Homemade Churros Recipe with Chocolate Sauce
These homemade churros come out of the fryer golden, crackly on the outside, and soft like a cream puff on the inside. Rolled in cinnamon sugar while they're still hot and dunked into a thick, bittersweet chocolate sauce, they taste like something you'd wait in line for at a street festival. The best part? The dough comes together in one saucepan in about ten minutes, and you don't need any special equipment beyond a piping bag and a star tip. This is weekend cooking at its best.
Ingredients
For the churros:
Ingredients
For the cinnamon sugar coating:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
For the chocolate sauce:
Ingredients
Instructions
Ingredients
Tips & Tricks
Oil temperature is the one thing that can trip you up. Pick up a clip-on candy thermometer or an instant-read thermometer and keep an eye on it between batches. The temperature drops every time you add churros, so give it a minute to recover before the next round.
Piping into hot oil can feel intimidating the first time. Hold the piping bag close to the oil surface rather than high above it, and use kitchen scissors in your other hand to snip the dough cleanly. After the first batch it becomes second nature.
For the richest chocolate sauce, go with a good quality semi-sweet chocolate bar rather than chips. Chips have stabilizers that can make the sauce slightly grainy.
Variations
If you want to skip the chocolate sauce, a simple caramel dip or even store-bought Nutella warmed up for 20 seconds in the microwave is genuinely great. For a spiced version, add a small pinch of cayenne to the chocolate sauce for a Mexican hot chocolate vibe. You can also fill churros by piping dulce de leche or vanilla pastry cream inside after frying, using a thin piping tip.
Storage & Make Ahead
Churros are best eaten within minutes of frying. They lose their crunch fast. That said, the dough can be made up to 24 hours ahead and kept in a sealed piping bag in the refrigerator. Let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before piping so it's easier to squeeze out.
Leftover fried churros can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a day and re-crisped in a 375°F oven or air fryer for 4 to 5 minutes. The chocolate sauce keeps in the fridge for up to a week. Reheat it gently on the stove over low heat or in 20-second microwave bursts, stirring between each.
Affiliate link
Affiliate link
Frequently Asked Questions
The most common reason is oil that isn't hot enough. You want the oil at a steady 375°F before you start piping. If the temperature drops too low between batches, the churros absorb oil instead of forming that crispy outer shell. Always let the oil come back up to temperature before adding the next batch.
You can, though baked churros have a softer, more bread-like texture rather than the light crunch you get from frying. To bake, pipe them onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 400°F for about 20 to 22 minutes, flipping halfway, until golden. Roll in cinnamon sugar straight out of the oven.
A large open star tip gives churros their signature ridged shape. A 1M or 6B tip (both are commonly sold as cupcake frosting tips) works perfectly. The ridges are what create extra surface area for cinnamon sugar to cling to, so it's worth using a star tip if you have one.
The best make-ahead strategy is to prep the dough up to 24 hours in advance and store it in a sealed piping bag in the fridge. Fry them fresh when guests arrive. If you need to fry them ahead, re-crisp in a 375°F oven for 4 to 5 minutes just before serving and toss in fresh cinnamon sugar.
