12 Grocery Store Bakery Donuts, Ranked From Worst To Best

The sights and smells of the grocery store bakery have a way of luring us in. The scent of freshly baked bread forever hangs in the air, always the first thing to catch our attention. Meanwhile, colorful cakes, pies, and other confections sit on display, with glossy toppings and carefully piped decorations that are nearly impossible to bypass. Then, once you're deep into sweet tooth territory, you arrive at the donut case.

Even though the selection at a supermarket isn't always as extravagant as what you'd find at, say, a mom-and-pop donut shop, the range of frosting-washed rings, bars, twists, and filled pastries is just as enticing. Each one appears picture-perfect, but as we all know, looks can be deceiving. How do you distinguish the delicious donuts from the duds when you're standing there in the bakery section? It's admittedly hard to do, which is why I recently sampled a dozen donuts from four different grocery store chains to find out which picks are worth adding to your bakery box. I picked up a variety of classic donuts as well as a few wildcards and rated them all based on basics like the texture of the dough, taste of the icing, and quality of the fillings (when applicable). Here's how each donut fared, starting with my least favorite pick.

The serve-yourself case at stores like Kroger left me feeling like a kid in a candy shop. From different icings and shapes to various fillings, so many donuts caught my eye — Kroger hits all its donut bases. But I narrowed it down to just three picks at each stop to try to keep the inevitable sugar crash to a minimum. I gathered a good mix, though one variety that ended up in my bakery box over and over again was chocolate iced.

If glazed donuts are the ultimate equalizer, then chocolate iced donuts are the next rung up on the donut ladder. You can tell a lot about a bakery from its chocolate iced donut, and Kroger's doesn't tell a great story. The base itself is extra yeasty, to the point that it tastes almost identical to a light dinner roll. It's missing that natural sweetness and oily richness from the frying process. On top of that, the thin layer of chocolate icing leaned more bitter than my taste buds typically prefer, leaving this $0.99 donut at the bottom of my list.

The most interesting thing about this donut might just be its name. If you're from the West Coast or another part of the country, you may refer to this kind of pastry as a bar. But here in the Midwest, we lovingly call it a "Long John." Whether it has any colloquial connection to cold-weather undergarments or not, the moniker just seems fitting, and the fact that this donut type usually comes piped with cream makes it all the more popular.

Kroger's white-iced Long John seems to fit the bill. That is, until you take a bite. At first, I thought this was just a case of staleness, since the ends of the donut were dry. But the rest wasn't an improvement. The white frosting crown tasted artificial, and the cream inside wasn't a sweet custard but more of a shelf-stable "creme" that tasted of pure sugar. Combined with a very neutral dough, none of it gelled well. I would still take it over Kroger's chocolate iced donut, but that's not saying much.

Giant Eagle's donut selection was brimming, yet not comprehensive. For example, it was missing a classic glazed donut. I didn't even see a label for it. The market did have the next best thing, though: a chocolate iced donut. And it was a few steps up from Kroger's recipe, in both taste and cost (you get what you pay for, I suppose).

It looks picture-perfect, standing tall with just the right amount of chocolate frosting. However, it turns out to be a very nondescript chocolatey donut. It's dry overall. The ring itself doesn't hold much flavor, and it's plain rather than varnished in an all-over glaze. The smear of chocolate on top is really the only thing that pulls this donut up by its bootstraps — and above a few of Kroger's picks. There seems to be some degree of quality to it, and it has just enough of a cocoa-infused edge to coat your tongue in a layer of sweet richness. For me, it's a yes to the icing and a no to the donut.

This is one of just two glazed donuts I tried. And, spoiler, it was my least favorite of the pair. It's not necessarily a bad donut — I like its simplicity more than the previous offerings. But it's the kind of donut you polish off and then instantly regret spending the calories on.

The glaze is kept light. By comparison, a Krispy Kreme donut would look like it took a long bath in a vat of icing. You only really get a small sample of vanilla sugar flavoring, leaving the underlying dough to its own devices. Like the store's chocolate iced donut, this one is also reminiscent of a yeast roll. However, it also gave me some glimpses of a cake donut with its denser crumb and yellowed interior. It's like a cross between a yeast donut and a cake donut, and it fails to fully capture the magic of either.

At this point, I concluded that Kroger is unlikely to be my new go-to donut spot. With three of its donuts in my bottom four, the supermarket didn't exactly make a strong case for itself.

Who can resist a sprinkled donut? Adding just a handful of rod-shaped sugar bombs to the crown of a pastry makes it that much better. It could be the texture. It could be the sweetness. Or it could be the simple whimsicality of it all. But whatever the reason, sprinkles have a way of turning an ordinary donut into something more tasteful and celebratory.

This donut certainly feels special occasion-worthy — especially if that occasion was an "it's a girl" baby shower. The pink, purple, and white jimmies stand out on the top, adhered to the donut with white icing. The soft crunch of the sprinkles makes the treat, and I didn't mind the bland, bread-like donut in this scenario (at least it wasn't dry like Giant Eagle's chocolate iced donut or boring like the Kroger glazed). The white frosting makes it seem a bit disjointed, though. It tastes like a simple solution of powdered sugar and milk rather than a vanilla-based icing. So it's extra sugary, a touch gritty, and doesn't do much to elevate the sprinkle-spotted donut.

Another grocery store, another Long John. This is one I could get on board with, though. As I plucked it from the case at Giant Eagle, I actually didn't even know what kind of donut I was in for. There was no label, so the filling was a mystery. It could have been jelly-filled, cream-filled, or even loaded with some kind of chocolatey confection. Once I finally got a chance to sink my teeth into it, I was happy with what I found. The substance isn't custard or a classic vanilla cream but lands somewhere in the middle. An airy, whipped texture meets a richer flavor with the teensiest bit of a cream cheese tang. It was a pleasant surprise.

The cream is the undeniable star. It's backed by that same unsweetened dough that the store seems to use in all its donuts and the same uninspired frosting that was found on its white iced with sprinkles. All things considered, it makes for a mediocre donut despite the luscious filling.

Meijer had by far the best donut selection of all four grocery stores. The variety was almost overwhelming, spanning from sprinkled to cream-filled to powdered. But I was able to simplify my decision by sticking to a few classics like chocolate iced and glazed.

This chocolate iced donut did not disappoint. It has that archetypal texture you would want in a yeast donut. It's puffed up yet delicate and extra chewy. There's no sugary sheen around the ring, but the natural taste makes up for it. I also really enjoyed the chocolate. The application is thin, but it's just enough to drive the entire donut. Plus, it leans more toward milk chocolate than dark, so the taste isn't as intense. Some people may prefer dark for this reason, but I think most shoppers could appreciate this flavor profile.

It's a good donut. And for the same $0.99 price as Kroger's donuts, you're getting a much better product. There's just one chocolate iced confection I happened to like even more.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting a lot from Walmart's donuts. They weren't gleaming and calling out to me from behind a glass display case, but rather prepackaged into boxes in the bakery section. Naturally, I equated this to a product that wasn't as fresh or flavorful. You can imagine my surprise when the supermarket's pastries wound up as some of my absolute favorites.

Walmart's chocolate iced rendition, in particular, was the best chocolate iced donut I tried. It's even better than Meijer's. It starts with a standard kind of yeast donut dough, but it's extra soft and squishy — in the way that it gets stuck in your teeth a bit as you chew (in a good way). It's slathered with a finish of smooth chocolate frosting that tastes just like the kind you would scoop out of a Betty Crocker store-bought tub. In such a small amount, the mix of sprinkles haphazardly scattered on top was more for aesthetics than anything else. But overall, not bad at all for a humble, prepackaged Walmart donut.

Everything good about the Walmart chocolate donut, just cranked up a notch. The maple topping makes all the difference. You still get your classic donut base that's every bit as fluffy as it is chewy. It also offers the slightest hint of sweetness that helps separate it even more from dinner roll territory. Even the sprinkles are the same: minimal in a range of shapes and colors. The only difference between these Freshness Guaranteed donuts is that in this one, a Betty Crocker-like chocolate frosting is traded for a maple-washed one.

To me, it actually tastes less like maple and more like sweet butterscotch. It has those caramelized buttery notes to it, paired with just a touch of saltiness. Yum. I also noticed that even at room temperature, when it appeared hard, the icing was melty underneath, creating a sticky and gooey layer right there below the surface. Like the chocolate iced version, it's simple, but it's done well. It's the kind of donut that would disappear quickly from the dozen.

The Krispy Kreme-like qualities of this donut made it an instant success in my book. If it weren't for the larger size and slightly different look, I would have thought it came straight off the chain's "Hot Now" donut conveyor belt.

It's a shining example of a classic and crowd-pleasing glazed donut. You can't go wrong. The yeasty interior is oh-so airy, and the crackly glaze wraps it in a sweet, sugary hug. It's the kind of donut that almost tastes buttery and all but melts in your mouth with each bite. The only thing that would have made it better was if it had truly been fresh from the fryer. That is Krispy Kreme's secret weapon after all. At home, I plopped it in the microwave for just about 10 seconds to regain some of that appeal, but it's just not the same.

As far as grocery store donuts go, Meijer's glazed option is a reliable standout and one I'd gladly return to. But even in all its glory, it couldn't outdo a few more elaborate donut recipes.

If you're unfamiliar, a Bismarck is simply a yeast donut packed with some kind of filling. Just like a Long John, but instead of an elongated bar shape, this one is round. Walmart sells a six-count variety pack of the donuts, which includes this white-iced number.

We all have our own opinions about filled donuts. Personally, I tend to think the filling can be too much, and I'm not the biggest fan. But I very much enjoyed this specific recipe. It's the same kind of pillowy donut that was found in the store's maple and chocolate iced renditions. On the outside, a simple white frosting crests the top with the lightest hint of vanilla flavoring. By far the best part, though, is the custard that awaits inside. It's not overly sweet, which I believe is a key part of its success. Instead, it's rich and velvety, just like a thick glob of vanilla pudding. It quickly became one of my top picks and made me second-guess my previous opinions about center-filled donuts.

I had issues with the labeling on this white-iced donut as well. I thought I was picking up another cream-filled Bismarck. Yet, when I bit into it, no filling came oozing out. I quickly learned that it wasn't a filled donut at all, but rather some kind of cinnamon bun. Looking back, I probably should have deduced that based on the swirl shape that sticks out faintly from below the layer of white icing.

This was truly the best kind of surprise, and it turned out to be my crown jewel of grocery store donuts. It's just like a Hostess or Little Debbie Honey Bun, only better, and as you make your way towards its center, it just becomes more and more satisfying. The yeast donut turns doughy, and the cinnamon-infused flavors intensify. Plus, there's just enough sweet white icing to accompany every bite without tipping into overly sugary territory. It was plenty good as is, straight from the bakery. But it also reached a new level of deliciousness when I warmed it in the microwave for just a few seconds.

In my radius of Columbus, Ohio, there were fewer grocery stores serving up donuts than I would have thought. I checked spots like Whole Foods and Fresh Thyme to no avail. I ended up finding a selection at just four stores, including Walmart, Kroger, and the regional chains Giant Eagle and Meijer. I picked out three donuts from each grocer to give them each a fair shot. I went with some classics, like chocolate iced, to have some overlap for apples-to-apples comparisons, and then grabbed a few specialty picks as well.

At home, I sampled all 12 donuts straight from the box and also warmed them up for a few seconds in the microwave to restore some of their freshness. All the donuts I tried were yeast-based rather than cake donuts, so I ranked them first based on their texture, looking for donuts that were soft and fluffy with a lightly sweetened yet neutral taste. I also looked for a good-quality icing or frosting that wasn't overwhelmingly sugary. If there was a filling involved, it needed to complement both the donut and frosting rather than take over the entire donut or make it too sweet. Price was considered, but it ultimately didn't affect my overall rankings. I'm willing to pay a little extra for a donut that's a little better, though it just so happened that my favorite donuts also came at a great price.