This New York bakery was named one of the best donut shops in the U.S.

Time Out

24-06-2025

New York is a city with a sweet tooth: we love our rich ice creams, fudgy brownies and gooey chocolate chip cookies galore. And doughnuts are definitely a major part of that dessert craving, from classic cake rounds to fluffy yeast doughnuts. As part of its annual Readers' Choice awards, USA Today ranked the 10 best doughnut shops across the U.S., the kind of local bakeries that "offer a unique charm and personal touch that large chains often can't match"—and one New York spot made the delicious list.
Coming in at No. 4 on USA Today 's list is Darling Doughnuts in historic downtown Saratoga Springs, NY, about a three hours' drive north of New York City. Opened in July 2020, the sweet shop serves coffees and teas, specialty foods, unique drinks and other tasty treats, but the focus is obviously on the doughnuts, which are of the yeast-risen variety, have a signature square shape and features more than 150 glazes and flavors are on regular rotation.
The eclectic mix of doughnuts—offered in full-size options ($4.20 each or $42 for a dozen), mini doughnuts ($2.25 each or $18 for 9) or doughnut holes ($5 for 25, or $3 for a dozen)—include flavors like "Orange Creamsicle" (real orange glazed and topped with house-made vanilla buttercream and a candied orange peel), "Root Beer Float" (root beer glazed topped with house-made vanilla buttercream and caramelized honeycomb candy bits), "Chai Latte" (chai spiced black tea glaze with a vanilla teacup design) and "Galaxy Glazed" (celestial swirled vanilla ice cream glaze with sparkling sugar stars).
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There's a nostalgia-fueled "Old School" collection of doughnuts, inspired by childhood favorites like Pop Tarts (wild berry glazed and topped with pastry crumble and wild berry Pop Tart), Dunkaroos (Funfetti frosting glazed with vanilla wafer crumble, buttercream swirl and a vanilla wafer), Cosmic Brownies (cosmic brownie batter glazed and topped with rainbow chips) and more.
And if you're an experimental doughnut lover, you can explore savory rounds like an Everything Bagel option (savory cream cheese glaze with everything seasoning and a bagel chip from Alchemy Bagel Cafe) and a pizza-inspired treat (topped with San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and pesto, then baked until bubbly).
Darling Doughnuts is joined on the USA Today list by fellow top-five placers Donald's Donuts of Zanesville, Ohio; City Beach in Orange Beach, Alabama; The Bakery Unlimited in Winterset, Iowa; and Back Door Donuts in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts.