Whether you’re an apple fritter fanatic, a classic glazed connoisseur, or a frosted and sprinkled type of doughnut lover, there’s most likely a Tucson doughnut dive nearby for you to sink your teeth into and up your bad cholesterol. If you’ve been fulfilling your doughnut fix at places such as Starbucks, Safeway, or Dunkin’ Donuts, it’s time to dial up your dedication and check out one or more of the local doughnut dives sprinkled around Tucson.
The most charming of the bunch, this doughnut shop has been around for over 11 years. The owner, Po, is super friendly, and they have a core group of customers. Alvernon Donut Shop is the South Central Tucson donut dive.
Visit Alvernon Donut on Yelp.
Located near Golf Links and Kolb, this doughnut shop features a drive-thru and really cranks out some doughnuts. It’s hard to know if they’re always as busy as they were on the Friday I visited, which also happened to be National Doughnut Day, but the drive-thru line was longer than at a Starbucks.
Visit Donut Wheel on Yelp.
You won’t want to do much in this neighborhood save for check out King’s Chinese for pho, Mother Hubbard’s, or grab a quick donut at King Donut. If you’ve been confused as to whether King Donut is the same as Donut King, I’m here to assure you, yes, they are the same place. Although, for the record, their sign clearly says “King Donut” with the “King” on top of donut.
Visit King Donut on Yelp.
Located just west of the freeway on St. Mary’s is Queen Donuts. There is no relationship between Queen Donuts and King Donut. Although, someone should open up a Prince Donut and Jester Donut just to add confusion to this Illuminati-like underground doughnut conspiracy.
Visit Queen Donut on Yelp.
This centrally located doughnut dive is quite large for how small of a product they feature. In addition to doughnuts, they might as well host yoga classes or chi gong in the extra space, although I’m not quite sure how well that would mesh with glazed old-fashioned doughnuts and coffee.
Wheel Donut is now closed.
This is a fun little doughnut dive on the Southwest corner of Speedway and Kolb. Rather than a bell that goes off when the door opens, there’s a voice that happily and robotically greets you.
Visit Young Donuts on Yelp.
More of a historic and delicious landmark than your typical donut dive, we received quite a bit of flack for not including Le Cave’s. Are they awesome? Yes. Are they a dive. Eh… not so much, but mighty worthy of a visit.
Visit Le Cave’s On Facebook.
