Best Donuts of 2026, Reviewed
We tasted our entire menu (for science) and ranked every donut on flavor, texture, and that all-important glaze factor. Here are the results.
Every year at Donutas, we do something that sounds indulgent but is actually quite serious: we taste-test every single donut on our menu. Not just a quick nibble — a full, structured blind tasting with scorecards, palate cleansers, and vigorous debate afterward. We call it the Annual Donut Review, and this year's edition was our most comprehensive yet.
The idea started in 2022, when our head baker Carlos noticed that different team members had wildly different opinions about which donut was "the best." The marketing team swore by the Chocolate Dream. The delivery drivers were loyal to the Cinnamon Sugar. And Chef Maria, our founder, insisted the Classic Glazed was untouchable. So we decided to settle it with data.
This year, our panel consisted of 12 people: four bakers, three front-of-house staff, two delivery drivers, one barista, one accountant (yes, really — fresh perspective matters), and one loyal customer we invited as a guest judge. Each person received every donut in a randomized, unlabeled order. No one knew which donut was which until after all scores were submitted.
We rated each donut on four criteria: flavor (does it taste good — is it balanced, interesting, and satisfying?), texture (is the dough the right density, chew, and moisture?), glaze quality (how well does the coating complement the donut — is it even, glossy, and properly set?), and overall satisfaction (would you order this again?). Each criterion was scored from 1 to 5, and the scores below are averages across all 12 panelists.
What follows is the definitive Donutas ranking for 2026. We're sharing the detailed breakdowns for our top picks, plus a quick-reference table for the full lineup. Whether you're a first-time visitor trying to decide what to order, or a regular wondering how your favorite stacks up — this one's for you.
Donuts Tasted
48
▲ +12 new flavors
Avg. Rating
4.3
Out of 5.0
Top Score
4.9
▲ Classic Glazed
Taste Testers
12
Staff panel
How we scored
Want to taste them yourself?
Browse our full menu and order your favorites for pickup at any of our three locations.
The Top 4, In Detail
1. Classic Glazed
Editor's PickThe one that started it all. Our Classic Glazed scored nearly perfect marks across the board, and it wasn't even close. Ten of our twelve panelists gave it a 5 for overall satisfaction. The dough is impossibly light — airy without being hollow — with a tender, slightly yeasty chew that melts on your tongue. And the glaze: that ideal crackling texture that shatters into sweet shards with the first bite, then dissolves into buttery sweetness.
What makes our Classic Glazed different from a grocery store version? It starts with the dough. We use a 24-hour cold fermentation process that develops complex flavors you can't get from a quick-rise recipe. The glaze is made fresh every morning from powdered sugar, whole milk, real vanilla bean paste, and a pinch of salt. That salt is the secret — it brightens the sweetness and keeps the glaze from being cloying.
The panel unanimously agreed: this is the benchmark. If you've never been to Donutas, start here. If you've been a hundred times, it's worth coming back to. One tester summed it up perfectly: "It's simple, but it's not basic. Every element is just... right."
2. Boston Cream
Fan FavoriteRich vanilla custard fills a pillowy shell, and the chocolate ganache on top is dangerously smooth. One tester wrote "this is what happiness tastes like" and honestly, we can't argue. The custard-to-dough ratio is dialed in perfectly — every bite delivers a generous amount of filling without the structural collapse that plagues lesser Boston Creams.
The custard is where this donut really shines. We make it from scratch using egg yolks, whole milk, cane sugar, and real Tahitian vanilla beans. No instant pudding mix, no artificial flavoring — just slow-cooked custard that's rich, silky, and deeply vanilla-scented. It's piped into each donut by hand using a star-tipped pastry bag, which creates small channels inside the dough that distribute the filling evenly.
Then there's the ganache. We use a 60% dark chocolate from a single-origin supplier in Ecuador, blended with heavy cream and a tablespoon of unsalted butter for gloss. The result is a coating that's firm enough to hold its shape but soft enough to yield when you bite through it. The interplay between the bittersweet chocolate and the sweet vanilla custard is what elevates this from "good filled donut" to something genuinely special.
Our guest judge — a customer named Patricia who has been buying Boston Creams from us every Saturday for three years — gave it a straight 5 across all categories. "I've had Boston Cream donuts all over the country," she told us. "These are the only ones where the custard actually tastes like something."
Can't decide? Get a dozen.
Our Half Dozen and Full Dozen boxes let you mix and match any flavors. Perfect for sharing — or not.
3. Maple Bacon
Bold ChoicePolarizing in the best way. The sweet-savory combination divided our panel — some scored it a perfect 5, others a cautious 4. Nobody gave it lower than a 4, though, which tells you something about the execution. Even the skeptics admitted it was well-made.
The maple glaze is made from real Grade A maple syrup sourced from a farm in Vermont. We reduce it by about a third before mixing it into the glaze, which concentrates the flavor and gives it a deeper, more caramelized character than you'd get from maple flavoring. The glaze sets slightly thicker than our Classic, forming a sticky-sweet shell that's almost candy-like.
Then there's the bacon. We smoke it in-house using applewood chips, cook it until it's glass-shatteringly crispy, and crumble it fresh each morning. The pieces are pressed into the wet glaze right after dipping, so they bond with the surface as it sets. The textural contrast — crunchy, salty, smoky bacon against soft, sweet, maple-drenched dough — is what makes this donut an experience rather than just a flavor.
Our barista, James, gave it the highest score on the panel. "I didn't think I'd like a breakfast-on-a-donut concept," he said, "but this changed my mind. The maple isn't fakey, and the bacon is legit. It's like a really good brunch in three bites." For adventurous eaters, this is your donut. Pair it with a cold brew for the full experience.
4. Matcha Green Tea
Staff PickA surprise hit. The matcha glaze is made with ceremonial-grade powder sourced directly from a small producer in Uji, just outside Kyoto. We tested six different matcha suppliers before settling on this one — the color is vibrant without food coloring, and the flavor is grassy and slightly bitter in a way that perfectly offsets the sweetness of the glaze base.
The white chocolate drizzle on top was Chef Maria's idea, added during development to give the donut a second flavor layer. It's tempered Belgian white chocolate, piped in thin lines that harden into delicate snaps. The combination of earthy matcha and creamy white chocolate gives this donut a sophisticated, almost dessert-course quality that our panelists loved.
What surprised us most is that this was the only donut where every single panelist scored texture as a 5. The base is a slightly denser cake-style donut — intentionally so, because a lighter yeast dough would get overwhelmed by the matcha's intensity. The firmer crumb acts as a canvas, absorbing the glaze without getting soggy and providing a satisfying chew that pairs beautifully with the earthy coating.
It's refined without being fussy, which is why it's become our bakers' personal favorite for mid-shift snacking. Carlos told us he eats one almost every day at 6 AM with a cup of black tea. "It wakes you up better than coffee," he swears. Whether that's the matcha's natural caffeine or just the pleasure of eating something this good, we'll leave to you.
Hosting a party or event?
Our catering packages start at 3 dozen donuts with free branded boxes. We handle weddings, offices, birthdays, and everything in between.
The Rest of the Lineup
Every donut on our menu scored above 4.0, which means there genuinely isn't a bad choice. But rankings are rankings, and someone has to come fifth through eighth. Here's a quick breakdown of the remaining lineup — each of these is still an excellent donut, and any one of them could be your personal number one.
5. Chocolate Dream — 4.3/5
The Chocolate Dream is our most indulgent donut, and it scored extremely well on flavor. A moist chocolate cake donut with rich chocolate frosting and a generous scattering of chocolate sprinkles — it's chocolate in triplicate. The frosting is made from melted dark chocolate, butter, and a splash of espresso (you can't taste the coffee, but it deepens the chocolate flavor enormously). The sprinkles add crunch and visual pop. Several panelists noted that this was the most "dessert-like" donut on the menu, and one tester said it could double as a birthday cake in donut form. The reason it didn't rank higher is texture — the cake base, while moist, is denser than our yeast donuts, and a couple of panelists felt the triple-chocolate approach was slightly one-note. Still, if chocolate is your thing, this is an absolute must-order.
6. Blueberry Burst — 4.2/5
Our Blueberry Burst uses real blueberries folded directly into the dough before frying, which gives it scattered pockets of jammy fruit throughout. The glaze is a tangy blueberry reduction mixed with powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice, resulting in a coating that's fruity and bright rather than just sweet. This is the donut that customers tell us reminds them of their grandmother's blueberry muffins, but elevated. The texture scored particularly well — the burst blueberries create little pockets of moisture that keep the interior incredibly tender. Where it lost half a point was on glaze consistency — the blueberry glaze is naturally thinner than our standard glazes and can be uneven. Our bakers are working on this, but the flavor more than compensates.
7. Strawberry Delight — 4.1/5
Fresh strawberry glaze with real strawberry pieces on a pillowy soft donut. The key to this donut is seasonality — during peak strawberry season (late spring through summer), we source berries from a local farm just 20 kilometers away, and the flavor difference is dramatic. The glaze is made by reducing fresh strawberries with a touch of sugar and straining out the seeds, then mixing the concentrate into a standard glaze base. You get authentic strawberry flavor with none of the artificial candy taste. Out of season, we use frozen berries from the same farm, which are still excellent but lack that peak-season magic. If you're reading this in June, go order one immediately. Several panelists scored it higher in summer tastings than in our winter tests, which dragged the annual average down slightly.
8. Cinnamon Sugar — 4.0/5
The Cinnamon Sugar is our most nostalgic donut — a freshly fried ring tossed in warm cinnamon and sugar while still hot from the oil. There's no glaze, no frosting, no filling. Just perfect dough, aromatic cinnamon, and the kind of simple, warm satisfaction you remember from childhood. It's the most "honest" donut on our menu, and several panelists scored it very highly for texture (the hot oil + immediate coating creates a thin, crispy crust that insulates the soft interior). The reason it scored lowest overall is precisely because of its simplicity — when you're scoring on four criteria including "glaze quality," a donut without glaze is at an inherent disadvantage. But in terms of pure eating pleasure, more than one panelist told us this was actually their favorite. We plan to revisit the scoring criteria next year.
Full Rankings at a Glance
| Rank | Donut | Category | Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Classic Glazed | Classic | 4.9 | $2.50 |
| 2 | Boston Cream | Filled | 4.7 | $3.75 |
| 3 | Maple Bacon | Premium | 4.5 | $4.00 |
| 4 | Matcha Green Tea | Premium | 4.4 | $4.25 |
| 5 | Chocolate Dream | Premium | 4.3 | $3.50 |
| 6 | Blueberry Burst | Fruity | 4.2 | $3.25 |
| 7 | Strawberry Delight | Fruity | 4.1 | $3.00 |
| 8 | Cinnamon Sugar | Classic | 4.0 | $2.75 |
A Note on Our Methodology
We know some of you will have questions about how we ran this tasting, so here's the full transparency. All 48 donuts (8 flavors, 6 of each) were prepared the morning of the tasting using our standard recipes — no special batches, no cherry-picking the prettiest ones. Each panelist received donuts on identical white plates, numbered 1 through 8, in a randomized order that was different for each person.
Between each donut, panelists cleansed their palate with room-temperature water and a plain unsalted cracker. We allowed two minutes between tastings. Scores were written on paper scorecards and collected by Chef Maria, who was not on the panel this year (she wanted to run the process objectively, though she admitted it was "torture" watching everyone eat donuts without her).
One thing we noticed in the data: there was remarkably little variation in the top scores. Classic Glazed had a standard deviation of just 0.14, meaning virtually everyone agreed it was excellent. Maple Bacon had the highest deviation at 0.52, confirming it's our most love-it-or-love-it-differently donut. No donut received a score below 3 from any individual panelist.
The verdict
Ready to taste the lineup?
Stop reading about donuts and start eating them. Browse our full menu, pick your favorites, and order for pickup at any of our three Sweet City locations.