The One Donut At Dunkin' We're Ordering Again And Again

Here at Tasting Table, we're all about donuts — and, judging by the millions of people who visit Dunkin' every single day, chances are you love 'em too. In our ranking of the 16 best donuts at Dunkin', the coveted first-place position ultimately went to a sleeper hit: The chain's sour cream donut.

If you've never tried it before, Dunkin's sour cream donut could be described as "a glazed donut, but better." Still, even this summation is reductive. Sour cream donuts are made by working sour cream into the wet ingredients of classic donut batter. The result is a tangy, moist, complex, full taste. Texturally, they're chewy but not dense. Something extra special happens in the fryer, too. Once fried, sour cream donuts become cakier and crispier than the regular glazed variety, topped by a light touch of glaze for a sweet (but not too sweet) moisture element. The tangy sour cream prevents the profile of this pastry from tasting too "fried" — impressive homemade donut flavor for a treat coming from a major chain.

Sour cream donuts are also slightly heavier than a standard glazed donut, arriving at a sacred satisfying sweet spot. They aren't so heavy as to be a belly bomb, but they pack enough weight to be satisfying, a happy foil to the way classic glazed donuts leave us feeling inclined to reach for another. One sour cream donut is enough, and it's perfect.

You won't find the colorful pomp of strawberry-frosted rainbow sprinkles, nor will you find the surprise custard-filled center of Boston Cream. With the more-than-meets-the-eye sour cream donut, its treasures are nuanced. A Reddit thread dedicated to Dunkin's sour cream donut featured one customer who says it's the best donut it makes. Another commenter writes that if you like cheesecake or pound cake, the sour cream donut is for you. Indeed, like those desserts, the sour cream donut is dense and sweet, but not too sweet or too dense. One fan describes warming up the donut as life-changing.

Don't get us wrong, the sentiment "no school like the old school" doesn't always apply in the food world. (Dunkin's classic powdered donut came in last place in our aforementioned donut flavor ranking, after all). The food scene is constantly evolving, and while this constant state of evolution has gifted intrepid eaters such innovative pearls as Dunkin's new marshmallow ube swirl, it has also ensured that only the creme-de-la-creme of the past transcends into the present. Dunkin's sour cream donut is surely emblematic of this passage — and it rules.

This understated beauty is the perfect dunker for a cup of hot drip coffee (especially with a pump of butter pecan flavor swirl). Or, to embolden the humble sour cream donut, you could pair it with a Caramel Craze Iced Signature Latte.