The First Krispy Kreme Donuts Were Made With This Unlikely Vegetable

Krispy Kreme has become a household name, offering famous donuts that are beloved and eagerly gobbled in over 40 countries. Even celebrity chefs can't resist the sweet, fried dough creations. From the famous Original Glazed Donuts to cake donuts and filled donuts, the recipes for Krispy Kreme's confections are closely guarded — even from employees — and are actually locked in a safe at the company's headquarters. While we don't know exactly what goes into the renowned goodies today, we do know the original recipe contained an unlikely vegetable: potatoes. 

Well, unlikely unless you're from Utah. Spudnuts, which are potato-based donuts, are a traditional treat in the Beehive State and were actually invented by a pair of brothers from Salt Lake City (more about that later).

While Krispy Kreme's founder, Vernon Rudolph, didn't categorize his creations as spudnuts, that's essentially what they were. The original recipe was a mixture of egg whites, sugar, shortening, skim milk, and (yep!) mashed potatoes, all of which were creamed together, chilled, combined with flour, and then fried and glazed. Potatoes lend a kind of magic to donuts that makes them simultaneously dense and fluffy. The starch in potatoes absorbs moisture and retains air, keeping the treats delightfully moist and light. Potatoes further lend a unique earthiness and crunch to fried donuts.

It would be a bit of an understatement to say the resulting fluffy pastries were a hit. What began as a one-shop-operation in a small Kentucky town (with donuts being sold alongside other merchandise like horse tack) became a powerhouse purveyor of treats spanning the globe.

Though Krispy Kreme took them global, the concept of a potato-based donut first spread in the United States thanks to the aforementioned brother duo from Utah. Sweets are a featured component in German breakfasts, and Bob Pelton encountered potato-based German fritters while serving as a baker in the U.S. Navy (they were likely fasnachts, which are symbolic sugary German treats consumed just before Lent). After returning to the states, he and his brother, Al Pelton, adapted a German recipe Bob brought back with him, and they set out to develop a new type of donut that was filled with air pockets and wouldn't become saturated with oil. Dehydrated potatoes were a featured component in their treats, and thus spudnuts were born.

In 1946, the brothers started selling their creations. Within a few years, they had over 200 Spudnut shops nationwide, and more than 350 stores dotted the country by the early 1950s.

The Pelton brothers not only invented spudnuts, but they're credited with founding the very first chain of donut shops in the U.S. Unlike Krispy Kreme, though, the Spudnuts company died out after the Peltons ultimately sold it. Krispy Kreme, on the other hand, has grown to over 14,000 worldwide locations, as of September 2025.

Per the ingredient list for today's version of the Original Glazed Donut, potatoes are no longer included. Wheat flour, palm oil, soybean oil, sugar, and yeast are the primary ingredients. The omission of spuds doesn't seem to have harmed the company's sales of the treats, though, or the eagerness of consumers to snap them up. Krispy Kreme sold over 1.5 billion donuts worldwide in 2022.