Authentic Mexican Churros

Follow this step-by-step churros recipe to make your own amazing Mexican Churros at home. They turn out perfectly crispy golden brown on the outside while staying soft and tender on the inside. Sprinkle them in cinnamon sugar and eat them with ice cream. Or dip them in warm chocolate sauce or Dulce de Leche for the ultimate sweet treat.

Churros and chocolate may be a classic pairing but if you love coffee, I recommend enjoying these churros alongside a homebrewed Caramel Macchiato or boozy Carajillo Cocktail for a truly Mexican treat.

Authentic Mexican Churros

I have never met anyone that doesn’t like churros, have you? These little deep-fried delights are practically irresistible to anyone with a sweet tooth. And really, who could resist sweet batter deep fried to perfection and sparkling with cinnamon sugar?

If you’ve ever been to Mexico and eaten churros from a street cart, you already know that the ideal churro is crispy golden brown on the outside with a soft, almost creamy inside. The sugar mixture on the outside is like icing on a cake! 

What are Churros?

Churros are any length or shape of fried dough, typically from Spain and Portugal and their related colonies and areas of migration. However, since they bear such strong resemblance to Chinese fried youtiao, it is most likely that the Portuguese learned of this pastry technique during Ming Dynasty exploration.

Churro dough, or pâte à choux, is the same dough used to make gougères, éclairs and profiteroles. The delicate dough contains butter, water, salt, sugar*, and flour which are cooked together and cooled before eggs are added.

The dough is then placed in a piping bag and piped into various shapes and deep fried. Once it hits the hot oil, the moisture within evaporates to steam, acting as a leavening agent and causing the pastry to puff up.

Churro shapes vary regionally from thin rings to wavy or straight long thick ropes. They may be or may not contain various fillings like jam, chocolate, Dulce de Leche, lemon curd, vanilla cream, Nutella, etc.

Ingredients for Mexican Churros

The essential ingredients for all pâte à choux recipes are butter, water, flour and eggs. However, this sweet choux dough also contains sugar and a tiny bit of salt. You’ll also need extra sugar and some cinnamon, along with serving dips, as needed.

• Butter
• Salt
• Sugar
• Water
• Flour
• Eggs
• Cinnamon
• Frying Oil

Choose unsalted butter, fine salt, granulated sugar, and fragrant ground cinnamon for this recipe. Any all-purpose flour will work, although it is important to note that different flours will absorb differing amounts of moisture.

The Best Oil for Deep Frying

Typically, the best oil for deep frying is a vegetable oil with a high smoke point. At high temperatures (like those for deep frying), oils with low smoke points (nut oils, olive oil) begin to break down, releasing unpleasant odours and harmful byproducts.

Food experts recommend using vegetable oils that have a smoke point of 370 F or higher for deep frying food. These include refined oils such as safflower and soybean oil, peanut oil, or canola oil. They are the most stable and will not break down at high temperatures.

How to Make Churros

Make the Pâte à Choux

To make the pâte à choux, melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the water, sugar, and salt then bring the mixture to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the flour. Use a rubber spatula to continuously stir the mixture until it is smooth, and no lumps remain.

Next, return the dough to the stove and stir over medium low heat until it becomes very sticky and forms a compact ball. Heating the flour enables more moisture to be absorbed by the flour giving the pâte à choux its characteristic puffing power.

Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand mixer) and use the whisk attachment to whisk the dough until it cools and tears into small pieces.

With the mixer running, add one egg and allow it to incorporate before adding the second egg. Continue mixing on medium speed until the dough becomes smooth. Finally, add ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon and mix until just combined.

Transfer the pâte à choux to a pastry bag fitted with a closed star tip, like the ATECO #849 . Alternatively, use a large open star piping tip like the Wilton 1M for less pronounced ridges and slightly smaller churros. (affiliate links)

Combine the teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar together in a small bowl and set aside.

Fry the Churros

Start by pouring enough frying oil in a large heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven to reach a minimum depth of 2 inches. Place a thermometer on the side of the frying pot and heat the oil until it reaches 370 F. For best results, try to keep the temperature constant throughout the frying process.

To fry the churros, carefully pipe pâte à choux into the hot oil, using sharp scissors to cut the dough into 2 – 3 inch lengths. Feel free to make them longer if desired but note that it will cut down the serving size.

Pipe another 3 – 4 churros into the hot oil, depending on how big your pot is. Do not to overcrowd the pot to ensure even cooking.

Fry churros until they become golden brown, about 2 minutes cooking time per side. Remove churros from the hot oil and transfer a plate lined with paper towels. Check the oil temperature and pipe the next batch of churros if it is at 370 F.

While the second batch is frying, toss the first batch of hot churros into the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. Repeat piping and frying with the remaining dough.

Serve warm with your favourite dipping sauce.

Hi! I’m Bernice Hill and I am the sole recipe developer, photographer, and writer at Dish ‘n’ the Kitchen. It is my pleasure to share easy to follow recipes that are delicious, nutritious, and approachable for the whole family.

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