Homemade Churros
A fun and tasty Mexican treat, these Homemade Churros are quick to put together, are so delicious and make the perfect snack or dessert!
A FUN MEXICAN DESSERT
Have you ever had the Churros at Disneyland? Every time I go, I gotta save room for some churros! Who doesn’t love a fried treat that is rolled in a cinnamon sugar mixture? I know that I do and this recipe is one that we whip up when we are craving our favorite Disneyland treat. They make a great snack or dessert. Once you start making them yourself, you won’t be able to stop. Nothing tastes better than a fresh churro! So if you love Churros or have never tried to make them yourself, then you have to make this Homemade Churro recipe.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
You need an oil that is good at high temperatures so I recommend peanut oil, soybean oil, corn oil, or sunflower oil.
They are made with a choux pastry which is basically a cooked (paste looking) dough that puffs up when baked or fried.
Yes. It is an essential ingredient in churro dough. It helps to bind everything together.
Generally this is because the dough was piped into the oil before the oil came to the correct temperature. So it sits in the oil and soaks it up as the oil is still getting hot. Make sure to use a cooking thermometer to keep a consistent temperature while frying.
A little of both. The outside should be slightly crunchy while the inside is soft and tender.
We love serving with a homemade chocolate or caramel sauce! My Salted Caramel Sauce works perfect with these!
More than likely your oil was too hot. So the outside gets brown really fast but the inside hasn’t had time to cook fully. An oil thermometer is essential and making sure you don’t pipe out super large pieces of dough.
These are best stored in an airtight container lined with paper towels at room temperature where they will keep for up to 2 days. Storing them in the refrigerator will make them go soggy. These can also be frozen. Place cooled churros in a freezer bag and they can be frozen up to 1 month. To defrost, remove to refrigerator overnight. To reheat bake in oven at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes or pop them in the air fryer for a few minutes.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- water
- granulated sugar
- salt
- salted butter
- vanilla
- all-purpose flour
- egg
- vegetable oil, for frying
- cinnamon
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE CHURROS:
In a small bowl, whisk together ½ cup white sugar and 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon in a medium-sized casserole dish. Set this aside. You’ll use this for coating the churros later.
To make the batter: add water, white sugar, salt, and butter into a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat then stir in the vanilla extract.
Then stir in the flour. You will need to stir this for a minute or so, until it is smooth and thickened. It will start to pull away from the edges of the pan. Transfer the thickened batter to a large bowl and allow it to cool for at least 10 minutes.
While the batter is cooling, pour the oil into a large pot to use for deep frying. You want the oil to be about 2 inches deep. I highly recommend starting your oil on medium heat and using a candy thermometer to check the temperature to make sure it heats to around 350 – 360 degrees fahrenheit. This is important because if the oil gets too hot, you will quickly fry the outside of the churro but the inside will not cook fully and you will end up with a burnt outside and gooey, undercooked middle. Place a paper towel on a plate next to the pot for draining the churros later.
Now that your batter has cooled some, use a hand mixer to beat the egg into the batter until well combined. Begin beating as soon as you put the egg in so it doesn’t start to cook.
Place the churro dough into a piping bag with a star or flower tip.
(Important note: You need to have a sturdy piping bag for this. I don’t recommend using a plastic baggie or thin disposable piping bags. The batter is almost the consistency of playdough so it will easily bust a thin piping bag when trying to push the batter through the piping tip. A reusable, silicone piping bag is really best. I learned the hard way!)
Pipe churros into 4-5 inch long ropes, directly into the hot oil, using scissors to cut the batter.
Fry a few churros at a time but do not crowd them. It should take about 5 minutes to fully cook them but they float to the top of the oil once you pipe them in so turn them at 2.5 minutes to allow both sides to become golden brown.
As you remove each churro from the oil, roll it quickly on the paper towel.
Then immediately place it into the cinnamon-sugar mixture, toss to coat well, and place it on a cooling rack.
Serve immediately with chocolate or caramel sauce or both!
Enjoy!
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Homemade Churros
Ingredients
For the coating:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
For the churros:
- 1 cup water
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 5 Tablespoons salted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 4-6 cups vegetable oil for frying
Optional Garnish:
- Caramel and chocolate sauce
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together ½ cup white sugar and 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon in a medium-sized casserole dish. Set this aside. You'll use this for coating the churros later.
- To make the batter: Add water, 2 Tablespoons sugar, salt, and butter into a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat then stir in the vanilla extract
- Then stir in the flour. You will need to stir this for a minute or so, until it is smooth and thickened. It will start to pull away from the pan and almost look like play dough.
- Transfer the thickened batter to a large bowl and allow it to cool for at least 10 minutes.
- While the batter is cooling, pour the oil into a large pot to use for deep frying. You want the oil to be about 2 inches deep.
- I highly recommend starting your oil on medium heat and using a candy thermometer to check the temperature to make sure it heats to around 350 – 360 degrees fahrenheit. This is important because if the oil gets too hot, you will quickly fry the outside of the churro but the inside will not cook fully and you will end up with a burnt outside and gooey, undercooked middle.
- Place a paper towel on a plate next to the pot for draining the churros later.
- Once the churro batter has cooled some, use a hand mixer to beat the egg into the batter until well combined.
- Place the churro dough into a piping bag with a star or flower tip. This batter is VERY thick. You must use a sturdy piping bag – see my notes below.
- Pipe churros into 4-5 inch long ropes, directly into the hot oil, using scissors to cut the batter. Don't overfill the pot or they won't cook evenly – work in batches.
- It should take about 5 minutes to fully cook. Turn them once during cooking to make sure both sides get browned evenly.
- Immediately as you remove each churro from the oil, roll it quickly on the paper towel. Then place it into the cinnamon-sugar mixture, toss to coat, and place it on a cooling rack.
- Continue with the rest of the churros.
- Serve immediately with chocolate or caramel sauce.
Notes
- Important note: You need to have a sturdy piping bag for this. I don’t recommend using a plastic baggie or thin disposable piping bags. The batter is almost the consistency of dough, it’s very thick so it will easily bust a thin piping bag when trying to push the batter through the piping tip. A reusable, silicone piping bag is really best, promise, I learned the hard way.
- Dipping sauces not included in nutritional value.
- You can easily double this recipe to have more on hand or keep for later.
- These can be frozen, see my tips on how to do that.
- Use a candy thermometer to make sure that you maintain a consistent temperature.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
