Breakfast · Fried

Churros con Chocolate

Name: Churros recipe
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 (about 12 churros) servings
Ingredients: For the dough: 250 ml (1 cup) water, 2 tablespoons (30 ml) neutral oil, ½ teaspoon salt, 125 g (1 cup) plain flour; For frying: about 1.5 litres sunflower or vegetable oil, in a deep heavy pot that holds at least 3 litres, so the oil is no more than half way up; For coating: 4 tablespoons caster sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional); For the chocolate sauce: 250 ml whole milk, 100 g dark chocolate (about 60–70% cocoa), chopped, 1 tablespoon cornflour (about 8 g), 1 tablespoon sugar, a pinch of salt; A piping bag with a large star nozzle (at least 1 cm wide), kitchen scissors and a cooking thermometer

Churros con Chocolate — street food from Spain

Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

The chocolate is thick enough to eat with a spoon, not sip like a drink.

Ridged, fried dough sticks dusted with sugar, served alongside a cup of chocolate so thick it's closer to pudding — meant for dipping, not drinking.

Why it's made this way: Fried at high heat in open-air stalls, churros were historically an easy, cheap way for workers to get a hot breakfast before a market opened.

What is Churros con Chocolate?

Churros are ridged sticks of fried dough, crisp outside and soft inside, rolled in sugar and typically eaten for breakfast or as an afternoon snack in Spain. The Spanish version is usually served with a cup of very thick hot chocolate for dipping, which is closer to a loose pudding than a drink.

The dough is a simple cooked mixture of flour, water and salt, a little like choux pastry but usually without eggs. It is piped through a star-shaped nozzle, often straight into the hot oil by professionals, and the ridges give more crisp surface. The exact origin is debated, and the snack is also eaten in Latin America and other countries.

How to make churros with thick chocolate sauce

Serves 4 (about 12 churros) · prep 25 min · cook 25 min

Ingredients

For the dough: 250 ml (1 cup) water, 2 tablespoons (30 ml) neutral oil, ½ teaspoon salt, 125 g (1 cup) plain flour
For frying: about 1.5 litres sunflower or vegetable oil, in a deep heavy pot that holds at least 3 litres, so the oil is no more than half way up
For coating: 4 tablespoons caster sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
For the chocolate sauce: 250 ml whole milk, 100 g dark chocolate (about 60–70% cocoa), chopped, 1 tablespoon cornflour (about 8 g), 1 tablespoon sugar, a pinch of salt
A piping bag with a large star nozzle (at least 1 cm wide), kitchen scissors and a cooking thermometer

Method

Put the water, oil and salt in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Remove from the heat, tip in all the flour at once and beat hard with a wooden spoon until a smooth, thick dough forms. Leave it to cool for 10 minutes so you can handle it.
Spoon the dough into the piping bag. It should be firm but soft enough to pipe with steady pressure. If it is too stiff, beat in a teaspoon of warm water.
Pipe 12 lengths of about 12 cm onto a sheet of baking parchment brushed lightly with oil, cutting each with scissors. Chill the tray for 10 minutes so they keep their shape.
Make the chocolate sauce: whisk the cornflour and sugar into 3 tablespoons of the cold milk. Heat the rest of the milk until steaming, whisk in the cornflour mixture and simmer for 1–2 minutes, stirring, until it thickens. Take off the heat and stir in the chocolate and salt until smooth. Keep it warm.
Heat the frying oil to 180 °C. Check the oil is at 180 °C, then lower 4 churros at a time into it, peeling them off the parchment and easing them in gently from just above the surface so the hot oil does not splash. Never pipe hot dough into oil at home, and keep water away from the pot. Do not crowd the pot.
Fry for 3–4 minutes, turning once or twice, until deep golden brown and crisp. Lift out onto paper towels, wait for 30 seconds, then roll in the sugar and serve at once with the warm chocolate for dipping. Let the oil return to 180 °C between batches.

Tips

Use a thermometer. Oil that is too cool makes greasy, pale churros; oil that is too hot browns them before the middle cooks.
Use a star nozzle. A round one makes smooth churros that can burst in the oil because trapped steam has nowhere to escape.
Churros are best eaten within minutes of frying. They go soft and chewy after about an hour.
Never leave hot oil unattended, and keep a lid nearby to smother a fire. Do not use water on an oil fire.

Regional versions

Porras are thicker and softer than churros and are a speciality of Madrid, usually served in chocolaterías.
In Latin America churros are often sold plain or sugar-coated, and are commonly filled with dulce de leche or similar sweet fillings.
Spanish churros are generally made without eggs, but some recipes elsewhere add one for a richer dough.

Questions

What are churros made of?

Flour, water, salt and a little oil, cooked into a dough, piped into hot oil, fried and rolled in sugar.

Are churros the same as doughnuts?

No. Churros are made from a cooked flour-and-water dough with no yeast, piped and fried in sticks. Doughnuts are normally yeast-risen or cake-batter rings.