Some celebrity chefs refuse to make doughnuts because they think it’s too easy and doesn’t utilize their extensive skill set. To them, it feels like asking a trained architect to build with Legos. (Though you’d be surprised how many experts enjoy both doughnuts and colorful plastic bricks!) But however you feel about this, where are the best donuts in Minneapolis?
Best Donut in Minneapolis
1. Bogart’s Doughnut Co.
To set this off right, we’re going to season this doughnut list with some history about the city. You never know, it might come in handy if you’re ever on a game show! So let’s begin. Minneapolis is a county seat in Minnesota. You’ll typically hear it referred to as one of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul because they’re the two largest cities in that area.
- Name: Bogart’s Doughnut Co.
- Address: 904 W 36th St Minneapolis, MN 55408
- Website: https://www.bogartsdoughnutco.com
- Phone: (612) 259-7519
- Hours: Mon to Thur: 7 to 3 pm; Fri: 7 to 4 pm; Sat: 7.30 to 6 pm; Sun: 7.30 to 5 pm
Many doughnut shops start out as food trucks or pop-ups, and Bogart’s is one of them. Their first stall was at the farmer’s market in Kingsfield, but they have their own store now. They use real (vanilla) beans, fruits, and berries. And their cream doughnuts have a special treat – you can choose to have them injected with Bogart’s in-house soft serve ice cream filling!
2. Cardigan Doughnuts
If you’re from Minnesota, you may mean something different when you say Twin Cities. Locals use the term to cover these two cities plus their collective metro area, which has seven separate counties. Sometimes, Minnesotans refer to the whole region as ‘the cities’. But today our focus is on Minneapolis itself. It’s a water world hosting the Mississippi River and 13 lakes.
- Name: Cardigan Dougnuts
- Address: City Center Downtown 40 south 7th St. #207 Minneapolis, mn 55402
- Website: https://cardigandonuts.com
- Phone: (612) 259 7804
- Hours: Mon to Friday: 7 am to 5:30 pm; Saturday (City Center only) 8 am to 3 pm
But whether you’re a resident or just passing through, pay a visit to Cardigan Doughnuts. They mix traditional fried recipes and eccentric experiments. Their Old Fashioned has a twist – Greek yogurt! And their cruller isn’t bad either. To quote the staff, it’s part soufflé and part doughnut! They have two Minneapolis outlets and 3 or 4 weird weekly flavors.
3. A Baker’s Wife
Before the colonists settled in Minneapolis, the Dakota people called it home. In their native tongue, the name for this area transliterates as ‘many lakes city’. The first Europeans to show up came from France in 1680. The Mississippi River runs through the city, and its western banks were handed over to the UK via the Treaty of Paris (1783) after the Revolutionary War.
- Name: A Baker’s Wife
- Address: 4200 S 28th Ave Minneapolis MN 55406
- Website: https://www.bakers-wife.com/
- Phone: (612) 729-6898
- Hours: 6 am to 7 pm
While history debunkers have disproven it, we still think of Marie Antoinette when we think of France. You know, let them eat cake and all that. But back to doughnuts, Baker’s Wife has a good selection of bismarcks, cake doughnuts, and even an apple fritter. Or try the raspberry rosebud, a pretty doughnut shaped like flower petals. The maple cake doughnut is a dish too.
4. Glam Doll Donuts
What about the other side of the Mississippi? Through the Louisiana Purchase, France handed it over to the US in 1803. America paid $15 million for the trade, though it wasn’t strictly a good deal since the land belonged to the Dakota Nation, not to the French. But that’s how things went down. And in 1819, the military solidified its status with a fort.
- Name: Glam Doll Donuts
- Address: 2605 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55408
- Website: https://glamdolldonuts.com
- Phone: (612) 345-7064
- Hours: Mon to Thur: 7 to 3 pm; Fri: 7 to 8 pm; Sat: 8 to 8 pm; Sun: 8 to 4 pm
All’s fair in love, war, and doughnuts. So when you want to fortify your tummy, pun intended, a good spot is Glam Doll Donuts on Eat Street. It sounds fashion-oriented, with artsy leanings. The store has a photo booth, patio lounge, and rotating installations by local artists. And the doughnuts are popular too – they typically sell out long before closing time.
5. Hi-Lo Diner
Building Fort Lee was a strategic move. It invited non-native traders and businesses, so the area soon began to thrive as a commercial hub. The US needed more land to keep up with this expansion and coerced the Dakota to sell it at unfair prices and disproportionate terms. The Dakota were forcefully assimilated, losing large parts of their religion and cultural life.
- Name: Hi-Lo Diner
- Address: 4020 East Lake Street Minneapolis, MN 55406
- Website: http://www.hi-lo-diner.com
- Phone: (612)353-6568
- Hours: 9 am to 9 pm
And while we’re on the subject of strategy, you don’t always have to get a fancy gourmet doughnut. Sometimes, you just want something simple, warm, fresh, and filling. Like a diner doughnut. Specifically, the Hi-Lo Diner. It was originally a Gibsonia diner but it migrated to the Twin Cities and soon settled in. Their glazed doughnut is considered quite high ranking.
6. Sarah Jane’s Bakery
Good food matters! Faced with starvation, some of the Dakota rebelled in 1862. Sadly, they ended up exiled and interned. Today, many Native Americans from various tribes and clans are still restricted to government reservations. And once the locals were gone, machinations continued. Franklin Steele grabbed the eastern bank while John H. Stevens took the west.
- Name: Sarah Jane’s Bakery
- Address: 2853 Johnson St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418, United States
- Website: http://sarahjanesbakery.com
- Phone: +1 612-789-2827
- Hours: Tue to Thur: 5 am to 3 pm; Fri: 5 am to 4 pm; Sat: 5 am to 3 pm
Now that we’re dealing with crucial names, you may be surprised to know there’s no Sarah Jane at Sarah Jane’s Bakery. The current owners are pastry chef Audry, her husband Joe, and their daughters, Hannah and Stephanie. Audry has 25+ years of seasoned baking, and her kids took after their mama. They serve tons of pastries including a banana flip doughnut!
7. Hans’ Bakery
Fortunately, the Dakota footprint didn’t leave completely. In 1852, Charles Hoag came up with a name for the John Stevens side of the city. Charles was the schoolmaster, and he suggested Minnehapolis with a silent h. The word combined Mníȟaȟa, the Dakota word for waterfalls, with polis, which means city in Greek. The east bank city went by St. Anthony’s.
- Name: Hans Bakery’
- Address: 1423 5th Ave, Anoka MN 55303
- Website: https://www.hans-bakery.com
- Phone: (763) 421-4200
- Hours: 7 am to 6 pm
It’s almost fitting that as we talk about the Dakota people’s involuntary exit, we note that Covid closed top Minneapolis bakeries for good – Granny’s in St. Paul, the downtown branch of Angel Food, and Sleepy V’s. Luckily, you can still get your doughnut fix in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis. Try the aptly named Texas Donut at Hans Bakery. Order 48h early!
8. Heights Bakery Inc.
In 1867, Minneapolis officially became a city, and in 1872, the two banks merged into the present-day twin city. Fortunately for them, Saint Anthony Falls offered hydropower and water, so the city developed a thriving industry built around lumber, flour mills, fabric mills for wool and cotton, paper production from the forests, and iron for all that infrastructure.
- Name: Heights Bakery Inc.
- Address: 4925 Central Ave NE, Columbia Heights MN 55421
- Website: https://www.facebook.com/HeightsBakeryInc/
- Phone: +1 763-572-0624
- Hours: Tue to Fri: 5 am to 6 pm; Sat: 5 am to 3 pm
With all that floury business, it makes sense that Minneapolis is so good at baked *and fried) goods. And just like Hans Bakery, Heights Bakery Inc. runs out of Columbia Heights – the suburb, not the city that borders it. They have Anoka zip codes but are considered part of Minneapolis. Heights is a four-generation family business spanning 6 decades and counting.
9. Mel-O-Glaze Bakeries
In an interesting twist, Minneapolis got really good at making prosthetic limbs. The local industries were so dangerous that lots of people lost theirs. There was so much demand that six companies went into the amputee repair business. And they were good with flour. They automated the milling process and sent ‘industrial spies’ to steal milling ideas from Hungary.
- Name: Mel-O-Glaze Bakeries
- Address: 4800 28th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55417
- Website: https://www.meloglazebakery.com
- Phone: 612.729.9316
- Hours: 7.30 am to 6 pm
Artificial limbs aren’t always covered by your insurance, and neither is Covid. But while we’ve mentioned some stores that permanently shut down, Mel-O-Glaze has stayed open and all their staff are vaccinated. But it can be helpful to call before you show up – it makes things easier for their socially distanced doughnut service or pre-opening-time pick-ups.
10. Sweet Kneads
On the upside, Minneapolis did some social good as well. They were pioneers in protecting unwed mothers. Martha Ripley started the Maternity Hospital in 1886, treating both married and single mothers. Minneapolis responded by writing anti-discrimination laws for those unmarried moms, and that was huge! Also, yes, Martha Ripley was a doctor and a suffragist.
- Name: Sweet Kneads
- Address: 212 Oak St. Farmington, MN 55024
- Website: https://farmingtonbakery.net/
- Phone: (651) 463-2242
- Hours: Open 24 Hours
Martha made the Twin Cities better for everyone, and while Farmington isn’t strictly within Minneapolis, it’s a recognized part of the Twin Cities. Sweet Kneads is a cornerstone of this area and is currently expanding. Started by Ed Hobbs, Steve and Melissa Hobbs run it, and their newly adult sons serve are shift managers. They keep it in the family, but in a good way.
11. Valley Pastries
One dark mark on Minneapolis’s history is its discriminatory housing policy. Developers wrote leases in ways that locked out African American and Asian tenants, and unfortunately, some of those regulations were still active by 2021. There was also the issue of eugenics and forced sterilization in 1925 – which was passed into law. And there was an anti-semitism issue.
- Name: Valley Pastries
- Address: 2570 Hillsboro Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55427, United States
- Website: https://www.valleypastries.com
- Phone: +1 763-541-1535
- Hours: Tuesday to Sunday – 6 am to 11 am
This housing issue comes up a lot when you’re talking about peri-urban regions. Golden Valley is a first-ring Minneapolis suburb, and while the history above is sad, the area’s Valley Pastries may give you a reason to smile. Their doughnuts are alarmingly good for a bakery based in a strip mall. Those giant doughnut holes are a revelation. Also, fried cinnamon rolls!
12. Wuollet Bakery
All this sounds really bad, and it is. But there’s an upside. The turmoil made Minneapolis a hub for civil rights, particularly for women, workers, African Americans, and Native Americans. The latter founded an official movement in 1968, and it was based in the city. It’s not all fixed yet – just think George Floyd. But Minneapolis remains an enviable place to live.
- Name: Wuollet Bakery
- Address: 3608 West 50th St Edina MN 55410
- Website: https://www.wuollet.com/
- Phone: 612.922.4341
- Hours: Mon to Sat – 7 am to 6 pm; Sunday – 8 am to 6 pm
Pass through, even if it’s only for the fried and frosted dough. You’ll be pleased to open your wallet at any of the four Wuollet Bakery outlets. They began in 1944, and the Edina branch is probably your best bet, since Edina. It was among the first-ring suburb in Minneapolis. The bakery has Uptown and Downtown Minneapolis branches, but Downtown closed for Covid.
13. Café Donuts Champlin
Let’s end on a peaceful note but talking about the wonderful waters of Minneapolis. The city sits on an artesian aquifer, and we’ve mentioned the Mississippi River and the 13 lakes. But the city also has three creeks, three massive ponds, and five wetlands. In 2018, the city stopped single-family zoning. They could now build affordable unsegregated housing units.
- Name: Café Donuts Champlin
- Address: 11175 Commerce Dr. N Champlin MN 55316
- Website: https://www.instagram.com/cafedonutsmn/
- Phone: +1 763-571-4616
- Hours: Tue to Fri – 5.30 am to 3 pm; Sat to Sun – 6 am to 3 pm
Some of these projects opened up quiet areas and urbanized the city. Champlin is one such suburb in the north. And their popular doughnut shop is impossible to forget – its name is simply Café Donuts Champlin. Sounds like a drunken Google search or a case of late-night munchies, and the café can feed both cravings! Their red velvet doughnut takes the cake!
What’s your top spot for doughnuts in Minneapolis? Point us in the right direction below!