This churros recipe is astonishingly easy, and makes a truly great churros that’s hot and crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside. The molten chocolate dipping sauce is mandatory, and you’ll have an entire batch on the table in a mere 20 minutes!
BONUS: Churros are great for making ahead, making it a great party dessert.
Churros recipe
Up until several years ago, this churros obsessed food blogger thought Churros was native to Mexico. Thus on her first (but certianly not last) trip to Mexico, she was expecting to be in churro heaven. Churros, churros, churros everywhere.
But no. I barely saw churro at all.
Duh. Churro isn’t native to Mexico. It’s Spanish!🤦🏻♀️
So just as tourists here in Australia wonder why there aren’t kangaroos bounding around on the streets of Sydney and koalas snuggled in trees everywhere, I guess I totally missed the Churro memo.
Having said that though, it is actually very popular in the touristy areas of Mexico!!
We don’t break out the deep fryer very often around here. But with the promise of hot crispy churros waiting on the other side, and also because we only need to shallow fry rather than deep fry like when making things like Fried Chicken, we deem churros to be Fry-Worthy.
Also, it’s FRY-day today.😂 (FRIday) Admit it, you laughed!!
What goes in churros
All you need is flour, baking powder, oil and boiling water to make the batter, then cinnamon and sugar for coating.
Boiling water is key here – it makes the batter a unique “gummy” texture so when piped and cooked, it retains the signature ridges. There’s no sugar in the batter – with the cinnamon sugar coating plus mandatory dipping sauce, you absolutely don’t need it.
What does churros taste like?
They taste like cinnamon doughnuts – but BETTER because you’ve got crispy ridges. The inside is fluffy like a doughnut and they are at their prime freshly made, but they reheat exceptionally well too making them a great make ahead for parties!
How to make churros
The batter is a mere dump-and-mix job, and it’s got a unique thick “gummy” texture so the churros holds its form when it’s piped, even before it hits the oil.
The safest and easiest way to cook churros is to use scissors. Because the batter is so thick, you can pipe the batter out and it will hang from the piping bag as you lower it into the oil (as opposed to dropping out, causing the oil to splash), then just snip with scissors.
How long to make them
They come in varying lengths, with longer ones (ie 30cm / 1 foot) being more of a novelty type at carnivals and tourist hot spots. Around 15cm / 6″ is a more practical length – still long enough to look impressive, but short enough to cook in a standard size household pot.
You could also make shorter ones for small bite size options, and if you don’t have a piping bag, just drop balls of dough into the oil and make churros doughnuts!
How to serve churros
I know this might sound like an odd section to include for those of you with extensive churros eating experience – but actually, churros is not so common here in Australia so let me describe how to eat it!
It’s traditionally a street snack, so you buy one long one or a little paper cup with a few shorter ones in it, then eat it while walking around on the street. Managing a dipping sauce while on the move can become a bit tricky, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.
At home, I just pile them up on a platter with a little cup of the dipping sauce, then you just dunk and eat!
Don’t count the churros and compare to what the recipe says it will make. I’ll just tell you now – there’s two missing!
How to REHEAT Churros!
As with anything deep fried, churros are at their prime when they’re freshly made. They stay warm and crisp for around 20 minutes once they come out of the oil, which is ample time to cook a whole batch, coat in cinnamon sugar then serve.
After 30 minutes or so, they soften. And though, like doughnuts, they are still delicious when cold and soft, it’s definitely worth popping them in the oven to reheat and more importantly, crisp up again.
And if you are making these ahead intentionally (as opposed to just reheating leftovers), store the churros WITHOUT the sugar coating – this will make them reheat to near freshly cooked perfection, then just roll in the cinnamon sugar and serve! – Nagi x
PS BONUS: Churros impresses people. “You MADE these??!” *She beams with pride, making a weak attempt to hide her glee*😂
Watch how to make it
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Churros Recipe
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- 1/4 cup caster / superfine sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Churros
- 1 cup flour, plain / all purpose (Note 1)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable, canola or olive oil (not extra virgin olive oil)
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 cups+ vegetable or canola oil , for frying
Chocolate Sauce
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate or semi sweet chocolate chips (Note 2)
- 1/2 cup thickened / heavy cream (heavy cream)
Instructions
- Cinnamon sugar coating: Combine sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl, set aside.
- Batter: Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add oil and water and mix until just combined – it should be a thick, gummy batter, like a wet sticky dough, not thin and watery.
- Piping bag: Transfer dough into a piping bag with a 8mm / 1/3" star tip nozzle. Set aside while oil heats.
- Heat oil: Heat 5cm / 2" oil over medium high in a small pot, wok or small but deep skillet (Note 3) to 170°C/340°F, or until it takes 20 seconds for a small cube of bread to turn golden.
- Pipe & snip: Pipe 15cm / 6" lengths of dough into the oil, snipping with scissors (snip close to oil surface to avoid splash). Do 3 to 4 per batch, makes 10 to 12 in total.
- Cook: Cook for 2-3 minutes or until golden and crisp, rolling occasionally.
- Drain: Remove onto paper towel lined plate to drain. Then roll in sugar. Serve hot with Chocolate Sauce!
Chocolate Sauce:
- Place in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until smooth. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool and thicken slightly.
Recipe Notes:
Originally published 2016. Long overdue for fresh new photos, brand new process steps and video!
More recipes that are easier than you think
A few more recipes people assume are too hard, but are much easier than you think!
Life of Dozer
He’s not allowed in the shoot room when I deep fry – and he ain’t happy about it!
And from the original publication date in 2016:
Caved. ☺️
I am just going to give you five star on all of your recipes….you are my go to for recipe hunting.
Thank you Nagi, thank you Dozer.
Aww you flatter me Beth! N x
Hey Nagi, I’m doing an assignment for school and I’m thinking of making churros for the assignment and I’m pretty sure that I’m going to use this recipe. Thanks so much! And also, I heard that adding eggs makes the churros softer but for this recipe are eggs needed?
Definitely NOT! They are beautifully soft inside 🙂
These are the best churros I have ever made. The one thing I noticed is in my opinion it makes 2 to 3 times the amount of sugar/cinnamon mixture needed. But other than that it’s absolutely perfect. I know it says don’t refrigerate, but I wonder about making a huge batch and then freezing. Might not be quite as good, but maybe.
Yesssss!!! so glad to hear that Nathan! I use extra sugar mixture to make it easier to coat the churros, if you use too little it is hard to roll in it. 🙂 N x ❤️
Hi Nagi, this morning I was wondering about what snack to make for my family, and gladly I just bumped into your recipe. It looks super easy so I really want to give it a try, but have you ever tried to bake the dough instead of frying it? Will the taste become less tasty or it won’t give significant difference? Thank you! Good video anyway! xoxo
Hi Nabila, unfortunately that won’t work because the dough is too lose to hold it’s shape in the oven 🙂 N xx
Nagi, you killed me! Best ever Churro recipe. I’m totally addicted.
Yesssssss!!!!!
Thank you for the recipe it takes me back to my childhood, when my mom would make them every Saturday morning. Being Spanish but born in Canada you cannot find churros anywhere, I made my mother and father proud when I made your recipe. I was wondering if you would have a Spanish recipe for rice pudding, with my parents being in their 80’s my mom just doesn’t make desserts anymore and her memory isn’t what it was I am sad to say. Can you help.
Gosh I don’t have a Spanish rice pudding recipe but I’m very interested to find out! I’m sorry to hear about your mother’s memory 🙁 I will have a look – if you don’t hear back from me, give me a prod! N x
This was a great recipe! I was wondering how you got your camera placed in different views to make the video. Do you have a camera man? I would really like to know because it’s very hard for me to take videos myself. I’m planning on making a website but I just can’t find the right place to put my camera!
Hi Lulu! I shoot most of my videos myself 🙂 I just use a tripod!
These were great, thanks for the recipe! I didn’t use the cinnamon (that’s an American addition, I’ve never had churros in Spain with cinnamon sugar) and they tasted just like the ones in Spain. What a great find!
That’s terrific to hear Ben! Thanks for letting me know – N xx
Nagi,
Do you have a recipe for Mexican tablita? I have looked everywhere but can not find a recipe for them
Linda
Found this one if its any use to you.
Must admit I’ve never even heard of it! Sorry!
OH MY GOSH, Nagi these were soooo good!! My husband spent two years in Spain and loved it, so a few weeks ago I surprised him with a Spanish themed at home date. We made your weeknight paella, Spanish tortilla, and these for dessert. All totally amazing, but these churros – oh my goodness we could not stop eating them! Soooo good. I will never buy churros again – these were a million times better than any I’ve ever had! Thank you for helping me give my hubs a fun date 🙂
That sounds amazing Jessica! I know, aren’t these insane? Who knew churros were so easy!
Hi Nagi, would it work though bake them in oven rather than fry?
Sorry that won’t work!
Can’t wait to try these, along with the rest of your Spanish Fiesta menus! Is there a certain oil that you prefer for deep frying these beauties? Also, Do you think it would work to fry the in an electric skillet? I have just tiny burners and low BTU’s on my stove (we live in an RV), and I think that the electric skillet would have more even heat (and more surface area, ha ha!
Hi Penny! I use vegetable oil 🙂 I think an electric skillet would work fine, these are quite thin so you don’t need great depth of oil! N x
Just made these and they are gooooooooood. Thanks Nagi for another great, simple, and easy to do recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it Makky! Thanks for letting me know! N x
Hey! I’m going to try this today, but without the chocolate dip. Do they still taste good without it?
Also, I noticed other churro recipes include sugar in the dough. Any reason why there’s no sugar added to the dough in this recipe?
Hi Liz! They taste AMAZING even without the chocolate dip! I don’t use sugar in my dough because it simply doesn’t need it, there is enough sugar in on the coating. You won’t miss it in the dough. Especially because these are thin ones so they cook quickly. Couldn’t not have sugar in, for example, doughnuts 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Just curious if you have ever added cocoa powder? These look delicious but I’m a sucker for chocolate and wondered if you have experimented before.
Hi Megan! The recipe would change quite a lot to make them chocolate, adding cocoa alone wouldn’t actually give them a great deal of chocolate flavour unless you add loads, in which case there would need to be other adjustments made 🙂
Churros have been on my bucket list for some time, I really need to make some. I did knwo they were spanish as I had them for breakfast in Madrid…part of my travel intinerary lol. And that whole dinner spread??? Expect me over for 6pm 🙂
You gotta get onto that bucket list of yours!!! Seriously, homemade churro is so good it’s evil!
Hi Kat! It makes 8 churros, so enough for 4 people 🙂 I will clarify in the recipe. As for the dipping sauce, I found this dairy free one, does that help? http://www.allergyfreealaska.com/2014/05/13/rich-decadent-dairy-free-hot-fudge-sauce/
I hope you do give this a go Karen! Honestly, hot homemade churros is incredible!!!
These churros look ahhhhmazing, I’d like 10 please! I’m definitely gonna try this recipe this weekend 🙂
I’d like 10 for myself too…..
Hey Nagi, Thanks so much for introducing me to this Spanish treat. I enjoyed taste testing this delicious treat so much!! I love the fact that you can make ahead and crisp up in the oven afterwards. It’s the first time I’ve tasted churros and they are so super delicious, hey… what’s not to like about homemade deep fried dough in cinnamon sugar. YUM!!! I will be getting a dedicated electric deep fryer just to make this and also tempura of course ….my other fav deep fried food. Tempura is on my wish list recipe for your Mum’s recipetinJapan site. I am so so amazed by Dozer’s self restraint …My baby Albert has a long way to go to show his table manners… he is a food inhaler/gobbler and will take food straight off my fingers without hesitation within a 10cm radius of his head… Freya on the other hand is a gentle nibbler .. what a well mannered lady she is. This recipe will be on my party food list.
I just LOVE churros! I have never tried making them ahead of time because they are the best when they are still hot and fresh out of the fryer but I like your suggestion to warm them up in the oven to get the crispy and hot again. I am with you on deep frying, I am not a fan of deep frying and I rarely do it but this has me craving a churro for sure!
Dozer looks like he is being a gentleman about taking the churro, what a sweetie!
The reheating tip works brilliantly!! I only discovered it because they got cold after shooting and I refused to eat cold soggy churros!!