How to Make Spanish Churros at Home

This Spanish sweet treat is a staple in Madrid and it’s addictive. You’re probably already wondering how you’re going to get your churro fix when your time in Madrid comes to an end (and, by this we mean, real Spanish-style churros). Well, fear not, homemade churros are surprisingly easy to make at home. A simple five-ingredient batter and 20 minutes of your time is all that’s required. We’ve done our research and tried and tested a few different methods and we’ve come up with this winning recipe.

Spanish churros and chocolate recipe

Spanish churros and chocolate recipe — © Sami Keinänen / Flickr.

Servings

• 4 (makes around 8 to 10)

Ingredients

Coating

• ¼ cup caster sugar (superfine sugar) (55g)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Churros batter

• 150 g/ 1 cup plain white flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or other neutral oil (don’t use extra virgin olive oil as the taste is too strong!)
• 250 ml / 1 cup boiling water
• 2 cups+ oil (for frying)

Chocolate sauce

• 1/2 cup / 100g dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup / 125 ml thickened cream (heavy cream)

Instructions

• Mix together sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside for dusting later.
• Measure out flour, baking powder and salt and mix together in a bowl. Add the oil and water and mix until just combined. It should be a thick batter, almost a wet, sticky dough. If it’s thin and watery, you’ve got it wrong.
• Transfer dough into a piping bag with a 8mm / 1/3" star tip nozzle. Let the dough cool.

Oil for frying — © Hans Braxmeier / Pixabay.

• Heat the oil for frying over a medium high in a wok or small but deep skillet to 170C/340F, or until it takes 20 seconds for a small 1cm / 1/3" cube of bread to turn golden.
• Then comes the fun part. Start piping lengths of dough into the oil around 15cm / 6 inches in length. Use scissors to cut the dough strips. Don’t put more than 3 to 4 dough strips in the pan at one time.
• Let them cook for 2–3 minutes in the bubbling oil until golden, turning them occasionally to ensure an even golden hue.

Sugar-coated churros — © Mats Wale / Pixabay.

Chocolate Sauce

Chocolate sauce for churros — © Pixabay.

Place in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between until the sauce is smooth. Otherwise heat slowly in a pan.

Recipe Tips

• Make sure you’re using plain white all purpose flour, not self-raising flour.
• Make sure you get chocolate chips that are specifically for baking and not chocolate chips for eating as they melt more easily.
• If you’re making them in advance (which we recommend doing as it works great), don’t roll them in sugar straightaway. Allow the churros to cool completely and then store in an airtight container at room temperature. The churros will go soft so when you’re ready to eat them, you can reheat them in 180C/350F oven for 5 minutes or until crisp, and then roll in sugar.
• If you are in a high altitude or very humid tropical area, you may find the dough is sloppier than what’s described in this recipe. Add a bit more flour until you get your desired consistency. Alternatively, if your dough looks too dry, add some more water.
• If you don’t have a piping bag (although they’re easy to find in most kitchenware stores) just drop little dollops of dough in the oil and make churros doughnut balls instead that are equally as good!
• If your churros turn out too doughy, the temperature of your oil is probably too high so try frying a new batch at a slightly lower temperature.

Warning: we are not held responsible for the calories that you will gain in cooking these addictive sweet snacks!

Let us know how your churros turn out in the comments section below! Or share your churro-making tips with our readers.