Air Fryer Churros

About These Air Fryer Churros

Air fryer churros are a lighter version of traditional churros. Why? This recipe skips the deep fryer and instead instructs you to make the churros in an air fryer! But don’t worry—doing so does not compromise the churros’ flavor and texture. These air fryer churros are just as crispy and delicious as their more traditional counterpart thanks to the use of melted butter and lots of cinnamon sugar!

For more fun, international-inspired desserts on Hummingbird High, check out my Desserts collection! Popular recipes include this Earl Grey Tiramisu and this Guava Chiffon Cake with Guava Cream Cheese Frosting.

Air Fryer Churros Versus Regular Churros

Traditional churros start with a choux pastry, a special kind of pastry dough that is also used to make cream puffs and eclairs. The pastry technique involves cooking the dough over the stovetop to cook off the water in the dough.

Once you’ve made the choux pastry, a traditional churro recipe then instructs you to pipe the choux pastry directly into a deep fryer to make churros. Doing so results in golden, crispy, deep fried sticks of deliciousness. The recipe will then instruct you to toss the deep fried churros in cinnamon sugar, then serve them immediately.

This air fryer churro recipe follows the same techniques, but with one major difference: instead of deep frying the churros, I instruct you to air fry them.

A Note About Cooking Spray

Why You Need Cooking Spray To Make Air Fryer Churros

Most baking recipes instruct you to grease pans with butter, oil, or cooking spray before baking anything in them. Doing so prevents the final product from sticking inside the pan and ensures that whatever you made comes out whole.

Typically, in my recipes, I instruct you to use cooking spray. It’s my personal “tool” (or is it an “ingredient”?) of choice since I think it’s the easiest and neatest method to grease pans. However, many seasoned bakers who follow my recipes prefer to grease their pans with their preferred method of choice. That can include using a pat of butter to grease the pan, or using a pastry brush to brush its insides with oil. While that works with 99% of my recipes, it won’t work for this recipe for air fryer churros.

The best method for greasing the air fryer basket is cooking spray, full stop. I tested the other methods—specifically, I used a pat of butter to grease the basket (it was messy and didn’t grease the pan fully), and a pastry brush to brush it with oil (this was less messy, but still imperfect). In both cases, the churros stuck to the air fryer basket. Cooking spray greases all the nooks and crannies of the basket and prevents the churros from sticking.

The Best Cooking Spray To Make Air Fryer Churros

Fortunately, I’m not a stickler when it comes to the kind of cooking spray you use. You can use any kind you like—one made from butter, canola oil, coconut oil, or whatever else kind of vegetable oil. As long as it’s sprayable, it works in this air fryer churro recipe!

My only recommendation is that you skip any kind of spray with flour in it. The flour can sometimes adhere to the outsides of the churros, making it hard to coat them.

And for those curious, I personally used Trader Joe’s Canola Oil Spray. It’s my favorite spray for baking!

Recipe Troubleshooting and FAQ

What open star tip did you use to make these air fryer churros?

To make these air fryer churros, I used the Ateco #863 from this jumbo pastry tip set. This Wilton 8B tip is very similar. But really, any “open star” or “French star” (they are basically the same thing) pastry tip will do!

The most important thing is to look for a piping tip with an opening that is about ¼-inch big. Bigger pastry tips with ½- or 1-inch openings will result in SUPER big and thick churros that are more like eclairs. Go for a tip that is ¼-inch wide or smaller (since you can always apply more pressure on it to pipe bigger churros).

Help! My air fryer churros got stuck to the air fryer basket. What did I do wrong?

If your air fryer churros are sticking to the air fryer basket, I suggest the following tips and tricks:

1. Spray the air fryer basket with a GENEROUS amount of cooking spray before piping with churros. And when I say generous, I mean generous. You want to be uncomfortable with the amount of cooking spray you use! Doing so will prevent the churros from sticking the next time.
   
   
2. Unmold the churros while they are still hot and fresh from the air fryer. They are less likely to stick to the air fryer basket while they are still warm. If they are too hot to handle with your fingers, slide a stiff metal spatula under the churros in one big motion to unstick them.
   
   
3. Air fry the churros for 12 minutes as opposed to 10 minutes. The longer air fryer time results in darker churros, but also ones that are less likely to stick to the basket.
   
   
4. “Clean” the basket before air frying the next batch of churros. Use a stiff metal spatula to quickly scrape the air fryer basket of any stuck churro dough. Doing so will help prevent future batches from sticking. Don’t forget to spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray for every new batch!

Variation: Lighter Air Fryer Churros Recipe

So you were looking for a diet-friendly air fryer churro recipe and found this one, but was disappointed by how much butter and sugar I used in the coating. You’re in luck! You don’t need to use as much butter and sugar as I do in the original recipe. Instead, you can skip the butter completely and halve the cinnamon sugar amount for a “lighter” version of this recipe.

To do so, follow the recipe instructions to make and air fry the choux pastry. Once the first batch of churros is done air frying, use a stiff metal spatula to transfer each churro immediately into a bowl of the cinnamon sugar. Toss to coat. That’s it!

It’s important to coat the churros while they are still warm from the oven. Without the butter, the cinnamon sugar doesn’t stick to the churros as well—but coating them while warm helps the sugar stick. You likely won’t need as much cinnamon sugar with this version of the recipe. I suggest cutting the cinnamon sugar ingredient quantities by half. Use ½ cup granulated sugar and 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon instead.

Also, note that this version of the recipe makes churros that are more similar to empty eclairs than actual churros. Still good, but maybe not as good as my traditional churros or even my original air fryer version of the recipe. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!