Blue Star Donuts: Portland’s Sweetest Mic Drop

Let’s get one thing straight—if you’re in Portland and still lining up at that other doughnut place with the pink boxes and cereal toppings, bless your heart. But the adults have moved on. Enter: Blue Star Donuts, the queen bee of pastry perfection, recently crowned by USA Today as one of the best donut shops in the entire U.S. And honestly? It’s about damn time.

This isn’t some novelty-shop sideshow peddling maple bars with bacon for shock value. Blue Star is all artisan dough and elevated flavor profiles. Think: Blueberry Bourbon Basil, Passionfruit Cocoa Nib, and an Orange Olive Oil that tastes like a Mediterranean vacation and a trust fund had a baby. It’s basically dessert for people who own cast-iron pans and know their credit scores.

They use a classic French brioche base—which is just fancy talk for dough that flirts with you and then pays your mortgage. These donuts don’t scream for attention with gimmicks. They calmly walk into the room in a perfectly tailored blazer and steal your boyfriend. They are that good.

And now that USA Today has validated what Portland locals (and anyone with taste buds) already knew, we can all sit back and enjoy the sweet, deep-fried schadenfreude of watching tourists google “Best donuts in Portland” and land in the right place for once.

So congrats, Blue Star. You’re not just top tier—you are the tier. Just promise us you’ll never start selling cronuts. We can’t take that betrayal.