Homemade Churros
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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.
I’ve used your recipe a couple of times and it has turned out perfect! I just wanted to ask, have you ever pre made the batter and kept to fry hours later? Would it need to be kept in the fridge? Would it be better to put into a piping bag and then keep in the fridge?
Hi Rebecca. That’s so good to hear! :) To be honest, I have tried that once. All I can tell you is that it turns harder after sitting for hours in the fridge (yes, you would keep it in the fridge) so it will also be way harder to pipe. I am not sure if it affected the cooking process (don’t remember anymore, sorry) but I would say it would take slightly longer to cook. That being said, you can give it a go but I am not sure if it is worth it.
I have been looking for a churro recipe to make for so long and every single one I’ve come across has been either too chewy, to eggy, or tasteless but this recipe was airy, crispy, and had just the right amount of flavor. So let me just say if you’re looking for a sign to make this recipe than this is it my family tried it and we all instantly fell in love. And this is all coming from someone who never writes reviews this is how good it is that I just have to share.Please try!!!!!
Thanks so much for finding time to leave the feedback, Gen. It means a lot!
This is the best recipe i have ever SEEN!!! I love it so much!
In Andalucia, churros would never be coated with sugar. You’d ruin your chocolate. Also a round tip is conventional. A star tip will give you too much crunch. Readers who are picturing the straight rigid cinnamon sugar sticks they find at the fair are thinking of Mexican style churros. In southern Spain, churros look more like a pile of pieces of a large funnel cake and we eat them like donuts. The same kiosks that churn out fresh potato chips for strolling couples on Friday nights will fry up churros on Sunday mornings and someone will run out for them while abuela makes the chocolate. There’s nothing so joyful as walking to church together on a sunny morning with a belly full of warm chocolate and churros.
Hi Stephanie. Thanks for your comment. I’ve travelled across Spain and seen and enjoyed all sorts of churros. In Andalucia, I’ve seen stalls selling chocolate covered churros, I think some of them were even filled with chocolate. Some places sell long churros, other sell drop-like churros, round – I’d say it depends on where you buy them. In churrerias and coffee places they usually sell the star-tipped ones, in kiosks churros are more “rough” looking so just any shape really. Churros and hot chocolate on a nice morning of any day :) is the perfect way to start a day :)
This is my go-to churro recipe!! I make these all the time for my Spanish class and they’re a hit (although I could probably eat the whole batch myself!). It takes some time to get used to the frying process but once I got it, they were easy. Thanks for the recipe!
You are welcome, Ally! Thanks so much for your feedback and rating!
Hi! I watched the video and there were three eggs used. But in the recipe it says 1 egg? Is the video and the recipe down below the same?
Hi Hadicha, The video has different quantities and serves only as a guide to show you the process. Always follow the recipe card. Now that being said, you can add more eggs, but I don’t see a reason why as it can sometimes taste eggy. For that reason, 1 is plenty here. Hope this helps!
Hi why i mix my flour with the boiling butter and water it was not evenly distributed, there are clumps of flour in the dough
Hi Stacie. Yes, there will be clumps at the beginning so you have to be mixing until they disappear.
Delicious, I love churros. Enjoyed them while we went for some carivals & events, not sure if they were authentic though. I always look out for churros when we go for similar events like local food festivals. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Love, love, love this recipe. It was my first time making them and they turned out perfect. I like how easy they are. I’m going to try them camping next weekend. Thanks for the recipe!
You are welcome, Lauren! Thanks so much for your feedback :)
why is the video ingredients not matching the recipe ingredients
Hi Zee. I have updated the recipe as I felt there was no need for adding so many eggs. I also omitted oil in the churro dough. The video uses the old ingredients but I decided to keep it here as it helps readers visualize. Please always follow the recipe card. That being said, you can increase the egg amount but to me sometimes the dough tasted egg-y so I now use one egg only.
This churros looks so delicious thanks for posting churros recipes I was searching on the internet how to make churros recipes your blog is the best blog according to me what a great share!
This looks insanely, incredibly good. Sooo yummy!
Thank you, Maggie!
Question: In the video it tells you to add 3 eggs but in the instructions it only calls for 1. What do I listen to?
Hi Galy. This is an updated recipe with an old video. The video is there to help you understand easily the process but you always follow the recipe. I used to add 3 eggs but over the time I felt there was no need to add so many to the recipe (that is why I updated the recipe). Hope this helps.
Not sure I have ever had fresh churros, but this recipe is making me crave some. Will have to give this recipe a try ASAP. Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome. Hope you will love them as much as we do, Kyle! :)
Hi Julia, Thanks for sharing the best of the best churro recipe… You are a kind and generous person to give the right recipe. Some people give recipe but it doesn’t turn out right. Thank you, thank you. Here in Hawaii you cannot find churros so everyone had enjoyed biting and snacking it. This is soooo so good.
Take care and I am a HAPPY CHURRO PERSON.
Hi Ivy! You are welcome and thank you so much for finding time to write your experience. I hope you’ll try some more recipes from my blog in the future :)
been wanting to try make in them for ages, but never got around to it, we recently had them at a local coffee shop, and we kind of fell in love with them all over again, so I give your recipe a go they were so easy to make, and they were so delicious, it was hard to keep my hands off them while I was cooking them🤪had to fight my kids for the last one. thanks again for sharing.
Thanks so much for finding time to write the feedback, Safa! I am so happy you and your kids loved them. I always “taste-test” way too many when making them :)
Can you make churros if you don’t have a piping tip?
I haven’t tried it but I’d say you could. However, some of the piping bag have pretty wide holes for the piping tips. It’s better to make thinner churros as they only take minutes to cook and the churros are cooked through. Hope this helps! If you try, please let me know if you were happy with the result.
Hi! I wanted to try this one since I’ve only used one that was made with milk. Either one is great! Love churros! Since I always try and think outside the box, instead of caramel or chocolate sauce, have you tried anything different? I came up with a cream cheese, butter, cinnamon sugar mixture….. AMAZING! I want to try a few more different sauces.
:) I have to admit that I haven’t tried anything else but now that I think about it a strawberry sauce could be also a great option! Also I have a recipe for Gingerbread French Toast with Cinnamon Honey Sauce which could also be used instead of chocolate.
I made last night and ar delicious
Thanks a lot
You are welcome, Liliana :). Thank you for finding time to write a feedback. I hope you find here more recipes that you like!
Absolutely delicious! I’ve never made churros before but decided to give it a whirl. These were amazing!
Thanks so much for your feedback, Sarah! I am so delighted to hear you liked them! :)