A degree in pastry arts sounds like a reasonable prerequisite for homemade cinnamon churros, until the smell of fried dough and cinnamon sugar proves otherwise. I tried this recipe on a random Tuesday when my craving for fried dough beat out my fear of hot oil, and I accidentally made churros that rivaled the eight-dollar version I usually buy at a theme park.
The dough comes together in one pot in about five minutes, and the frying process turns out to be far less intimidating than it sounds. A rich coffee chocolate sauce on the side seals the deal completely. Here is exactly how I do it.
reader review
★★★★★
“Crispy Crispy and Crispy. I fried these in batches of four exactly like the recipe warns and every single one came out golden with those perfect ridges. That coffee chocolate sauce is unreal, my kids kept dunking them until the bowl was scraped clean. I will never buy the theme park version again. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!” – Marcus D.
Loved this too? Add your reviewWhy You’ll Love This Recipe
- No yeast required. The dough skips any rise time entirely, which means dessert moves from stovetop to plate significantly faster than a yeasted pastry recipe.
- Pantry staples only. Water, butter, flour, eggs, sugar, and cinnamon cover the entire churro dough, with nothing specialty required from a store run.
- That dipping sauce. A small amount of instant coffee granules makes the chocolate taste impossibly rich and deep without introducing any detectable coffee flavor.
- Total crowd-pleaser. Handing someone a warm, freshly fried churro straight from the oil makes you look like the most competent person in the kitchen that day.
Tools You’ll Need
Nothing fancy, I promise.
- Heavy-bottomed pot. The thick base distributes heat evenly during frying and prevents the sudden temperature spikes that thin pots produce, which matters directly for how evenly the churros cook.
- Deep-fry thermometer. Guessing oil temperature by sight produces inconsistent results almost every time, since 350°F looks nearly identical to 380°F to the naked eye. A clip-on thermometer left in the pot removes the guesswork entirely.
- Piping bag with a large star tip. The star shape creates the ridged surface that traditional churros are known for, and those ridges hold onto the cinnamon sugar coating far better than a smooth surface would.
- Kitchen scissors. Snipping the dough directly over the hot oil produces clean, even lengths without the mess of trying to cut piped dough on a separate surface first.
Ingredients
For the Churros
- 1 cup water – Just plain tap water.
- 1/2 cup salted butter – If you only have unsalted, just add a pinch of salt to the water.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour – Measure this by spooning it into the cup so you do not pack it too densely.
- 2 large eggs – These give the dough its structure.
- Oil for frying – Vegetable, canola, or peanut oil work best here.
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar – For that crunchy, sweet exterior.
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon – Adjust this if you like a stronger cinnamon punch.
For the Coffee Chocolate Sauce
- 1/2 cup whole milk or heavy cream – Heavy cream makes it richer, but milk works just fine.
- 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate – Chopped from a bar melts much better than chocolate chips.
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules – This will not make it taste like a latte, it just amplifies the chocolate.
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract – A little splash rounds out the bitterness of the cocoa.
Instructions
Do not let the idea of hot oil intimidate you; if I can manage this without incident, you definitely can.
- Boil the liquids: In a medium saucepan, combine the water and butter. Place over medium heat and bring it to a rolling boil. If you step away and let too much water evaporate, your dough will be too dry, so keep an eye on it.
- Add the flour: Dump the flour in all at once and stir aggressively until it forms a smooth ball and pulls away from the sides. This is basically a classic choux pastry, and it will look like a weird lump at first—that is totally normal.
- Cool and add eggs: Remove from heat and let it cool for 10 minutes before beating in the eggs one at a time. Do not skip the cooling step unless you want scrambled egg churros, which nobody wants.
- Prep the bag: Transfer the glossy dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. If you only have a round tip, use it; they just will not have those traditional ridges.
- Make the sugar coating: In a shallow bowl, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon. A shallow bowl makes the rolling process infinitely easier later.
- Heat the oil: Fill a heavy pot with at least 2 inches of oil and heat it to exactly 350°F. Keep your thermometer in the pot so you can monitor the temperature as you go.
- Fry them up: Squeeze 3-inch strips of dough directly into the oil, snipping the ends with scissors. Fry for 4 to 5 minutes until golden brown, turning once. Just do not drop your scissors into the hot oil.
- Coat and serve: While they are still warm, roll the churros in the cinnamon sugar and serve with the warm chocolate sauce. Do this quickly; if they cool down, the sugar refuses to stick.
♥ The Misfit Tips!
- Do not overcrowd the pot. I once dropped six churros into the oil simultaneously out of impatience, and the oil temperature plummeted immediately, leaving me with greasy, sad dough sticks instead of crispy churros. Three or four pieces at a time keeps the oil temperature stable.
- Watch your eggs closely. I once rushed the cooling step and added eggs to dough that was still visibly steaming, and the eggs cooked on contact before I could even stir them in. The full ten minutes of cooling time is non-negotiable.
- Do not skip the instant coffee. Adding coffee to chocolate sauce sounds strange the first time, but it genuinely deepens the chocolate flavor without introducing any bitter coffee taste of its own.
Troubleshooting Guide
Something went sideways? Been there. Here is how to fix it.
- Problem: Why are my churros raw in the middle?
Why it happened: Your oil was too hot, causing the outside to brown and burn before the inside had time to cook.
Fix it: Lower the heat slightly to maintain exactly 350°F. If your oil gets too hot, just turn off the burner for a minute to let it cool down before frying the next batch.
- Problem: Why is my dough too hard to pipe?
Why it happened: You likely measured the flour too heavily by scooping it directly from the bag, or the dough cooled down entirely.
Fix it: Use both hands to squeeze the bag firmly. It is naturally a very thick, stiff dough, so it requires a little bit of arm strength!
- Problem: The cinnamon sugar won’t stick to my churros.
Why it happened: You waited too long to coat them, and the residual oil on the surface dried up.
Fix it: Pull them from the oil, let them drain on a paper towel for exactly 5 seconds, and toss them straight into the sugar while they are still hot.
Perfect Pairings
These go perfectly with exactly what you are craving.
- A strong shot of espresso works as a backup dip if the chocolate sauce runs out before the churros do, and the bitterness plays well against the cinnamon sugar coating.
- Vanilla bean ice cream placed alongside a warm churro creates the hot-and-cold contrast that makes this combination a genuine classic rather than a gimmick.
How to Store Cinnamon Churros
❤
- Fridge. You store leftover coffee chocolate sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. You keep the fried churros out of the fridge entirely, since the moisture there turns them into soggy sponges within hours.
- Freezer. You freeze the raw piped dough successfully by laying the strips onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, freezing until solid, then transferring the pieces to a zip-top bag. You thaw them slightly on the counter before frying from frozen.
- Reheat. You crisp leftover fried churros back up in a 350°F oven for about five minutes. You warm the chocolate sauce gently in the microwave in fifteen-second bursts, stirring between each interval.
- Storage note. Fried dough genuinely does not hold up well over time. These cinnamon churros taste best eaten fresh out of the fryer on the same day you make them, with almost no exception worth mentioning.
Cinnamon Churros
These cinnamon churros prove that a genuinely crispy, ridged, cinnamon-sugar-coated fried dessert requires nothing beyond a heavy pot, a piping bag, and ten minutes of patience while the dough cools. The coffee chocolate sauce turns a simple fried dough recipe into something worth serving at a weekend gathering, and the entire process from boiling the water to plating the final churro takes under an hour. Whether you stick with the classic cinnamon sugar coating or experiment with a cinnamon toast crunch twist, this recipe removes every excuse for buying the eight-dollar theme park version again.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Boil the liquidsYou combine the water and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. You watch the pot during this step, because stepping away for too long lets excess water evaporate and leaves the finished dough too dry to pipe smoothly.
- Add the flourYou dump the flour into the boiling liquid all at once and stir aggressively with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a smooth ball that pulls cleanly away from the sides of the pan. This is essentially a classic choux pastry base, and background on how choux pastry develops its structure through this exact cooking method appears at the Wikipedia article on choux pastry. The dough looks like a strange, lumpy mass for the first thirty seconds of stirring, which is completely normal and resolves as the flour hydrates fully.
- Cool and add the eggsYou remove the pot from the heat and let the dough cool for a full ten minutes before beating in the eggs one at a time. Adding eggs to a still-steaming dough cooks them on contact and produces scrambled egg churros, which nobody wants on their plate.
- Prep the piping bagYou transfer the cooled, glossy dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. A round tip substitutes if that is all you have, though the finished churros will lack the traditional ridges that hold onto the sugar coating so effectively.
- Make the sugar coatingYou whisk the granulated sugar and ground cinnamon together in a shallow bowl. The shallow shape makes rolling the hot, freshly fried churros through the mixture significantly easier than a deep, narrow bowl would.
- Heat the oilYou fill a heavy pot with at least two inches of oil and heat it to exactly 350°F, keeping the thermometer clipped to the side of the pot throughout the frying process to monitor the temperature continuously.
- Fry the churrosYou squeeze three-inch strips of dough directly into the hot oil, snipping the ends cleanly with kitchen scissors as each piece falls. You fry for four to five minutes until golden brown, turning each piece once partway through. You keep the scissors away from the edge of the pot to avoid dropping them into the oil.
- Coat and serveYou roll the churros through the cinnamon sugar coating while they are still hot from the oil, working quickly since the sugar refuses to stick once the surface cools and the residual oil dries up. You serve them immediately alongside the warm coffee chocolate sauce.