Today, I'm sharing how to make incredibly delicious homemade churros from scratch! It is crunchy outside and so soft, moist, and a bit chewy inside. And you may be surprised to see how easy it is to make!
In this blog, I'm sharing the crucial tips & tricks to make homemade churros.
📌 Table of Contents
📌 What Is Churros?
The churros is made by deep-frying a dough called pâte à choux. A.K.A Choux Pastry, Pate choux etc.
Depending on where you live, the ways of making it differ. Today, I'm sharing my favorite way I grew up with. It is often sold at festive events, and amusement parks, such as Disney World. (It's one of my childhood memories!)
To make choux pastry, heat liquids, salt, sugar, butter, and flour, add eggs to it and mix. It is a traditional dough often used to make some classic desserts such as cream puffs and eclairs.
📌 What's In homemade churros?
Pate choux
- Water
- Milk: It helps to color the surface more and add more crunchiness.
- Salt: It adds more depth in flavor.
- Granulated sugar: It helps to keep churros moist. It is not a lot of amount since we coat sugar all around the churros.
- Vanilla beans: It matches so well with the cinnamon flavor.
- Cinnamon: It is essential for me when I make churros! The flavor is incredible.
- Unsalted butter: It adds rich flavor and a softer texture.
- All-purpose flour: It creates a soft yet chewy texture.
- Egg: It does the main role of creating a soft texture.
- Oil: It's used to deep-fry churros. I used olive oil but you can also use other neutral oil, such as canola and vegetable oil.
Cinnamon sugar
- Cinnamon
- Granulated sugar
📌 How To Make Homemade Churros
Preparation
Everything moves so quickly once you start making the dough. Prepare everything you can beforehand:
- Warm the egg until it feels slightly warm.
- Sift all-purpose flour.
- Set up your star tip in a pastry bag.
- Set a parchment paper on a tray.
- Pour oil into a pan.
- Make cinnamon sugar by mixing sugar and cinnamon.
Tip💡:
- Using a slightly warm egg will make it easier for you to pipe the dough later.
- Pipe churros on parchment paper so you can transfer them more easily.
The difference between churros and cream puffs dough:
- For the cream puff, I add about 8 eggs while adding 5 eggs for churros. That is because:
- The dough does not get too soft to hold a nice shape in oil.
- It creates a unique churro texture that is soft but not too spongy.
- All-purpose four is used instead of cake flour. Using all-purpose flour creates more crunchiness outside and a soft but slightly chewy texture inside.
- I am adding more sugar today than in my cream puff recipe:
- To add a little bit of sweetness inside.
- Sugar also helps to make the texture more moist and soft.
Step 1: Add water, milk, salt, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and butter to a pot.
Tip💡:
Cut butter into smaller pieces so they melt entirely by the time the liquids start boiling.
Step 2. Heat the pot.
Heat it at medium-high heat until it starts boiling hard.
Tip💡:
- Turn your pot sometimes and make the temperature even.
- Once the water and milk are boiling hard, remove the pot from the heat right away so that the liquids are not evaporating too much.
- I usually start heating oil for deep-frying around here at the same time so that you can deep-fly them right away by the time the dough is piped and ready. Adjust the timing accordingly!
Step 3: Add flour to the pot and mix.
Add flour to the hot liquids and mix well until it forms a ball and gets doughy.
Step 4: Heat the pot again to cook the flour.
Heat the pot again with medium heat to cook starch in the flour.
Push and spread the dough to cook flour evenly. And flip and repeat!
Tip💡:
By cooking starch, the dough gets more stretchy, which allows the dough to rise more, leading to a softer texture.
How do I know it's cooked enough?
To judge if it's cooked enough, there are ways to check:
- The dough gets slightly softer.
- You’ll see a thin skin formed on the bottom of your pot. (Not with a non-stick pan)
- Nice sizzling sound all around the pod.
- The dough is about 80C. (If you want to use a thermometer!)
- Time: How long it takes depends on the amount of the dough and the strength of the heat etc, but with one batch of this recipe, it takes over 1 minute to 1.5 minutes(Medium heat). (With my cream puff recipe, the amount was half of this. So I cooked for about 1 minute or so.)
Check with not just one but with more than a few ways for better accuracy!
When it's done:
Step 5: Mix the dough with a pedal.
Move it into a bowl and knead some time, about 45 seconds or so for one batch.
By doing that:
- We can make sure they are even.
- The temperature goes down just slightly so that eggs are not getting cooked.
You can do it with a spatula if you don’t have a stand mixer.
Step 6: Add egg and mix.
Add about ⅓ or a little less than half the eggs. Mix well.
Once it looks combined, add the rest, dividing it into a few more times. Mix until the dough looks even.
The finished dough:
Tip💡:
- Eggs can be cooked partially if you add a small amount of egg at the beginning. That is why we want to add a generous amount.
- The egg does not blend well at the beginning and looks separated. But do not worry, keep going! It'll come together gradually.
Step 7: Pipe and deep-fry them!
Heat the oil to 170 - 175 C | 338 - 347 F.
How to pipe: Method 1
As a simple way, you can pipe directly into the hot oil. And cut with a scissor to detach it.
Sticks
Balls
You can pipe longer to make sticks or cute one-bite balls.
Be careful not to spill the oil and burn yourself when dropping them.
How to pipe: Method 2
If you want to enjoy creating many shapes and have fun, pipe them on parchment paper first.
Straight sticks
By using parchment paper, you can pipe a perfectly straight, long stick!
And again, cut the edge with a scissor:
Heart shape
Swirls
Pretzel shape
Create any shapes you like! This is my favorite, pretzel shape.
Tip💡:
- Attach some of the dough on the tray as glue and place parchment paper on top so that the paper does not move around when you pipe.
- When you are done piping, cut the parchment paper around the dough with a scissor and dip the whole thing in oil.
By doing that:
- You can avoid the risk to touch the oil directly.
- You can deep-fry them without messing up the shape.
No need to rush to take out the paper because you don’t want to mess up the shape.
Once the dough is cooked slightly, it’ll be easier for you to slide that out. It comes off easily.
Flip them sometimes to color them evenly:
Take them out when they are nicely golden brown:
I LOVE the nice sizzling sound.... it is so relaxing and satisfying to deep-fry them!
Step 8: Coat cinnamon sugar.
As a final step, coat cinnamon sugar all around the churros. And enjoy!!!
📌 Uses for Homemade Churros
Churros might be something you eat only at theme parks or carnivals. At least, That was me. But once you know that homemade churros taste incredible and it is so easy to make, you might want to make them over and over for your family and friends.
And I bet Everyone is going to love it!
Maybe you can wrap it nicely and bring some for some gathering?? like a movie night with friends, hanging out with moms and the kids, or picnic time with your date. So many fun ways to enjoy!
P.S. My daughter LOVED it too. Finger-licking good!😋
📌 Frequently Asked Questions
Once you deep-fry them, they slowly lose the crunchiness on the surface and the softness inside, just like the other deep-frying goodies. I recommend consuming them right after it's made for the best taste or up to the end of the day.
Yes, you can pipe the dough and freeze it. Once they are hardened, move them into an air-tight container and store them for at least up to one month.
Although they are both choux pastries, the ingredients' amounts and ratios are quite different. This recipe makes thicker choux pastry for the churros to taste the best but it won't rise much in the oven. Check out the posts for cream puffs and eclairs to make them.
📌 VIDEO: Watch How To Make It!
You can also learn how to make homemade churros visually to have a better understanding of all.
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Homemade Churros Recipe
Equipment
- Sieve
- Parchment paper
- Pastry bag and a star tip
- Pan for oil
- Pot
- Spatula
- Stand mixer with a pedal or Bowl
- Tongue or long chopsticks
Ingredients
The dough
- 7 oz Water
- 7 oz Milk
- 0.21 oz Salt
- 1 oz Granulated sugar
- 1 pod Vanilla beans
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- 6.3 oz Unsalted butter
- 8.4 oz All-purpose flour
- 9.2 oz Egg about 5 eggs
Deep-frying
- Some Oil I used 1.5 QT.
Cinnamon sugar
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- 3.5 oz Granulated sugar
Instructions
Preparations:
* Sift flour.
* Warm up eggs until it feels slightly warm or it's room temperature.
* Set a pastry star tip in a pastry bag.
* Set aside parchment paper.
* Pour oil into a pan.
* Make cinnamon sugar.
Churros
- Add water, milk, salt, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and butter to a pot.7 oz Water, 7 oz Milk, 0.21 oz Salt, 1 oz Granulated sugar, 1 pod Vanilla beans, ½ teaspoon Cinnamon, 6.3 oz Unsalted butter
- Heat the pot until the liquids start boiling.
- Remove from heat, add flour to the pot, and mix until it forms a ball.8.4 oz All-purpose flour
- Heat the pot again at medium heat while you push and flip it constantly to cook the flour evenly. (1 - 1.5 minutes with one batch)Remove from heat when it looks a bit looser and slightly more transparent.
- Mix the dough with a pedal until the dough cools down slightly. (about 45 seconds with one batch)
- Add egg and mix:And add about ⅓ or a little less than a half amount of eggs. And mix well. Once it looks combined, add the rest, dividing it into a few more times.9.2 oz Egg
- Pipe and deep-fry them! Heat the oil to 170-175 C | 338-347 F.Some Oil
- Coat cinnamon sugar. Enjoy!½ teaspoon Cinnamon, 3.5 oz Granulated sugar
Video
Nutrition
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