From artisanal creations to classic flavors, Chicago serves up some truly delicious donuts. Feast your eyes on the ultimate sweet tooth’s bucket list. Here are seven Chicago spots dedicated to everyone’s favorite fried breakfast treat.

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Beavers Coffee + Donuts

Beavers Coffee + Donuts has a brick-and-mortar location in the West Loop, but it also has a roaming food truck. Indulge in a few of this shop’s mini donuts, complete with a sweet filling and topping. Beavers lets you get creative with a whole range of toppings like cinnamon, powdered sugar, and chocolate. You can take your donut game up a notch with premium toppings like chocolate sprinkles, s’mores, and Nutella Dream. Sip on hot or iced coffee from Chicago-based Metropolis Coffee Company. If you’re craving something extra sweet, try the donut milkshake.

Dat Donut

Dat Donut is the perfect shop for anyone who has ever thought that donuts shouldn’t just be breakfast. This confectionery spot located in Chatham is open 24 hours. Stop in for a classic glazed donut, a chocolate glazed donut, or an apple fritter. Dat Donut’s real claim to fame, though, is its Big Dat, a near-pizza sized version of their regularly offered donuts. Dat Donut has been serving up deliciousness in this South Side neighborhood since 1994.

Photo courtesy of Do-Rite Donuts

Do-Rite Donuts & Chicken

Do-Rite Donuts has a stable of enough rotating flavors to satisfy even the pickiest of fried dough lovers. If you are a sucker for the classics, order the buttermilk old fashioned, cinnamon old fashioned, chocolate old fashioned, or vanilla bean glazed. For those with a taste for more adventurous flavors, sink your teeth into a pistachio lemon donut or a candied maple bacon donut. You can even order gluten-free and vegan variations of many of this spot’s flavors. Do-Rite serves up Dark Matter Coffee, the perfect complement to rich, unforgettable donuts. Look for Do-Rite in the Loop, West Loop, and Streeterville. If you’re more into chicken fingers than apple fritters, go to the West Loop and Streeterville locations for an expanded menu that also features – you guessed it – fried chicken on a glazed donut.

Doughnut Vault

Doughnut Vault whips up its fried treats fresh every day, which means you should plan to get there early while supplies last - these donuts sell like hotcakes. You can line up at the Vault’s River North or West Loop locations. Each spot is little more than a walk-up counter, but once you’ve taken a bite of one of their creations, you’ll understand the popularity. Doughnut Vault has regular flavors, like the traditional glazed, and daily specials. Check their website for the flavors of the day that range from cookies-and-cream cake to salted caramel old fashioned.

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Firecakes Donuts

Firecakes has a nice balance of classic options and creative flavor pairings. Traditionalists will love the chelated iced, vanilla iced, chocolate hazelnut long john, classic jelly, and old fashioned buttermilk flavors. The more daring flavors include glazed pineapple and bacon, butterscotch praline, and malted milk ball. Firecakes pours coffee from La Colombe Roasters. In addition to sating people’s morning donut cravings, Firecakes also offers up ice cream donut sandwiches. You can also celebrate a birthday (or any day, really) with the shop’s giant birthday cake donut. Firecakes has locations in River North and Lincoln Park. 

Glazed and Infused

Scott Harris, a chef and restaurateur, is the brains behind this must-visit donut shop. Glazed and Infused elevates the fried dough game with mouthwatering flavors like red velvet, peanut butter and jelly, matcha cream, and Boston cream. Glazed and Infused also serves up a delicious maple bacon long john. This Chicago original aims to use natural ingredients sourced from local vendors. If you need coffee to go with your donuts, Glazed and Infused serves espressos, cappuccinos, lattes, and black coffees from Sparrow Coffee Roastery. You can treat yourself to Glazed and Infused in four different neighborhoods across the city: the Loop, Lincoln Park, River North, and Streeterville.

Photo by Manda Wong / CC BY

Stan’s Donuts & Coffee

Stan’s Donuts actually got its start in Los Angles in the 1960s. This shop may not have started in Chicago, but every Chicagoan who has been there is sure glad it found its way to the Midwest. Since coming to Chicago, Stan’s has quickly grown to include locations in South Loop, Lakeview, the Loop, Streeterville, and Wicker Park. You can even find Stan’s in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook. After sampling the menu, it’s easy to understand how this spot became a Chicago donut staple. Pick from a list of standard options that include flavors like glazed-and-powdered sugar cake. Go for something different with the Dough Boy’s Best, which includes maple long johns, peanut butter pockets, and chocolate drizzle pretzels. Stan’s, of course, has an extensive specialties list chock full of creative choices like the Captain Crunch Bismarck and dreamsicle bar.