These air fryer churros are a fun and easy dessert! Sweet dough is air fried and coated in cinnamon sugar for a delicious Mexican treat. Dip your churros in chocolate or caramel for a fun snack.
Churros are a popular fried Mexican dessert that is fun to dip in chocolate sauce and snack on! Traditional churros are deep fried in oil, which makes them delicious but very bad for you.
In addition to being unhealthy deep frying at home is complicated and messy. Big pots of hot oil can be dangerous to mess around with and very difficult to clean.
An air fryer allows you to make fried churros without deep frying. While this doesn’t exactly make them healthy, it does make them healthier alternative.
And being able to get fried food taste at home quickly, easily and with minimal clean up is one of the huge advantages of air frying. Whether you are making these air fryer churros, air fryer fried chicken or an air fryer blooming onion an air fryer simplifies making fried food.
Why You Will Love Air Fried Churros
- Air fryer churros are basically sticks of pastry coated with sugar. What’s not to love?
- They are crisp outside and soft inside.
- The cinnamon sugar sticks to the outside of the hot dough and tastes amazing.
- They are fun to make and kids love to roll them in the cinnamon sugar.
- Churros are made from simple ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.
- They are a great breakfast alternative to donuts.
- Churros are a perfect dessert for a Cinco de Mayo celebration or for ending a Taco Tuesday dinner.
Churro Dough
The dough used for making churros is a pâte à choux dough. This is the same kind of dough used for making eclairs or cream puffs.
This dough rises without yeast and uses steam to make the dough puff up. That is why the churros taste light and airy.
But this dough is a little more complicated to make than cookie dough or cake batter. It has to be cooked on the stove and you need to follow the instructions for the best results.
So if you are looking for a simple two step dessert I’d suggest making something like air fryer chocolate donuts, which are made from refrigerator biscuits.
But if you want to make an amazing treat and wow your family make these air fryer churros. They take just a little bit of effort but are addictive and delicious!
Ingredients
These ingredients are all pantry staples – you won’t need to make a special grocery store trip to make this dessert.
- Milk – I use 1% milk because that is what I have in the refrigerator, but the exact type doesn’t matter.
- Butter – Either salted or unsalted will work.
- Sugar – White granulated sugar
- Flour – All purpose white flour is what I use for these churros.
- Eggs – The eggs are also key to making the churros puffy.
- Vanilla – The vanilla adds a nice sweet flavor to the churros.
- Water
- Cinnamon and sugar – For coating the churros
Piping the Churros
Traditionally churros are piped through a star shaped pastry tip, which gives them their distinctive ridged shape. You can get this shape at home by using a pastry bag topped with a 1M star decorating tip.
But if you don’t have this decorating tip or a pastry bag you can just use a zippered bag with the corner cut off. No, the churros won’t be star shaped, but trust me, your family and friends will eat them without caring.
Step by Step Instructions
Making churros isn’t difficult, but you do have to follow the steps and pay attention to details, like when to take the sauce pan on and off the heat.
This is also a recipe where it is helpful to have all the ingredients out and measured before you start. And find the pastry bag or zippered bag you are going to use for piping the churros before you begin, so everything is ready to go.
1. Boil
Put the water, milk, butter and sugar in a medium sauce pan. Place it on the stove on medium heat and bring it to a boil. Keep stirring it while it heats.
2. Add Flour
Take the saucepan off the stove and stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring it until all the flour is mixed in.
Once the flour is mixed in put the saucepan back on the burner. Stir it constantly for about 2 minutes, until the dough comes together in a smooth ball.
3. Cool Dough
Once you have a ball of dough take the saucepan off the heat and put the dough in a mixer bowl. Now beat it with a mixer until it is nice and fluffy.
This will help cool the dough. If you add the eggs to the dough while it is still hot the eggs will cook and your churros will taste like scrambled eggs.
You want the eggs to cook in the air fryer, not in the mixing bowl. Beat the dough for 3-5 minutes to make sure it has cooled off enough for the eggs.
4. Add the Eggs
Put the eggs and vanilla together in a small bowl and whisk to break up the eggs. Then slowly add the egg mixture to the dough in the mixer bowl.
Beat the dough after each addition and scrape the sides of the mixer bowl. Once all the eggs are added you should have a smooth dough.
5. Pipe the Churros
Add the dough to a pastry bag with a #1M star decorating tip or a zippered bag. If you are using a zippered bag snip a corner off with scissors after you put the dough inside.
Pipe the dough directly into your air fryer basket. Use scissors or a sharp knife to cut the dough. I like to make churros about 3 inches in length.
But you could make longer ones if you wanted to. You could also go shorter and make churro bites for dipping.
Leave room in the basket between the churros because the dough will puff up as it cooks. You will probably need to cook these in batches.
6. Bake the Churros
Spray the churros with cooking oil from a mister bottle. I don’t recommend using commercial non stick spray because the chemicals in the spray can damage the coating of the air fryer basket.
Bake the churros for 8-10 minutes at 380 F, until they are golden brown. While they are cooking mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a bowl.
Once they are done cooking take them out and add them right into the cinnamon sugar bowl. The topping will stick best while they are still warm.
Roll the churros around in the cinnamon sugar to get all the ridges coated and set them aside on a rack to cool.
Then pipe another batch into the air fryer basket. The second batch might cook a little bit faster, since the air fryer will be warm. So check on your churros a few minutes sooner for the second batch.
How to Serve
Churros are traditionally served with caramel sauce or chocolate sauce for dipping. You could also dip them into whipped cream, nutella, strawberry sauce or almost anything else you can think of.
They also taste quite good by themselves, without any dipping sauce. The crispy outside contrasts nicely with a chewy inside for a delicious pastry. For another Mexican inspired dessert try Mexican Chocolate Cake!
How to Store
These air fryer churros are going to taste best right after they are made. If you have leftovers you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple days, but they will lose crispiness.
Because of this they also don’t lend themselves well to making ahead of time.
Find More Air Fryer Recipes
Air Fryer Churros
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
This is not a difficult recipe but for the best results read the recipe through and get all the ingredients and equipment ready before you start!
- In a medium saucepan, combine water, milk, butter and 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Bring it to a boil over medium heat, stirring as it cooks.1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup butter, 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the flour into the saucepan with a wooden spoon. Stir until the flour is completely mixed in.1 cup all purpose flour
- Put the saucepan back on the heat and stir it constantly for 2 minutes, until dough comes together in a smooth ball.
- Take the dough off the heat and put the dough in a large mixing bowl.
- Beat the dough with an electric mixer until fluffy. This will cool the dough so the eggs don’t cook when they are added. Beat the dough for 3-5 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla extract.3 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Slowly add the egg mixture to the cooled dough in the bowl, beating with the mixer after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and continue until the eggs are mixed in and the dough is smooth.
- To pipe the churros use a disposable pastry bag with a #1M open star decorating tip or use a zippered bag with the corner cut off.
- Add dough to the pastry bag or put it into the plastic bag. If you are using a plastic bag don’t cut the corner off until the dough has been added.
- Pipe dough directly into air fryer basket and cut the end with scissors. I usually make 3 inch churros, but you can adjust the length as desired to fit into your air fryer basket. Smaller churro bites are also fun to make.
- Once all the churros are in the basket use a mister bottle to spray churros with a little bit of oil.
- Cook for 8-10 minutes at 380 F or until golden brown.
- While churros are cooking, combine cinnamon sugar mixture in a medium bowl.1 cup granulated sugar, 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- Remove churros from air fryer, and add to cinnamon sugar mixture right away. Toss them so they are coated with cinnamon sugar and set them on baking rack to cool.
- Serve immediately with chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, or nutella for dipping.
Notes
- A second batch might cook a little more quickly because the air fryer will already be hot. Check them 2 minutes before the time it took the first batch to cook.
- Don’t use a commercial aerosol cooking spray on the churros. The chemicals in the spray can damage the coating of the air fryer basket.
- You could also toss the churros in powdered sugar, which is traditional for Spanish churros.
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Nutrition Information
Nutrition facts are estimates.
