Best Donut Pans of 2026

At two pounds for a single six-donut pan, the USA Pan is the heaviest piece of bakeware in this group, and the weight is the point. Heavy-gauge aluminized steel holds its shape through a hot oven and a cool counter, so the pan stays flat instead of oil-canning in the middle. The corrugated surface — those shallow ridges across the face — lets air circulate underneath and gives the coating a mechanical grip.

That coating is Americoat, a silicone finish made without PTFE, PFOA or BPA, and it does what a good nonstick should: donuts turn out of the wells with almost no encouragement and the pan wipes clean in seconds. The wells measure about 3.5 by 3.4 inches, among the largest here, so you get a broad ring rather than a tall one.

This is the most expensive pan on the page, and it buys one pan where the same money covers two or three elsewhere, which is why it suits the person baking most weekends rather than twice a year. The lifetime warranty is part of that math. What you get for it is the flattest, most solid pan here — nothing else in this group feels remotely as substantial in the hand.

Three and a quarter inches across is the number that matters here: that is the cavity diameter, and it is the largest in this group. It gives you a donut with a proper ring — wide enough to glaze without the glaze running into the hole, sturdy enough to split and fill. Put one beside a 2.8-inch cavity and the difference is obvious before either pan reaches the oven.

Three pans come in the set, so one bake puts 18 donuts on the counter, or you can rotate two while the third is still being filled. Each pan is 12.5 by 8 inches, the same footprint as most six-cavity pans, so the set stacks into roughly the space of a sheet pan.

Heavy carbon steel and a food-safe nonstick coating do the work, and the pans feel dense rather than tinny — nothing like the flex of a stamped pan. Donuts release cleanly, brown evenly across the ring, and everything is rated to 450°F.

Where this set earns its place is size plus volume: 18 full-size donuts is a party, not a snack. The Wilton Gold set is the easier everyday choice; this is the one you buy when the diameter of the donut is the whole point.

Twenty-one and a half inches wide by 15.5 deep — slide your oven rack out and measure before you order this one. If it clears, the payoff is real: a single pass through the oven produces 20 standard 3.25-inch donuts, which is a bake sale from one bowl of batter. We think that makes it the right pan for anyone who bakes for a crowd more than once a year, and a frustrating purchase for a small kitchen.

Steel construction with a reinforced nonstick coating keeps heat even across a surface this large, which is the hard part with a mega pan — big sheets tend to run hot at the corners. Donuts release cleanly with a spray, and the cavities are the same standard 3.25 inches as the six-cavity Wilton pans, so your batter and your piping bag work the same way.

Silicone behaves nothing like metal in the oven. The mold has no structure of its own, so it needs a sheet pan under it, and it does not conduct heat the way steel does — the sides of the donut stay pale and soft while the top browns. In exchange you get a mold you can twist, fold, and stack in a drawer.

Three molds, six cavities each, 3-inch rings: 18 donuts and enough flexibility that all three nest together in a space a metal pan would never fit. Release is the strong suit — a light spray is all it takes, and whatever clings rinses off. The set is dishwasher safe and rated from -22°F to 446°F, which covers the freezer, the microwave, and an air fryer basket.

This is the silicone set we point to for small kitchens, toaster ovens, and anyone who wants the donut out of the mold without running a knife around the edge. If you want a browned, crisp-sided cake donut, metal does that better — the trade you are making here is release and storage for color and crust.

Deeper wells are the reason to look at this set: the pans are 1.18 inches tall with more room in each cup than a standard donut pan, which gets you closer to the thick, domed donut most of us picture. We think that trade is worth making if your baked donuts have been coming out thin and flat-topped — the extra batter has somewhere to go.

The steel is thicker than usual too — 57% thicker by the maker's count, strengthened to resist warping — and it shows in how little the pans flex when you pick one up loaded. Oven safe to 450°F, nonstick enough that donuts slide out with a spray, and dishwasher safe. At 11 by 7.5 inches per pan, the pair stores more easily than most sets here.

Nine cavities in one mold is unusual — most silicone donut molds stop at six — and it changes the rhythm of a bake: one mold, one sheet pan, nine 3-inch donuts, no shuffling two molds around a hot rack. The mold is 11.2 inches square and weighs about three-quarters of a pound.

It is the silicone mold we like best here, and the reason is stiffness. Most silicone bakeware this size is floppy enough to slosh on the way to the oven; this one holds its shape well enough that the sheet pan feels like insurance rather than a rescue. Release is clean, cleanup is a rinse or a dishwasher cycle, and it is rated to 446°F.

Storage is where silicone wins outright — the mold flexes, so it slides into a drawer or stands on edge behind a cutting board, and it will not scratch whatever it is stacked against. Nothing else in this group stores in less space.

Champagne gold is a strange thing to care about in a donut pan, and yet this is the one that looks good enough to carry to the table with the donuts still on it. The finish is even, the rim is rolled smooth, and the pan weighs 1.7 pounds — substantial without being heavy.

Twelve cavities in one pan is the practical argument. Where most metal pans give you six and expect you to buy a second, this one bakes a dozen at once in a 12.8 by 10.2-inch footprint that clears a standard rack with room to spare. The carbon steel is 0.8 mm thick, strengthened at the edge to resist warping, and it is rated to 428°F.

Release and cleanup are the quiet wins: the silicone coating is made without PTFE or PFOA, donuts turn out with a light greasing, and the pan goes in the dishwasher. It also stores on its edge in a cabinet, which is more than the mega pans can say.

What those twelve cavities do not give you is size. The donuts come out closer to a medium than a full-size ring — somewhere between a mini and what you would buy at a shop — which makes this a lovely pan for kids, for decorating projects, and for a plate of small treats, and the wrong one if you want a big donut to split and fill.