they’d happily eat with or without the shop’s customer-favorite topping of bacon strips and maple glaze.

Heads up: The tiny shop is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and you should count on donuts selling out hours before its posted closing time of noon — often by 8:30 a.m.

If you’ve never considered a potato-based donut, Holy Donut could win you over to the cause.

The shop offers an assortment of potato-based vegan donuts, including cinnamon sugar and pomegranate donuts.

Its non-vegan (but still potato-based) flavors of the month range from vanilla with purple sprinkles to the more adventurous MOMosa, a Mother’s Day treat with an orange rind and triple sec glaze.

Diablo Doughnuts excels not just at creating new donut flavors but at naming them, too.

For instance, its “unicorn farts” donut is a raised donut covered in vanilla glaze and Fruity Pebbles cereal. The “your mom” donut is a chocolate cake donut with dark chocolate and peanut buttercream frosting.

The donuts with less-intriguing names are no less innovative on the flavor scale. The blueberry basil and blackberry lime donuts don’t need a catchy name to make a splash.

Union Square Donuts sells handmade donuts, danishes, and bars in a range of fun flavors, such as cannoli, blackberries and cream, and strawberry jam.

You don’t have to get to the store early to enjoy a treat fresh out of the oven. They sell frozen take-and-bake pans of its brioche rolls, blackberry danishes, cinnamon rolls, and sticky buns.

Avon Donuts’ unique holiday-based creations include mint-chocolate-chip-frosted chocolate donuts for St. Patrick’s Day, but the shop is best known for its Polish donuts, or pączki.

These fluffy, cream-filled pastries come in all varieties, including (at Avon’s) ube, strawberry, vanilla, and plain glazed flavors.

When pączki are available, the store opens as early as 5 a.m. and stays open until they’re sold out — which doesn’t take too long.

Bogart’s has two main types of donuts: Rich brioche-based, yeast-raised donuts and made-from-scratch cake donuts.

You can’t go wrong with either one, though the browned butter brioche donut and lavender cake donut (with vanilla glaze) should both be on your must-sample list.

Is TatoNut really the home of “the only real donut,” as its website claims? You’ll have to visit the shop to find out for yourself.

The answer could also depend entirely on how you feel about potatoes. TatoNuts, as the name suggests, are made with potato flour.

You might find yourself agreeing that the store’s custom donut-hole cakes, May 4th Galactic TatoNuts, and berries and cream donut (with fresh strawberries and blueberries) really are the only donuts for you.

World’s Fair Donuts is (almost literally) a hole-in-the-wall bakery, but don’t be fooled by its humble exterior.

Regular visitors to the Missouri Botanical Gardens tend to stop at the donut shop first where they grab iced cake and traditional yeast donuts for the road.

Note that the shop only accepts cash and tends to sell out rapidly. If you don’t have time to hit the store by around 8 a.m., you might need to look elsewhere for your donut fix.

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Granny’s Gourmet Donuts doesn’t have much of a web presence beyond its Facebook page, and according to Yelp reviews, the cash-only shop is open Friday through Sunday.

According to those same reviews, though, there’s no better place for donuts in the entire state. (Be warned: Multiple users lament that Granny’s donuts are so good they can’t enjoy any non-Granny’s donuts now.)

Olsen Bake Shop is a tiny, family-owned and operated shop that bakes everything by hand, including donuts, flower-shaped cookies, and holiday specials, like pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

The store’s other specialty goodies include fruitcake and peanut brittle for Easter, basketball sugar cookies for March Madness, and glazed pumpkin donuts for Halloween.

If an even dozen isn’t quite enough to satisfy your donut craving, Pinkbox’s classic 13 box might be just what you’re looking for.

The shop is popular enough that it lists specialty flavors up to a month before they go on sale in stores, giving customers ample time to order their yearly favorites.

Hint: If you live in Las Vegas, Henderson, or nearby St. George, Utah, now’s the time to preorder your American tie-dye, Patriot Swirl, and American DoughCro donuts for the Fourth of July.

Brothers Donuts has been selling baked goods in New Hampshire for more than three decades.

Its flavors cycle back and forth, so make sure to check the Facebook page to learn about upcoming flavors.

Depending on the day, you can score a buttercrunch donut, honey-dip donut, French toast muffin, or mango-glazed specialty donut.

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Broad Street sells 40 different flavors of donuts every day, so you’re guaranteed a good time no matter which day of the week you visit Broad Street Dough Co.

But if you can stand to wait until the weekend, you can grab weekend-only treats like a chocolate chip crueller, devil’s food cheesecake donut, and cinnamon cannoli.

The bakery currently has three New Jersey locations and accepts custom orders for one-of-a-kind celebrations.

Rebel Donut’s most unique daily donuts include hand-dipped chocolate coconut cake donuts, a square-shaped French toast donut, and the Blue Sky donut (a blue donut named after “Breaking Bad,” which is set in Albuquerque).

Its “guest appearance” donuts show up on shelves only occasionally — such as the snowball, a marshmallow-, coconut-, and buttercream-covered chocolate cake donut.

But as long as you place an online order 24 hours ahead of time, you can take home any of the rare donut flavors at any time.

Every New Yorker has an opinion about which of the city’s dozens of donut shops reigns supreme, but it’s hard to argue with the “New York Times’” description of Doughnut Plant as offering “doughnuts of the gods.”

Best-loved flavors include the crème-brulée yeast-raised donut, tres leches cake donut, and original strawberry “sourdoughtnut.”

Doughnut Plant ships nationwide, so no matter how near or far you are from its Brooklyn or Queens locations, you can enjoy a box of sourdough and cake donuts any day of the week.

Duck Donuts is a franchise with 20 locations across North Carolina (and plenty more across the country), but it avoids the impersonal, mass-produced vibe of Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts by offering made-to-order donuts.

You can create your own donut from scratch by choosing a coating (coffee, peanut butter, lemon, and more), adding up to two toppings, and throwing on a drizzle to top it all off.

Sandy’s Donuts is a chocolate-lovers paradise.

Milk-chocolate-iced, dark-chocolate-iced, double-chocolate-peanut-butter, and red-velvet-cake (with frosting, of course) are just a few of Sandy’s excellent donut options.

Customers can curate their own box of a dozen donuts or simply order a box of Sandy’s favorites, but either way, you’ll be in donut heaven.

The Lil Donut Factory in Hilliard sells cake and jelly-filled donuts by the dozen, along with custom boxes assembled from the bakery’s flavors of the day.

The shop also travels the farmer’s market summertime circuit and occasionally sells fresh-made local bread in flavors like oatmeal banana, sea salt, rye, and parmesan garlic.

Like the donuts, the bread is only available until sold-out — which happens more often than not — so make sure to plan ahead.

Holey Rollers only sells dairy- and egg-free donuts (with an assortment of gluten-free donuts as well) to ensure every donut lover, vegan and non-vegan alike, can enjoy a high-quality donut.

Holey Rollers’ baked and fried donut options come in flavors like vanilla bean, maple almond, strawberry serrano, and rose cardamom pistachio.

Its unique beverages include pistachio matcha, strawberry lemonade, and cherry cold-brew coffee.

Not everyone agrees that Oregon’s Voodoo Doughnut lives up to the hype, but those who love Voodoo Doughnut are true Voodoo fanatics.

If you’ve never visited the shop, it’s worth a stop just to see what all the fuss is about.

Honestly, with strawberry-filled, birthday cake-topped donuts and chili-pepper-hot devil’s food cake donuts, there’s a high likelihood that one visit will make you a Voodoo Doughnut fan.

With eight Philadelphia locations, a food truck, and two event-center locations open during all concerts and games, Federal Donuts makes it easy to access its excellent donuts and fried chicken.

Whichever Philly neighborhood you call home, you’re never too far from a date tehina donut (spiced cake base, date drizzle, and tehina glaze) or strawberry lavender ring.

Feeling peckish? Take home a fried chicken sandwich to round off your donut-based meal.

Knead Doughnuts is popular enough that you’ll definitely want to preorder your donuts in advance if you want a chance at nabbing any of the shop’s signature flavors.

Along with traditional raised donuts, the store has brioche-based donuts that come in flavors like blackberry crumble and cinnamon roll.

It also sells flour-free and vegan donuts and seasonal flavors that complement staples like its chocolate-chip cookie donut (chocolate donut base with chocolate chips and a white-chocolate glaze).

Glazed Gourmet has a rotating cast of gourmet donut flavors, but it sells just 12 flavors per week. The shop offers next-day orders with delivery on Fridays and Saturdays.

Depending on when you visit the shop, your choices could include Biscoff cheesecake, caramel corn, almond biscotti, kulfi (cardamom pistachio), or green-tea sesame — among about a hundred others.

While you can choose to order individual donuts, we strongly recommend getting an even dozen so you can sample each donut flavor of the week.

Flyboy Donuts sells delectable donuts, but it doesn’t stop there. It also sells donut-style fried cinnamon rolls, which you can top with glaze, frosting, and nuts.

If you prefer your cinnamon rolls unfried (we don’t understand, but go for it), don’t leave Sioux Falls without trying Flyboy’s caramel rolls — cinnamon rolls drenched in delicious house-made caramel sauce.

Five Daughters is owned by a couple with — you guessed it — five donut-loving daughters.

Together, the family established a premium donut shop that relies on organic, local ingredients to produce the highest-quality, best-tasting donuts in the area.

Its croissant-style donuts, a.k.a. 100-layer donuts, come in year-round flavors like vanilla cream and chocolate sea salt, along with seasonal flavors like Vietnamese coffee and blueberry lemon.

If you’re not in Tennessee, Five Daughters Bakery also has two locations in Georgia.

Gourdough’s Texas-sized donuts are packed with Texas-level flavor. What do we mean by that?

Well, take the Black Out Donut, which is a brownie-batter donut with chocolate fudge icing, chocolate-covered brownie bites, and chocolate syrup.

Or the Funky Monkey Donut: Grilled bananas with brown sugar topped with cream-cheese icing.

With flavors like these, it’s not hard to see why the original Gourdough’s food truck has expanded to two, presumably with more to come.

Banbury Cross helps you grab donuts on the go while wasting as little time as possible.

The shop’s Salt Lake location has a drive-thru while its nearby Centerville location offers online ordering with easy pickup.

We recommend the online ordering option to make sure you snag the shop’s best flavors, which include old-fashioned blueberry-lemon-glazed, chocolate-glazed chocolate cake, and strawberry-frosted vanilla cake donuts.

If anything goes better with donuts than coffee, it has to be apple cider, hard or otherwise.

At the Cold Hollow Cider Mill, a fresh half-gallon of pure Vermont mulled apple cider is the perfect accompaniment for the bakery’s pint-size cider donuts, which are made year-round.

And if you can’t make it to Vermont in person this year, don’t worry: Cold Hollow sells their donuts online and ships them fresh Monday through Wednesday.

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If you’re looking for an afternoon meal to accompany your donut, the Sugar Shack is your destination.

All four Virginia locations serve an assortment of donuts, burgers, fries, and shakes (including vegan shakes and crab burgers).

Having a hard time choosing between lunch and dessert? You can swap any burger’s buns for two glazed donuts and enjoy the best of both worlds.

If jelly-filled donuts are your thing (and, frankly, even if they aren’t), General Porpoise is a must-visit location for you.

Along with seasonal flavors like strawberry rhubarb jam, white nectarine jam, and peaches-and-cream donuts, General Porpoise has sugary favorites, like Nutella- and vanilla custard-filled donuts.

West Virginia Living Magazine dubbed Jr’s Donut Castle the best bakery in the state — and once you visit, you’ll understand why.

Along with donuts, the bakery sells brownies, pastries, muffins, cakes, cupcakes, pies, fresh-baked bread, and savory pepperoni rolls.

Since its drive-thru is open 24 hours a day, five days a week, you can grab a coconut split donut, pecan roll, or applesauce cake donut whenever your next donut craving strikes.

Surprisingly, there’s just one kosher dairy kitchen between Chicago, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee: Madison’s Greenbush Bakery.

Along with classic flavors, the bakery sells blueberry, apple cinnamon, and cherry old-fashioned donuts.

Chocolate lovers will especially enjoy the bakery’s buttermilk crullers (a.k.a. “Rabbi’s Delights”), which come in strawberry, double chocolate, chocolate raspberry, and chocolate caramel varieties.

The bakers at Cowboy Donuts get up much earlier than the crack of dawn to start whipping up the day’s batch of handmade donuts.

By 1 a.m., the crew is already hard at work kneading, frying, proofing, and glazing both their daily donuts and seasonal specials.

The small-business bakery also sells savory kolaches, offers donuts to local food pantries daily, and donates parts of its profits to charities like the Primary Children’s Hospital of Salt Lake City.

If you’re on the hunt for your next favorite donut place, use our list to hit up each state’s most-loved shop on your upcoming family road trip.

Wherever you are in the U.S., there’s a nearby donut shop just waiting to satisfy your most recent craving.

So grab your top travel credit card before you head out on your cross-country donut run.