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. ☺️
So I come in from pounding fence posts into the ground along my driveway. Hot, tired, not in the mood to cook. And I see your recipe for Churros. NOOOOOO!
So 45 min later, I’m back at my computer, eating churros w cinnamon chocolate sauce.
Half recipe made about a dozen 2½” skinny churros. (Don’t have a piping bag or tips. Snipped a corner from a ziploc.). Had a little cinnamon sugar left over and just stirred it into my chocosauce. Yum! Have a great weekend.
This is the BEST! You’ve earned it Kris!! N x
As a Mexican I APPROVE 😍 churros brings back memories of my mom’s delicious dessert recipes….. I appreciate everything that’s Ms Nagi n Dozer
I love this!!! N X
Love Churros – thanks for this! Will this work in an air fryer? Thanks
No sorry! Churros MUST be fried! N x
You mention making the dough into small balls if we don’t have a piping bag (or the patience…. LOL). Any suggestion as to approximate size of the dough ball, please?? Thanks bunches, Nagi!
Hi Svetlana, just a tad smaller than a golf ball would work fabulously! N x
Hi there, tried this recipe with golf ball sized dough balls (try saying that ten times fast. They tasted great, but the very centers weren’t fully cooked. Should we make them smaller, fry them longer, or something else entirely? Great recipe!
Sorry I just can’t help myself:
Dozer loves his bed so highly
He lounges there not even slyly
While Nagi cleans up
And pampers the pup
He leads the life of Riley
YESSS!!! ❤️
Can these be made with a GF flour substitute?
Hi Stef, I haven’t tried but don’t think they’ll work as well sorry! N x
Nagi, have you ever had them with dulce de leche instead of chocolate? They’re even more decadent!
This is how they’re usually served here in Brazil. We can get them stuffed with dulce de leche from street vendors!
YUM! I love this idea too! N x
Mmhhh… I’m originally from Argentina, so we eat churros there and even have “churrerías”. The most common churros for us are coated with just granulated sugar (super good, I promise). And the second most common have a dulce de leche filling!! I miss churros so much here in Switzerland. My mom and grandma made them a couple of times and they used a “press” (the one you use for biscuits too), but it’s so hard to press the dough lol
I’d happily eat any kind of churros Romi! Sounds divine!! N x
EVERYTHING turns out when I use your recipes, Nagi !! This recipe looks very simple but I’m worried about cooking in so much oil.
I’ve made these multiple times! For me, they need a little more flour in order to hold their shape, but thank you!! They are AWESOME!
these worked alot better the second time, by the time quarentine is over, my family will love my cooking 😈
They will have no choice 😂
Very good, i had a bit of trouble, they were too runny, but other than that these were exellant!
Hi Aqualamuza, sorry you had issues here – did you use 150g flour to 250ml water? N x
I double checked all the ingredients, and made sure I had the correct measurements. I might have added a tiny bit over the 250 ml of water.
how would i make them less runny?
Hi,
I just made this Churros for tea. It’s so easy and delish. Thanks for sharing. This recipe is definitely a keeper . Wish I could send you a pic. 😜
Next up, I wanna try out the hot cross buns. Unfortunately I can’t get hold of yeast anywhere due to the lockdown . Guess the whole of spore is baking .
Hi Nagi – where did you buy your piping bag from?
Hi Jess, just the local kitchen shop 🙂 N x
I was hesitant to make churros because I thought I will never get them right however, one I saw you had it in your selection of recipes I’m like ok this can’t go wrong as everything I tried was delish!
Sadly, when I fried the churros they either burst in the oil or after I took them out of the oil!
I don’t really know what’s the problem. Where did I go wrong?
Hi Berry, Sorry you had issues here – sounds like the oil was slightly too hot causing them to cook too quickly and burst – N x
I’ve just discovered your blog, and this has now become my Covid-isolation obsession!
I can’t wait to try these. Like you, I’m not a fan of deep frying (in fact, I’ve never deep fried anything before)… So I have a bit of a basic question. What do you do with the oil once you’ve used it for frying? Chuck it…?
Hi Caroline, I usually let it cool then save it for another fry session 🙂 N x
I often reuse deep frying oil (I’m too stingy to throw it away!) Note – I only deep fry with canola or sunflower oil.
I let it cool down completely, then I use a funnel lined with filter paper (coffee papers work fine) to sift out the bits.
I store in a separate bottle to the ‘clean’ oil – you will see a colour difference once you have deep fried it.
Then use as you would in normal cooking.
Hi there! I want to make these churros but I’m a little confused. I think because I’ve always made churros one way…over heat to form the dough and then slightly cooled to add the eggs. But this recipe seems too good to be true. No heat and no eggs? Am I understanding the instructions correctly? Just add all ingredients to a bowl, mix, and pipe?
Thanks kindly!
Hi Rachel, yes that’s correct! You can see it all for yourself in the video too! N x
I look forward to making these. I was wondering about the ingredient “1 cup boiled water”, do you mean “boiling” water? In other words, you’ve just boiled it and so it’s super hot when you add it to the flour? Just wanting to clarify so I get it right. I saw a comment where it didn’t have the right consistency for someone, and I wonder if it’s because they didn’t use boiling hot water. Thanks!
Hi Georgialee, yes one cup of recent boiled water is needed in this recipe – N x
Wow, wow, wow. So easy and amazing. I even froze some and reheated and they were still great!
I made these for the first time tonight, the first batch was far too runny I put it in the oil just to try it out and it looked like I had a wok full of intestines 😆 the second batch I used a lot less water and was very successful,
Hi Carol, sorry you had issues here, that doesn’t sound right at all! Did you follow the recipe exactly? N x
I followed the recipe exactly, I will just be careful when adding the water in future.