The 18 Best Types of Donuts, According to the Chef-Owner of a Fan-Favorite Brooklyn Donut Shop

“There’s something about donuts that makes people smile,” notes the Brooklyn-based chef Fany Gerson. And as someone whose pastries “practically quiver with joy,” according to The New Yorker, she should know.

Indeed, having founded two legendary donut shops—Dough in 2010 and Fan-Fan in 2020—Gerson is a longtime student of glee.

“People are immediately happy coming into the shop,” she observes. “Maybe it’s the anticipation, or tapping into sweet childhood memories.” (Her own includes donuts every Thursday at sleepaway camp.)

Or maybe it’s the genius of a treat that can pass for breakfast. Or the fact that there are so many kinds of donuts that we can all find one to fit our tastes.

And therein lies the challenge when you enter a donut shop. With so many different types of donuts (and all the donut names), choosing can be overwhelming. To help you out, we quizzed Gerson and wound up with a list of 18 great classic donuts that you must try. 

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Is It Doughnut or Donut?

Although most of us can agree that donuts bring great joy, the question of how to spell the deep-fried delight is up for debate. Had you posed the question to one Thomas B. Hazard of Kingstown, RI, the answer would be neither. Instead, he went with “donotes” in the 1782 diary entry that became the Oxford English Dictionary’s earliest evidence of donuts.

27 years later, in A History of New York, Washington Irving shed more light on these treats: “balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog’s fat, and called dough nuts, or oly koeks—a delicious kind of cake, at present, scarce known in this city, excepting in genuine Dutch families.”

“Irving’s account is generally agreed to be the origin of the word doughnut in the United States,” according to Britannica, “although there is some dispute.” England had already given rise to various doughnut-adjacent treats: deep-fried, sugar-dusted “dow nuts,” for one.

Regardless, the “donut” variant didn’t appear until the 1900s, according to Webster’s lexicographers, who explain: “It was certainly helped along by famous doughnut purveyors—both Dunkin’ and Mister—but in truth they and all who’ve accepted the variant were following in a tradition of phonetic-based spelling reform,” a tradition Noah Webster himself subscribed to.

The Associated Press, however, does not. Per a post on the subject, “Our style is doughnut, not donut. We are aware that this causes consternation for some of you.” We say go with any spelling that makes you happy, in keeping with the confections’ deepest purpose in life.

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The 18 Best Types of Donuts, Ranked by a Donut Expert

Ranking donuts requires a serious appetite for not only sweets, but also debate. And while we fully acknowledge the wild subjectivity at play, as does Gerson, days of back and forth led to the list of favorites below.

18. Lemon Donut

“Lemon donuts sometimes feel like they can be a rare find, as not everyone makes them, but I personally love fresh lemon or lime anything,” says Gerson. “The citrusy notes make any yeast or cake donut feel bright and lighter.”

17. Coconut Donut

Coconut can be a divisive ingredient, but Gerson likes coconut cake or yeast donuts. Bonus points for a toasted shredded coconut topping, which adds great texture and a deeper coconut flavor.

Related: Are You Pronouncing Reese’s the Wrong Way?

16. Long John Donut

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This classic choice is a “bar-shaped yeast donut that’s often filled with custard, cream, or jelly and often glazed with vanilla, chocolate, coffee or maple,” explains Gerson. Though she likes how easy a long john is to eat, “it can be too much—like, you have one and that’s it, you’re full.” (Thus the éclair-inspired donuts at Fan-Fan, which are significantly thinner and smaller than a Long John.)

15. French Cruller Donut

A piped donut (as opposed to those that are rolled and cut out), the cruller is known for its elegant, twisted ring shape. “Made from choux pastry, it is distinctively light and airy, with a delicate, golden exterior that’s often slightly crispy and sweetened with a light glaze,” Gerson says. While she loves the look of a cruller, she finds that the texture can get a bit eggy.

14. Snail

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To make these cute curled donuts, you roll the dough out, cover it in cinnamon or cinnamon spread, then roll out and cut, explains Gerson. And though she finds the resulting snail shape adorable, “I love them because I’m a sucker for anything cinnamon.”

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13. Maple-Glazed Donut

This is a fall classic that uses maple syrup for both the flavor and sweetness, says Gerson, who favors a yeast maple-glazed donut. Some like to gild the maple-glazed lily, but Gerson prefers to keep things simple: “A lot of people add bacon, but to me, the pure maple is good.”

12. Bear Claw Donut

To create the tastiest extremity, you stuff a soft and slightly crispy yeast-raised or cake-style donut with a sweet almond paste, or maybe apple or cherry filling. Whether rectangular or semicircular, bear claws are sliced on one side to create the distinctive digits. Even the name is fun, Gerson adds.

11. Apple Fritter Donut

These organically shaped fritters are made from scraps of dough and bits of apple with hints of cinnamon, then covered with a light glaze. “Their texture is really interesting,” says Gerson, who likes the combo of “soft and crunchy bits.”

10. Powdered Sugar Donut

This is a classic that you can find at almost every donut shop and also — in poppable miniature — at convenience stores. Most powdered sugar donuts are cake donuts because the rich, dense texture plays especially well with the light, snow-like sugar. The resulting inescapable mustache is part of the fun, says Gerson. “It makes me think of childhood playfulness.”

9. Boston Cream Donut

This is a yeast donut filled with vanilla pastry cream and covered with chocolate glaze. “The flavor is rich and comforting,” says Gerson, adding (with an only slightly joking “haha”) that the heartiness factor makes this a full meal.

Related: The Dunkin’ Breakfast Ordering Hack We Wish We’d Known About Sooner

8. Apple Cider Donut

With cider-spiked batter and a cinnamon sugar-dusted exterior, “this is the perfect fall donut,” says Gerson, who also loves the juxtaposition of the soft cake donut interior against the slightly crispy exterior.

7. Old-Fashioned Donut

An old-fashioned donut is typically made with a denser, almost pound-cake-like dough and sometimes has a bit of tang, thanks to sour cream or buttermilk. Unlike most donuts, an old-fashioned is almost never completely round. The frying process creates a craggy texture that’s fun to behold — and to eat. Gerson notes that this donut in particular is “wonderful to dip into coffee.”

6. Donut Holes

These cake or yeasted bite-size treats are made from the cut-out centers—and are famously fun to eat. “People feel less guilty, but they may end up eating more than if they’d bought a full-size donut,” says Gerson. “Still, they feel better about it.”

5. Sprinkles Donut

You may argue that sprinkles are more of a topping than a donut style, but we think that a sprinkles donut, whether of the cake or yeasted variety, is a specific vibe. “At Fan-Fan we make our own all-natural sprinkles,” says Gerson. Tapping beautifully into childhood nostalgia, they commonly top chocolate frosted or pink glazes.

4. Twist Donut

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Sometimes known as braids, twists are generally glazed or coated in sugar. They’re also interactive; There’s something about pulling the strands of the yeasted donut apart that elicits smiles with each tug, observes Gerson. Even if the twist in question has the exact same dough and glaze that you’d find in another donut, “the experience is different—and special,” she says.

3. Jelly

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These stuffed gems are usually yeast donuts, and though raspberry and strawberry jellies are probably the most popular choices, “you can also find lemon, grape and other inventive ones nowadays,” says Gerson. She adds that “a good quality jam takes it to a different level, and makes me think about Hanukkah sufganiyot.”

2. Chocolate

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A chocolate lover’s classic incorporating cocoa powder and/or dark chocolate, “the yeast ones we make are more fudge-like,” says Gerson. “The chocolate glazed donut is usually yeasted, too.”

1. Glazed

There’s something very elegant about a glazed donut, says Gerson, who considers a yeasted donut the most classic expression. “A lot of people who order it almost apologize because it’s so simple, but it’s like the vanilla ice cream of donuts—a good one to measure the whole shop against.”

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