Churros Recipe: How To Make The Best Churros

There's a restaurant in Chicago by Rick Bayless called XOCO, which have some of the tastiest churros we've ever had. So if you live in, or are visiting Chicago, please treat yourself to XOCO - get the Pepito and some churros and your stomach will thank you (and us). But we know not everyone lives in Chicago, or can visit on a whim just for their churro cravings, so we wanted to share a churros recipe so you can make the best churros anytime you want.

What Are Churros

Churros, also known as Spanish doughnuts to some, are fried dough delights. And since we here at Sweet Society love our fried dough and take it very seriously, we tried a few variations with both recipes and techniques, and are sharing the best churros recipe, ingredients, and directions that we were able to put together.

Churros Essentials

Slotted Spoon or Tongs (we used tongs and our favorite is the OXO Good Grips Tongs)

Ground Cinnamon

Candy Termometer

Pastry Bag

Optional: Deep Fryer

Before You Start Making Churros

Weigh/Measure all of the ingredients

Get a plate ready with paper towel to drain the hot-fried churros

Prepare cinnamon/sugar by using 1/4 cup of sugar and sprinkle in cinnamon 1/2-1 tsp to your liking, onto a plate for easy rolling of the churros

Place oil in deep fryer, deep frying pan, or Dutch oven

Churros Ingredient & Amounts (Yields: ~2 dozen)

Vegetable Oil - enough for 2-inches high in fryer

1 cup (237g) water

2 tbsp (28g) brown sugar

1/2 tsp (3g) salt

1/3 cup (76g) butter

1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour

2 eggs (100g) (mix eggs and vanilla in a seperate bowl)

1/2 tsp (2g) vanilla extract

1/4 cup (50g) sugar

1/2 to 1 tsp (1.5-3g) ground cinnamon, depending on taste

Churros Step-By-Step Directions

1) Start by filling your deep fryer, deep frying pan, or Dutch oven with about 2 inches of vegetable oil. Preheat oil to 375 F-190 C. We recommend a candy thermometer to keep track of the temperature as it does fluctuate when frying.

2) In a separate saucepan, combine your water, brown sugar, salt, and butter, letting the ingredients come to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the flour. Once flour is incorporated, mix in the eggs/vanilla mixture, and stir till combined.

3) Let the dough sit for about ten minutes as it's very hot. In the meantime, get a pastry bag fitted with a star-tip, (we used the 1M by Wilton) and turn up your oil to 375 (F) degrees. When the oil is heated, start to pipe about a 3-4 inch long churro into the oil, using a butter knife to disconnect the dough from the star-tip. Only place about 3 to 4 churros in at a time, frying 2 to 3 minutes on each side to get a nice golden brown color.

4) Using a slotted spoon or tongs (or lifting the drain basket if you're using a dedicated deep fryer), remove the churros from the oil and place them onto a paper-toweled plate to soak up some of the oil.

5) After a minute or so, roll the churros in the cinnamon-sugar mix to coat.

6) Last, but the most important step, devour these amazing churros.

Churros are best served warm. If you are looking to serve them at an event or party, you can make the churro dough ahead of time (keep refrigerated) waiting till the last possible moment before the party (or even during the party with a deep frying station) to make the churros. Churros can be paired with chocolate, as well as other dipping sauces, so feel free to try different sauces to go with your delicious fried dough.

Churros Questions

Have a question about Churros or this recipe. Feel free to ask us for help.

Churros Sweet Notes

If you would like to make some creative designs, like our heart, place some wax paper onto a cookie sheet and pipe your creations there. Wax paper tends to move around a lot, so pipe some dough onto the cookie sheet corners and then place wax paper onto the cookie sheet, pressing the wax paper onto the dough, which acts like glue. Place your churro creations into the freezer for 15 minutes and then place in hot oil to fry, following directions above

The oil temp is always changing, especially when you place the churros from the freezer into the oil, so we suggest using a thermometer to gauge the temp of your oil, adjusting the heat as needed

Recipe adapted from Daisy Martinez