Doughnuts are not seasonal. We will eat them any time.

Pumpkin spice, sure. Holiday red and green icing, OK. It does not matter.

Put a doughnut if front of us, and watch the amazing magic trick we pull by making it (and the rest of the box) disappear in record time.

And Alabama has some of the best in the world, period. The AL.com doughnut-testing team proved as much sampling what Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and the rest of the state has to offer (with readers helping us fill the doughnut holes on our lists).

Read our picks for the best doughnuts in Alabama below.

RELATED: 20 Alabama meat-and-three restaurants you must try (and what to order)

BABES DOUGHNUTS + COFFEE

500 Greensboro Ave., Tuscaloosa. www.babestuscaloosa.com

Babes has a prime location: It’s located in the heart of downtown Tuscaloosa on the corner of University Boulevard and Greensboro Avenue, just two doors down from Chuck’s Fish. And that’s the perfect place to display these delicious doughnuts.

Babes has a huge variety of doughnuts. The maple bacon doughnuts are topped with a lot of bacon, and the doughnut holes are A+. Babes also serves coffee and breakfast sandwiches.

Order this: My colleague Ben Flanagan says, “(I’d recommend) chocolate-covered for sure, or the peanut butter cup-topped chocolate covered glazed.” — Haley Laurence

BIGFOOT’S LITTLE DONUTS

7914 Memorial Pkwy. S.W., Huntsville, bigfootslittledonuts.com

In just 10 years, Bigfoot’s Little Donuts has gone from a passion project to a two-store business. Then a government contractor, Brian Steele and wife Natalie Steele, whose background was in elementary education, launched Bigfoot’s first as a food trailer. Bigfoot’s was part of the first wave of Huntsville’s then-nascent food truck scene. A decade later, many of their contemporaries are no longer in the tough mobile-food vending game. But Bigfoot’s went from a smaller trailer to a larger trailer to, about five years ago, a brick-and-mortar shop in South Huntsville. Next, they opened a Madison shop. The first part of the business’ name is a nod to “Harry and the Hendersons,” a fave comedy film of Brian’s. The second part is literal: They do jawa-sized cake donuts (which don’t require proofing), cooked to order lickety-split by the dozen.

Order this: At Bigfoot, you need to pick a single flavor for your dozen. (Because of the size, it would take eyedroppers and a surgeon’s hand to variety pack these little dandies. There’s no shortage of interesting flavors, like strawberry cream, wedding cake, salted caramel, (a Girl Scout cookie channeling) Samoa and raspberry lemonade. For newcomers, it helps to look over menu options in advance on the website, from which you can also order for pickup, before making a game-time decision. — Matt Wake

COTHRAN’S BAKERY

440 George Wallace Drive, Gadsden and 773 US-431, Boaz, facebook.com/CothransBakery

Even the sign at Cothran’s Bakery looks delicious.

The giant doughnut signage that sits outside Cothran’s Gadsden location probably brings in a lot of travelers — you can’t miss it. And I can guarantee you that very few people are disappointed.

Cothran’s Bakery was a Shipley’s Do-Nuts franchise until the ‘90s, when the Cothran family went independent and put their own name on the sign. And it’s been a significant part of the community since then, and has amassed lots of fans — whenever we mention doughnuts, Cothran’s is always mentioned.

You’ll find several cases full of scrumptious sweet treats, including cinnamon twists and blueberry fritters. But with all those sweet treats in front of you, don’t ignore the glazed doughnuts, which are far from ordinary. The dough is so, so, fluffy, and the glaze is nice and sweet. These are worth every calorie.

Order this: Caramel apple fritters. Enough said. — Haley Laurence

DONUT JOE’S

3199 Lee St, Pelham, donutjoescoffee.com

Travel down Highway 31 and you’ll eventually get to Donut Joe’s at the intersection of Pelham Parkway and Lee Street. Housed in a small white building with a green roof and orange and white striped awning, the cozy doughnut shop is a refreshing break from the monotony of the strip malls along the interstate. Inside, you’ll immediately see pops of color. On the walls: posters of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and signs with vintage graphics sporting messages such as “DRINK COFFEE — Do stupid things faster with more energy.”

Donut Joe’s massive case holds more than 20 types of doughnuts. On our visit, we tried three. First, we ate a glazed croissant. The treat is different from the Cronut, pastry chef Dominique Ansel’s 2013 creation that ignited a summer of hours-long waits outside New York pastry shops and copycat recipes around the country. But the glazed croissant is just as delectable. Instead of a flakey texture, like the Cronut, the croissant is soft, sweet, and pleasantly chewy.

We also tried the old-fashioned sour cream cake doughnut with caramel and pecans. Cake-like doughnuts tend to run a little dry, but that’s not the situation at this shop. Donut Joe’s cake doughnuts have the moisture and sweetness of actual cake on the inside with a slight crisp on the outside. Our selection was topped with thick caramel frosting and fat, flavorful pecans.

Our final choice ― the apple fritter — boasts a sweet glaze and a slightly crisp crust on the outside. On the inside, the apple mixture and swirls of cinnamon folded into the dough make the pastry sweet and moist.

Fritters are one of Donut Joe’s most popular items, and there’s actually a fritter schedule — a rotating menu that tells customers what days they can expect the shop’s different flavors: apple, peach, and blueberry.

Donut Joe’s is also great for folks who want a pastry fix, but aren’t early risers — the shop is open until 9 p.m.

Order this: If you’re in the shop on the right day, try the peach fritter. — Shauna Stuart

DONUT KING

350 S. Eufaula Ave,, Eufaula. facebook.com/TheDonutKingEufaula

People plan vacations around Donut King.

That sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s not. There are lots of people who plan their beach routes to ensure they can stop at the storied doughnut shop that was named in the top 100 in the country by Yelp in 2022. It’s a tradition: Stop at Donut King, and make sure you have enough to eat on the trip and at the beach.

Donut King has a lot of history. More than 30 years ago, Anna and Billy Nelson bought the doughnut shop in town (it was a Spivey’s Donuts before that), and they recently retired and sold the business to Scotty and Melody Smith, who spent a couple years learning how to make the famous sweet treats. The Donut King is so beloved that when new management took over, locals and fans analyzed each bite to see if it tasted exactly the same. (Scotty and Melody are using the same recipes, phew!)

Order this: You want the doughnut holes. And however many you think you can eat, double that. Or triple it. They’re that good. — Haley Laurence

DONUTS D-LITE

3371 AL-14, Millbrook, and 4077 US-231, Wetumpka. Facebook

Ask a group of people their favorite Alabama doughnut, and Donuts D-Lite is sure to come up in conversation. And that’s because Donuts D-Lite is everything you want a doughnut shop to be. Walk in, and the owner is probably gonna know your name, your order and your family history. It’s cozy, and homey and it’s exactly the place you wanna start your day.

And this has become a common theme of this story, but you have to get there early. They sell out quickly, and once again, it’s worth it. If you go to bed at 3 a.m., wake up a couple hours later and get your doughnuts. Sleep doesn’t matter if doughnuts are involved.

In 2016, we asked co-owner Nina Chanthavongsy why she opened a doughnut shop, and she said, “It’s a good treat for all walks of life … everybody likes doughnuts.”

Actually, Nina, everyone doesn’t like doughnuts. But if they tried Donuts D-Lite, they’d change their mind.

Order this: The red velvet doughnut. Just do it. — Haley Laurence

DUCHESS BAKERY

222 1st Ave S.E., Cullman

Which is more iconic in Cullman – an orange roll from All Steak or a blue-and-white striped bag filled with Duchess doughnuts?

Honestly, I don’t wanna choose between the two. Generations of families have visited Duchess Bakery right in the heart of downtown Cullman. Since 1939, it’s been the home of some of the most spectacular sweet treats you can buy. The doughnut recipe is a closely-guarded secret that has survived generations and management changes – the iconic restaurant (and recipes) were sold in 2020, but the doughnuts remain incredible.

Order this: Get you a dozen glazed doughnuts. They’re served in a blue striped bag, and words of advice: Buy extras, then you can freeze them and warm them up on a bad day. If these sweet treats can’t cheer you up, then I don’t know what can. — Haley Laurence

FULTONDALE BAKERY

Fultondale Bakery, 1214 Decatur Hwy, Fultondale

If you’re a doughnut enthusiast, you’ve likely seen the maple bacon — a doughnut topped with maple frosting and bit of bacon. It’s a staple you’ll find right along with the glazed and chocolate frosted.

But the maple bacon delight almost didn’t make it onto the menu at Fultondale Bakery. In fact, the staff was initially hesitant to make them. For one, they thought the pastry looked unappealing.

“The bacon didn’t even look cooked on one doughnut I saw,” the bakery’s cake decorator Mandy Reynolds told us during our visit. Customers were making requests for the popular doughnut style, so the staff took their time to develop a recipe that worked. The result: A doughnut topped with bacon crumbles, instead of pieces of bacon strip. “It gives you more per bite of doughnut, so it’s just a better taste. It’s a little bit of salty with every sweet bite,” said Reynolds.

In April, Fultondale Bakery celebrated its 50th anniversary. Jewell Hines opened the shop in 1973, and five decades later, the shop is still family-run with Hines’ daughter Judy Hines Dobbs leading the charge, joined by her sister-in-law Pam Hines. Two team members come in overnight to start making the doughnuts and the rest of team filters in around 4 a.m. to finish the work and put on the accent pieces — glaze, frosting, sprinkles, and nuts. The bakery opens at five o’clock in the morning. The shop specializes in all of the classic doughnut flavors, and the glazed doughnut holes and cinnamon rolls tend to sell out by 7 a.m., followed by the apple fritters, so it’s best to be an early bird if those treats are your favorites.

Here’s another reminder: Fultondale Bakery only takes cash and checks as forms of payment. Reynolds told us the policy lowers overhead costs, and Judy Dobbs is happy to keep operations a little old school, especially when it comes to their customers. One of the shop’s favorite patrons is a military veteran who comes in every day. Instead of charging him for each order, the shop tallies up his doughnuts and gives him a tab at the end of the week.

“We love to build a different kind of relationship with our customers,” says Reynolds.

Order this: The maple bacon doughnut — Shauna Stuart

THE HEAVENLY DONUT CO.

4911 Cahaba River Rd Suite 105, Birmingham, theheavenlydonutco.com

Heavenly Donut Company’s motto is:” Life is better with donuts.” Walk through the shop doors and you’ll see they mean it.

A table along the right wall of the shop holds doughnut-themed books, toys, and bath bombs. Doughnut mylar balloons and decorations line the wall. But the shop’s centerpiece, naturally, is the massive case of doughnuts. Heavenly divides the pastries into tiers: $1.30 for glazed or iced, $1.50 for doughnuts with toppings (such as M&M’s or sprinkles), and $2 for premium doughnuts (such as the maple bacon, French Toast, and doughnut of the day). Specialty items, including apple fritters and cinnamon rolls, start at $3. Kolaches are $4.25. Beignets — offered only on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to noon — start at $5.49 for a four-count.

And Heavenly’s icing on the cake — or, well, doughnut: A drive-through open 24 hours from Tuesday at 4 a.m. to Sunday at 2 p.m.

We ordered three doughnuts on our visit: French Toast, raspberry-filled chocolate frosted, and blueberry doughnut holes. The blueberry doughnut holes, the staff told us, are a mixture of yeast and cake. For us, the star of the trio was the French Toast, made with cinnamon sugar and topped with maple icing, nut-free granola, and powdered sugar.

Order this: If you prefer simple toppings, try the M&M doughnut. If you want one of the shop’s premium doughnuts, try the French Toast. — Shauna Stuart

HONEYBUN DONUTS AND KOLACHES

6729 Spanish Fort Blvd. Suite H

My first visit to Honeybun fell close to the nominal 2 p.m. closing time, and the place was shuttered. “Sorry!! We are sold out today,” said a sign on the glass. “see y’all in the morning thanks.” No one likes to miss the boat, but that kind of demand is a good sign. Upon return I found a case full of varied doughnuts and other treats, topped by kolaches and breakfast burritos. The shop also offers coffee, boba tea and smoothies. (Warning: The owners are about to shut down for a month while they travel out of the country. They’ll be back at the end of August.)

Order this: No offense to the fancier doughnuts in the mixed half-dozen I sampled, but there’s a lot to be said for a basic glazed doughnut done right. Start there. — Lawrence Specker

K-MAY DONUTS

11987 U.S. 231, Meridianville, facebook.com/kmaydonuts

K-May Donuts is just a 15-minute or so drive out from downtown Huntsville, but it feels like a trip back through time. On the way out to Meridianville, you pass by businesses with names like Huntsville Propeller, Fowler’s Tomatoes and Pants Barn, and rural scenery best soundtracked by the Allman Brothers. Located in a humble building also home to something called Mr. Man Automotives, K-May attracts a coexisting clientele that ranges from country families to young stoner couples. The current owners, who purchase the business from a founder who’s since relocated to California they told me, are helpful, grateful and sweet. The kind of local spot you feel good about helping keep the lights on in a big box world. (There are also K-May locations in Athens and Decatur.) For the love of God, just don’t try to rob the place, alright?

Order this: K-May does a sour-cream donut that will make your eyes roll back. Their classic-style glazed is sugary delicate perfection and the pineapple fritter brings the sunny funk. — Matt Wake

LICKIN GOOD DONUTS

3242 Dauphin Street; various other locations

Lickin Good is a small chain that seems to have roots in Texas and/or Louisiana, but which has found fertile ground in Mobile and Baldwin counties. I couldn’t find a comprehensive listing of locations, but there are more stores upstate, including ones in Clanton, Alabaster, Childersburg, Fort Payne, Anniston and Oxford. The newest store is apparently the company’s first in Tennessee, and it’s in the city of Soddy-Daisy, which is a real thing. Anyway, they’ve got the goods: A comprehensive selection of doughnuts, plus other pastries, plus breakfast sandwiches and kolaches. I can’t speak for every location, but the ones in Mobile have Conecuh sausage and boudin kolaches.

Order this: The boudin kolache is a personal favorite. So it’s not a doughnut. Sue me. — Lawrence Specker

MONITA’S BAKERY

1021 Main St., Gardendale. facebook.com/monitasbakery

It’s easy to see Monita’s Bakery on main street. The small white building with pink trim stands out in the sea of strip malls. The building is a standing homage to doughnuts. “I Heart donuts” is painted in pink, blue, and white letters on the wall, and doughnut decorations line the border of the lawn.

Pastry is an art for the Gallardo family, who moved to Alabama from Chile a little over five years ago and opened Monita’s in 2021. The bakery serves tres leches cake, empanadas, kolaches, lattes, and cappuccinos, but their masterpieces are custom cakes and doughnuts.

Inside of the building, the doughnuts reign supreme. More than 20 flavors of doughnuts are housed between two cases in the shop. One case features yeast doughnuts, old-fashioned doughnuts, and huge apple fritters. In the other case, cake doughnuts and doughnut holes. If you’re the kind of doughnut enthusiast who favors fruit-flavored frostings, Monita’s has doughnuts topped with pineapple, blueberry, lemon, orange, and cherry frostings. — Shauna Stuart

Order this: We all know about the Maple Bacon doughnut. At Monita’s, try the Maple Pistachio.

POP DONUTS

Pop Donuts 1819 Center Point Pkwy, Center Point

Travel down Center Point Parkway and you’ll find Pop Donuts nestled into a strip of shops in the Martin Building (if you use landmarks as your guide, look for a big green sign).

Pop has been in business for more than a decade. Doughnut shops are community businesses and it’s easy to see why at this shop. When we visited Pop on a Thursday morning, the shop was having a little bit of a rush. Among the lineup of customers: An elderly couple coming in for coffee (“Give me the biggest apple fritter you got!) and a man cheerily ordering for his daughter (”You know what my kid wants, right? We come in here all the time!”). And around noon, the friendly staff smiled and offered a woman another option when they were out of her favorites. “Y’all are just ‘bout sold out of everything. I can never get here early enough!” she said, pointing to another pastry. “Gimme one of them twists.”

Pop specializes in classic doughnut flavors. The menu includes glazed, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry iced as well as cinnamon rolls, and bear claws. The shop opens at 5:30 a.m. and closes at 2 p.m. every day, so it’s best to be an early bird. Pop starts selling out of its most popular items — the apple fritters and doughnut holes — around 10 a.m. If you feel like ordering a beverage with your doughnut, try one of the frappés. Pop offers honeydew, taro, green tea, and vanilla latte.

Order this: Try a classic chocolate frosted doughnut. — Shauna Stuart

SON’S DONUTS + POPS

351 Rele St, Birmingham, www.sonsdonuts.com

Doughnuts are already a sweet deal, but there’s something particularly satisfying about a doughnut fresh out of the fryer. If you play your cards right, you’ll be fortunate enough to be in the doughnut shop at the exact moment the staff puts out a tray of hot, newly fried doughnuts.

But what if you could get hot, fryer fresh doughnuts every time you went into the doughnut shop, instead of leaving it up to chance? That’s the premise of Son’s Donuts and Pops, the doughnut shop that cooks miniature doughnuts fresh to order. Once patrons place their order, they can watch the doughnuts get dipped and sugared through the window at the counter. Son’s recently relocated from Avondale in Birmingham to a bigger shop in Mountain Brook, and the bigger digs mean customers can get a 360-degree view of the mini doughnut-making process.

Here’s how it works. Customers choose from a menu of mini glazed, sugared, and seasonal miniature doughnuts (You can’t order a single doughnut — options are a set of four for $5, 8 for $10, 12 for $15, and 25 for $30). Then, Son’s staff drops the dough (made fresh daily from the shop’s house-made dry mix) into the hopper. The hopper drops the dough into the fryer, then the fried dough goes through the conveyor belt.

The result: A slightly crispy, golden-fried mini doughnut ready for the accents. Once the doughnut is fried, the staff adds fixings including glaze and sugar. Other toppings include cream, jams, salted caramel, and Son’s sauce — lemon passionfruit curd, made in-house.

Order this: Try one of the seasonal picks: A lemon sugar mini doughnut with strawberry elderflower jam. — Shauna Stuart

SUGAR RUSH DONUT CO.

4701 Airport Blvd. (also 13240 N. Wintzell Ave. in Bayou La Batre); www.sugarrushdonutcompany.com

I’m in love with this place just because of the way they list their hours on the shopfront door. They open at 6 a.m. on weekdays (except Mondays) and 7 a.m. on weekends, and close at “2:00 ish” daily. Because nobody gets into the doughnut game to punch a clock, man. You’ve got to be punctual about getting them made, that’s the only deadline that matters. Anyway: You know how sometimes you look at a box of doughnut and decide to cut them all in half, so you don’t die of doughnut poisoning? These are those doughnuts. You start out thinking you’ll have half of this one and half of that one before lunch … then you realize you’ve had doughnuts for lunch.

Order this: The one with crumbled Reese’s cups on it is everything you would hope it would be. — Lawrence Specker

WOW DONUTS

11156 County Line Road, Madison, facebook.com/wowdonut

First off, get their early. My first trip out to WOW Donuts, I arrived around 11:30 a.m. on a weekday and they were already sold-out and closed. A couple days later, half their display had already been scooped out by 10 or so. Located between chain pizza and sub franchises, along with Valentina’s Pizzeria & Wine Bar, WOW Donuts is one of the best reasons for Huntsvillians to hoof it out to Madison. WOW’s set up a cute little interior with lots of natural light and they also serve a small but effective coffee drink menu.

Order this: Everything I had from WOW Donuts was, in Brit-speak, smashing. The glazed topped with cream cheese and fresh ripe strawberries was better than many desserts I’ve had at fine dining restaurants. Lucious and vivid in its flavors, look and composition. The “birthday cake” style donut is like an anti-depressant with sprinkles on it. For filled donuts, you pick from cream or strawberry, and they inject the filling via a couple of little machines right in front of you. (Can I have one of those machines hooked straight into my veins, please?) A Fruity Pebbles donut coated a glazed and iced donut with delicate crunch. Hallelujah. — Matt Wake