Churros

By Mark Bittman

Churros
Craig Lee for The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(426)
Notes
Read community notes

In the world of fresh pastry, few things are quicker than churros – those crullerlike strips of crisp fried dough that are street-corner snacks in Spain, Mexico and some New York City subway stations. In fact, there are few breakfast dishes or last-minute late-night snacks that can match a batch of churros. If there is a recipe ideal for learning deep frying, this is it. The dough is extremely forgiving, and will brown nicely at any temperature in the neighborhood of 350; with a frying thermometer, you can hit the temperature right on the money. The only trick, as with all deep frying, is to not crowd the dough strips. Work in batches. Once the strips are gloriously brown, turn them in a sugar-cinnamon mixture and serve hot, or at least warm. Cold churros are certainly edible, but they're a far cry from hot ones.

Featured in: THE MINIMALIST; A Fast Bite Of Mexico

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Ingredients

Yield:1 dozen 4- to 6-inch churros
  • Corn, grapeseed, canola or other neutral oil for frying
  • ½cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½cup or 1 stick butter
  • ¼teaspoon salt
  • 1cup all-purpose flour
  • 3eggs
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Add enough oil to a large saucepan or deep skillet to come to a depth of at least 2 inches; heat to about 350 degrees. Mix ½ cup sugar and the cinnamon together on a large plate.

  2. Step 2

    Combine remaining sugar, butter, salt and 1 cup water in a saucepan over high heat, and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, and add flour, all at once. Stir constantly until mixture forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat, and beat eggs one at a time into mixture, stirring until smooth after each addition.

  3. Step 3

    Spoon dough into a pastry bag with a large star tip (or simply drop spoons full of batter into oil). Press strips of dough about 4 inches long into hot oil. Cook as many as will fit comfortably at once, turning as they brown, 5 to 10 minutes each.

  4. Step 4

    Remove churros from oil, and drain on paper towels, then immediately roll them in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve hot or warm.

Ratings

4 out of 5
426 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

amp1229

This recipe is very dense and eggy. I would experiment with the amount of eggs in this recipe (possibly separating so there's less whites), or find another recipe that uses baking powder instead of eggs (which aligns more with the churro recipes you would see from Spain).

Kathleen Stark

Mexican churros are delicious with the sugar and cinnamon. You'll have to try them. I had the Spanish churros in Madrid and was disappointed, being used to the Mexican recipe. The recipe above does say "A fast bite of Mexico." Do try them.

Ela33

Very easy to make. I didn't have a pastry bag, so I used a plastic storage bag.. worked great. Tasted wonderful. Next time I will add a little bit of vanilla extract.

Emily D

that's because it is a pate a choux. they're virtually always the same batter

Helen

The batter recipe looks just like pâte à choux. I'd add that mixture needs to be stirred enough so that very thin layers of dough dry and come away from the edges of the saucepan, a bit more than 30 seconds.

Juliet Jones

I don't know how they eat these things in Mexico, but in Spain (where I'm pretty sure they originated) they are most definitely not rolled in sugar and cinnamon. They are quite plain, very crisp, and best eaten dipped into a cup of hot, very thick, chocolate.

Amanda

I used an Ateco 828 star tip for this and think that if I used a smaller tip they would have fried up a little fluffier. I also found that the pate a choux was a little too sweet for a recipe that is then finished in sugar. This recipe still works if you pipe churros on to a silpat or parchment and freeze them, then fry in small batches as needed—perfect for making a smaller batch for sharing with just my husband and I!

Jh

I had the same experience. Even though they were very thoroughly cooked and crisped wonderfully on the outside, the inside still had a sort of raw dough texture because they were so dense.

Grace

So good and VERY easy to make. Nice crisp out side and a great crunch. Goes perfectly with nutella. You don't have to be a pro chef,10/10 would recommend.

Charmaine

You absolutely should not drop these by the spoonful. One of the worst things I've ever made, didn't know fried dough could be this bad. Too dense and eggy. Use a star-tip or don't make it at all. Sad to lose a stick of butter to this.

Neha

What could I substitute the eggs for in this recipe? Many thanks!

MikeSee901

Made this delectable treat again this year, but 1.5x the filling and added orange zest to it. Finally nailed the genoise sponge. There are a lot of hazards here, but I believe in Dorie!

MikeSee901

Perfect treat for the Fourth of July. Served them with a sour cherry sauce. Tasty!

Sean H

Anyone know if I can make the dough a day in advance?

payal mehra

Used 2 eggs instead of 3. Great recipe!

Amanda

I used an Ateco 828 star tip for this and think that if I used a smaller tip they would have fried up a little fluffier. I also found that the pate a choux was a little too sweet for a recipe that is then finished in sugar. This recipe still works if you pipe churros on to a silpat or parchment and freeze them, then fry in small batches as needed—perfect for making a smaller batch for sharing with just my husband and I!

me

Makes about 9 as long as my big skillet. Cook slowly to cook all the way through. Pipe right into the pan and snip end with scissors.

susie

Used my biggest Wilton decorating star tip, presses only 1/2” diameter if that. They Tien’s our perfect though—looked like free form wiggly worms and cooked through thanks to skinniness. Will repeat the skinny/wiggly version. Huge hit and fun way to cap off our 2020 spring break world travels’ “dinner in Mexico”

NAC

Made these as written, and they couldn’t have turned out better! They were so simple to make, and so so delicious!

Annmary

For dietary reasons, I used gluten free flour and cooked them in coconut oil. Delicious!

Levana

What type of gf flour did you use for these?

Angela

This is a very nice recipe but it is NOT a recipe for churros, butter, cinnamon, what are you think about! I was born and raised in Spain, adore eating them, I know what I am talking about: water, salt, flour, olive oil.

Kathleen Stark

Mexican churros are delicious with the sugar and cinnamon. You'll have to try them. I had the Spanish churros in Madrid and was disappointed, being used to the Mexican recipe. The recipe above does say "A fast bite of Mexico." Do try them.

Mitxoleta

Correct, no sugar/cinnamon in Spain, just plain as rain.

Juliet Jones

I don't know how they eat these things in Mexico, but in Spain (where I'm pretty sure they originated) they are most definitely not rolled in sugar and cinnamon. They are quite plain, very crisp, and best eaten dipped into a cup of hot, very thick, chocolate.

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