HOW MANY CALORIES ARE IN GLAZED DOUGHNUTS?

So many people are tightly attached to doughnuts. These snacks are so delicious and decorated that they will never stop appealing to your eyes. However, not all of them are made equal.

There are many varieties of doughnuts – sprinkles, jelly-filled, holes, filters, and glazed. Apparently, some people don’t care what their names are or what they look like. They love and eat them all equally. Glazed doughnuts seem to take the lead and taking it with a cup of coffee may just be the perfect combination. A simple glazed doughnut made with fewer ingredients is somewhat a less unhealthy option. However, from one brand to another, glazed doughnut may pack lots of calories. This article examines the number of calories in different brands of glazed doughnuts and whether they are good.

Calories In Glazed Doughnut

Glazed doughnuts are extremely delicious, but not all of them contain the same ingredients and they are not made the same. For example, there is a slight difference between yeast doughnuts and other types – they are taller and fluffier. This is because they are made to rise with yeast. Cake doughnuts, on the other hand, are made using baking powder to leaven it, which adds a bit of dense texture – different from other types. Even old-fashioned doughnuts have their unique difference. They are made using buttermilk or sour cream that make their outside have a caky texture, bumpy and crispy. The ingredients used and the method of production may affect the number of calories in them.

Different Brands of Doughnuts and Their Calories

Since they are made with varied ingredients and cooked differently, various types of glazed doughnuts contain different amounts of calories. The data provided below for each popular brand of glazed doughnut are sourced form Food Data Central of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA):

Generic plain glazed contain 269 calories.
Generic chocolate glazed contains 312 calories.
Generic maple-glazed contains 310 calories.
Dunkin Donuts chocolate glazed contains 360 calories.
Shipley Do-Nuts plain glazed contains 190 calories.
Dunkin Donuts plain glazed contains 240 calories.
Target plain glazed contains 140 calories.
Generic cake glazed contains 192 calories.
Krispy Kreme Original glazed contains 190 calories.
Tim Hortons Honey Dip contains 190 calories.
Safeway Plain glazed contains 250 calories.
Publix plain glazed contains 340 calories.
Old fashioned glazed/ generic sour cream glazed contains 234 calories.
Generic yeast glazed donuts holes contains 55 calories per one piece.
Starbucks Old Fashioned glazed contains 480 calories.
Generic cake glazed doughnut hole contains 60 calories per one piece.

As you can see, Starbucks’ Old Fashioned glazed doughnuts contain the highest number of calories. This is true because it is the biggest out of all full-size doughnuts. It is also the heaviest with about 113 grams, compared 50-70 of most brands. If you are watching your calorie intake or on calorie deficit, it will help to go for one or two pieces of small doughnut holes.

Glazed Doughnut Nutrition

In many cases, most glazed doughnuts are made with the same ingredients, be it cake, yeast, or old fashioned varieties. These ingredients include flour, eggs, sugar, baking powder, yeast, milk, shortening, sour cream, butter, and buttermilk. Once the batter is ready, doughnuts are made into desired shapes and dipped into heated oil to fry. As per the USDA database, one medium-size glazed doughnut contains 269 calories, 4 g of protein, 15 g of fat, 31 g of carbs, 15 g of sugar, 65 mcg of folate, which is equivalent to 16 percent of the Recommended Daily Value (RDV), 0.2 mg of thiamine, which is equivalent to 12 percent of the RDV, and 2.2 mg which h s equivalent to 12 percent of the RDV. It is clear that most doughnuts provide small amounts of vitamin B1, iron, folic acid, especially if they are made with enriched flour. For this reason, they cannot be a good source of healthy nutrients. Instead, they are loaded with sugar, refined carbs, and calories. In fact, they are grouped with other ultra-processed foods. Foods that are made with many ingredients are referred to as ultra-processed. Such ingredients may include sugar, starches, fat, high amount of sodium, and other ingredients that are not stocked at many retail shops. Eating large amounts of ultra-processed foods is easy as they are tasty, but they contain only a few amounts of nutrient.

Recommendations

From jelly filled to holed, sprinkled to filtered, glazed doughnuts are just the best of all. However, they are not a healthy option for breakfast or snack, and for that reason they should only be enjoyed in moderation. According to the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines, the recommended daily intake of calories from sugar should not exceed 10 percent. For most people who are consuming 2,000 calories per day, that narrows down to less than 200 calories or less than 50 g of sugar every day. Hitting this goal is easy, especially if you take sugar-sweetened coffee and one or two doughnuts as your breakfast. Keep in mind that eating glazed doughnuts may not be good for your health. In fact, published studies by the National Institutes of Health link frequent eating of doughnuts to increased risk of several chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, as well as weight gain. That does not mean that they are a food you should eliminate completely. Instead enjoy them once in a while and avoid making it a habit.

Home Made Glazed Doughnut

It is healthy to cook food from home. If you want to make glazed doughnuts at home, you will need:

2 tablespoons evaporated milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract.
1 ¹/₃ cups powdered sugar.
2 tablespoons melted butter.
1 pinch salt.
2 to 4 teaspoons water.

You may need to substitute vegetable oil with vegetable shortening. Use about 2 cups of vegetable shortening.

Conclusion

Glazed doughnuts are tasty, but they are not a good option for a healthy living. A medium size contains 190 to 300 calories, though this may significantly change depending on size and ingredients. Avoid forming a habit of eating these foods as they increase the risk of chronic diseases.