Types Of Donuts: 40 Yummy Donuts You Probably Never Heard Of!

Types Of Donuts

Since the 1800s Americans have had a short and simplified name for a doughnut. They call it “donut”. According to the Oxford English dictionary, the right spelling is “doughnut”.

However, it doesn’t matter what you call them. They’re delicious anyway! They are easy to make and don’t need much time. That is why they are one of the most popular comfort food.

The Dutch settlers brought the first donuts to New York. They didn’t have the ring shape like today’s donuts. Instead, they were traditional treats known as oily cakes or olykoeks.

The characteristic of donuts is the hole in the middle. The hole allows them to cook evenly from the inside as well as from the outside. There are many varieties of donuts you can enjoy.

Let’s learn more about them and go through some of the most delicious types of donuts around the world.

How Is A Doughnut Made?

Doughnuts consist of flour, eggs, leavening agent, sugar, salt, milk solids, shortening, water, and other ingredients.

You can make doughnuts at home. Or buy them from the nearest bakery, supermarket, fast food restaurant, or other specialized shops for sweet treats. Even if you are not a sweets lover you will not mind a delicious, freshly made donut once in a while.

How Many Types Of Donuts Are There?

Ring donuts and filled donuts are the two most known types of donuts. The filled donuts include sweet fillings like fruit jellies, custard, and cream.

Afterward, you can fry and coat them with chocolate or icing, glaze, or top them with cinnamon, powdered sugar, or sprinkles. There are also types of yeast-risen donuts and cake donuts where baking powder or baking soda are used as leavening agents.

You can choose between many different types of donuts like traditional donuts, chocolate donuts, crullers, jelly donuts, and many, many more.

There are many varieties of donuts available. You only have to choose the one you like the most and make it you’re favorite.

In this article, we are going to tell you something more about 40 different donuts and help you pick a favorite!

40 Types Of Delicious Donuts

There are many different donut variations. However, no matter their look and content, one thing is sure, they all taste amazing. So read about these 40 types of donuts and if you think that you found your favorite you can search for the recipe and try to make them at home.

1. Blueberry Cake Donuts

Blueberry Cake Donuts

Blueberry cake donuts have a rich slightly tangy flavor and crunchy texture.

You can make these donuts with flour, eggs, sugar, buttermilk, butter, salt, vanilla extract, and baking powder. Then, you can fill them with blueberries and eat them for breakfast or brunch. Or serve them as a dessert.

2. Lokma

Lokma

Lokma is a traditional Turkish dessert. It is a type of fried mini-donut coated with syrup, but you can also add honey or chocolate sauce.

You can sprinkle these donuts with walnuts, sesame, or cinnamon before serving. Lokma is nice and crispy on the outside and soft inside.

They make a great dessert at parties, weddings, and other special occasions. But they also pair nicely with a good cup of coffee.

3. Nun’s Puff

Nun’s puff is a French pastry that is made in the US, Spain, England, and French Canada. It is made from milk, butter, flour, sugar, and eggs.

They look like small golden donuts. After, you can roll these donuts in sugar or cinnamon. They are light, airy, and have a beautiful flavor.

You can make them in no time. And you will not notice when they are all gone!

4. Maple Bacon Bar

Maple bacon bar is a mix of soft donut bars with maple frosting and crispy bacon.

A perfect mix of flavors you can serve for breakfast if you want to try something new. The only bad thing is that you will need more time for the bars to rise before frying.

5. Red Velvet Donut

 Red velvet donut is made with buttermilk, vinegar, and cocoa powder.

When these ingredients are mixed they give a beautiful brown-pink color to the donuts, which are enriched with red food coloring.

Red velvet donuts are baked not fried, and topped with cream cheese frosting. They don’t just look beautiful they also taste great. They are one delicious soft pleasure that melts in your mouth.

6. Donut Holes

Donut Holes

Donut holes are made from the leftover central part of the donuts. But that doesn’t mean they are not delicious. Donut holes same as donuts can be filled, glazed, coated, and topped.

These bite-sized mini donuts make a great snack. So, you can eat them whenever you are craving something sweet.

7. Jelly Donuts

Jelly Donuts

Jelly donuts don’t have a hole in the middle. They are filled with various types of jelly or fruit jams glazed or topped with powdered sugar. Jelly donuts are a soft, creamy, and delicious sweet treat.

You can serve these donuts for breakfast with a cup of coffee.

8. Paczki

 

Paczki is a popular Polish-filled donut similar to jelly donuts.

You can fill them with various types of creams such as custard and Bavarian crème. And fruit jam fillings like plum, apple, blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry jam.

Then, cover them with glaze, icing, powdered sugar, or pieces of dried orange zest. They are another type of soft and tasty donuts you can make and enjoy.

9. Berliners

Berliners

Berliners are a type of German donuts filled with strawberry, raspberry, plum, apricot, or cherry jam and topped with granulated sugar, powdered sugar, or sugar icing.

Same as paczki Berliner donuts don’t have a hole in the center, but still have a great flavor.

10. Brioche Donut

 

Brioche donut has a rich flavor because it consists of brioche dough which has a high content of butter.

Brioche donuts are tender, tasty, and fluffy with a buttery flavor. They melt in the mouth! You can fill them with vanilla cream, strawberry, raspberry jam, or any other filling to your taste.

11. Yeast Donuts

Yeast Donuts

Yeast donuts consist of dough that is leavened with yeast.

Therefore, they have a light, soft, and slightly chewy texture. Yeast donuts are bigger and taller than cake donuts and need more time to fry.

You can fill these donuts with jams, creams, and custards and coated with sugar or glaze.

12. Klejne

Klejne is a type of Danish pastry that has the shape of a small knot. The dough for klejne  consists of flour, eggs, milk, baking soda, butter, sugar, and vanilla.

Klejne is deep-fried, then topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon, and usually served for Christmas.

13. Picarones

Picarones

Picarones are Peruvian types of donuts with sweet potatoes and squash as the main ingredients. They are boiled, mashed, and mixed with flour, sugar, and yeast to prepare a dough. From the dough are made ring-like picarones and fried in hot oil.

Picarones are drizzled with chancaca syrup made of raw sugar from sugarcane, but you can also use molasses, brown sugar, or muscovado sugar to make the syrup.

14. Fastnacht

Fastnachts have a triangle or square shape, but you can also find roundfastnachts. There are 3 types of fastnachts made with yeast, potatoes, yeast, and baking powder.

Fastnachts are bigger than other types of donuts and are part of the annual Pennsylvania Dutch celebration. They are nice and crispy but not very sweet.

Fastnachts are traditionally eaten halved and spread with butter on one side and topped with maple syrup. They can be also coated with granulated or powdered sugar.

15. Kuih Keria

 

Kuih keria has a ring shape and consists of sweet potatoes.

If you want to make these donuts, you should deep fry them and top them with a sugar glaze. They have a denser texture because the dough is not leavened.

16. Graffe Napoletane

Graffe Napoletane

Graffe Napoletane is a sweet, soft Italian donut made with flour, mashed potatoes, butter, milk, yeast, honey, eggs, lemon zest,  sugar, and salt.

The traits of these donuts is that they are leavened 3 times. Once the yeast, then the dough, and finally the donuts before frying.

Fry them, coat them with granulated sugar, and serve! Graffe Napoletane donuts are light, fluffy, and delicious.

17. Potato Donuts

Potato donuts resemble regular donuts. However, they have mashed potatoes or potato starch as one of the ingredients.

Potato donuts are light, fluffy, and topped with the same frostings and toppings as other donuts.

18. Beignets

 

Beignets are a French pastry with a square shape and light, fluffy texture.

They are smaller donuts and a staple in New Orleans, Louisiana. You can top these donuts with powdered sugar and serve them for breakfast. Or as a dessert with a cup of coffee.

19. Cruller

 

Crullers have a twisted shape. There are many different types of crullers with twisted-ring or straight strip shapes.

One of the most known crullers is the French cruller with a twisted-ring shape. They consist of choux pastry and have a light, airy, crispy texture and beautiful flavor.

You can top crullers with icing or powdered sugar.

20. Milwaukee Cruller

Milwaukee cruller is prepared by older German and Dutch recipes. They are long, twisted, crunchy on the outside and rich, soft on the inside.

They are deep-fried and glazed with icing or sprinkled with sugar. The best part? Because of the buttermilk used, they are melting in your mouth.

21. Mochi Donut

 

Mochi donut, also known as “Pon de ring”, is a Japanese type of donut. It consists of sweet rice flour or tapioca starch, milk, egg, salt, sugar, and baking powder.

Just make 8 small balls from your dough, then connect the balls to make a ring. Finally, fry and glaze your donuts with sugar glaze and colorings and flavors like mango, strawberries, vanilla, chocolate, coconut, cinnamon, matcha, and many others.

22. Sourdough Donut

 

Sourdough donuts have a unique flavor and texture because they consist of sourdough starters. They are big, light, airy, and yummy! Just roll them in cinnamon sugar, or glaze them and enjoy.

23. Cake Donuts

Cake Donuts

Cake donuts consist of dough leavened with baking powder or baking soda. They have a dense, crumbly texture and rich buttery flavor.

There are various types of cake donuts. And depending on their type they can be baked or fried. Cake donuts are usually glazed and rolled in cinnamon or powdered sugar.

24. Churros

Churros

These Mexican treats consist of choux pastry. You will have to deep dry these donuts until nice and crispy on the outside and soft inside.

You can sprinkle these donuts with cinnamon sugar and serve them with different dips such as chocolate or caramel sauce, or dulce de leche. There are also Brazilian churros filled with dulce de leche.

25. Boston Cream Donuts

 

Boston cream donuts are similar but smaller than Boston cream pies.

They have a custard filling and chocolate frosting. One bite and you will feel their soft and fluffy texture and the vanilla flavored custard, mixed with the chocolate frosting.

26. Long Johns

 

Long Johns have a bar shape. You can fill these pastries with crème or custard and coat them with cake icing or glaze. They look similar to eclairs but consist of different types of dough.

Long johns are yeast-risen pastries with a lovely flavor you can eat for breakfast. Depending on their frosting on the American West Coast, you can find them as maple bars or chocolate bars.

27. Cider Donuts

Cider Donuts

Cider donuts include apple cider and have a unique flavor. They taste even better with a cup of coffee.

You can flavor these delicious donuts with cinnamon and nutmeg and sprinkle them with some cinnamon sugar, or powdered sugar. Or top them with chocolate.

28. Glazed Donuts

Glazed Donuts

Glazed donuts are airy, fluffy, and soft. And they melt in your mouth!

You can make a glaze with just a few ingredients like powdered sugar, water or milk, and vanilla extract. You can also prepare chocolate, vanilla, lemon, caramel, maple, or strawberry glaze.

Just dip the hot donuts into the glaze and enjoy their flavor while still warm.

29. Cinnamon Twists

 

Cinnamon twists don’t have the same shape as donuts. They are long and twisted braids that you can serve for breakfast or as a sweet treat.

After you bake these donuts, you can serve them with cinnamon, salted caramel, or any other dipping sauce to your taste.

30. Zeppoles

 

You can fill these Italian pastries with custard, pastry cream, jelly, or butter-honey mixture and top them with amarena cherry and powdered sugar.

You can also top them with powdered sugar and omit the filling. Zeppoles can be fried or baked. They are traditional pastries served at St. Joseph’s day, Italian festivals, and carnivals.

31. Malasadas

 

These Portuguese deep-fried donuts have a golden-brown color and beautiful flavor. They are very popular in Hawaii where people serve them with a sprinkle of sugar.

You can find many variations of malasadas filled with custard, cream, or pudding. Malasadas are light, fluffy, soft, and delicious.

32. Youtiao

 

Youtiao, also known as Chinese cruller or Chinese doughnut is a great breakfast dessert.

To prepare youtiao, you should divide the dough into strips, stack it two by two, stretch it, and fry it. Youtiao has a slightly salty flavor, so you can serve it with dairy milk, soy milk, or rice porridge.

There are many variations of youtiao which have different names in Asian countries.

33. Persian Rolls

Persian rolls are fried sweet rolls with a spiral shape.

You can cover these rolls with icing, frosting, or sugar glaze, sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar, and enjoy. There are many different variations of these rolls with chocolate frosting, vanilla icing, and cherry-strawberry glaze.

They are all delicious, light, and airy!

A traditional way to serve Persian rolls is to slice the roll in half, toast them in a frying pan, add icing on both sides, and turn them over to caramelize the icing.

34. Old-Fashioned Donuts

 

Old-fashioned donuts are classic glazed donuts soft on the inside, nice and crispy outside. They have a ring shape with tapered edges and usually have cracks and pores on their surface.

Old-fashioned donuts are fried, glazed with maple or chocolate glaze, and served plain or dusted with cinnamon or granulated sugar.

35. Fritters

Fritters can be sweet and savory. If you want to make these donuts, you will have to deep fry them, stuff them with meat, veggies, fish, or fruits, and coat them with batter.

You can cover the sweet ones with a glaze or top them with sugar. Popular fritters include apple, peach, banana, and fresh berries fritters. They are soft, fruity, crispy, and delicious.

36. Flavored Donuts

Flavored Donuts

Flavored donuts come in many different sizes, shapes, and flavors like chocolate, apple, strawberry, cinnamon, coconut, and blueberry.

Some of the most popular flavored donuts are blueberry and coconut donuts. Topped with frosting, glazed, filled, or dusted with powder sugar, just pick your favorite and enjoy!

37. Cronuts

 

Cronuts are a mix of traditional donuts and croissants. They have a flavor and shape like a donut and a flaky, crispy texture like a croissant.

You should deep fry cronuts in grapeseed oil as it improves their flavor even more and makes them taste great. They are sweet, delicious, and have multiple layers.

You can fill them with cream or fruit filling and top them with sugar glaze or cinnamon sugar.

38. Vegan donuts

Vegan donuts are a healthy alternative to donuts. Even if they don’t contain any animal products they are still very tasty and can be a good substitute for classic donuts.

They consist of soy, oat, rice, almond, or coconut milk, coconut oil, vanilla extract, maple syrup, or vegan cane sugar. You can enjoy plant-based donuts with jams or vegan cream.

You can serve them with coffee or plant-based milk for breakfast. Or whenever you want!

39. Cream-Filled Donuts

 

Cream-filled donuts resemble small pillows. They come with delicious fillings like creams, puddings, and custards.

You can dust them with sugar or top them with frostings that will match the flavor of the filling. All you have to do is to choose one,  two, or more you like the most and enjoy!

40. Tulumba

 

Tulumba is a Turkish sweet dessert that you can find in other countries but under different names. It is made of deep-fried unleavened dough. Then, it is soaked in a syrup made with sugar, lemon juice, and water.

If you like very sweet desserts then try tulumba. You can serve it with tea or coffee.

What Are The 2 Types Of Donuts?

The two main types of donuts are yeast and cake rose donuts. These two types of donuts include similar ingredients but with different types of flour and leavening agents.

Yeast donuts, for instance, have a higher protein content of flour as well as yeast as a leavening agent. Cake donuts, on the other hand, consist of cake flour and often baking powder or baking soda as a leavening agent.

And because of the low gluten content, cake donuts are thicker than the yeast-risen ones which are lighter, airy, chewy, and with a slightly yeasty flavor.

Donuts also come in many different shapes! The two most known types of donuts according to their shape are ring donuts and filled donuts.

The ladder usually includes jams, creams, custard, jellies, and other sweet fillings. You can glaze, fill, ice, dust, or sprinkle these donuts. They are delicious in every way! And they pair well with a cup of coffee, milk, or tea.

What Type Of Donut Is Most Popular?

Statistics say that the cream-filled donut is the winner!

The second place goes to the plain glazed donuts, while the third one belongs to the chocolate glazed donut, followed by the old-fashioned donut and jelly-filled donuts.

However, the most popular donut for you is the one you like the most!

What Type Of Donut Is Best?

Google users choose glazed donuts as the most popular!

The French cruller at Dunkin Donuts is supposedly the healthiest option because it contains only 10 grams of sugar and 220 calories. The best type of donut, however, is the one you prepare at home with fresh ingredients, fill and cover with whatever you want!

Let’s Have Donuts!

With so many varieties of donuts all around the world, you have to love donuts! Which is your favorite type of donut? Share the recipe in the comment section down below!

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