Few things are as deeply coded into American breakfast traditions as the doughnut. Homer Simpson gobbles them, policemen stereotypically hover around them, and local artist Jeff Nebeker memorializes them in ceramic.
We scoured the area’s most famous, most popular and most unusual doughnut shops to get a sense of what makes Sacramento’s doughnut scene so special. We then served them forth to the staff in The Sacramento Bee newsroom in blind tastings and asked for their feedback.
To spare their A1C levels, we did this in three rounds.
To the best of our abilities, we tried to make some consistent choices across all bakeries – plain old-fashioned, Boston creme, maple bars and the like. We balanced that with some of the bakeries’ more unique selections.
If you’ve ever been curious why doughnuts invariably come in a pink box, you’re not alone. The Bee’s Managing Editor Scott Lebar couldn’t help but wonder when he saw multiple boxes side by side in the office’s kitchen, and uncovered that this tradition began with Cambodian-owned doughnut shops in Southern California.
Linda Lee of Marie’s Donuts sells a half-dozen in one of their signature pink boxes on Jan. 27. There is speculation that Marie’s Donuts is the oldest doughnut shop in Sacramento. Sean Timberlake stimberlake@sacbee.com The Hole In The Wall: Stanely’s, East Sacramento
Tucked into an East Sacramento strip mall is a small, yet popular doughnut shop. Stanely Donuts often sells out by 11 a.m., as seen on its Instagram posts showing racks of empty baking trays. The doughnuts are on par with any other, but don’t sleep on the croissant bites, small squares of glazed laminated pastry.
The Bee’s business reporter, Annika Merrilees, said the chocolate cake doughnut was “perfect.” Visuals Editor Nathaniel Levine noted the “glazed crispness” on the old-fashioned. Ishani Desai, The Bee’s City Hall reporter, tried a doughnut hole and a cinnamon doughnut. She found them “moist and tender and fluffy.”
Stanely’s Donuts
Address: 3710 J St., East Sacramento
Hours: 5 a.m.-1 p.m. daily
Phone: 916-454-3922
The OG: Marie’s Donuts, Land Park
This Land Park staple is an institution in Sacramento and has been open since 1958. The original, still active Marie’s in North Highlands, predates it by four years. There is pretty much always a line at the freestanding shack in the cluster of businesses along Freeport Boulevard. Marie’s is also unusual in that they are open through the night.
Todd Carrey goes to Marie’s every day, but only buys himself a doughnut about once a week.
“My favorite thing is the maple bar. I love the cinnamon roll,” Carrey said. “Everything’s fresh, everything’s warm. But I’m here every day because I get coffee every day because I love the coffee.”
The Bee’s general assignment reporter, Graham Womack, a Sacramento native, waxed rhapsodic about Marie’s as a lifelong destination. California Legislature reporter Kate Wolffe also enjoyed the “ooey gooey in a good way” maple bar.
Marie’s Donuts in Curtis Park in 2024. Scott Lorenzo Special to The Bee Marie’s Donuts
Address: 2950 Freeport Blvd, Land Park
Hours: Midnight-4 p.m. and 10 p.m.-midnight daily
Phone: 916-444-5245
The Comeback Kid: Broadway Donuts
This classic shop made headlines last year when its owner since 1988 announced his intention to retire after a health crisis. At the 11th hour, the business’s baker of 36 years took over management of the operation. With the new management, Broadway Donuts is now open seven days a week.
Broadway Donuts received some of the best overall feedback in our newsroom. Lauren Chapman, The Bee’s service journalism editor, made some bold claims about the Boston creme. Most importantly, she called it the “best Boston creme (she’d) ever had — and that means something. It’s (her) favorite.” Veronica Fernandez-Alvarado, a service journalism reporter, said it was her favorite for glazed and “it was the fluffiest of the three options.”
Melody Mua packages doughnuts at Broadway Donuts on Dec. 12, 2025, the first day the shop was under new ownership. Hector Amezcua hamezcua@sacbee.com Broadway Donuts
Address: 2731 Broadway, Curtis Park
Hours: 5 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday; 6 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Phone: 916-736-2544
The Virtuous: Babes Ice Cream & Donuts
An outpost of Pushkin’s Bakery, Babes carries on their mission to create delicious treats without gluten or animal products. As a result, they have a distinctly different appearance and texture from the other doughnuts in our blind tastings. This did not go unnoticed by our colleagues. Still, overall they found the doughnuts enjoyable.
Executive Editor Chris Fusco said that they “looked the most expensive,” and thought the “texture was different, spongy?” Wolffe said her blue doughnut “was beautiful” and found the “mochi-esque” texture “very yum.” Desai on the other hand found it “a bit too dry and dense” and prefers a doughnut “that is so soft and fluffy that it nearly falls apart in your mouth.”
Customer Emmy Jewett looks at the offerings at Babes Donuts & Ice Cream in Sacramento on Tuesday. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com Babes Ice Cream & Donuts
Address: 2417 J St, midtown
Hours: 8 a.m.-9 p.m. every day
Phone: 916-476-4519
Website: babesicecreamdonuts.com
The Fastball Down The Middle: Donuts & Coffey
We sent our editor Chapman to the South Natomas location to get a half-dozen doughnuts for the newsroom. The shop is tucked into a strip mall with FoodMaxx shoppers and a Taco Bell, but the shop itself is quiet and a little cozy. It has an extensive offering of traditional fare, mochi doughnuts and kronuts. This is the second location of the local shop, which started in East Sacramento on Folsom Boulevard.
In head-to-head competition, Donuts & Coffey didn’t stand out among the rest. But it still held its own.
The newsroom reviews were mixed. Some found the texture to be a little off. Others found the flavor a bit lacking. Service journalism reporter Camila Pedrosa appreciated the “almost sourdoughy, fermented flavor” of the glazed yeast doughnut. And Chapman called the offerings the “platonic ideal of a doughnut.”
Donuts & Coffey
Address: 3291 Truxel Rd., South Natomas
Hours: 5 a.m.-3 p.m. daily
Phone: 279-345-0691
Website: donutscoffey.com
The Party Favorite: Java Time Donuts
This Elk Grove doughnuttery is popular for its unusual flavors (we tried the ube glaze) and for its supersized donuts that can be iced for special occasions. A 10-inch donut will set you back $20, and the massive 16-inch one costs $37.
Food & dining reporter Sean Timberlake and Pedrosa both noticed an unusual cinnamon note in the glaze on the Old Fashioned, with Pedrosa noting that “it kind of tasted like Red Hots candies more so than actual cinnamon bark.” Womack said the Boston creme was “good, not too sweet,” and Wolffe thought the strawberry cruller “tasted very FRIED.”
Java Time Donuts
Address: 7811 Laguna Blvd., Elk Grove
Hours: 5 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday-Monday
Phone: 916-684-9696
The Delicious Dive: Bakers Donuts
Inside a lonesome standalone shack on a stretch of Florin Road just east of Highway 99, Suzy Hem has been serving up colorful, fanciful doughnuts since 1985. Local food writer and cookbook author Illyanna Maisonet cites it as her place of choice.
Fusco thought the Boston creme was “the best of the bunch.” Chapman respectfully disagreed, but it was “an easy second place.” Pedrosa enjoyed the chocolate glaze’s warm flavors, saying it “reminded (her) a bit of abuela’s hot chocolate.” Timberlake noted the old-fashioned’s “nice, crispy edges.”
Suzie Hem, owner of Baker’s Donuts on Florin Road in Sacramento, hands an order of her doughnuts to a driver in 2022. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com Bakers Donuts
Address: 5880 Florin Rd., south Sacramento
Hours: 5 a.m.-7 p.m. daily
Phone: 916-392-8466
The Alternative: Sweet Dozen
Ironically, doughnuts are not the star attraction at this spot, though they make plenty of them. The first Saturday of each month, Sweet Dozen fries up malasadas, a Hawaiian pastry that’s somewhere between a doughnut and a beignet, dressed in different flavors. It’s also popular for the “doissant,” a donut-croissant hybrid — just don’t call it a Cronut.
Fusco felt that the fritter was “the top thing of anything brought in over the past coupla weeks.” Both Pedrosa and Chapman enjoyed the crispiness of the old-fashioned, but Chapman took exception to the Boston creme, calling it “offensive.” Timberlake enjoyed the doissant, finding it “remarkable.”
Cronut-like “doissants” at Sweet Dozen. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com Sweet Dozen
Address: 5207 Madison Ave., Old Foothill Farms
Hours: 5 a.m.-1 p.m. daily
Phone: 916-344-2000
The Totally Tuber-ular: Spudnuts Donuts
Where most doughnut shops bake exclusively with all-purpose or bread flour — or gluten-free at Babes — the cleverly named Spudnuts makes use of starchy potato flour for a unique take on the treat. Don’t expect a naturally gluten-free pastry, though. The shop adds wheat flour into the base mixture.
Spudnuts is a chain shop with numerous associated locations across the country and as far as Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. For an added benefit, early morning visitors to the Sacramento outpost can purchase their potato doughnuts at the shop’s drive-thru window.
No one in The Bee’s newsroom clocked the alternative ingredient, though opinions on the doughnuts were mixed. Desai felt the dough was too dry, while Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova watchdog reporter Camryn Dadey found Spudnuts were her favorite of the bunch.
Spudnuts Donuts
Address: 2445 Arden Way, Arden Arcade
Hours: 4:30 a.m.-4 p.m. daily
Phone: 916-927-8088
Website: spudnutshop.com
The Multi-culti: Bad Bakers
This mini-chain has several locations around the Sacramento region, with ones coming in Citrus Heights and Woodland, as well as an outlier in Santa Ana. It offers a whimsical selection of doughnuts with playful names such as Unicorn Clouds (glazed with sprinkles) and Movie Time (glazed with chocolate malt and popcorn), but the buttery Filipino Spanish rolls — sweet ones called Staxx and savory, stuffed Czech-style kolaches — are not to be missed.
Bee education reporter Jennah Pendleton said the maple bar was “very good, soft and extra sugary.” Desai liked Bad Bakers’ doughnuts best across the board, saying they “had the most flavor and were the softest — the winning combination for (her).”
Bad Bakers’ doughnuts bear topping such as Cinnamon Toast Crunch, berry compote and mini M&Ms. Benjy Egel Sacramento Bee file Bad Baker
Address: 1140 Exposition Blvd., Johnston Business Park
Hours: 7 a.m.-7 p.m. daily
Phone: 916-571-2118
Website: badbakers.com
This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
The Sacramento Bee
Sean Timberlake is the food and dining reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He has been writing professionally for nearly 30 years, and about food for 20. A variety of well-known outlets have published his work, including Food Network, Cooking Channel, CNN, Sunset Magazine and SF Weekly.
The Sacramento Bee
Camila Pedrosa is a service journalism reporter at The Sacramento Bee. She previously worked as a summer reporting intern for The Bee and reported in Phoenix and Washington, D.C. She graduated from Arizona State University with a master’s degree in mass communication.