Open since 1938, this North Shore bakery has a deep menu of European-style pastries, breads and cookies. From March 16-19, they offer $3.75 zeppole made with a sweet dough split and filled with ricotta cheese and then topped with a cherry or strawberry.

Sicilian bakery New Paradise Bakery opened in Jefferson Park in 2022 and has earned a loyal following with its giant cannoli, beautifully decorated cakes and brioche calzones. For St. Joseph’s Day, they’re offering four varieties of zepple for $3.25: custard and topped with an amarena cherry, cannoli cream with pistachio, chocolate custard with chocolate shavings, and whipped cream with strawberry.

All Mariano’s stores are selling zeppole from Palermo Bakery for St. Joseph’s Day for $2.99. They’re made with cream puff dough sliced and and filled with pastry or cannoli cream, then sprinkled with vanilla-scented powered sugar and topped with a cherry or candied orange peel.

Family owned and operated since the 1950’s, this Chicago institution serves up a wide variety of focaccia, panini, sandwiches and pan pizza along with their bread, pastries, cakes and cookies. For St. Joseph’s Day, they offer traditional custard and cannoli filled zeppoli for $3.75 each.

Owned by the Turano family, Chicago Pastry has deep roots in local baking. They offer three different zeppole: custard filled topped with a cherry ($3.59), cannoli cream with chocolate chips topped with pistachios ($4.29), and French cream (custard mixed with whipped cream) topped with fresh strawberries ($4.79).

Family-owned bakery Il Giardino Del Dolce, which means the Garden of Sweets, has been dishing out traditional Italian desserts since 1986. They extend their hours the week of St. Joseph’s Day to provide more opportunity to pick up traditional baked or fried custard-filled zeppole ($3) and novel varieties made with black cherry, cannoli filling, Nutella, pistachio or Boston cream and topped with a cherry and candied orange peel ($3.75).

Open for nearly 100 years, this family-run offers seven varieties of zeppole for the holiday, all priced at $3.90, including cannoli, blueberry, peach and pineapple.

Baking up custom cakes and seasonal treats since 1911, Roeser’s Bakery celebrates St. Joseph Day by offering zeppole filled with pastry cream and topped with a cherry and a cannoli and strawberry variety ($3.49) March 16-17.

Open since 1970, D’Amato’s uses a coal-burning oven to bake its bread, pizza and pastries. St. Joseph’s Day is always busy as they dish out custard zeppole topped with cherries and a cannoli version sprinkled with ground pistachio. The treats are available through Easter for anyone looking for something sweet with their lunch or cappucino.

The Wicker Park Italian pasticceria is selling both baked and fried zeppole through March 20. Available in small or standard sizes for $2 or $4, the treats are stuffed with pastry cream with a cherry on top, pistachio cream with hazelnut topping, or chocolate cream with chocolate chips. Those looking to share can pick up a $40 zeppoloni, a cake made with zeppole dough stuffed with fruit and pastry cream and garnished with a cherry.

Owned and operated by the same family since 1908, Ferrara Bakery is one of the oldest, still running bakeries in Chicago’s Little Italy. In addition to a litany of pastries, breads and cakes, this Taylor Street classic also offers a full menu of sandwiches, salads and entrees. They stay simple with their zeppole, using sweet cream topped with a piping of cherry gel, and will be preparing thousands of them to sell March 16-19 for $3.25 each or $36 for a dozen.

This bakery, open since 1950, keeps their zeppole simple: custard filled and topped with a cherry for $3 a piece.