Searching for the Best Donuts in St Louis

I love donuts. So, the last time I was in St Louis, I took it upon myself to check out as many donuts shops as I could on a quest for finding the best donuts in St Louis. Midwestern food is pure comfort and the typical things I found in St Louis like toasted ravioli, frozen custard and yes, the incredible BBQ really surprised me. I figured since everything else was so good, the donuts should be too, right?

The Best Donuts in St Louis

Before I started my quest for the best donuts in St Louis, I researched the different donut shops in the area. Just like in many cities, there are plenty of trendy donut shops with all kinds of crazy and outrageous flavors. Even cereal on them. Excuse me ma’am, cereal is for milk. Anyway, those aren’t for me. I’m an old school kind of gal. The classics please.

Even with the classics – I don’t like to get too fancy. To keep it simple and easy to compare, I decided that, if possible, I would get the same kind of donuts from each place. First a plain glazed or sugared donut. Then, a chocolate covered donut – which is my favorite kind and lastly, something unique or the specialty from each shop.

Now, you maybe wondering if I went into a sugar coma. Thankfully, I managed to avoid that fate. I was in town for two weeks so I kind of paced myself and did a lot of walking. Here’s how it went.

In 1904, St Louis hosted the World’s Fair. Who would have thought the donut would still be paying homage to that event now? But that’s exactly what World’s Fair Donuts, located at 1904 (see what they did there) South Vandeventer Avenue is doing all these years later.

No, they weren’t selling donuts back then but they have been baking up glazed buttermilk cake donuts, long john’s and blueberry chip cake donuts – their specialty – for more than forty years. The majority of those years at this location.

When I visited, Peggy Clanton, half of the couple that has made World Fair Donuts famous, was in the shop. Let me tell you, she was a delight and I was sad to find out that Peggy suffered a fall in 2020 and the couple sold the shop.

However, by the looks of things the new owner isn’t changing a thing. They still sell 16 varieties of doughnuts and sell them for less than $1 each. It’s cash only, tax included. I loved everything I got here, including the blueberry chip donut.

Next up was Old Town Donuts located in the Florissant area. Could they have the best donuts in St Louis? Florissant, to the north of St Louis, is considered a second ring suburb. It’s also one of the oldest settlements in the state.

So it’s no surprise that Old Town has been making donuts for over 30 years, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day! Pretty impressive. According to their website, Old Town runs three shifts to ensure the freshest donuts.

At Old Town, I was greeted by friendly faces and that donut smell that lets you know immediately you’re in the right place. I’m not sure what the specialty of the house is but I ordered my chocolate covered standby but this time filled with cream. And it was delicious!

I loved the yeastiness and crispy texture of the glaze had on these donuts. Just as promised, they were very fresh. So good in fact, Old Town is the only shop that made me deviate from a road trip on I-70 to go back.

Another St Louis donut shop I visited while I was in the city was Donut Drive In. Another staple, they’ve been around since the 50’s and still make the donuts with the same family recipes they did when they opened.

Their donuts are so famous, they’ve even been featured on Food Network and voted best donuts on Route 66.

Keeping with my donut plan, I purchased a plain glazed and a chocolate covered donut. The texture and consistency were near perfect and everything I want from a donut.

However, the customer service was not good and that soured the experience a bit. Just because you’ve been around a long time doesn’t mean you can forget to be nice. I would give them another go because I really liked the donuts. Hopefully I just caught them on a bad day.

• Donut DriveIn

• 6525 Chippewa St, St. Louis, MO 63109
• (314) 645-7714

Last but not least on my search for the best donuts in St Louis, I ventured over to the other side of the Mississippi to try Duke Bakery in Granite City, Illinois. Even though “Granite”, as the locals call it, is in Illinois, it’s considered the Greater St Louis metropolitan area.

Could the best donuts in St. Louis be across the state line? Duke has been around since 1951 so I thought they were probably a good contender.

I arrived late in the afternoon and unfortunately, they didn’t have a huge selection left but they still had my favorite chocolate covered donut. It was huge, it was the only treat I bought there.

Up until the moment I tasted the Duke donut, Krispy Kreme chocolate covered had always been my favorite. After I tasted the Duke donut, I cannot stop thinking about it. It was perfect! From the texture, to the yeastiness, to the chocolate. I don’t know what kind of chocolate they use but it’s what chocolate dreams are made of.

Final Thoughts About the Best Donuts in St Louis

So there you have it. Which donut was the best? Which one was my favorite? Honestly, it’s was too close to call. It’s clear I’m going to need a repeat visit to St Louis to figure it out.

Besides these four donut shops, there are plenty of others in town and I’d love to spend some more time searching for the best donuts in St Louis. Do you have a favorite in St Louis that I don’t know about? If so, please leave me a comment and tell me what I need to try next.

This post contains affiliate links. That means I may earn a commission – at no extra cost to you – if you book or buy something through a link I have suggested. This keeps Southerner Says online and on the road. Thank you for your support.