Families and Kids

Donut delights in Tempe

Photo credit @readysetjetset

We donut mess around when it comes to donut shop delights in Tempe.

National Donut Day is Friday, June 3, 2022. To celebrate, we held a donut competition in our office and listed each of our personal favorites. We also included a list of great donut spots in Tempe so you can try it out for yourself!

The Donut Competition 

We thought it would be a blast to showcase some of Tempe’s most beloved donut shops and pin donuts up against one another, sprinkle to sprinkle in (one of the) most important competitions of the year.

Of course, everyone in our office was willing to participate… no arm twisting here. 

Round 1  

The first go around, we were so fascinated with the donuts from local creative favorites, Donut Parlor and Hurts Donuts 

Donut get us wrong, we love a fun donut but flavor is just as important, if not more. Some categories that we considered while checking out these round pieces of joy were Most InstagrammableFor the Brave (and Willing), and Most Creative and Colorful. 

These categories were kept in the forefront of our taste buds as we tried flavors like Strawberry Special K Cereal, S’mores and Maple Bacon. You read that right!  

Conveniently located on our way to work is Donut Parlor – the strip mall location on Elliot near Priest Dr. doesn’t do justice for how awesome tasting the donuts are. You’re sure to be the office hero when you bring in a variety pack of these donuts. It definitely upped our popularity when we brought the donuts in to our office.

Hurts Donuts is located near the ASU Tempe Campus, so grab one of those scooters with a basket and make your way to school or work with a variety of donuts in tow. (Please consume donuts responsibly and do not eat donuts while operating a scooter.)

Round 2 

In Round 1, we had a free-for-all taste test where our co-workers just picked out the donut(s) they were dying to try. So we wanted to make our Round 2 test a bit more scientific. Two donut shops went head to head with nearly identical donuts. 

We drove ourselves glazy comparing these donuts and our team was certain that they voted for the same donut shop each time. We compared batter profiles, size and sugar content.

Although each donut had very similar flavors as its counterparts, it became the battle of the Donut Shop A vs. Donut Shop B. In this case, we checked out Arizona Donut Company, on Broadway west of Hardy, and Boba & Donuts, off Baseline and 48th St. in the Fry’s Food Plaza. I did pull the wool over the team’s eyes by switching the company placement in the second round of tasting. Everyone thought they were voting for the same company, but in actuality, they voted for the other company. Gotcha!

Tell one, tell all. Tempe is home to awesome donuts. 

It was all fun and games ‘til we came down from the sugar high and hit the sugar coma. I think we can happily say that every donut company wins, and we win for getting to eat every donut. 

  • Judge #1 Favorite: Chocolate donut with chocolate chips from Donut Parlor 
  • Judge #2 Favorite: Sugar twist from Boba & Donuts 
  • Judge #3 Favorite: Glazed donut from Arizona Donut Co. 
  • Judge #4 Favorite: Maple bacon from Hurts Donuts 

We shared our favorites, now it’s your turn! Try them out for yourself with the Tempe donut spots:

Alien Donuts
1000 E. Apache Blvd., Tempe, AZ 85281 | (480) 841-5393

Arizona Donut Company
1030 W. Broadway Rd., Tempe, AZ 85282 | (480) 968-1321

Alien Donuts Tempe
Alien Donuts

Boba & Donuts
2700 W. Baseline Rd. #129, Tempe, AZ 85283 | (480) 773-6888

Donut Parlor
1245 W. Elliot Rd. #103, Tempe, AZ 85284 | (480) 570-1900

Hurts Donuts
2161 E. University Dr., Tempe, AZ 85281 | (480) 765-2101

Hurts Donut Tempe
Hurts Donut

Mochi Nut
117 E. Southern Ave., Tempe, AZ 85282 | (480) 248-3516

Mochinut Tempe
Mochi Nut

Don’t forget to tag us in your photos on Instagram! @tempetourism or #OurTempe

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