Homemade Churros
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Have you ever tasted authentic Spanish churros? If not, put them on your bucket list or make these homemade churros to satisfy your sweet tooth cravings right away!
Churros are a typical Spanish dessert that can be bought and enjoyed all over Spain. If you don’t find them in cafeterias, you’ll find stalls selling them on the streets, during fiestas or in special shops called Churrerias.
Imagine deep-fried choux pastry dipped in hot chocolate …mmm… delicious! Now I have to say that my favorite churros come from small stalls. They are large, thick and filling.
My word of advice – if you ever get to visit Spain, try to find a place where you can buy thick creamy hot chocolate (almost like a pudding) and you’ll be in for a real treat!
By the way, the history of churros is interesting. There are two theories about churros history. If you know which one is the official story, let me know! I am dying to know!
You know, it was pretty difficult to find an authentic Spanish churro recipe. I came across so many different churros recipes that I had actually no idea which one was the authentic one.
So I am bringing you my version of a churros recipe. They might not be the authentic Spanish churros but they taste pretty close to the ones we tasted on our travels.
And you know what? Making churros from scratch is so easy! Just follow my recipe and you’ll be in for a treat!
How to make churros at home
Water, butter, sugar and salt go in a saucepan. Simmer this until the butter and sugar have melted. Then add flour and mix vigorously until you get nice smooth soft churro dough.
Now you need to let it cool a bit and only then add the egg. The egg must be mixed into the dough until smooth. You need to stir/mix the egg in fast otherwise you could end up with scrambled egg rather than churro batter.
The batter/dough will be quite thick but that’s perfect.
Now you have two options: either you get ready and pipe the churros onto a sheet of baking parchment or right into the hot oil.
When frying churros, make sure you taste the first churro batch to see if they are cooked inside. Sometimes they are nicely golden on the outside but way too gooey on the inside – this can happen when the oil temperature is too high so you should reduce the temperature a bit.
The last step is rolling each homemade churro in a mixture of sugar & cinnamon. You don’t need to do this but they taste better.
Good to know when making homemade churros:
- Homemade churros are best eaten right away. The longer they sit the softer they get.
- If you need to store them, put them in the fridge.
- Use the smallest star piping tip you have – they cook faster and they also keep their shape better.
- Use a large frying pan rather than a saucepan. It saves you time and oil as well (I have learned this over time. I thought you needed a deep pot to fry them, but this is not the case. Just make sure there is enough oil in your frying pan. Churros don’t have to be covered with oil completely though).
If you like Spanish dishes or if you ever decide to plan a Spanish-themed party, you might wanna have a look at these recipes:
Want to see how to make Churros? Watch the video!
Homemade Churros
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour (110 grams)
- ¼ stick unsalted butter (28 grams)
- 1 cup water (250 ml)
- salt , a pinch
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 egg
- oil , for frying
Instructions
- Place water, butter, sugar & a pinch of salt into a medium-size saucepan. Bring to the boil.
- Add the flour and mix vigorously until well blended (the dough will come together in a minute or two).
- Remove from the stove and let it cool a bit. Once it is not too hot, add the egg and work the egg into the dough. Try to do it as fast as possible. In the beginning, it might look like the churro dough doesn’t wanna bind but take your time it will.
- Pour the oil into a large frying pan and heat it up.
- Fill a piping bag fitted with a star piping tip with half of the dough (it is easier to handle).
- Check if the oil is ready for frying by dropping a tiny piece of the dough in. Once the dough turns nice brown, you are ready to pipe the churros in.
- Pipe the dough directly into the hot oil (choose any length you like) and cut with a fork (I found a fork the best tool for this). Do not pipe too many churros in as they need space for frying. It will take only about 2 minutes for them to get nice golden color and that is a sign they are ready. They should get the color gradually. If you see they are not getting dark evenly, reduce the temperature.
- Take them out and place them on a paper kitchen towel to get rid of the excess oil.
- When they are still warm, roll each of them in sugar mixed with ground cinnamon.
- Serve warm with thick hot chocolate or chocolate pudding.
Video
Notes
- Work the egg fast into the dough to prevent the egg from cooking. This may be a bit tricky, as the dough is quite hard at this point. If you find it hard to mix with a wooden spoon, use an electric mixer.
- You can either pipe the churros directly into oil or pipe them onto a sheet of baking parchment first and then place these into the hot oil.
Are you able to leave the piped churros on a baking tray am deep fry them later in the day? Will they sit for a few hours?
Hi Darien. I don’t recommend piping the batter ahead as it would dry out. They are best made right away but some people make the batter ahead and store it in the fridge. However, the colder the batter the harder the piping. Hope this helps.
Can I make the dough one day early ?
I would like to make these for a school function
Hi Carol! I did try piping the churros with my leftover dough that sat in the fridge overnight and it worked well. However,just note that the longer the dough sits, the colder it gets and the harder it is to pipe it and you might have hard time piping, especially when planning on making a lot of them. I also recommend using a strong piping bag. Maybe bringing the dough back to room temperature would make the piping easier. I suggest you try ahead to see if you are comfortable with it. Please let me know how it went for you!
Hi, is this 1/4 cup of butter or 1/4 stick of butter you used?
I used 1/4 stick butter.
Would it be possible to make these an hour or two ahead of time without ruining them? Or could I keep them in a warm oven?
Hi Tonya. I’ve never tried making them ahead but when they sit on a plate way too long they lose their crispy texture – that is why they are best eaten right away. I think you could try keeping them in warm oven. However I would go for a larger piping tip (which means you might wanna double the batch if you are planning on making these for a crowd) in this case. Just to be sure they don’t dry out in the oven completely. Hope this helps.
I made these for a class party yesterday and the turned out amazing!!! Everyone loved them and couldn’t stop eating them. Great recipe, it was my first time making them and it was surprisingly easy!
Yay!Excellent job! Glad to hear that everyone loved them. I tend to eat way too many of them when I make them :) Thank you so much for finding time to leave a comment and rating.
I just made these and it tasted great. I used the smallest star tip I had and it was too small. So I used my largest tip I had 1M star tip and the family thought it was still too small! I can’t win. Lol but they loved the taste. My kids were expecting me to fill chocolate or custard in the center.
I meant to give it a five star.
How can I make them bigger (fatter) so I can fill the center?
Thanks
Hi Lena. Thanks for your comments!:) Now, I don’t think you can make them larger – you need to use a piping tip to pipe them. Like you mentioned, you used the largest tip so if you don’t find a larger one then I am afraid you won’t be able to do so. Street vendors have special machines with large holes so they come out wider. Amazon sells some churro makers and they might be bigger in size so I’d suggest to check that. N.B. Also thank you for the rating.I have added the missing star. Thanks again! If you need any more info just let me know.
You were just the person I was looking for! Well, your recipe, anyway. Our ladies group at church has our monthly lunch tomorrow, a Mexican theme. I’m making flan, but thought it would be nice to have some little churros with it. And there you were! Never done it before…just did a test run. They are so easy. And so good. There are only two difficult things, getting the temperature just right and not eating all of them as you make them. I just rolled them in cinnamon sugar as you suggested. Thank you very much.
:) You are welcome and thank you for your feedback! I am sure they will be a hit at your Mexican themed lunch!By the way, I always have hard time not to be “tasting” each one of them. :)
Hi! I’m wanting to make these tonight. What type of oil should I use?
Laura, vegetable or sunflower or any that has high smoke point.
Hi! These look great! Can’t wait to try. One question: is it possible to make the dough in advance and cook it a few hours later? Thank you!
Hey Stephanie! Thank you! I have never tried this but read somewhere that you can. The thing is that the longer the dough sits, the colder it gets and the harder it is to pipe it. Please let me know if you do try.
You could always make the dough and pipe out the churros on parchment paper and a baking sheet and then chill or freeze them until you are ready to fry them.
I can’t wait to make these for the Spanish cooking project I’m doing for Día De Los Muertos!! :)
Let me know how they turned out for you! I just made some yesterday :)
Hi I followed the recipe but after adding the flour and vigorously mixing for over 10 minutes it never formed a dough (like in the video) so I added the egg anyway and fried them but they were very crunchy and had nothing inside. What did I do wrong?? Help!
Hi Sarah. That sounds strange. A sticky “dough” forms easily in about 2 minutes.You definitely shouldn’t be mixing for 10 minutes. This step has to be done while the pot is still on the stove. Only after this step you remove it from the heat, let it cool a bit and add the egg. I have never had this problem so not really sure what it could be. All I can tell you is try again if you feel like it. Sometimes we need to try more than once to get things right (been there many times myself).
Ok, I made these last night for our Dia de Independencia fiesta here in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Everyone LOVED them! I couldn’t even take a picture, they disappeared so fast! My Mexican friends thought they were so good, they said I should open my own churro stand! They said I must be part Mexican lol! Thank you for this awesome recipe. They truly were the highlight of the party. I will definitely be making these again and
I will probably have to triple the recipe!
I visited that area a few years back and loooved it there! Thank you soo much for your feedback! I am so happy to hear that your Mexican friends loved them! P.S.Maybe when I visit that place again one day I will find you with a churro stand there :)
Hi. The recipe says 1 egg but the video shows 3. Did you make a bigger batch in the video or is there a typo in the written recipe? We are in Mexico right now and I’m going to try these out for Mexican Independence Day this Friday! I’ll let you know what our Mexican friends think!
Hi Sarah. No, there is no typo. I have updated the recipe recently as I felt there was no need for adding 3 eggs so I reduced the amount. I also omitted oil in the churro dough. I apologize for the confusion, I should have stated it in the text. Wish you happy churro baking and keep me posted! :)
Hi! Thank you for the quick reply! I can’t wait to get started!
My exact question ! Thank you
is it okay if i made this without chocolate dip?!
instead i will use cinnamon sugar for dusting…?
Yes, absolutely! :)
Oooh. Those churros look amazing! I make a thick Italian hot chocolate which would be perfect with them. And I think churros are like any old recipe. Every family has their own authentic version. :)
Thick Italian hot chocolate sound delicious!
These shots are literally making me weak at the knees…good thing I’m sitting down! Sharing today!
:) Thanks so much, Sue!
I love churros — especially hot from the fryer. I have to be honest though — not a huge chocolate fan — so I prefer mine, naked.
:) Whaat? No chocolate? :) Do you coat them in sugar or eat them completely plain?
I absolutely love churros, I’ve always wanted to try making them at home, can’t wait to give it a go
Let me know what you think if you try making them!
What is a measurement for 1/4 stick of butter?
Hi Debbie. It’s 30 grams.
Been planning to cook paella for a while n even bought a large paella pan. Can’t wait to try n the omelette and chorizo salad seems to b an easy dish to try too. Definetly these 3 dishes will b on the table for my next party. Tnk you
I’ve had these in Spain and they were delicious. You need to eat these super fresh and I would love cooking them from your recipe
You are absolutely right – they gotta be eaten right after you bought/made them!
I would love to make this someday! They look phenomenal. I’ll definitely be adding these to my list of things to try this year! Yum!!
Thank you, Felesha! They taste amazing especially with thick hot chocolate.
Last time I made these they were raw and doughy on the inside. How do I make them so they are cooked on the inside aswell.
Hi Arshah! When frying them, make sure there is not too many of them in the pot. Also, try reducing the heat a bit so they have time to cook on the inside as well. Hope it helps.
Hello! Good recipe! i would like try it.
While i don’t know if it yours but there is a video where you see someone add oil in the dough so in the steps of the recipe it’ s not mentionned.
If you can tell me more about it or explain please.
However Great recipe. Have a good day!
Hi Gregory. The video shows an old churro recipe I used before. Meanwhile I have updated the recipe card as I felt there was no need to add oil to the water. Hope this helps.
Thank you! I look forward to make them. Have good day! From France.
Great idea they do look really really good😋