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. ☺️
Absolutely the best churros recipe ive ever tried a family favourite forever.
Amazing! I’ve been looking for a churro recipe that tastes like the shops for a long time and this is it! Thanks Nagi!
Absolutely fantastic recipe, thank you so much! It worked like a charm! My son is now 19 and I can’t tell you how many trips I’ve made to buy store-made churros – if only I’d known! But, now we can make up for it!
Okay, so I have chosen to make these for a school assignment but I have some questions. Are they gluten free? And what are certain dietary requirements this recipe doesn’t meet? Thanks.
Hi Kelly, not gluten free as the recipe contains flour made from wheat. Sounds like they wouldn’t meet many dietary requirements – I’ll leave this one for you to research! N x
Thanks a lot! xxk
Loved the recipe, I found the dough a bit too sour for my liking but overall it was very nice, I even added strawberries. I did prefer using a deepfrier though, worked like a miracle.
Hi !! Am a big fan and when it’s your recipe I follow it blindly like literally blindly coz they are completely flawless !!
But this churros recipe am intrigued to ask.. why aren’t we using any egg or vanilla ? I tried this one but my dough came out like a liquidy batter so I literally added twice the amount of flour and baking powder to get to the right texture.. so of course the output got affected but am curious.. is anything missing in the recipe or is it that I didn’t follow it thru coz all other recipes keep the batter on low flame while it thickens after adding water.. pls do let me know.. thanks !!
Hi Astha! Egg isn’t needed in this batter and in fact, egg makes the inside less moist. I tried versions with egg before, and this batter without is much better. If your batter was liquidy it sounds like one of the ingredients weren’t measured correctly. Are you using proper measuring cups or scales? 🙂 N x
Hi , I’d love to know what brand and size of nozzle is good for churros please.
I added very hot water instead of boiling.. maybe that’s the catch.. will try again.. thanks 👍👍
Thank you for such a great, easy recipe. I have shied away from making churros for so long, thinking they were too difficult. Your recipe and instructions are perfect, and the churros were SO delicious!!
Love, love this recipe.
They were so good and I am definitely going to make them again
I’m so glad you loved them Karen!! N x
Hi, I am going to make this recipe at school for an assignment I have in cooking. I am really excited but I wanted to know if you mix the heavy, thickened, cream with the chocolate? It would be very helpful thanks 😊
Hi Harrison – yes the chocolate sauce ingredients are placed 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. Enjoy! N x
WINNER! WINNER!
I used this recipe in a cook off versus the more common “add flour to boiling water/oil/sugar” recipes and this was by far the winner. The lightness (due to baking powder?) of the interior was far superior and the lack of sugar in the batter prevented an over cooking of the exterior (and under cooking of interior). Unless you are looking to make only 4-5 churros, double or triple this recipe to make the oil/cleanup worth it.
Can you make the dough in advance?
Love this recipe! Super easy to follow and they came out absolutely perfect. A lot of recipes out there call for egg milk and a bunch of other ingredients however traditional churros are just water and flour, this was as close to traditional as I could find and it came out great! I couldn’t stop eating them.
That’s great to hear Marlena, I’m so happy you enjoyed them! N x
I attempted to make these yesterday and the dough was raw inside but cooked on the outside. What am I doing wrong?
Sounds like they just need cooking a little longer Renee, try a lower heat and allow to cook slightly longer to ensure the inside is completely cooked. N x
The best recipe EVER!!!!!!!!!The kids LOVED IT!!!!!!!
I wonder if this can be attempted in an air fryer??
You need the oil here to set these sorry! N x
It looks amazing, but just a little correction from a spaniard. Authentic churros only have flour, salt and water for the batter and are only coated in sugar. No cinnamon for the churros in Spain 🙂
My grandma always used cinnamon… So i guess it depends where in Spain…
Hi😁
I don’t have a star tip nozzle. would this recipe still work If I just used a circular one?
Yes you sure can Eliza, you can even drop balls of dough into the batter too! N x
how much is half a cup of chocolate?
Hi Asia, click the metric toggle in my recipes to convert to grams if you’re ever unsure 🙂 N x
Delish! Thanks Nagi for yet another winning recipe.