You haven’t enjoyed an Eclair until you’ve tried a fresh homemade eclair filled to the brim with pastry cream and topped with chocolate ganache. Watch the video tutorial, and you will master these French eclairs in no time.
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Classic Eclairs Recipe
Learn how to make classic and easy “choux pastry” dough (the same pastry used for Cream Puffs as well as Churros and even Zeppole Italian Donuts) and a decadent homemade vanilla bean pastry cream that will have you licking the spoon and the bowl.
Eclairs are best eaten the day they are made, but I do love that they can be fully assembled a day ahead.
Video: How to Make Eclairs
I’ll show you how to make the easy dough (don’t worry, it only sounds fancy, but it’s actually simple to make), the custard filling, and the easy chocolate ganache to give your eclairs that classic French look and taste.
Also, I’m so embarrassed that (due to my occasionally shaky hands), my eclairs looked mildly inappropriate when piped. I only realized it after the fact and I couldn’t stop laughing. And for those of you who never would have noticed otherwise, I am doubly embarrassed!
Tools for Making Eclairs
- Large Piping Bag – reuseable or disposable works fine.
- 1/2″ round piping tip or a 16mm open star tip – you need a large tip to pipe the eclair dough into strips.
- Baking Sheet – a half sheet works great
- Silicone Liner or Parchment Paper
- Bismarck tip (or a small sharp tip like Ateco #16 or #352) – you could use a number of tips to pipe the frosting into the eclair.
Tips for Making Pastry Cream
Pastry cream relies on corn starch and egg yolks to thicken and the end result is incredibly smooth – like a decadent vanilla pudding. Mixing the softened butter is the secret to the amazing texture – don’t skip it!
- Pastry cream can be made 3 days ahead which is perfect for holiday entertaining.
- If making ahead, cover the surface directly with a sheet of plastic wrap so it doesn’t form a film.
- You can substitute the real vanilla bean for vanilla extract. I love seeing those little vanilla flecks in the eclairs (see recipe notes)
Pro Tip:
Pastry Cream will thicken as it cools and to loosen it up for piping, whisk until smooth.
What is Choux Pastry?
Choux dough is a classic pastry made with super simple ingredients (milk, water, eggs, flour, butter, sugar and salt). The key is to continue mixing the dough in the saucepan to release excess moisture until a thin film forms on the bottom of the pan. Choux pastry is a soft dough that gets piped onto a baking sheet.
Getting the baking temperature right is the key to success. Starting the oven at 425˚F allows the pastry to rise beautifully, creating a hollow center for the filling. Choux pastry is then baked at a lower temperature to dry out the center.
Make-Ahead
- Eclair Shells – can be baked a day ahead and stored covered at room temperature for up to 2 days. Shells can also be frozen in an airtight conatiner up to a month then thawed at room temp for 30 minutes. To re-crisp shells, bake thawed shwells at 300˚F for 5-10 minutes then cool completely before filling.
- Filling (Pasty Cream) – can be made a day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap directly over the surface and refrigerate. Re-whisk before piping.
- Glaze – I find it’s best to make the glaze when assembling the eclairs since you’ll need to reheat it to loosen it up again which won’t save you any time.
How to Store Eclairs
Filled Eclairs are best enjoyed fresh or eaten the day of assembling since they will start to soften once you pipe the cream in and add the glaze, but you can store in the refrigerator in an airtght container for up to a day.
More French Desserts and Pastries
My husband and I were able to visit France this year, and we spent a fair amount of time visiting the boulangerie (bakeries that sell bread) and pâtisseries (that sell sweet treats), where we sampled the best French pastries and baked goods. It’s such a treat to recreate our favorites that remind me of our time in Paris.
- Homemade Croissants – I finally nailed it!
- Cherry Clafoutis – breakfast or dessert
- Easy Crepes – our go-to crepes
- Fruit Tart – with the best crust
- Peach Galette – the easiest ‘pie’
- Chocolate Souffle – restaurant copycat
- Easy Almond Croissants – French bakery copycat
- Raspberry Macarons – filled with raspberry cream
Now go forth and conquer homemade eclairs!
Classic Eclair Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients for Choux Pastry:
- 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
Ingredients for Pastry Cream:
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped, (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1 pinch salt
- 4 large egg yolks
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
For the Chocolate Glaze:
- 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, *
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
How to Make Choux Pastry
- 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 then remove from heat and stir in 1 cup flour all at once with a wooden spoon.
- One flour is incorporated, place back over medium heat about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes stirring constantly (to release extra moisture and partially cook flour), or until dough comes together into a smooth ball and a thin film forms on bottom of pan.
- Transfer to a large mixing bowl and beat using an electric hand mixer on medium speed for 1 minute to cool the mixture slightly. Add 4 eggs, 1 at a time, allowing each egg to fully incorporate between additions. Beat until dough is smooth and forms a thick ribbon when pulled up.
- Pipe eclairs over baking sheet lined with silicone using a 1/2” round tip. Pipe 18-20 (4” long and 3/4” wide) strips, keeping them 1 1/2″ apart.
- Bake at 425˚F for 10 minutes. Without opening oven, reduce temp to 325˚F and, bake 30 minutes longer or until golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool while making pastry cream.
How to Make Pastry Cream:
- In a medium saucepan bring 2 cups milk, vanilla bean and scraped seeds just to a boil, stirring to prevent film from forming.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup corn starch and pinch of salt. Add 4 egg yolks and whisk until smooth, creamy and lightened in color – it takes a couple of minutes but it will get there.
- Gradually (so the eggs don’t curdle), while whisking constantly, add hot milk in a steady stream until all of it is incorporated. Pour mixture back into saucepan and bring to a boil while whisking constantly then whisk another 30 seconds until mixture is thick and pudding-like in consistency.
- Transfer pastry cream to a medium bowl (whisk in 2 tsp vanilla extract if using). Cut butter into pieces and quickly whisk into the custard until fully incorporated Cover with plastic directly over the surface of the cream, let it cool slightly then refrigerate 30 minutes or until cool.
- With a small pastry tip, poke 2-3 holes through the bottom of each cooled pastry. Pipe cream inside, scraping off excess. Refrigerate eclairs while making chocolate glaze.
How to Make Chocolate Glaze:
- Place 4 oz of chocolate chips into a small heat-safe bowl.
- Heat 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (in a saucepan or microwave) until it is just at a simmer then remove from heat and pour over chocolate chips. Let rest 2 minutes then whisk from the center outwards until smooth sauce forms.
- Dip the top half of filled and chilled eclairs into the chocolate sauce, allowing excess to drip off.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Hi! I tried your recipe today and it was absolutely delicious, received some positive comments from friends and fam.
Thank You xx
That’s just awesome! Thank you for that great feedback Dinuki!
I lovedddd making these eclairs. It was my first time but I had fun with them and they turned out so good!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
Hello, Natasha! May I ask how I could turn the pastry cream into a chocolate-flavored one? My husband is a super choco lover and requested for me to make these but with chocolate pastry cream. Can I just add melted chocolate at the end? Thank you!
Hello Ace, I honestly haven’t tried doing that yet to advise but I imagine that should work. Please share with us how it goes if you do an experiment.
I have tried Choux pastries several times in the past with no real success. I get they were underbaked as they never had any rise. I made these eclairs for my own Mother’s Day gift to me today! This time I overbooked them a bit! But that hardly mattered once they were filled with the delicious pastry cream and covered with chocolate ganache. They were YUM! I served with fresh strawberries. My husband and sons loved them!
Yay that is so great to hear, Kristin. I am so happy to know that it was successful and that everyone loved it!
Hi natasha, i am solo eater and i dont want to make them so many (in case they will not be good so it will be so much wastage)
So can you please tell me proportions for smaller quantity? Thank you! I love your recipes!! I cant wait to try this one too.
Totally understand. While at the recipe you may click on “Jump to recipe” and click the number of serving to adjust the ingredients. I hope that helps.
Where do you get your vanilla beans? or how can I order some?
Hi Wendy, we have notes in our recipe with a link to the exact vanilla beans. We use these beans here. I hope that helps.
Thanks so much for sharing the recipe, my family and I enjoyed these Éclairs. Was my first time making it and I must say they are the bomb dot-com.
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review Gugu!
My French boyfriend wanted eclairs for his birthday and we were both very pleased with how they turned out. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Thanks for giving this recipe a try! So great to hear that you both enjoyed it.
Natasha,
I’m really struggling with the pastry. We are a gluten free family and I have attempted this recipe twice using two different types of GF flour. Using your piping measurements they still come out flat and under cooked. I am at a loss. Any chance you can try making some GF eclairs and see if it works on your end? Would love to hear any recommendations you may have. Thank you
Hi Katherin, I haven’t tested this with gluten-free flour. With baking being such a science it is hard to say what the culprit is when it comes to substitutions. Thank you for that suggestion, I’ll add it to my to-do list.
Tried out this recipe, and choux pastry for the first time and it turned out absolutely delicious! The recipe is super easy to follow and it’s so quick and easy to make. Love your recipes cs they’re so easy to follow!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that! Thank you for the wonderful review!
Hi Katherine,
Try making them as cream puff size instead. GF flour is so dense sometimes it is just too heavy to rise. I am in Canada and am also GF. I have had amazing success with Natasha’s cream puff recipe using both Kinnikinnick flour (available online) and President’s Choice GF flour (only available in Canada I believe). Good luck!
Hi, why did my shells deflate. Any tips to make them fluffy ?
Hi Ayesha, flat eclairs are usually due to either piping them too large or underbaking. Some ovens run a little cooler so you might bake an extra 2 minutes next time. I hope that helps!
When I bake my eclairs they do not puff up very much and they fall flat when I take them out of the oven. I baked two pans at one time one above the other could that be the problem ?this is the second time making them the first time I baked one pan at a time the first pan baked perfect but I piped them to skinny so they were small.
The second pan came out flat not sure if it was because they sat while the first pan was baking.
Hi Theresa, Flat eclairs are usually due to either piping them too large or underbaking. Some ovens run a little cooler so you might bake an extra 2 minutes next time. I hope that helps!
Omg! First time for making Choux pastry and out of all the recipes and instructions on the net – these are the clearest and best I have found! Thanks so much and mine came out 👍🏼
So great to hear that you loved the end result!
These are THE BEST eclairs I have ever tasted! And instructions are easy and clear! Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Hi Natasha, Thanks for great recipe. Just wondering how many grams are 8 tbs butter?
Hi Seva, there are 113.4 gram in 8 Tbsp of butter
This was my first time making eclairs and they were really good! My filling was a bit runny though so I added some more cornstarch, apart from that they were delishh!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us! We have tips in the recipe and comments that should help with the filling being runny. I’m also more than happy to troubleshoot.
It was the best thing just one thing on the nutrition facts you forgot energy
Thanks for your feedback and suggestion!
i was a bit reluctant to make it again after the 1st one failing miserably…but this was just perfect and tastes so good…. i was super excited when the dough turned out good… all in all loved it…thanks for the recipe 🙂
Yay great job! So glad that you’re happy with the end result.
Absolutely delicious! I mean every part–the shell, the pastry cream and even the chocolate glaze (which I’m not a big chocolate fan) was INCREDIBLE! I seriously can’t stop eating them. This will be my go to recipe for eclairs. Watching the video first was very helpful. Thank you sharing your recipes!
What an awesome review! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us, Britney. I’m so happy that you’re very satisfied with the end result!
Hi Natasha,
You present such appetizing dishes and desserts which i try (with a sense of humor). Yesterday i followed your eclair recipe. They came out soo tasty!!. They tasted like the ones I buy from a fancy bakery! The only concern i had is that the pastery parts did not puff up enough so we ended up making eclair sandwiches!!!!:) and put the custard between 2 of the pasteries.
How can i prevent them from flattening or rising more.
Hi Natalie, Flat eclairs are usually due to either piping them too large or underbaking. Some ovens run a little cooler so you might bake an extra 2 minutes next time. I hope that helps!
Help! Step 2 for the pastry cream is not going right. We’ve been whisking for a very long time and it’s still crumbly.
We figured it out! There was too much cornstarch in our first try. Got it right the second try. Thank you!
Hi Jen, I would highly suggest watching the video if you haven’t already to see where your results started to change or differ from the method I shared here. I didn’t have any issues with thickening on the cream but I highly recommend checking measurements and be sure to measure dry and wet ingredients correctly since the wrong proportions can definitely affect the setting time.
I made these last night and they are amazing!! One question: do I put the eclairs in the fridge after I put the chocolate on? Like if you are not eating them right then, should they be in the fridge?
I’m so glad you enjoyed that Noelle! You can make the shells in advance and store them in an airtight container. Ours haven’t lasted long enough to try that but our readers have tried freezing them. I imagine a couple of days is fine in the fridge. I haven’t tried this but I read that it’s best not to freeze eclairs.
My batter is chunky and runny! I stood and mixed at the stove on medium heat after I added the flour but it was never the same consistency. Any thought why?
Hi Annie, I have not had that experience but I’d love to troubleshoot. Was anything altered in the recipe?