Homemade Churros (Air Fryer or Stovetop)

Make a batch of Homemade Churros quickly and easily either in the air fryer or on the stovetop. This wonderfully fluffy Spanish dessert is a real treat! Topped with cinnamon sugar and served with a silky chocolate sauce.

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The full recipe with ingredients/instructions is available on the recipe card at the bottom of the post. Important tips/tricks are also included in the blog post.

Churros are one of my favorite treats and my homemade version did not disappoint! When cooked in the air fryer, they are wonderfully fluffy and pillow-like, but they can also be cooked in the more traditional way on the stovetop.

Air frying is one of my favorite ways of cooking and these churros come out perfectly everytime! My chocolate molten lava cakes are another favorite air fryer dessert, and be sure to check out all of my other air fryer recipes.

How To Make Homemade Churros

Gather your ingredients to make the churros:

• Butter
• Milk
• Water
• White sugar
• Salt
• All-purpose flour
• Eggs
• Vanilla extract

• Add 6 tablespoon butter, ½ cup milk, ½ cup water, 1 tablespoon sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, and ¼ teaspoon salt to a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Once the mixture starts to boil and the butter has melted, remove from heat and add all of the all-purpose flour at once.

• Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture becomes a thick paste. Remove from heat and set aside for 5-7 minutes. The temperature of the dough should cool down to 145 – 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In a separate bowl, add one egg and lightly whisk. Add egg to the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until it’s incorporated. Do that with the remaining 2 eggs, making sure to whisk each one first and stir it in one at a time.
• Let the dough rest 10 minutes. The dough will look shiny and glossy.

• While the dough is resting, preheat air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Add dough to a piping bag with a large star tip.

• Lightly spray the air fryer basket with oil or place a parchment liner in the basket.
• Pipe the dough into the air fryer basket, making sure they’re not touching.

• Close air fryer and cook dough on 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 7-8 minutes or until golden.

• While the dough is cooking, make cinnamon sugar by combining ¼ cup sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl.
• Make chocolate sauce by combining ¼ cup heavy cream and 6 tablespoon chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in a microwave in 30 seconds increments, stirring each time. The chocolate sauce is done when smooth.
• Once the churro dough is done, toss in the cinnamon-sugar mix. Serve with chocolate dipping sauce or whichever sauce you prefer.

Can you make these churros on the stovetop?

If you don't have an air fryer, don't fret! You can still make these on the stovetop. Fry the dough in a heavy bottomed pan with oil until they are golden brown. Be sure to scroll down to get the full stovetop instructions.

Here's an image of air fried churro dough (top) and deep fried churro dough (bottom) for comparison. The air fryer churro dough is puffier and a little less crispy than the stovetop version. You can always make both and do a comparison for yourself. My taste testers preferred the air fried version.

What are churros?

Churros are a fried dough like pastry, they originated in Spain, but they are also popular in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in South America. It is somewhere between an eclair and a doughnut in taste and texture.

The dough is created by making a choux dough, a cooked dough and then fried.

Can you make them ahead of time?

Churros, hands down are at their best when they are served warm out of the fryer. However, you can make the dough can be made the day before and stored in an airtight container in the fridge - just allow it to come up to room temperature before piping.

If you do have any leftover, they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days.

Recipe Notes and Tips

• There is no additional oil needed if air frying churros. They will get brown on their own in the air fryer.
• If frying the churros in oil on the stovetop, make sure the temperature of the oil stays near 360 degrees. Too hot will burn your churros and too cold will make them soggy and greasy.
• Toss the churros in the cinnamon sugar while they are still hot so that the sugar sticks to them.

More Easy Dessert Recipes

• Air Fryer S'mores
• Homemade Chocolate Pudding
• Instant Pot Rice Pudding
• Southern Peach Cobbler
• Caribbean Rum Cake

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Homemade Churros

Make a batch of homemade churros quickly and easily either in the air fryer or on the stovetop. Made with a few simple ingredients, this wonderfully fluffy Spanish dessert is a real treat!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Spain

Keyword air fryer churros, easy churro recipe, homemade churros

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 13 minutes minutes

Total Time 38 minutes minutes

Servings 12 people

Calories 186kcal

Author Tanya

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• 6 Tablespoon butter cut into ½ inch pieces
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup water
• 1 Tablespoon white sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Cinnamon Sugar

• ¼ cup white sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Chocolate sauce

• 6 Tablespoon chocolate chips milk chocolate
• ¼ cup heavy cream

Instructions

Air Fryer Instructions:

• Add butter, milk, water, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt to a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Once the mixture starts to boil and the butter has melted, remove from heat and stir in all add all-purpose flour at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture becomes a thick paste. Remove from heat and set aside for 5-7 minutes. The temperature of the dough should cool down to 145 - 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In a separate bowl, add one egg and lightly whisk. Add egg to the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until it’s incorporated. Do that with the remaining eggs, making sure to whisk each one first and stir it in one at a time. Let the dough rest 10 minutes. The dough will look shiny and glossy.
• While the dough is resting, preheat air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Add dough to a piping bag with a large star tip.
• Lightly spray the air fryer basket with oil or place a parchment liner in the basket. Pipe the dough into the air fryer basket, making sure they’re not touching. Close air fryer and cook dough for 7-8 minutes or until golden.
• While the dough is cooking, make cinnamon sugar by combining sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
• Make chocolate sauce by combining heavy cream and chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in a microwave in 30 seconds increments, stirring each time. The chocolate sauce is done when smooth.
• Once the churro dough is done, toss in the cinnamon-sugar mix. Serve with chocolate dipping sauce or whichever sauce you prefer.

Stovetop Instructions:

• Form the dough as instructed. When it’s time to fry, heat 2 inches of frying oil (canola, peanut, or vegetable work great) a 10-inch deep skillet or heavy bottom large pot over medium-high heat until it reaches 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Pipe the dough into the oil and cook churros until nice and golden, about 2 minutes per side.
• Drain on paper towels and then toss in cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Suggested Tools

Quick Read Thermometer

2 quart saucepan

Wooden Spatula

Video

Notes

• There is no additional oil needed if air frying churros. They will get brown on their own in the air fryer.
• If frying the churros in oil on the stovetop, make sure the temperature stays near 360 degrees. Too hot will burn your churros and too cold will make them soggy and greasy.
• Toss the churros in the cinnamon sugar while they are still hot so that the sugar sticks to them.

Nutrition

Calories: 186kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 65mg | Sodium: 127mg | Potassium: 43mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 343IU | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 1mg

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Although myforkinglife.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Under no circumstances will myforkinglife.com be responsible for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information.