The 21 Best Donut Shops In NYC

New York City is a donut lovers' dream destination (or doughnut, if you prefer). With hundreds of places to find your perfect donut within each of the five boroughs, there's no shortage of uniquely delicious varieties to satisfy New Yorkers and visitors alike, from Manhattan all the way to Staten Island. As Bill Hader's iconic character on "Saturday Night Live," Stefon, would say: "These donuts have everything." 

Maybe you're after an old-fashioned diner or coffee shop vibe, and you're craving a classic like a glazed donut, a nice cruller, or one of those gooey treats covered in rainbow sprinkles. Or perhaps you're searching for something unique, innovative, and truly over-the-top — the kind of donut masterpiece so gram-worthy you are sure to be the envy of all your followers. Whatever you seek, New York City's donut shops have the answers, so donut go away. (Sorry. With good donuts also come bad dad jokes).

This artisanal donut shop in the Bronx has a great community feeling, full of good vibes and just the right amount of sass. When you walk inside, you are instantly greeted by a wall covered in green foliage. On it, a big neon pink sign that declares in emphatic all-caps: "I LICKED IT, SO IT'S MINE."

The shop boasts more than a dozen flavors, with rotating flavors as well. The "everyday flavors" include such tried and true favorites as Boston Cream, farmhouse jelly, and chocolate frosted, which features rainbow sprinkles. More creative standards include fruity pebbles, cookies and cream, and churro.

There are four new flavors every week, starting on Saturdays. Perhaps the most extravagant favorite as of late is the cookie butter donut, which is filled with delicious cookie butter and topped with whipped cream and a Lotus cookie. Another recent crowd-pleaser is the java chip, which features coffee-infused frosting, buttercream, and chocolate chips.

For over 60 years, this family-owned old-fashioned pastry shop has served its classic donuts to Brooklynites and happy visitors alike. Located in the Greenpoint neighborhood, the bakery is known for the type of staples that harken back to the '50s, like crullers and sour-cream glazed donuts. Peter Pan opens at 4:30 a.m. on weekdays, so early birds can flock to the spot for the daily ritual of a donut and coffee, served by a wait staff dressed in classic-looking pink and green uniforms.

Despite its longevity, Peter Pan Bakery also has more modern flavors, such as toasted coconut or S'More. It's also known for its creative collaborations with local chefs. A recent collab featured on the Peter Pan Bakery Instagram account was the "La Ensenada donut." This special donut has a guava jam filling, cream cheese, and lemon frosting, and is a collaboration with chef Luis Guayaba of Brooklyn eatery Ensenada.

This classic Brooklyn donut shop may not have fancy or artisanal flavors, but it nails those tried and true flavors that you crave when you really just crave a donut. Plus, its donuts are some of the lowest priced in the New York City area, coming in at usually around just a dollar per donut. That's a real find in a neighborhood like Brooklyn, where prices are constantly climbing to astronomical and unseen heights. 

When you visit Shaikh's place, stick with the classics for the best and tastiest experience. A great move is to enjoy a cup of coffee and a frosted donut with rainbow sprinkles, which can be filled with either cream or jelly depending on your preferences.

Vegans of the Brooklyn area, rejoice! Dun-Well Doughnuts is here to provide vegans with the tastiest donuts in the borough. Taking its namesake from its two founders, Dan Dunbar and Christopher Hollowell, Dun-Well Doughnuts was a revolutionary bakery of sorts. 

The shop was the first all-vegan donut shop to open in New York back in 2011. Its flavors are astoundingly indulgent, perfect for a special occasion or a pick-me-up after a long, hard day. Try the bourbon frosted doughnut, which comes with crushed chocolate cookies, pecans, smoked sea salt, and — get this — bourbon brownie batter filling. Delicious! Another favorite is the cinnamon roll doughnut, which is a spiral-cut vegan donut with buttery cinnamon glaze and cream cheese frosting.

In the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge sits Pies n' Thighs, a Brooklyn staple since 2006. Women-owned and operated, this restaurant was founded by Sarah Sanneh and Carolyn Bane, who met as cooks at the classic Brooklyn eatery Diner. 

This Brooklyn hot spot is known for its great home-style Southern cooking, including comfort food classics like fried chicken, smoked pork sandwiches, and banana cream pie. But it also boasts some of the most talked-about donuts in Brooklyn, known for the absolutely outrageous size and delicious taste. For you nut-lovers out there, try the pecan crunch donut. You won't be sorry!

This authentic Italian cafe in Brooklyn has all the charms of Italy, but features some specialties sure to please American donut fans. As you sip your espresso and pretend to be in a Roman piazza, do yourself a favor and order the bomboloni. 

Bomboloni are little, perfectly-sized Italian donuts. These tiny wonders are filled with a mascarpone and espresso mixture, and the taste is outstanding, almost as if someone took tiramisu and magically transformed it into a donut. It also serves frittelle, which are fried, savory little dough balls inspired by the flavors of cacio e pepe, the favored pasta in the city of Rome.

The famous Moe is a former employee of the also famed Peter Pan Donut and Pastry Shop. Moe's Greenpoint shop in Brooklyn serves up much-loved classics, but it also innovates with flavors like salted caramel or Samoa cookie, which consists of toasted coconut, chocolate, and caramel. 

The menu changes often, rotating for seasonal flavors and special occasions and holidays. Some recent flavors include red velvet volcano, a homemade caramel cheesecake donut, a Middle Eastern-inspired Kunafa donut with sweet cream, and a special Pączki donut — a Polish donut deep-fried, shaped into a flattened ball, and filled — made specially for Fat Tuesday, otherwise known as Mardi Gras.

This is a love story straight out of a Netflix rom-com. Back Alley Bread is owned by bakers Autumn Moultrie and Brian Villanueva, who are not only both from Los Angeles, but are also a couple! Even though the two went to rival high schools, they never met in California. Instead, they both grew up to be chefs and met in New York City at a Giada De Laurentiis pop-up restaurant. They've shared their love and love of cooking and baking ever since. 

When COVID-19 hit, the couple started baking, and Back Alley Bread was born out of their Brooklyn apartment. The business boomed, and the pair have gained a devoted following on social media. A stand-out item is the "Angel Donut." Crispy on the outside and doughy on the inside, it conjures all the glory of a beignet with the soft interior of a donut.

This bakery is a much-loved restaurant in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, and its donuts are one of the reasons why. The creation of chef Greg Baxtrom and named after his mother, Patti Ann's features a menu inspired by some of Greg's favorite dishes from his Midwestern upbringing. 

The donuts are freshly made and a constant source of joy for customers of this fun and friendly eatery. As far as donuts go, it is the crullers that really stand out at Patti Ann's. The menu has included zesty lemon poppyseed crullers and the beloved and timeless maple cruller, as well as donuts in flavors like lemon curd and pumpkin-filled.

This historic Upper East Side bakery was founded in 1916 on 78th Street in the Yorkville area of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Established by the Orwasher family after immigrating from Hungary, the bakery originally served the Eastern European immigrant community, focusing on high-quality rye, black, and grain breads reflecting the traditions of these new New Yorkers' homelands. To this day, it remains a popular stop for New Yorkers and visitors alike. 

It's a true oasis for donut lovers, especially those who want an individualized experience. Behind Orwasher's pastry counter is a row of large, plastic syringes, ready and waiting to fill jelly donuts. Customers can choose their own adventure with these donuts. Pick a chocolate-glazed or sugar-coated base, and then choose from one of six different jams.

A hop, skip, and a jump from Manhattan's famed Madison Square Park is Grace Street Coffee and Desserts. This Korean dessert cafe located in Koreatown in Manhattan is unique and elegant, and serves up handmade desserts as well as specialty drinks. 

The menu features such favorites as mochi waffles and rose petal lattés, but donut lovers will want to get their hands on Grace Street's Ho-Dduk, a Korean pastry that's sort of a cross between a donut and a pancake. Grace Street's version is filled with molten caramel, cinnamon, and walnuts. The matcha beignets are also a treat not to be missed, nor are the malasadas, a Portuguese-style donut without a hole covered in granulated sugar. Grace Street gives you an option of taking your malasada without filling if you like, or Hawaiian style with cream filling.

Founded in 1994, Manhattan's Sullivan Street Bakery started with "the belief that good bread should be available and affordable for everyone," according to the website. Founder Jim Lahey couldn't find bread in New York that lived up to what he ate in Italy while traveling there as a student and sculptor, so he opened Sullivan Street Bakery with a mission to produce Italian-style, high-quality bread shaped by hand. The bakery boomed, and it now has locations in Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea. 

Its donuts are a hit, and come with three choices of filling: tart raspberry jam, fresh vanilla-flecked custard, or extra silky chocolate ganache. It also features specials, like the apricot bomboloni with homemade apricot jam.

Open 24/7, the Donut Pub has been serving donut lovers in the New York area since 1964. Donut Pub is peanut and tree-nut-free, making it the perfect stop for anyone with a nut allergy. 

It serves old-fashioned classics like crullers, apple crumb donuts, donuts with rainbow sprinkles, and honey-dipped donuts. However, it also serves creative and modern favorites, like Oreo rings, fruity pebble croissant donuts, pumpkin spice Kreme croissant, and its very own spin on a Boston cream donut, called the Brooklyn Kreme donut. It also makes giant custom donut cakes for special occasions, sure to bring a smile to any donut lover's face on their special day.

In Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, the word mahzedahr describes the essence of food's taste, its flavor, and according to West Village bakery Mah-Ze-Dahr's website, the "magic that makes it delicious." The signature dense brioche doughnuts are the all-star here, filled with vanilla cream and then dusted with sugar. 

At Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery, you get more donut for your money: It includes the donut hole extracted from the center of the donut with your order, sitting right on top of the finished product. It often innovates for special occasions and holidays, and previous concoctions have included the bakery's brioche doughnut with bourbon caramel for Father's Day and its brioche doughnut filled with Bailey's Irish cream for St. Patrick's Day.

The all-female team at The Doughnut Project is constantly churning out creative donuts from the West Village bakery. What's nice about this place is that it has a little something for everyone, whether you're a sweet or savory person. 

For sweeties, try the peanut butter and jelly donut, which has a blackberry glaze and is filled with Skippy brand peanut butter whip and homemade blackberry jam. For savory lovers, the World Famous Everything Doughnut is a must. It has a sweet cream cheese glaze topped with all the seeds from an everything bagel. And we can't forget the vegans! The Coco Loco is a charmer, consisting of a vegan cake donut with coconut cream glaze, toasted coconut topping, and a chocolate and caramel drizzle. It also does Insta-worthy special occasion donuts, like the "Dad Bod," which has a whiskey cream filling, maple whiskey glaze, and a thick-cut Nueske bacon topping.

Calling all social media influencers! Supermoon Bakehouse in Manhattan is known far and wide for its photogenic creations, perfect for eating and also for posting that killer 'gram. The menu changes often, but some of the recent creations include the award-winning matcha cream and blueberry jam doughnut, hand-rolled with fried brioche and filled with both a matcha milk crème pâtissière and a homemade blueberry jam. 

Oh, and don't forget to try the signature cruffins, which include flavors like the mouth-watering banana pudding cruffin, which is filled with a banana crème pâtissière, cream, and homemade vanilla wafers, and then finished with a banana glaze. Or for you chocolate lovers out there, try the Ferrero Rocher cruffin, filled with hazelnut praline and a hazelnut crème pâtissière, then topped with cream and dipped in rich chocolate and crushed hazelnuts.

This Astoria bakery in Queens is known for its cool vibes and great food. Inspired by its Afghan roots, Little Flower has such delicious baked options as the firni doughnut, a fluffy donut that is crisp on the outside but filled with firni, a classic Afghan custard that consists of slow-cooked sweet pudding made with ground rice, sugar, milk, almonds, saffron, cardamom powder, and notes of rose. The donut is covered in a sweet glaze and then topped with roasted, crunchy pistachios. 

It makes for a perfect pairing with a warm latté or a nice cup of afternoon tea. Of course it is delightful to enjoy on its own as well.

If mochi is your jam, this cafe near Columbus Park in Manhattan is your dream come true. One of the first donut shops to feature mochi donuts in the area, Alimama Tea's mochi donuts blend traditional ingredients with modern flavors. 

The black sesame mochi donut is a winner, made with a homemade nutty rich black sesame glaze topped with black sesame powder, creating a nutty, satisfying taste with every bite. Or try the cereal mochi donut, a gluten-free mochi donut that comes with a milk glaze and toasted cornflakes. It also offers matcha donuts, vegan donuts, and overstuffed cream puffs so big you may need to eat them in two shifts.

This Manhattan bakery comes from famed New York restaurateur Danny Meyer. The restaurant that has become so popular that it now has multiple locations in multiple neighborhoods: There's one in Union Square, Manhattan West, and on the Upper West Side, and a new location is about to open in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill neighborhood. 

When it comes to donuts, Daily Provisions is known for one thing, and that's crullers. These crullers have a huge fan club. If you want to join, head on down and take your pick of cruller. It may be a tough choice, but you can't go wrong with either the maple cruller or the cinnamon cruller. However, other favorites do include the coffee cruller and strawberry lemonade cruller — if you're feeling adventurous. If you're extra hungry, you can even get an egg, bacon, and cheese breakfast sandwich on a cruller. Talk about a sweet start to the day!

This New York chain located in Queens has been such a success that it has shops all over the city, including in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The chain is known for its gooey donuts and creative flavors, which rotate every month. 

Doughnut Plant is a great place for lovers of the cake donut. Some of the greatest options include a strawberry cake donut and also a chocolate chip cookie cake, which is made with pecan dough dipped in Valrhona chocolate and cookie crumbs. It also features a unique item called a "sourdoughnut," a sourdough donut made with a wild yeast starter. Sourdoughnut options include such creative flavors as dark Valrhona chocolate, vegan strawberry, and cacio e pepe, which is made with parmesan, black pepper, and butter and is inspired by the classic pasta dish.

Donut World has a truly vast selection, with everything from the most indulgent creations to tasty vegan options. What makes this Staten Island donut shop a beloved staple of the neighborhood is the ability to hyper-customize your order. Donuts are made ready to order, and every choice is up to you. 

While the choices are almost overwhelming, you can rest assured that at Donut World, even the pickiest eater in your group is going to find something to satisfy their donut craving. Start with the icing — flavors include maple, blueberry, peanut butter, vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. Then, you get to pick a topping. Some of your options include coconut flakes, bacon, cinnamon sugar, graham cracker crumble, rainbow sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, oreo crumbles, and powdered sugar. The last step? You get to pick a drizzle. Flavors for drizzle include lemon, chocolate, vanilla, marshmallow, caramel, raspberry, blueberry, and strawberry.