Air fryer churros are crispy, easy to make, and without all the oil and fat. That’s right, you can make perfectly delicious churros in your air fryer! The perfect dessert for dipping in chocolate or dulce de leche, and thanks to your air fryer they come out delectably crisp every single time.
Churros in Air Fryer
This is probably our favorite air fryer dessert recipe at the moment. After all, everybody loves dessert, and the air fryer is by far the coolest appliance going these days. What’s not to like about an awesome air fryer dessert? This is a sweet treat that everybody can enjoy.
What Makes These Churros Special?
Let’s take a quick look at what makes these churros so amazing.
- Making them in the air fryer means you don’t need as much oil, so they’re healthier.
- They taste great straight out of the fryer.
- These are an awesome snack, and you can prepare these churros so quickly.
What is a Churro?
Churros are a very popular Mexican and Spanish dessert. In Mexico, the churro is made from a choux pastry dough, while in Spain they use a simple dough of flour, water, oil and baking powder.
Spanish and Mexican churros also differ in terms of their coating. Spanish churros use sugar alone, while Mexican churros will use cinnamon sugar.
What is a Churro Made From?
Traditional Spanish churros are made from a mixture of flour, oil, sugar, salt and baking powder. Like a lot of old-school European recipes, it’s minimalist in approach, and maximum in flavor. They are also fried the traditional way, with lots of hot oil.
Our air fryer churro recipe takes more from the Mexican tradition. We’ll be making a choux pastry dough for today. That’s the same type of dough used to make delectable desserts like cream puffs and eclairs.
This recipe is also lower in grease and fat than the typical French style one.
How to Make Air Fryer Churros
- In a medium saucepan heat the butter over medium heat. Add in the water, sugar, vanilla and salt. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes while mixing occasionally.
- Add in the flour and mix rapidly with a large wooden spatula. Stir until the mixture thickens and forms a ball.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes or until warm to the touch.
- Once your churro dough has cooled sufficiently, add your eggs one at a time, continuing to mix as you do so. This should make your mixture considerably more sticky. This is the point at which you want to transfer your churro mixture to a piping bag with the star tip.
- Now, take your parchment/ silicon mat lined baking sheet and pipe out 5 inch long dough sticks. Cut the end off with scissors or a knife, and place your baking sheet with the churro shaped dough in the freezer for thirty minutes.
- When you’re about three minutes before baking, preheat your air fryer to 360 F| 180 C. Then gently remove your frozen sticks from the parchment paper, placing them in your air fryer basket. Bake them for about 8-10 minutes. It’s worth noting that, depending on the type of air fryer you have, you might need to bake the churros in batches. It’s important to give the churros plenty of space in the basket, without overcrowding them. This allows the hot air in the fryer to circulate freely, evenly cooking your churros to crispy perfection. Keep any leftover churros in your freezer to stop them going soft.
Cinnamon Sugar Churros
Now for the fun part! It’s time to coat your air fryer churros in cinnamon sugar.
Take a plastic bag or shallow bowl, combining your sugar and cinnamon together. As soon as your baked churros are out of the air fryer, place them in the mix, tossing to coat them evenly.
Finally, serve your air fryer churros with dulce de leche, sweetened condensed milk, or Nutella.
You can serve these treats as a great after school snack, or for your next cinco de mayo party!
Making Air Fryer Churros Ahead of Time
Churros are best enjoyed fresh out of the air fryer. They don’t reheat well after cooking: they’re at their finest when freshly cooked and still crispy.
You can, however, make your dough ahead of time, piping it, and leaving your uncooked churros in the freezer. Then, when you’re in the mood for churros, simply take them out of the freezer, cook them in the air fryer per our instructions, and enjoy as you like.
Storage
Cooked churros do not keep well, so it’s not worth storing any cooked churros. It’s better just to freeze any excess churros until you’re ready to air fry them.
Air Fryer Churro Tips
- Always freeze your dough for the best shape. Thirty minutes of freezing is enough.
- Always preheat your air fryer about three minutes before cooking so the dough goes into a hot, ready space.
- Coat your churros in cinnamon sugar straight out of the fryer. The sugar sticks to the churros better when they’re hot.
Tools You’ll Need to Make Air Fryer Churros
You’ll need a few key items to get your air fryer churros going.
- Air fryer (of course)
- Piping bag, although a ziplock bag with a corner cut off will do
- Wilton star tip
Other Air Fryer Recipes
If you make this recipe be sure to leave a comment or give this recipe a rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐! I will be happy to hear from you!
Air Fryer Churros
Ingredients
Churros
- ½ cup unsalted butter cut into cubes
- 1 cup+2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose or plain flour
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
Coating
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Equipment
Instructions
Churros
- In a medium saucepan heat the butter over medium heat. Add in the water, sugar, vanilla and salt. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes while mixing occasionally.
- Add in the flour and mix rapidly with a large wooden spatula. Stir until the mixture thickens and forms a ball.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes or until warm to the touch.
- Once the dough is a little bit cooler, add in the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until completely incorporated. Transfer the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large open star tip nozzle. I recommend the Wilton 1M or Ateco 845/846.
- Pipe 5-inch long churros onto the baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat. Cut the end with scissors.
- Refrigerate the baking sheet for 30-60 minutes or until firm.
- Three minutes before your churros are ready to be air fried, preheat your air fryer to 360°F (180°C).
- Gently remove the semi-frozen churros from the parchment paper and place them into your air fryer basket. Spray with cooking oil spray and bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. You might need to bake them in batches, depending on the size of your air fryer. Keep the remaining churros in the freezer, while the first batch is frying.
Coating
- In a small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon. Immediately place the baking churros in the sugar mixture and toss to coat. Work in batches.
- Serve with Nutella, dulce de leche or jam.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Jake says
These churros came out perfect! The air fryer made them so easy—no messy oil!
Tatiana says
That’s awesome, Jake! So glad you got that perfect crunch. Thanks for your review!