Homemade Churros coated in cinnamon sugar are the ultimate treat, and after you watch the video tutorial, you’ll realize it’s easier than you think! They are crisp on the outside and spongy soft on the inside with a sweet cinnamon-sugar coating. Enjoy them on their own, or pair them with your favorite dipping sauce.
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How to Make Churros Video
My family loves churros, and my daughter has been a major fan for years (you’ll see her cute 5-year-old self in the video taste test above). Watch my step-by-step video tutorial on how to make churros, and you’ll be a pro in no time!
Churros are one of our favorite Spanish and Mexican-inspired desserts, along with Flan and my popular Tres Leches Cake (I even have a recipe for Tres Leches Cupcakes in my Natasha’s Kitchen Cookbook)! When it comes to Mexican desserts, it’s hard to pick a favorite. They all make such delicious party desserts.
Churros Recipe
Most people think that Churros are a Mexican dessert, but they actually originated from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine and are one of Spain’s most popular street foods. They later became popular in many Spanish-speaking countries, including Mexico, where they are traditionally served with chocolate sauce.
Churros are made with choux pastry dough – the same dough used for Eclairs, Cream Puffs, and Zeppole Donuts. The churro dough is piped directly into hot oil, then rolled and generously coated in cinnamon sugar. Churros are a popular carnival or fair treat, and now that Costco no longer serves their famous Churros, we all need an excuse to make them fresh at home.
Ingredients for Homemade Churros
If you haven’t tried a fresh, homemade churro, you are in for a treat! Homemade churros taste best because you get to use fresh oil that hasn’t been frying churros all day long. This recipe requires simple refrigerator and pantry staples.
- For the shoux (pronounced “shoo”) pastry – a super versatile dough that combines: water, milk, butter, 1 tsp sugar, salt, flour, and eggs. It produces a smooth and non-sticky but pipeable dough.
- For the Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture – a simple combination of mostly sugar with some ground cinnamon adds a sweet and warm coating to the churros.
Tools Needed to Make Churros
To make the churros, you really only need some basic tools:
- For Making the Dough: A medium saucepan, a wooden spoon, and an electric hand mixer or stand mixer.
- To Pipe the Dough – use a large open star tip (I used a Wilton 1M piping tip) and a large piping bag. Avoid using a small tip, or the dough will get stuck.
- To Fry the Churros – use a large pot such as a 5 1/2 qt Dutch Oven and a clip-on thermometer to maintain the temperature of the oil. Alternatively, you can use a deep fryer.
Pro Tip:
If you don’t have the tip or piping bag, you can put the dough into a large Ziploc bag, cut off a 1/2″ diameter circle at the bottom, and pipe it into the oil. They won’t have the traditional churro star shape, but they will sure taste good!
Tips for Making the Best Churros
If you’re new to making choux pastry or homemade churros, read through this list of my best tips for success. I covered all of the common troubleshooting questions so you can feel confident in making them.
- The dough is done “cooking” when it is smooth, and a thin film forms on the bottom of the saucepan. This process allows it to release extra moisture and it will be easier to pipe the dough.
- Use large, cold eggs. The cold eggs help to cool down and thicken the batter.
- Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, allowing each to incorporate fully.
- Keep churros short– Pipe the batter into hot oil in 6-inch lengths. Longer churros tend to curl and are difficult to flip.
- Maintain the oil temperature between 350˚F and 370˚F while frying. A clip-on thermometer will help.
- Don’t overcrowd the pot – Adding too many churros to the pot can cool the oil too much.
- Roll in cinnamon sugar immediately while they are still warm/hot, and it will stick better.
Dipping Sauce for Churros
Churros are such a treat rolled in cinnamon sugar without anything else required, but if you’re craving a dip, our favorite homemade sauces are:
- Caramel Sauce – an easy, smooth salted caramel
- Warm Chocolate Ganache – thinned with a little extra cream
- Dulce De Leche – perfect for dipping and drizzling on churros
Make-Ahead and Storage
- Make-Ahead Dough – transfer the raw choux pastry dough to a piping bag and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Wrap tightly to keep a skin from forming.
- At Room Temperature – once the churros are cooled to room temperature, transfer to an airtight container lined with paper towels.
- To Freeze – flash-freeze the cooled churros on a baking sheet for 1 hour, then transfer to a freezer-safe zip bag and freeze up to 3 months, then bake directly from frozen at 350˚F for 8-10 minutes.
- To Reheat – Re-crisp in the oven at 325˚f for 5-7 minutes or in the air fryer for 3-4 minutes.
Churros Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs, cold
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- vegetable oil or canola oil , to fry churros
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup milk, 8 Tbsp butter, 1 tsp sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently.
- Remove from heat and immediately stir in 1 cup flour all at once with a wooden spoon. Once incorporated, put back on the heat and stir constantly another 2 minutes to release extra moisture and partially cook the flour. The dough should come together in a smooth ball and a thin film will form on the bottom of the pan.
- Transfer to a large mixing bowl and use an electric mixer to beat on medium speed 2 minutes to cool the mixture slightly. Add 4 eggs, adding 1 at a time and allowing each egg to fully incorporate between additions. Beat until dough is smooth and forms a thick ribbon when pulled up.
- Heat 2” deep vegetable oil to 370˚F. Use a clip-on thermometer to monitor and keep the oil between 350-370˚F while frying.
- Transfer dough to a pastry bag fitted with a large open star tip (Wilton 1M). Pipe 6” lengths into hot oil and cut with scissors. Fry 1 1/2 minutes per side or until golden brown then flip with tongs and fry another 1 1/2 minutes. Fry in batches, about 5-6 churros at a time. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain then roll warm churros in cinnamon sugar.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Mexican Recipes to Try
If you’re looking for more Cinco de Mayo recipe inspiration, you’ll love my collection of Mexican and Spanish recipes:
- Pico de Gallo
- Elote Corn (Mexican Street Corn)
- Guacamole
- Cilantro Lime Shrimp
- Chicken Fajitas or Sheet Pan Fajitas
- Carnitas
- Fish Tacos
Hi, I was wondering how long do these stay fresh for if it is not eaten up all at once?
And how would I store them, in a container with a tight lid?
Thankyou so much.
Hi Janice, We have kept them for a couple of days in an air-tight container, but we love them best fresh! They keep really well at room temperature overnight and they can be enjoyed at room temperature the next day. You can reheat the churros in the oven at 400˚F for about 5-6 minutes then re-roll in cinnamon sugar. I would not microwave to reheat or they can seem greasy after that.
I made my first churros today using your recipe and it was delicious , easy to follow. Love it and I’ll be making more.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Pia!
Hi, I don’t have a thermometer, will that be a problem?
Hi Anastasia, deep frying is much easier to control with a thermometer but you can estimate and look at visual cues. If it’s browning too quickly then turn down the heat and vice versa.
Ok thanks!
Can we use water instead of milk?
Hi there, I haven’t tested that to advise. If you do an experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Hi Natasha! Quick question. I was wondering if I could bake these instead of frying them? I saw baker churro recipes online and I saw them make it exactly like yours but they baked it! Please let me know if this sounds fine to do.. thanks!
Hi Christina, I imagine that will work but I haven’t tried that yet to be honest. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes.
Wow, this is great! However, how can I fix a runny mixture? For the mixture of the churros, before adding the eggs, it was far too wet and wouldn’t really stick together.
Hi Mimi, it sounds like the proportions of liquid to dry ingredients were off. I highly recommend reviewing how to measure ingredients, especially for baking. Also, if there is too much liquid, you would need to let it steam for an extra minute on the stove to release excess moisture. I hope that helps to troubleshoot.
I’d never made churros, so I confess to being a bit skeptical about the process, especially when dealing with the weirdly sticky batter. But trust me, that weird batter fries up into the most delicious puffy churros. We dipped them into chocolate ganache and coffee and it was heavenly! Thanks for the recipe. I’ll be back!
Sounds wonderful, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing your good experience making this recipe, Bridget.
Churros are great and so is your recipe. May I suggest in the description you change Mexican desert into Spanish. That’s where are they from. Thanks.
Thanks for your good feedback and suggestion, Nataliya. We don’t usually make changes to the recipe unless it is a vital part of the recipe as it might change a lot of things in the analytics but thanks for the heads up. I’ll see what I can do about that.
I fashioned my own piping bag out of a large ziploc. But even though I tried my best to make them long and skinny, they ballooned to the size of tennis balls! And some of them turned dark brown very fast on the outside, but were super doughy inside. What went wrong?!
Hi Jaida, it may be that the hole cut in the ziploc bag was too large and if they are piped too thick, that can happen.
Hi Natasha, can I leave the mix in the fridge over night before putting in the oil. I would like to have the prep done the day before !
Hi Lola, I haven’t tried doing that yet to advise but I imagine that the dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 day before frying. Bring the dough back to room temperature before frying. Let us know how it goes if you test it.
Churros are not Mexican they are Spanish.
I only have 2% milk can I use that? Also I have a churro maker tool. Would I be able to use that? I don’t have piping bags
Can I use corn oil?
I imagine that will work too
Hi Laura, 2% should work fine. I don’t have any experience with churro makers and am not familiar with that tool. If it pipes a good churro form then it should work.
These were delicious and hit the spot. Easier then expected and was great the next morning for breakfast. Will be making again.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Hi, I want to make these with my students. Can I make the dough the night before and then pipe them out the next day?
Hello Heather, I haven’t tried doing that yet to advise but I imagine that the dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 day before frying. Bring the dough back to room temperature before frying. Let us know how it goes if you give it a try.
Hey Natasha, what is your opinion on trying it with an airfryer?
Hi Becca, I haven’t tested that to advise but here is what one of our readers wrote ” I shaped them in the air fryer browned them nicely dipped in butter then into the sugar cinnamon mix. They were pretty good crunchy and soft on the inside. Can’t wait to try again. Thanks for the recipe!” I hope that helps.
Thank you for sharing this easy-to-follow recipe. I made these for the first time and they were a HUGE hit! They were easy and sooooooo delicious!! 🙂
You are most welcome! So happy to know that you enjoyed the churros, I hope you will love all the other recipes that you will try from my website and videos!
I just made these! Omg! They are so delish and easy to make. Thank you a great recipe!!
You’re welcome Shazia! I’m so glad you enjoeyd this recipe!
The churros tasted absolutely delicious. I am a little concerned with the dough as it started forming bubbles when i piped it into the oil. Did i overbeat the batter? Also,what is the shelf life of these churros?
Hi Adeline, that could be the culprit. Did they turn out okay? We have kept them for a couple of days but we love them best fresh!
Hi,
I made them but they gone soft as soon as they came out of oil and shrunk inside 🙁 can you tell me please where I went wrong😬
Hi SJ, I haven’t seen that happen. You might check the temperautre of the oil.
could I use heavy cream instead of milk?
Hi Angelina, I haven’t tested this with heavy cream to advise.