Deliciously Fried, Deeply Maine: Doughnuts Worth a Detour

Emily Bachelder’s day begins the same way it has for generations of bakers before her: in the quiet hours before dawn, hands sunk into warm, yeasty dough. At 4 a.m., while Portland is still dark and hushed, she’s rolling out the dough that will become Tony’s Donut Shop’s signature Raised Glazed—an almost meditative ritual that hasn’t changed much since the shop opened.

“When I took over, people kept asking if we’d change the recipe,” Bachelder says. The answer was an easy no. If it ain’t broke, as the adage goes, don’t fix it. After working nearly every job in the place since she was 15, her goal in buying the shop in 2025 wasn’t reinvention—it was preservation. The updates are modest by design: better lighting, a few tables, doughnut holes for the first time, coffee to go. Even joining social media feels like a leap.

Inside the kitchen, a vintage Hobart mixer hums along. Hot doughnuts are strung on wooden dowels, dunked in glaze and left to set. Boston Creme has joined the lineup, but the heart of the case remains the classics: feather-light Raised Glazed, rich Chocolate Cake and the increasingly rare New England standby, Molasses Cake.

That sense of continuity runs deep across Maine.

Long before Portland’s doughnut counters, the state helped shape the very form of the doughnut itself. In 1847, Rockport sea captain Hanson Crockett Gregory is often credited with punching the first hole in a fried dough cake (possibly aboard his ship), solving the problem of raw centers. Fact or folklore, the doughnut hole has been claimed as a Maine invention ever since.

By the Civil War, doughnuts had become morale boosters. Women across the state fried them in camp kettles and shipped them to Union soldiers, sometimes by the bushel. Later, in Aroostook County, the heart of Maine’s potato country, resourceful bakers folded mashed potatoes into dough, creating cake doughnuts that stayed moist longer and fried up tender. Practical, thrifty and quietly excellent: very Maine.

You can still taste that legacy today, whether you’re following the rugged coastline or cutting inland to mountain towns.

Maine’s Old-School Doughnut Shops

On the southern coast, Congdon’s Doughnuts in Wells has been a summer ritual since 1955—long lines, warm glazed rings and generations of travelers who swear the first bite tastes like salt air and vacation. A bit up the coast in Cape Elizabeth, The Cookie Jar Pastry Shop fills the bakery with the smell of butter and sugar before the door even opens, a steady, beloved stop for classic cake and raised doughnuts.

In Brunswick, Frosty’s Donuts feels like a time capsule: no frills, efficient counter service and raised doughnuts that are light, slightly chewy, with glazes that crackle when you bite in. Inland, Hillman’s Bakery tempts with pies and pastries, but locals know the doughnuts are the quiet stars.

In Houlton, Sadie’s Bakery has been doing things the same way since 1948: one doughnut flavor per day, with Wednesdays reserved for the beloved molasses. Frank’s Bake Shop, family-owned in Bangor since 1945, keeps cases full of light, fluffy classics alongside pies and cheesecakes.

Seasonal favorites like Abbot Village Bakery round out the picture: plain, glazed and blueberry doughnuts sharing space with whoopie pies and molasses cookies, the kind of stop that turns a drive into a tradition.

New Gourmet Doughnuts, Rooted in Old Recipes

Back on the coast, Maine’s potato-doughnut tradition takes on a different energy at The Holy Donut. Founded in 2012, the shop represents a newer generation of doughnut makers: chef-driven, playful and visually bold. The rotating menu reads like a greatest hits remix—whoopie pie, maple bacon, strawberry shortcake—as well as a lineup of gluten-free doughnuts in flavors ranging from dark chocolate sea salt to vanilla sprinkle.

Images (left and right): The Holy Donut, Portland

But beneath The Holy Donut’s tantalizing toppings is the tried-and-true potato-based foundation that once defined Aroostook kitchens. Their Scarborough test kitchen hums with experimentation and efficiency. The tools may have changed—silicone instead of wooden dowels, hand-dunking instead of pitchers—but the results feel familiar.

That balance shows up across the state. In Bar Harbor, Graffiti Donuts pairs splashy street art and ’90s hip-hop with flavors like maple bacon and blueberry coffee cake, all just steps from the waterfront. Rockland’s Ruckus Donuts leans into brioche dough and seasonal creativity—tiramisu, lemon poppyseed, toffee crunch—best caught fresh from the fryer.

In Belfast, The Only Doughnut splits the difference: traditional potato doughnuts (including gluten-free plain and chocolate flavors) topped with cranberry-orange or lemon blueberry glazes alongside indulgent brioche variations like honeycomb cheesecake and pecan pie. Lovebirds Donuts draws fans south to Kittery with bright, vegan flavors like cardamom rose and chocolate-covered cherry, as well as gluten-free options such as red velvet and raspberry coconut. Wildflours Bakery in Brunswick built a loyal following around its 100-percent gluten-free kitchen, and while the cakes, cookies, cheesecakes and breads keep devotees coming back, the doughnuts are the happy surprise. Flavors change with the whims of the day’s baker, making each visit a little bit of a delicious wild card.

Perhaps one of the best things about doughnuts is their portability. The Eighty 8 Donut Cafe built its following on bite-sized yeast doughnuts in Portland, and their more recent outpost now fuels ski days at Sugarloaf Mountain.

Fall Detours and Orchard Doughnuts

Come fall in Maine, the doughnut trail spills into apple orchards. In New Gloucester, Thompson’s Orchard fries cider doughnuts on-site, folding their own freshly pressed cider into warmly spiced batter. Turner’s Ricker Hill Orchards expands the lineup with maple, blueberry and old-fashioned varieties depending on the harvest, while Wallingford’s Orchard in Auburn turns simple drives into fall rituals with cider, pumpkin and sugar-dusted classics.

One Tour, Many Tastes

Explore Maine’s doughnut culture firsthand on The Portland Donut Tour, a walking food tour that connects old-school counters and modern bakeries into a single, sugar-dusted narrative. 

It’s proof that in Maine, doughnuts aren’t just a sugary treat. They’re history, habit and hospitality. And they’re best enjoyed warm, with coffee, and a sense that tradition and innovation can coexist deliciously.

This story was written and photographed by Cam Held, co-editor of Maine the Way, whose work documents the people, places and details that define life in Maine.