These apple fritters are soft, fluffy and packed with apple flavor. This simple version of apple fritters needs just 3 ingredients for the batter. The batter doesn’t contain any eggs or dairy and takes less than 5 minutes to prepare. You can have fresh homemade fritters in under 20 minutes.
Apple fritters are a great way to make use of all the apples in season right now. And unlike traditional apple fritters, my version has a super simple batter that also happens to be egg-free and dairy-free, but these taste just as good as regular apple fritters.
Ingredients
- Self-rising flour
- Applesauce
- Apple pieces
Self-rising flour: Self-rising flour is all purpose flour that is already premixed with baking powder and salt. You can also make your own self-rising flour by combining all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
Cinnamon Applesauce: The flour is mixed with applesauce to form the fritter batter. I like using cinnamon applesauce because it adds some cinnamon flavor to the batter but if you don’t like cinnamon, you can also use plain applesauce. Applesauce acts as a binding agent, adds moisture to the batter and also adds some sweetness to the batter.
Apple pieces: Fresh apple pieces are folded into the batter, just like traditional apple fritters. You will want to keep the apple pieces small so that they cook and soften in the short cook time. I cut mine to 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch rectangles. I recommend using a sweet apple variety like Fuji, Honeycrisp or Gala.
How to Make Apple Fritters
- The flour and applesauce are first mixed together until a thick batter forms.
- The apple pieces are then folded in until they are evenly mixed.
- The batter is then ready to be cooked. We recommend that you fry the batter in oil until golden on both sides. Frying is the best method for cooking these fritters. The hot oil allows them to have a crispy exterior and a soft and fluffy interior. You can try baking or air frying the batter but the fritters will not be as soft and will be much more dense.
- The fritters are lightly sweet on their own and you can enjoy them as they are. However, if you prefer, you can also drizzle or dip them in glaze, like traditional fritters. They will be much sweeter if you add glaze to them.
Recipe Highlights
- This simple fritter batter is made with just self-rising flour, cinnamon applesauce and apple pieces. You don’t need the eggs and milk that are usually contained in apple fritter batter.
- It takes less than five minutes to prepare the batter.
- Using applesauce not only makes this batter egg-free and dairy-free, but it adds even more apple flavor to the fritter batter.
- The fritters are lightly crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. They are packed with apple flavor from the apple pieces and applesauce in the batter.
More Apple Recipes
3 Ingredient Apple Fritters
Ingredients
- 2 cups (506 g) sweetened cinnamon applesauce
- 2 cups (260 g) self-rising flour see note before starting
- 1 1/3 cups (160 g) apple pieces (apples cored, peeled and cut into ½ inch by ¼ inch rectangles)
- canola oil for frying (can substitute with other cooking oils)
Instructions
- Add 2 inches of oil to a medium saucepan. Bring to medium heat (350°F/177°C)
- In a large mixing bowl, combine applesauce and self-rising flour and mix with a spatula until you have no clumps of flour. The mixture should look like a very thick batter. Fold in the apple pieces until they are evenly incorporated. Be careful not to try to add additional applesauce to thin out the batter. (You don't want the batter to be that thin and adding too much applesauce will result in the batter having too much water which will cause the fritters to absorb a lot more oil during frying, which will make them very oily.)
- When oil is ready, measure 1/4 cup of batter and add to the hot oil. Try to ensure the apple pieces are covered in the batter. You will need to use a spoon or small spatula to help release the batter from the cup because it is thick. Try to release the batter in a way so that it is a little spread out instead of one giant clump all in at once. If you aren’t able to spread it while releasing, you can also quickly spread out the batter once it is in the oil. Repeat with the remaining batter, frying in small batches so that your oil temperature does not drop too much.
- Fry the fritters for a few minutes, flipping halfway, until they are dark golden brown on both sides and fully cooked. Remove finished fritters from oil. Place finished fritters onto a paper towel lined plate to absorb excess oil.
- Let the fritters cool a few minutes before eating. You can also drizzle or dip in glaze before eating. Fritters are best enjoyed soon after they are cooked. Any uneaten fritters should be stored in the fridge.
Notes
- Self-rising flour amount. There are 2 main kinds of self-rising flour sold in the US. One that is a lower protein (2 grams per 1/4 cup serving) flour and one that has a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup (30g) serving). The amount of protein affects how much liquid is absorbed. For this recipe, I tested it with Gold Medal self-rising flour (regular amount of protein). Please use a self-rising flour with a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup), or make your own self-rising flour with the recipe below.
- Homemade self-rising flour: Whisk together 2 cup all purpose flour, 3 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Make sure your all purpose flour has a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup). Most brands in the US contain this amount but there are some brands with higher protein (4 grams per 1/4 cup) such as King Arthur Flour and Bob's Red Mill. You do not want a high protein flour for these fritters.
- Try to maintain a constant 350F when cooking the fritters. If the oil temperature gets too low the fritters won’t fry well.
- You can use unsweetened applesauce but I like using sweetened so that the fritters are lightly sweet on their own and don't need glaze or toppings. If you can't find cinnamon applesauce you can add 1 tsp cinnamon to the applesauce.
- I recommend you choose a sweet apple variety, such as Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp.
- Optional glaze: If you want to dip or drizzle glaze on the fritters, this is the glaze recipe I used.
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 8 tbsp milk or milk substitute (like soy or almond milk)
- Combine powdered sugar and milk in a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth. The glaze should be a thin enough consistency so that you can drizzle over the fritters. If your glaze is too thick, you can add a splash more of milk. If it’s too thin, you can add a little more powdered sugar.
- Dip the surface of the fritters in the glaze or use a spoon to cover the surface of the fritters in glaze. Transfer fritters to a wire rack to let the glaze set.
- This recipe makes enough glaze to fully cover all of the fritters. You don't need to use it all. You can also halve the recipe if you want to just drizzle a little glaze on top of each fritter.
- Nutrition estimate is for the fritter batter only and does not include optional glaze or oil absorbed by the fritters during frying. It is very difficult to determine the amount of oil absorbed during frying so I am unable to provide that information.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
