Churros are one of life’s most delicious desserts. Like a cinnamon sugar donut, yet infinitely better, it’s almost impossible to resist churros. From concession stands to Costco to Disney, it’s easy to see how popular churros are. Your family will cheer when you learn how to make this delicious cinnamon sugar treat at home!
Reasons You’ll Love Homemade Churros
- The amazing texture of a churro combined with a cinnamon sugar coating makes them incredibly delicious.
- Homemade churros are the perfect treat to make for any party. Get ready for wide eyes and big smiles when your friends and family see churros on the menu.
- This recipe is quick and easy to make at home.
- You won’t need to scour the store because this recipe uses simple ingredients you can find at any local grocery store.
Easy Churro Recipe
Fluffy on the inside like a doughnut and crispy on the outside like a Taco Bell cinnamon twist, these homemade churros are a delicious dessert any day of the week, and they are a shining star at parties! Move over cookies and brownies, churros are ready to be the dessert star of the show!
Making churros at home is relatively simple. It’s just dough that’s deep fried to perfection with a delicious sugary coating. Once you make these, you’ll never need fair food again!
Let’s discuss how to make churros, as well as the ingredients that are needed for it. Please take note that below you will find discussion, expert tips, and answers to frequently asked questions about this recipe to help you recreate it in your kitchen.
If you *just* want the recipe itself, scroll down. The full printable recipe itself, with exact measurements and instructions, is found at the bottom of this page
Ingredients
- Water: I always recommend using whatever water you use for drinking. So if you drink from the tap, use tap. If you drink filtered, use filtered.
- Granulated Sugar: You’ll need sugar for both the coating and the dough, so if you’re running low, you might want to grab another bag.
- Salt: Table salt or kosher salt will work.
- Butter: Butter is used in the dough along with the water and egg to help absorb the flour. While the recipe calls for salted butter, if unsalted is what you have on hand, that will be just fine.
- Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract is always the best choice.
- Flour: I used all-purpose flour in this recipe. I have not tried it with gluten free or other types of flours, so I can’t speak to the results of that substitution.
- Eggs: You only need one egg for the dough. Make sure it’s a large size egg.
- Oil: Vegetable oil or canola oil is my go to for making churros. Some other options would be peanut oil, soybean oil, corn oil or sunflower oil.
- Sugar: There is sugar both in the dough and in the coating.
- Cinnamon: Part of what makes a churro so delicious is the sweet cinnamon coating!
Directions
Before you begin making your churros, pull out all of your ingredients and make sure you have everything you need! Make sure you are aware of the steps to take to safely fry foods at home.
Make The Dough
First, make the coating so that it is ready to go. To do this, whisk together ½ cup white sugar and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. Set aside in a medium sized bowl.
Next, begin making your batter. In a large saucepan, bring water, white sugar, salt, and butter to a rolling boil. Once it is boiling, turn the heat off and stir in the vanilla. Then, stir in the flour with a wooden spoon of a spatula. Continue to stir until it is smooth and thickened kind of like playdough.
Allow the batter to cool for 10 minutes.
Fry The Churros
While the batter is cooling, pour oil into a large pot to use for deep frying. The oil should be at least 2 inches deep. Heat the oil until it is around 350-360 degrees fahrenheit. I highly recommend using a thermometer for this this.
Place a paper towel on a plate next to the pot to transfer the churros onto.
After the batter has cooled, use a hand mixer to beat the egg into the batter until it is well combined.
Transfer your batter into a piping bag with a star or flower tip. Then pipe out your churros into 4-5 inch long ropes, directly into the hot oil. Use scissors to cut the batter.
Cook each churro for about 5 minutes turning them halfway through. Both sides should become a golden brown. You can fry a few churros at a time, but be careful not to overcrowd them.
As you remove each churro, roll it on the paper towel, and then quickly toss them in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Then, let them cool on a cooling rack.
Churros are best when warm so serve them right away! Enjoy with a chocolate sauce or caramel if you choose.
Expert Tips
Safety is critical when frying foods. Please check out these safety tips from the US Dept of Agriculture.
Keep oil at a consistent temperature: The temperature of the oil is important because if it gets too hot, you will quickly fry the outside of the churro, but the inside won’t be done. Use a thermometer!
Piping the churros: You do not want to use a cheap piping bag for this recipe. The batter is thick and almost the consistency of a dough. It will bust a thin, cheap piping bag. I recommend a reusable, silicone piping bag. Trust me, I learned the hard way.
Piping tip: Most people use the Wilton 1M star tip for making churros, but I prefer the 2D drop flower tip. Either one works.
Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)
How do I get my churros out of the oil? I use tongs, but a slotted spoon would work as well.
Can I use brown sugar instead of white sugar? Absolutely! It will give your dough and coating more of a molasses taste, but you can use the same amount as you would of the white sugar.
What do I do with all this oil? You could also make Struffoli!
More Recipes You’ll Love!
More Cinnamon and Sugar Recipes
If you love the cinnamon and sugar taste of these churros, I have more recipes to recommend!
- Giant Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
- Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cinnamon Sugar Frosting
- Cinnamon Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
- Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites
- Cinnamon Caramel Swirl Bars
- Cinnamon Sour Cream Coffee Cake
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Churros
Ingredients
- 1 cup water room temperature
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp salted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 4-6 cups vegetable oil for frying
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together ½ cup sugar and 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon to use as a coating. Set this aside in a medium size casserole dish so it is ready to roll the churros in right out of the oil.
- To make the batter, place water, white sugar, salt, and butter into a large saucepan. Use medium-high heat to bring this to a boil. Turn off the heat. Stir in the vanilla.
- Next, stir in the flour (a wooden spoon or spatula works best). You will need to stir this for a minute or so, until it is smooth and thickened, almost playdough-like. 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.
- Move the mixture 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 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.
- 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 place it into the cinnamon-sugar mixture, toss to cover, and place it on a cooling rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Lisa g. says
Hi. The pastry bag you recommend is no longer available at amazon.com.
Can you recommend another one please?
I love this recipe & thank you for it.
Christi Johnstone says
Anything on Amazon that is similar would work! Or they often have some in the baking section at like Target and Walmart.
Hafsa says
First time making churros and they turned out amazing! Also effortless to make 😀
Juan says
Not sure if churros are easy to make or this recipe gives effortless and delicious results. First time making churros and they are AMAZING!
Meredith says
1st time i’ve made churros, they came out really good!