Air Fryer Churros fried to golden perfection make a delicious dessert for your next Mexican-themed party! Freshly baked and coated with cinnamon-sugar this easy Air Fryer dessert is a lot easier to make at home than you think.
This easy churros recipe makes it so easy to create a classic Mexcian dessert at home with only a few simple ingredients. So much easier to make than deep fried and more delicious than baked churros, this recipe for homemade churros is a family favorite!
what is a churro
Churros are a dessert made from fried dough that is popular in Spain and Mexico. They are normally deep-fried but taste as delicious made in the Air Fryer.
A sweet treat air fried until golden and tossed in cinnamon-sugar that makes a great dessert for every day but is perfect for Cinco de Mayo or your next Mexican-themed party! You have to try this easy Air Fryer Churro recipe!
how to make churros
Making Churros in the Air Fryer is easier than you think. They taste as delicious as deep-fried churros but have fewer calories and are easier to make without the need for handling hot oil. Homemade churros are
What Ingredients Do You Need to Make Churros?
- Water
- Unsalted butter
- Sugar
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Oil Spray
For authentic Mexican Churros, you will also need a mixture of sugar and cinnamon to coat the baked churros. This adds flavor, sweetness, and crunch to this simple recipe. The great thing about churros is that you probably have all these ingredients in your pantry!
Tips and Tricks to make the BEST Homemade Churros
- This recipe makes about 35 4-inch long churros.
- It is ok if a few little lumps of flour remain after adding the flour to the saucepan.
- Depending on the size of your piping bags you might have to divide the dough into batches.
- Use a star-shaped tip to get the perfect shapes. I use a Wilton 1M tip.
- If you don’t have piping bags or tips you could also use a ziplock or freezer bag.
- Refrigerating the piped churros makes them easier to handle and they will keep their shape better while air frying.
- Don’t refrigerate the piped churros longer than 1 hour or they will dry out.
- If you have leftover dough you can store it wrapped in plastic wrap overnight. Let it come to room temperature before piping it into shapes, it is very difficult to pipe the cold dough.
- Depending on you Air Fryer you might have to bake the churros in batches. They will increase in size a little bit while baking so leave some room between them.
- Immediately transfer the baked churros to the cinnamon sugar mixture. This makes the sugar mixture stick better to them.
- Churros taste best served warm. They don’t keep well. I don’t recommend freezing the baked churros.
- Serve with warmed up Nutella, Chocolate Sauce (churros con chocolate), Caramel Sauce, or Whipped Cream.
More Air Fryer Recipes you want to try!
Air Fryer Churros
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- oil spray
Cinnamon-sugar coating:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Put a silicone baking mat on a baking sheet and spray with oil spray.
- In a medium saucepan add water, butter, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and add flour to the saucepan. Stirring constantly with a rubber spatula cook until the dough comes together and is smooth.
- Remove from heat and transfer the dough to a mixing bowl. Let cool for 4 minutes.
- Add eggs and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl and mix using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer until dough comes together. The mixture will look like gluey mashed potatoes. Use your hands to press lumps together into a ball and transfer to a large piping bag fitted with a large star-shaped tip.
- Pipe churros onto the greased baking mat, into 4-inch lengths and cut end with scissors.
- Refrigerate piped churros on the baking sheet for 1 hour.
- Carefully transfer churros with a cookie spatula to the Air Fryer basket, leaving about 1/2-inch space between churros. Spray churros with oil spray. Depending on the size of your Air Fryer you have to fry them in batches.
- Air fry at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
- In a shallow bowl combine granulated sugar and cinnamon.
- Immediately transfer baked churros to the bowl with the sugar mixture and toss to coat. Working in batches. Serve warm with Nutella or chocolate dipping sauce.
Nutrition Information
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If you’ve tried this or any other of my recipes, don’t forget to rate the recipe and to leave me a comment. I love hearing from you!
Katie Brill says
These churros were amazing! I am going to cook them for Thanksgiving again. I used GF flour and they were great. I would totally recommend this recipe. I also used a churro maker and then put then into the air fryer. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe.
Heather says
So soggy. The batter was horrible and runny, followed the recipe to a T but still turned out like lumpy flat… things. Refrigerating did not help either, not sure what went wrong. Wasn’t eggs either, we have medium sized eggs so the liquid consistency shouldn’t of happened. Please be more specific when stating how LONG the mixture needs to be on the stove for, the mixture when on the stove did not form dough consistency, please state how LONG recommended time for stove is. Will maybe try again another day if I feel like wasting more time on this. If it’s as good as the other reviews state, will give another go.
Julia Foerster says
That doesn’t sound right, Heather! Sorry, this didn’t work for you. But if the mixture doesn’t come together on the stove and is runny something went wrong, I recommend adding a few extra tablespoons of flour to save it next time that happens. It isn’t really a matter of how long it is on the stove, because depending on your stove it can take longer, but it should come together within 2 minutes, if not you might have measured the flour or water wrong. Hope this helps!
???? says
Hey is it 204 calories for one churro or for al of them btw love the recipe 🥰😋
Julia Foerster says
The calories are for one serving, this recipe makes 8 servings.
Lisa says
I don’t really know what I did wrong, but mine turned out something completely other than churros… but they’re absolutely delicious! They’re kind of round and puffy like small bread rolls but still really nice. I’ll definitely make these again and hope I do the same things wrong hahah
Vanila says
This recipe was great! It was super easy to follow, and I just used a freezer bag with tape reinforcing the tip to pipe the churros, and they turned out great. I split the recipe in half and made them for dessert, and each batch was gone a minute after I finished them!
dee says
I love these!! They taste more like French toast sticks than churros but still so good!! my air fryer only does increments of 10 degrees so I did 370 for 11 mins and it was perfect. the churros were solid coming out of the air fryer so it was a little hard to coat with the cinnamon/sugar but i still highly recommend!
Madi says
I made these. It wasn’t too tough however the outcome was more like breadsticks with a soft center. Similar to a churro but not authentic. Probably would have gotten a better outcome if they were deep fried.
Vanessa says
These were AMAZING! I subbed coconut oil and GF flour to make them gluten/dairy free but otherwise followed the recipe. I got so many compliments, thank you so much for this outright winner!!
Dee says
I followed the recipe to a T but for some reason my piping results didn’t shape up, it was too soft, did anybody else have this type of a problem? They didn’t come out star shape but more like logs. :(
Julia Foerster says
If the dough is too runny it usually means too much liquid. Were your eggs very large perhaps? Did you refrigerate the churros before air frying them?
Hi says
Do you think it is better to use hot or cold water
Julia Foerster says
Do you mean for the dough? This recipe needs to be made with hot water, I recommend following the instructions in the recipe card.
Hi says
When you boil the water
Rick G says
My dough was moist and difficult to handle even after refrigeration, so I piped the churros onto parchment paper, then moved the parchment paper (with dish underneath) to the fridge. After chilling, I moved the parchment paper into the air fryer for baking. Worked great except if you stack 2 levels as shown in the recipe pic, the lower lever doesn’t brown. (Parchment paper on the upper grill restricts air flow to the lower level basket… duh.) So I just baked more batches.
Another issue, the sugar did not stick to the churros as much as I like. Solution – I sprinkled the cinnamon sugar on the churros before baking. Result was just what I wanted. Of course, after using chocolate sauce, it really doesn’t matter that much.
Anywhooo… YUMMO
Julia Foerster says
Yes, definitely don’t use parchment paper in the Air Fryer it will prevent the air from circulating.
Belinda says
Hey! We have the ninja dual air fryer and it comes with grills that you put in the baskets, do you need them in there or no?
Julia Foerster says
I have never used the Ninja Dual Zone AirFryer so sadly I can’t help.
Amanda says
What would you do if you don’t have the correct piping tools?
Julia Foerster says
You could cut a hole in a freezer bag, won’t be as pretty but should do the job.
jack harold says
it was delicious. the best churros I have ever had and so easy.
Nicole says
Absolutly phenomenal. I have never had churros. I made a batch last night, it went over really well with the boyfriend. Had 3 left this am, they weren’t crunchy, but they were still good. I made a double batch this afternoon, they are soggy and not the best. Any suggestions?
Kate M. says
Absolutely delicious!
Brad says
WOW! Sooooo good! Disneyland quality without the Disneyland prices! I will be making these again soon as demanded by my kids. Thanks