Origin of the Donut Hole

You can trace the donut hole to a cooking problem: early fried cakes often browned outside while staying raw in the middle. Dutch olykoeks brought the basic pastry to New Amsterdam, but they had no holes. By 1839, cookbook evidence already showed cooks cutting out centers for more even frying, even before Hanson Gregory’s famous 1847 claim. Those centers later became snacks instead of scraps, and Dunkin’ turned them into Munchkins in the 1970s. There’s more behind every bite.

Key Takeaways

• Donut holes began as leftover center scraps or extra dough, fried by bakers to avoid waste long before they became a planned product.
• The idea traces back to Dutch olykoeks, heavy round “oil cakes” brought to New Amsterdam that often cooked unevenly in the middle.
• A center hole improved frying by reducing raw, greasy middles and increasing heat exposure for faster, more even cooking.
• Sailor Hanson Gregory is famous for inventing the ring in 1847, but an 1839 cookbook already described cutting out centers.
• Dunkin’ turned the once-discarded centers into branded Munchkins in the 1970s, helping popularize donut holes nationwide.

Why Early Donuts Had No Donut Hole

Although people now picture a donut as a neat ring, early donuts usually didn't have a hole at all. If you stepped into an early kitchen, you'd see fried cakes shaped as diamonds, twists, balls, and even jumbles. Bakers followed loose directions, so they made whatever sizes and regional shapes suited their habits and tools. Some early circular forms likely included a central hole to help the dough cook more quickly and evenly.

You also have to remember how primitive frying was. Thick dough created a dense texture that cooked poorly, especially in the center. The outside browned fast, while the middle often stayed raw or soaked up grease. Some bakers tucked fruit or nuts inside because those fillings didn't need cooking like dough did. Early recipes called these pastries crullers or fried cakes, not the ring donuts you know, and no standard hole-centered form appeared in those first cookbook descriptions. Bakers widely recognized even frying as the practical advantage of removing the center. Much like the accidental invention of potato chips, some of the most beloved food innovations came not from careful planning but from improvisation born out of frustration or necessity.

How Dutch Olykoeks Led to the Hole

When Dutch settlers arrived in New Amsterdam in the early 1600s, they brought olykoeks—“oil cakes”—with them, and those fried dough balls helped shape the donut’s future. You can trace the donut hole’s roots to these heavy pastries, made from flour, eggs, milk, yeast, and often apples or dried fruit. Fried in hog’s fat or oil, they tasted rich but cooked unevenly. These early pastries were heavy, round forms without the ring shape people now associate with donuts. Washington Irving even mentioned “tender oly koek” in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, highlighting its place in Dutch culinary tradition.

That problem pushed the Olykoek evolution forward. You’d get browned outsides and doughy centers because the round shape trapped heat poorly. Bakers needed better frying solutions, so Dutch methods gradually blended with American tastes and techniques. As olykoeks appeared in cookbooks and stories, they also moved closer to the doughnut identity. Their biggest legacy wasn’t the hole itself yet—it was the cooking challenge that made a holed shape eventually seem practical.

Did Hanson Gregory Invent the Donut Hole?

Whether Hanson Gregory truly invented the donut hole is hard to prove, but he’s the name most often tied to the idea. You usually hear his claim that, at 16, aboard the Isaac Achorn in 1847, he cut out donut centers so they’d cook evenly instead of staying raw in the middle. Before that, Dutch settlers had brought early doughnuts to America as olykoek, and they were made without holes.

In Gregory’s own account, he experimented with dough, punched a hole, and loved the result. He said his mother adopted the ring shape with sugar and spices, and he later boasted that the idea changed doughnuts forever. A 1916 Washington Post interview preserved his explanation that the raw center and greasy texture were exactly what the hole was meant to fix. You can also trace plenty of Hanson mythmaking around him, from debate wins to plaques and statues. Still, Culinary attribution remains tricky: he never patented the method, and his story survives mostly because he told it memorably, with confidence and perfect timing.

Which Donut Hole Story Has Evidence?

Evidence points to a messier origin story than the Hanson Gregory legend suggests.

When you look at the Leslie evidence, you find Eliza Leslie describing donut holes about eight years before Gregory's credited 1847 claim. That earlier documentation makes a single-inventor story hard to defend. In her 1839 cookbook, Leslie recommended cutting out the center as an even-cooking fix.

You also see simultaneous claims surfacing across popular histories, which suggests more than one baker may have reached the idea around the same time.

If you trace donut history back further, Dutch settlers brought solid olykoek to New Amsterdam, giving later bakers the base pastry that eventually changed shape.

Commercial practice matters too: 19th-century vendors stacked bagels on sticks or ropes, and bakers could've adapted that method as donuts spread. Much later, Southern California's famous Donut Hole shops turned the pastry into programmatic architecture, showing how the idea kept evolving in public imagination.

Put together, the strongest evidence supports gradual evolution, not one dramatic eureka moment.

Why Did the Donut Hole Fry Better?

Take a solid cake of dough and the problem becomes obvious: the outside fries fast while the center lags behind, leaving raw dough in the middle or forcing the edges to overcook.

When you remove that center, you instantly reduce the mass that needs cooking. The ring shape lets hot oil contact more dough, increasing surface area and improving heat transfer from every direction. Instead of struggling to push heat through a dense middle, the oil reaches all parts more evenly, so you get uniform color, texture, and doneness. A similar principle shows up in small fried dough pieces, which cook evenly in about 90 seconds when the oil is held at 350°F oil for consistent heat transfer. This is why bakers gradually favored the hole for even cooking over dense centers that could stay underdone. Much like how equal principal payments reduce total interest costs by addressing the heaviest portion of a loan first, removing the doughnut's center tackles the most problematic part of the frying process upfront.

You also avoid the old problems bakers hated: greasy sinkers, tough spots, and undercooked centers that made fried dough heavy and unpleasant. With thinner walls, the donut fries faster, cooks more consistently, and stays easier to handle in the kettle during busy batches.

When Did Donut Holes Become a Product?

That efficient ring shape also created a new opportunity: the little center piece could be sold on its own. If you trace when donut holes became a real product, you land in Dunkin's early experiments and a claimed 1968 joke at its Fairfield, Connecticut, shop. Those playful origins mattered, but they didn't make donut holes an official item yet. The more decisive turn came from a thrift-minded PTA refreshment idea in early-1970s Enfield, Connecticut, where the leftover centers became a new function instead of being discarded.

You see the true shift in the early 1970s, when Dunkin stopped treating the centers as mere scraps. Dunkin began selling Munchkins Donut Hole Treats in the 1970s, marking the start of official sales. Bakers rolled excess dough into small balls, fried them, and sold them separately as Munchkins. The company even created tools for consistent production, turning waste into a deliberate, shareable snack. Much like Allen Lane's vision of affordable, high-quality literature for the masses, making a product widely accessible and affordably priced can transform it from a niche curiosity into a cultural staple. By then, donut holes had moved from thrift and improvisation to a branded product line, proving small bites could become serious business nationwide fast.

How Did Dunkin’ Make Donut Holes Famous?

Dunkin’ made donut holes famous by turning a scrap into a story people wanted to buy.

In the early 1970s, you saw excess dough from donut centers become Munchkins, a playful product with smart branding strategy. The original “donut holes” name didn’t connect, but the Wizard of Oz-inspired Munchkins branding clicked with kids and families. A controlled store test showed that “Munchkins” attracted a different audience and avoided hurting regular donut sales.

You could grab them as poppable treats, share them easily, and pair them with coffee. Dunkin’ used packaging innovation, fun boxes, and matching flavors to make the hole feel like its own snack, not waste. They’re now sold in 3, 5, 10, 25, or 50 counts.

A special cutting tool later standardized the rounds, helping every bite get used consistently. As Dunkin’ expanded, Munchkins scaled too, selling more than 800 million annually and beating competitors to define the category before Timbits arrived in 1976.