Savory Doughnuts Are Hitting New York City

You may have thought you had seen it all with the Everything Doughnut, but that was just the beginning of The Doughnut Project's cutting-edge and clever flavors that have us wondering, Why didn't we think of that? This week, the store is dropping savory doughnuts on New York City, and they're not only groundbreaking, they're delicious. And intense.

A new doughnut will go on sale every day between noon and 1 p.m., during the store's quieter hours and just in time for your lunch break.

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The flavors aren't only savory but the ingredients quite elaborate, too. Today's doughnuts include Prosciutto di San Daniele from Murray's Cheese, Extraverte olive oil from O&Co.; and Bosc Pear and Ricotta whip, also from Murray's.

Tomorrow's is a Monte Cristo doughnut, stuffed with strawberry balsamic jam from O&Co., and rosemary ham and Challerhocker cheese, both from Murray's. If that weren't enough, it's brûléed upon pickup.

There's also a bone marrow flavor and an adult peanut butter and jelly that will include foie gras from Three Little Pigs in Brooklyn and Concord grape jelly. Got all that?

The Doughnut Project owners Leslie Polizzotto and Troy Neal have always envisioned putting meat and cheese on doughnuts, and this week is their first go at selling the savory doughnuts to the public. The original idea was to have a DIY doughnut bar, where customers pick out savory toppings for the store to assemble.

"We still plan to do that," Polizzotto says, but they've decided to "test the waters" with this first week of savory doughnuts.

Thanks to the internet fame of the Everything Doughnut, the store got so popular, so fast that they were "kind of overwhelmed with making our normal doughnuts," Polizzotto says. So instead of going full steam ahead into the make-your-own bar, they decided to take it slow with the savory flavors to see how people react.

They're also keeping it to a limited-edition line right now, because the ingredients are so expensive and they want to see if people bite. Prices range between $4.25 and $5.75.

Polizzotto and Neal have toyed with the pear-and-prosciutto flavor before but have never sold it in the shop. The rest of the flavors are entirely new creations.

Savory doughnuts aren't new, and they're not altogether surprising in the amazing uptick in gourmet doughnuts in New York and across the country. But The Doughnut Project is bringing things to a whole new level. Sure, bloggers have been on board the savory doughnut train for a while, and restaurants, like San Francisco's Rich Table, serve them, too. Most doughnut shops that veer savory tend to stick to the maple-bacon combination—a great one for sure but not as eye-catching as The Doughnut Project's elevated meat and cheese flavors.

If you make it to The Doughnut Project for lunch this week, don't overlook some of its staple flavors either. The Everything Doughnut and the Beet Ricotta are still very popular, Polizzotto says—and for good reason: Both were favorites when we tried them here at Tasting Table. The Bacon Maple Bar and PBJ are also popular. Mmmm, doughnuts.

Find Murray's Cheese Bar here, or in our DINE app.
Find Rich Table here, or in our DINE app.