Wendy Hector / Daily Meal
I distinctly remember when the Pokémon craze took over the world in the late ’90s. As an avid video gamer and a lover of all things cute — especially little creatures — I was obsessed from the start, and even now, 30 years later, I’m still a fan. With the new Krispy Kreme release of limited time Pokémon-themed doughnuts, I forced myself to take a brief break from obsessively playing Pokopia on my Nintendo Switch to go check them out.
From now until September 13, Krispy Kreme shops will be offering six unique doughnuts: five based on individual Pokémon characters, and one styled as a Poké Ball. When it comes to Krispy Kreme, I typically don’t stray from the original glazed doughnut, as hot and fresh as possible, but this occasion called for a diversion down a different path. Once my box of Pokémon doughnuts was secured, I tucked into each one to see what’s up with this collaboration.
Methodology
When the Krispy Kreme and Pokémon collaboration was announced, I pre-ordered the specialty dozen doughnuts which included all six of the limited time flavors. I picked up the box the morning of the official release.
I tasted each doughnut carefully, assessing the elements, starting with the doughnut itself, along with any glazes, icings, frostings, and fillings. Flavor, texture, balance, and sweetness level were all taken into consideration, along with visual appeal.
Review: Bulbasaur Doughnut
Wendy Hector / Daily Meal
If, like me, you’re a fan of Krispy Kreme’s original glazed doughnut, Bulbasaur is the Pokémon for you. The doughnut honoring this plant-like critter is basically just one of those with a few minor additions: vanilla icing and a few piped leaves of buttercream, along with a sugar decoration of its likeness placed on top. Like Bulbasaur, the first Pokémon listed in the Pokedex, this doughnut is a tried-and-true classic. Unfortunately, it’s also a bit one-note.
While visually it’s quite striking with its bright blue and green colors, and the little Bulbasaur staring at you is cute as a button, I found it to be the least interesting of all the doughnuts. That’s not to say it’s bad by any means — it’s soft and sweet with a lovely vanilla flavor. It just didn’t seem to express Bulbasaur’s personality in any way except its look. I found myself wishing for a mint element or something fruity to give it a bit of oomph. As is, I’d rather reach for an original glazed than this, though I do love the way it’s decorated.
Review: Charmander Doughnut
Wendy Hector / Daily Meal
Krispy Kreme’s Charmander-themed doughnut almost completely won me over, but in the end, its sweetness level kept it out of the top tier. Other than the original glazed, I find the store’s filled shell doughnuts are typically among its best offerings, and there’s a lot to like about this one. A shiny layer of caramel icing coats the top, and the center is filled with a delightfully s’mores-like cream of chocolate and toasted marshmallow, a nice thematic nod to Charmander’s fiery personality. The smiling orange lizard looks like it’s jumping for joy in front of a sparkly field of flame-colored sugar sprinkles, which is undeniably fun.
I truly enjoyed my first few bites of this doughnut. After a few more, though, the cream filling started to feel thick and heavy in my mouth. The caramel icing added more sugary heft, and while the sugar sprinkles brought some welcome texture, they’re of course sweet too. Something to break up the sugariness, perhaps a warm, sharp element like allspice or cinnamon in keeping with the theme, would add dimension. If I got this doughnut again, I’d definitely split it with someone (as long as I get to keep the adorable Charmander decoration on my half).
Review: Squirtle Doughnut
Wendy Hector / Daily Meal
Squirtle was the biggest surprise of the bunch. When I first read the description and saw that the original glazed doughnut was topped with cotton candy flavored frosting, I thought there was no way I’d enjoy it — despite that treat’s fascinating ancient origins, cotton candy has never been my favorite, and cotton candy flavored items typically don’t rock my world, either. The buttercream frosting on top of Squirtle’s signature Krispy Kreme doughnut, however, has a soft and delicate sugar and vanilla flavor that I found quite pleasant.
There are a lot of fun textural things going on with the Squirtle doughnut, too, which make it one of the more interesting concoctions in this lineup. One swirl of frosting is coated in bright blue sanding sugar and sprinkled with nonpareils, with a lighter blue swirl on top of that, making it look like a bubbly ocean whirlpool. While I quite liked the contrast these lent to the mouthfeel, I did think that the frosting-to-doughnut ratio seemed off, leaving the doughnut barely perceptible under all the toppings. Squirtle’s having so much fun surfing atop that frosting wave, though, so it’s hard to be mad at it.
Review: Pikachu Doughnut
Wendy Hector / Daily Meal
When I think of Pokémon, I think of Pikachu. The iconic, impossibly cute apple-cheeked lightning-blasting mouse starred in the animated TV show as well as in its own star-studded movie, making Pikachu arguably the most recognized character in the entire ever-growing pantheon of creatures. Krispy Kreme did not disappoint with this superstar’s signature doughnut, which was my absolute favorite of the bunch. The Pikachu doughnut delivers on all fronts, once again cementing the Pokémon’s lofty status.
The visual design of this doughnut is simple, with a coating of bright yellow vanilla icing over a shell doughnut. This is topped with the same bright yellow colored nonpareils arranged in zig zagging lightning bolt shapes coming from a cheering Pikachu sugar decoration. The lightning bolts are laid on thick, adding plenty of crunch as you bite into it. Inside the shell, the doughnut is bursting with a bright and creamy lemon filling that’s rich and tart at the same time. Citrus and vanilla are always a beautiful duo, and this doughnut has them in perfect balance. Much like Pikachu’s lightning attacks, this doughnut is full of zip and zing.
Review: Jigglypuff Doughnut
Wendy Hector / Daily Meal
The Jigglypuff doughnut I got in my box looked a little sad. Unlike the other doughnuts in this collection, there’s not much to this one’s design. The piped ring of strawberry buttercream atop the original glazed doughnut is about it, and mine was lean and oddly shaped. I can’t be sure if it was the piping, the packing, or the traveling that was responsible for its off-kilter decorations, but I was more than willing to overlook this doughnut’s physical flaws if it delivered on taste. Sadly, this was one of the least successful Pokémon donuts that I tried in that department, too.
The original glazed doughnut itself is the best part. The frosting has an artificial strawberry flavor, somewhat reminiscent of strawberry milk that I remember drinking as a kid. I loved that stuff way back when, but these days my palate is a lot more sensitive to unnatural flavors, so that put me off. There are crumbled strawberry cookies atop the buttercream, but they were soft instead of crunchy, and thus didn’t offer any real texture to speak of. Poor, sweet Jigglypuff deserved a better doughnut than this.
Review: Poké Ball Doughnut
Wendy Hector / Daily Meal
My second-favorite Pokémon doughnut from Krispy Kreme is the only one that’s not themed after a specific creature. This is the Pokê Ball, simple yet successfully recreated in doughnut form. If you’re not familiar with this item, perhaps you’re among the few humans on earth that missed the Pokémon Go mobile game phenomenon in 2016 that turned every Japanese McDonald’s into a real-world game location. In that and other Pokémon games, a Poké Ball is used to capture the creatures you collect, and the red and white spherical design has become a visual shorthand for referring to the franchise.
While Krispy Kreme’s Poké Ball doughnut lacks the cute factor of the other five, it still has a great look, unmistakable to anyone with a passing knowledge of the Pokémon world. It’s an original glazed doughnut coated in a luminous layer of white vanilla icing, with a stripe of chocolate icing painted right down the center. The bottom half is left as-is, while the top half is packed with bright red sprinkles. What’s fun about this doughnut is how much variation you get. If you want a nice crunchy texture, go for the sprinkles; a little chocolate, take a bite of the middle; or just hit up the bottom half for a pure donut and vanilla experience. Flavor-wise, it’s not much different than the Bulbasaur doughnut, but the addition of sprinkles and a touch of chocolate makes it a hit.
Final thoughts
Wendy Hector / Daily Meal
There’s a lot to like about this Pokémon and Krispy Kreme collab, and overall I found it fun and festive. If you’re a long-time Pokémon fan, you’ll certainly enjoy getting to celebrate some of your favorite classic creatures in doughnut form. If you’re a Krispy Kreme devotee, or someone who’s just getting to know what Krispy Kreme doughnuts are all about, whether you are familiar with Pokémon or not, these new flavors and decorations are worth checking out.
While I found a few of the doughnuts underwhelming, none were unpleasant to eat, and a few — Pikachu and the Poké Ball, especially, with honorable mention going to Squirtle — were truly delicious and would tempt me back again. The colorful decorating on each doughnut is creative, cute, and clever, and brought a huge smile to my face when I opened the box, which is quite a feat as I’m not a morning person. For a truly immersive experience, I recommend firing up your favorite Pokémon game and snacking on these adorable doughnuts as you try to catch ’em all.
