Churros Recipe
This delightfully crispy and crunchy Churros recipe is light and fluffy on the inside, golden and crispy on the outside with a cinnamon sugar coating, perfect with chocolate dipping sauce!
I have to say, I’m not a fan of deep frying anything. But! I’ll make an exception for Churros because when made right (and it’s not that hard) they’re delightfully light, not overly sweet and taste so yum! My favorite thing about them is the chocolate dipping sauce paired with the cinnamon sugar coating.
If you’re looking for more delicious bite sized desserts check out my Profiteroles, Eclairs and my Baklava!
What are Churros?
A lot of people assume, as I did, that Churros are Mexican in origin, and while they’re very popular there, Churros originated in Spain. Although, these are popular everywhere because they’re so darn delicious!
Churros are an iconic looking dessert made of a choux pastry that is a lot stiffer than what you would use to make Eclairs and Profiteroles, that way they keep their iconic ridged look when cooked to golden, crispy perfection! They’re coated in cinnamon sugar and so delicious with dipping sauces like my Chocolate Sauce!
Ingredients To Make Churros
Note: the whole recipe, including the ingredient quantities, can be found at the bottom of this page – just scroll down to the bottom, or click the ‘Jump to Recipe’ button at the top of this post.
- Cinnamon – I used ground cinnamon.
- Caster sugar – also known as superfine sugar. This sugar is best to use for coating the churros because it’s fine and not gritty. You can use granulated sugar if you wish.
- All-purpose flour – also known as plain flour.
- Baking powder – helps make the churros nice and light! Make sure your baking powder is active by mixing 1 tsp with a tbsp of boiling water. If it fizzes, it’s active.
- Salt – I used fine salt.
- Unsalted butter – You can use salted butter if you wish, just leave out the salt.
- Egg – I used a large egg.
- Vegetable oil – I used vegetable oil for frying. Just make sure you fill whichever pot you’re using to fry about 4-5cm in depth. I used a fairly large pot so I needed a lot of oil. You can use other types of oil too like canola or peanut oil.
For the full list of ingredients on making the Chocolate Sauce, see my post on the blog!
How to make Churros!
- Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Add the butter and water in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until a smooth dough forms.
- Allow to cool slightly before adding a whole egg. Mix until a sticky dough forms.
Let’s talk dough consistency – the dough should be sticky and when squeezing out of the bag should feel firm but able to come out when squeezed slowly.
- Add the batter to a piping bag fitted with an open star tip.
- Slowly and firmly squeeze the batter out into the hot preheated oil and use scissors to cut when you squeeze out about 4-5 inches.
- Cook until golden. I like to stir the churros once they’ve cooked and formed a little using a slotted metal spoon to get the oil to cook them evenly. Otherwise, one side is darker in color than the other side.
- Roll around in the cinnamon sugar and serve warm with Chocolate Sauce!
Tips and Tricks For Recipe Success!
- Measure out using kitchen scales – measuring ingredients out by weight and not cups is the best way to get consistent results every time!
- Dough consistency – the dough should be sticky once made. When it’s squeezed out of the piping bag it should come out easily with some pressure when squeezed out slowly.
- Squeeze slowly! – when piping the churros make sure you squeeze slowly. The batter is quite thick and sticky but when squeezed slowly, should come out without the piping bag popping off.
- Make sure your oil is the right temperature – Use a candy thermometer to check that your temperature is 180C / 360F, that way your churros cook all the way without burning and remaining raw in the center.
- Getting an even color – I like to stir the churros once they’ve cooked and formed a little using a slotted metal spoon to get the oil to cook them evenly. Otherwise, one side is darker in color than the other side.
Got Questions about making Churros?
What do Churros taste like?
Surprisingly not overly sweet! There’s no sugar in the batter. They get all their sweetness from the cinnamon sugar and dipping sauce. The inside is fluffy, creamy and the outsides are golden and perfectly crispy.
What if I don’t have a piping tip to make Churros?
If you don’t have the exact same piping tip as I do, you could still use something like a 1M or French Star Tip. If you have no piping tip at all you could just pipe blobs of batter and make donut hole style churros.
Can I make these ahead of time?
Yep! These churros stay crispy for a couple hours after they’re made but are better served fresh. You can make the batter up to an hour ahead of time.
Why have my churros lost their form?
This typically happens if the ingredients haven’t been measured properly or if there’s too much butter in the churros.
Why are my churros raw inside?
Your oil was too hot. This can cause the outside of your churros to look cooked on the outside, but there wasn’t enough time for the inside to cook. If you continue cooking at a hot temperature, you will likely burn the outside before the inside is cooked.
Why are my churros really oily?
Oil was too cold! Make sure your oil is at the correct temperature: 180C / 360F. You can check this using a candy thermometer!
Gave this a go? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok for more great recipes!
More bite sized desserts!
Baklava Recipe
Chocolate Profiteroles
Chocolate Eclairs
Sponge Kisses
Best Ever Chewy Chocolate Brownies
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @thescranline on Facebook and Instagram!
Churros
Serves 12
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar
- 1/3 cup / 70 g caster sugar, (see notes)
- 2 tsp cinnamon powder
Churros
- 1 cup / 150 g all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp / 3 g baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup / 250 ml water
- 2 tbsp / 30 g unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 4 cups / 1 liter vegetable oil, peanut oil or canola oil for frying
Chocolate Sauce
- 1 cup / 200 g milk cooking chocolate, (see notes)
- 2 tbsp / 30 g unsalted butter
- 2 tsp brown sugar, (see notes)
- ½ cup / 125 ml heavy cream, (see notes)
Instructions
Cinnamon Sugar
- Combine the sugar and cinnamon together in a pie dish or wide mixing bowl.
Chocolate Sauce (Microwave Method)
- Add all the ingredients to a large, microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high, for 20 seconds at a time, mixing well between each interval until smooth. Allow to cool slightly before pouring on top of some desserts. Goes nicely on top of ice-cream when it’s warm.
- To thin out your sauce for things like drizzling on cupcake and cakes, simply microwave for 10 seconds at a time, stirring between each interval until it’s thin enough to drizzle.
Chocolate Sauce (Double Boiler Method)
- To make the chocolate sauce over a double boiler, simply add the ingredients to a large heatproof bowl. Place the bowl on top of a pot of gently simmering water making the sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. Stir until melted. Take off the heat and allow to cool completely.
Churros
- Begin preheating your oil on medium heat. It will need to reach 180C / 360F before you cook the churros. Too hot and the churros will burn on the outside and stay raw on the inside. Too low a heat and the churros will soak in all the oil. The best way to determine the temperature is by using an oil or candy thermometer.
- Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a medium sized mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add the water and butter into a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Once boiled, add the dry ingredients in and mix until uniform dough forms. Take care not to overmix.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes at room temperature before adding a whole egg. Mix using a spatula or wooden spoon. The mixture will resemble a thick gummy batter that is soft enough to pipe and slightly sticky.
- Add the dough to a piping bag fitted with a medium sized open star tip.
- When the oil has reached the correct temperature, pipe 4 – 5-inch logs into the oil. Cook only 2-3 churros at a time so the oil temperature doesn’t drop too much. I had a fairly large pot so I could fit about 5 churros in mine.
- Cook about 4 minutes or until golden in color and crispy on the outside. Repeat this until all the batter is made. You’ll get about 10-12 churros.
- Finish by rolling around in the cinnamon sugar and serve hot with chocolate dipping sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
