Dunkin’ (who no longer has “Donuts” as part of its name) is known for donuts above all. Sure, the chain has some famous iced coffee and a slew of breakfast sandwiches, but donuts are the heart and soul of the operation.
But which donuts are the best? You’ve only got 12 spaces in that box of yours, so what should you choose? I needed to know, so I tasted 21 of the most popular Dunkin’ donuts and ranked them all up.
Bon appetit.
Best: Glazed Blueberry
Yesterday, if you told me your favorite donut at Dunkin’ was glazed blueberry, I probably would have laughed at you. This is because until yesterday, I had never tasted Dunkin’s glazed blueberry donut. I was living in the damn dark.
This is good stuff. Imagine a blueberry muffin top in the shape of a donut, covered in a delicate glaze. Good work all around.
2. Sour Cream
I’ve always been a fan of a donut with sour cream glaze. It reminds me of pound cake, and Dunkin’s is no exception. They’re heavy, too, so this is a rare instance where only one donut is enough. When it comes to a lighter, airy, glazed donut, I’m gonna reach for more than one.
3. Glazed
A glazed donut is a glazed donut is a glazed donut. You know? I’ve never had one that I didn’t like. If you’re looking for the type of glazed donut that’s gonna make you close your eyes and think “Wow, donuts are amazing,” you’re not going to find it here; that’s Krispy Kreme’s department. But if you’re heading to work and looking to stuff a box with a donut everybody will probably like, this is a good bet.
4. Glazed Chocolate
It’s not often that I like something so fully chocolate, but this will do just fine. The donut itself is much lighter than it looks, and bonus points for the fact that I only need one to be satisfied. This is a very good coffee-side morning companion.
5. Coffee Roll
Dunkin’ is smart to call this a coffee roll, because a cinnamon roll it is not. This thing has the appearance of layers, but let’s be honest, this is a cinnamon donut. Rather than icing on the top, this guy is fully glazed. I have mixed feelings about this because it’s nice, but the roll is also a lot stickier to eat because of it.
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6. Chocolate Frosted Cake
Dunkin’s non-cake donuts are just a little bit too sweet for me, so I’m taking this guy over the standard chocolate frosted any time. The frosting here is exactly what takes the Old Fashioned donut from a measly 14th place all the way up to 6th.
7. Chocolate Frosted with Sprinkles
A classic. You can probably already tell exactly what this tastes like just by looking at it. If Dunkin’s donut quality was higher, this would easily be Top 5.
8. Powdered Donut
The little plaque at the location I went to just said “Powdered.” When I asked the employee if this was a special kind of powdered sugar, since it’s, you know, brown, she looked at me as though I had just asked her to make me a meatball sub. I’m going to assume this is some kind of cinnamon-sugar situation, though I can find no listing of that kind of thing anywhere in Dunkin’s roster.
I like powdered donuts a lot, but I’ll admit they come at a cost. Your fingers are toast after these things, and you can expect to leave a trail of sugar behind you for days. They also coat your whole mouth something fierce. I still like ’em.
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9. Maple Frosted
I’m a maple fan, but this is bordering on too sweet. It works with the rest of the donut, but I’d crank up the toffee notes more and turn down the syrupy flavor.
10. Apple Fritter
The best thing about the Dunkin apple fritter is that it’s not a very good apple fritter by typical donut shop standards. It’s quite devoid of apples, and really just tastes like the coffee roll injected with a little bit of apple flavoring.
This is a good thing because, as you will read down below, had Dunkin’ used any more of the apple filling lurking in the Apple ‘N Spice donut, I might have hated the fritter as much as I hated that thing.
11. Chocolate Frosted
Same deal here as the one with sprinkles, but that sugary crunch is crucial. It’s crazy what a little bit of varied texture can do.
12. Vanilla Frosted with Sprinkles
Perhaps you’re more of a vanilla-icing person. You may end up switching vanilla and chocolate in your personal rankings, but for me, there’s a lingering sweetness in Dunkin’s frosting that only exacerbates the extreme sweetness of the donut itself. Chocolate masks that a whole lot more, and that’s wildly helpful.
13. Pumpkin Cake
This seasonal offering actually went over a lot better with me than I expected. I’m not the biggest pumpkin head, but this reminds me of a loaf of tasty, autumnal bread encased in donut glaze. A beautiful thing indeed, but this gets very heavy very quickly.
14. Old Fashioned
I think it says a lot about a person if they like old fashioned donuts. As a fan myself, I wish the cake in question was a little bit better. I know that’s not what you’re gonna get with a chain as big as Dunkin’, but a guy can dream.
15. Strawberry Frosted with Sprinkles
Of all the frosted donuts, this is the sweetest by a mile. The artificial strawberry flavor is intense, and only serves to make the whole donut taste a lot more decadent. Fans of strawberry milk might like this.
16. Double Chocolate
Calling all chocoholics! This is a chocolate cake donut topped with chocolate frosting. That’s way too much chocolate for me, so while I’m not saying it’s a bad donut, it’s an easy 16th for my personal preference.
17. Boston Kreme
Here comes the land of true, extreme bias. I’m simply not into jelly or custard-filled donuts.
Boston Kreme is the best of the ones that Dunkin’ is slinging. The icing inside reminds me of frosting from a cake, but it’s still way too rich for me.
17. Chocolate Creme
The powdered sugar dusting helps things along, and the chocolate inside this donut is a double-edged sword. It’s less overpowering than the Bavarian Kreme donut thanks to the chocolate inside, but that chocolate is thick, and after each bite, it’s really all you can taste.
19. Apple ’N Spice
Imagine a beautiful apple cinnamon pie at the end of Thanksgiving dinner. Delicious, right?
Now imagine if somebody left that pie out on the counter, unrefrigerated for six days, and then stuffed it inside a sweet pastry covered in powdered sugar. That’s what’s happening here. It’s a huge pass for me.
20. Bavarian Kreme
Despite the fact that I don’t like creme-filled donuts, true fans of Bavarian Kreme may like this even less than me. The kreme in question sits inside this donut at about a 10-to-90 ratio, leaving you with a hollow, yeasty bun that feels both literally and figuratively empty. Just stick with the classics.
21. French Cruller
I hate this more than most things I have put in my mouth in quite some time. To say Dunkin’s French cruller is too eggy doesn’t properly explain my issue. This doesn’t taste like eggy bread, or even French toast. It tastes like an egg. A fried egg, or something; like sweet, chewable custard encased in the bits that get left in the pan when you cook eggs for breakfast. This is a nightmare and I need to block it from my memory.
