With just 5 ingredients, the dough for these Spanish-style baked churros comes together in about five minutes. It’s a very easy dessert to make, and this baked version makes the process even easier.
I am always telling people how easy churros are to make but the idea of deep-frying scares a lot of people. With this recipe, you don’t need to do any frying. The churros are baked until crunchy and they stay crunchy for hours.
The other nice benefit of baking the churros is that you can make more fun shapes. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I decided to make some heart-shaped ones in addition to the traditional ones.
Ingredients
- Water
- Unsalted butter
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Large eggs
- Granulated sugar for coating, but this is optional
Recipe Steps
Combine the water, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring the water to a boil and stir until the butter is melted.
Turn off the heat and add the flour to the melted butter mixture. Add the flour and stir until the mixture forms a smooth dough ball.
Add the eggs and stir until well combined. Transfer the dough to a piping bag or pastry bag fitted with a large star piping tip (I like a 1M Wilton star tip).
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 425°F.
Pipe the churro dough onto the prepared baking sheets. They should be about four inches long or you can create different shapes, like the hearts I made.
Bake the churros for 20 to 25 minutes or until they are golden brown and crispy.
If you want to coat them in sugar, let them cool. Place the sugar in a resealable bag and place a few churros in the bag. Gently toss them in the sugar until they are evenly coated.
Thick Hot Chocolate Sauce for Dipping
Ever since my trip to Barcelona, I’ve been obsessed with churros and remain so. I love dipping them in thick, European-style hot chocolate. For more about that, you can check out my recipe for the Spanish-style fried churros with chocolate.
For this version, I changed things up a bit. In addition to baking my churros, I also changed the chocolate sauce.
While I like the European hot chocolate, it’s thickened with cornstarch which turns very clumpy once it gets cold. I’ve wanted to make this for guests but have been prevented from doing so because I don’t want the chocolate sauce to clump up.
So I decided to make a thick hot chocolate with heavy cream, similar to a chocolate ganache, but not quite as thick. It stays in a liquid state much longer and if you do have any leftover that solidifies, it’s easy to melt again.
For these baked churros, I skipped coating them in sugar. I normally do roll them in sugar, but since I was going to be dunking them in hot chocolate, I decided to forgo the sugar, which always makes a mess. You can definitely dust them with sugar before serving though.
I’ve included the recipe for the chocolate sauce in the recipe card. It’s very easy to make in about five minutes.
Recipe Tips
Baked churros are best not long after they’re made. You can keep them in an airtight container for a day or so, but they will lose their crispy texture.
You can also coat your churros in cinnamon sugar for extra flavor or try adding a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the dough.
Instead of dipping them in chocolate, you could dip them in caramel sauce.
More Recipes to Try
Baked Churros with Chocolate
Ingredients
For the churros
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar optional, for coating the churros
For the hot chocolate
- 1 cup chopped dark or semisweet chocolate
- 3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream depending on how thick you want your chocolate
Instructions
How to Make the Churros
- In a medium saucepan, add water, butter, and salt. Bring to a boil and stir until butter is completed melted. Turn off heat and add in flour. Stir until all flour is incorporated and becomes a smooth dough ball. Add in eggs and stir into dough until fully incorporated. Scoop dough into a pastry piping bag.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat oven to 425°F. Use a large star tip (I use the 1M wilton star tip) to pipe churros. Churros should be about 4 inches long. You can also make different shapes if desired, like the heart-shaped ones I made. Bake for 20-25 minutes until churros turn golden brown and are crispy (mine take around 23 minutes).
- If you want to coat churros with sugar, let churros cool first. Then add about 1/4 cup granulated white sugar to a plastic ziploc bag. Place a few churros inside and toss until they are completely covered in sugar. Remove and repeat until all churros are coated in sugar.
How to Make the Hot Chocolate
- To make the chocolate sauce, add chocolate and heavy cream to a small saucepan over stove set to medium heat.
- Whisk chocolate into the heavy cream until chocolate is completely melted and chocolate sauce becomes uniform and smooth. Pour chocolate into small cups and serve with churros.
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.
How long does the churros stay crispy
They will stay crispy the day you bake them. I don’t know beyond the first day as I never have any leftovers to store
Can you make the dough in advanced and keep it in the pastry bag? Or should they be made the day of? Thank you!
they should be made right away otherwise the oil will start to separate from the dough batter.
How many churros does this recipe yield?
Sorry I don’t have an exact count because I made different shapes and sizes. But I would approximate about two dozen 4-inch ones
Ok, thank you!
Hi. My daughter wants to make these for a party. How long do they keep? We need to do in advance. Thanks so much
These are best eaten day of as they will lose their crisp texture when stored.
Could you bake the churro bowls?
I’m confused by your question because these are baked
Loved it,
so delicious
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Perhaps Dana meant edible bowls made from churro dough? I guess it would work if you pipe the dough around small upturned bowls (using the bowls as forms – perhaps lightly grease the outside of the bowl to aid release) and bake them as normal, then gently release the churro ‘bowl’ from the bowls. I don’t know how firm the resulting churro is – this is still on my to do list – but I think a churro ‘bowl’ might be a great edible container for ice cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce?!!
ohhh, i see. I actually have made churro bowls! https://kirbiecravings.com/2016/04/churro-ice-cream-bowls.html
Great recipe Kirbie! I didn’t get a chance to try the churros when I was in Barcelona so making these can be my substitute. The heart shaped ones are sooo cute.
give these a try! not quite the same as fried ones, but still really delicious