Churros with Chocolate Sauce
One of my favorite recipes, this Spanish churros with chocolate sauce recipe will leave your mouth watering and dying for more! Made from deep fried choux pastry and coated in cinnamon sugar then traditionally dipped in dark chocolate sauce, you’ll feel you’re traveling abroad!
What Tastes Good with Churros for Dipping?
Churros are traditionally dipped in a chocolate sauce, and you can read why below! Mine is the best chocolate sauce for churros because it is quick and easy to make and a rich dipping sauce for churros to compliment the sweetness of the treat. If you’re looking for a chocolate sauce for churros without cream, you can substitute for any dairy free milk. However, you can make and use different types of dipping sauces like a fruit sauce, caramel, dulce de leche, and even a creme anglaise! Keep reading to learn how to make Spanish churros with chocolate sauce!
A Brief History on Spanish Churros
The exact history of churros is debatable depending on who you talk to. Some say it originated in China before it was brought to Portugal then perfected in Spain, while others say it originated directly in Spain. Either way, Spanish churros did not come with cinnamon, sugar, or chocolate. Historians agree that churros traveled to present day Mexico during the Spanish inquisition in the 1500’s. Spaniards returned to Spain with Aztec chocolate which is native in that area, and make a type of chocolate sauce sweetened with sugar to enjoy with their churros. Spanish explorers brought their recipe all over the world and it quickly became a favorite. Read some of the alternate histories here!
Churros with Chocolate Sauce Ingredients:
- Dark chocolate: I say go dark or go home for this chocolate dipping sauce for churros. I prefer chocolate on the darker end of the spectrum like upper 70’s to 80’s. If that’s too bitter for your palette, you can select bittersweet or somewhere in the 60’s.
Major Allergens Present: Gluten, eggs, dairy
Equipment Needed
No mixer needed for this churros with chocolate sauce recipe!
- Frying Pan: You will want a wide, shallow pot or a pan with right angle corners. If you have a fryer then GREAT, use that!
- Piping bag and tip: I use industry sized piping bags that I get online. They are much easier to manage than those wimpy bags from your craft store. Also, use a star tip. I use Ateco 824, but the size of the opening is up to you! Smaller yields thinner churros and wider yields thicker churros.
How to Make Churros with Chocolate Sauce:
What are traditional churros made of?
Churros with chocolate sauce are made with a pate a choux which is a French batter that’s heavy on dairy and eggs. Once made and piped out, it’s fried in oil, coated in cinnamon sugar, and dipped in churro chocolate sauce. For my chocolate sauce for churros, I prefer to use real chocolate and heavy cream instead of cocoa powder due to the better flavor of the real stuff. Churros with chocolate sauce are definitely best enjoyed with a cup of hot chocolate or a cup of coffee.
Make the pâte à choux
First step is to make a roux with the liquids, butter, and flour. A roux is a French way of combining flour and fat and is used for sauces as a thickener. For pâte à choux, it makes a stable batter. When cooking these together, we are looking to cook out some of the water content. After adding the flour, cook until it coats the bottom of the pot, or about 3 minutes. Make sure to beat out any flour lumps in the process.
Transfer to a bowl and mix until cooled to a warm temperature. If you do not allow the batter to cool, the eggs will cook when added. Add the eggs one at a time fully incorporating before adding the next egg. It will look slimy and separated but keep mixing until it’s smooth. Prepare your piping bag with a medium sized star tip (I used Ateco 844), and scoop the batter into the bag.
Pipe and Freeze the Churro Batter
Instead of piping directly into the hot oil, I prefer to pre-pipe on a sheet pan with parchment paper and freeze. This way I can just peel off the logs and carefully lower into the oil. To pipe, squeeze the bag using a consistent pressure while moving in a straight line at a consistent speed. I will either move my arms or my whole body. When you’re at 6 inches, stop squeezing and quickly pull the tip of the bag up. Repeat this process and then place in the freezer for 45-60 minutes.
prepare the Churro chocolate sauce
This churro chocolate sauce recipe is more of a loose ganache. A ganache is an emulsification between fat and non-fats. There are multiple methods to making ganache, and I prefer the simplest one which is boiling the liquid and pouring over the chocolate. If the chocolate doesn’t melt all the way then pop it in the microwave for 20 seconds and whisk whisk whisk. The key to this ganache is making sure you whisk it vigorously until it is smooth and silky. I prefer super dark chocolate like upper 70’s to 80’s so the bitterness is a nice contrast to the sweet cinnamon sugar on the churros.
Mix the Coating
I will use a rectangle cake or baking pan to mix the coating in which makes tossing the churros easier to do. I use a tossing motion for coating, but if you’re not confident in your tossing ability, using your hands is just fine or shaking violently with a cover on top (that one may be more fun).
fry the churros and dredge in cinnamon sugar
Your oil should be between 350*F and 375*F. Anything lower and they won’t brown. Anything higher will leave the inside raw and the outside burnt. Make sure your station is ready prior to frying which means having your tools, cinnamon sugar mixture, and a plate ready. Peel off the logs you piped earlier (leaving extras in the freezer) and carefully add to the oil. Allow to fry for about 3 minutes before flipping over for another 3. You’re looking for a nice golden brown on each side. When going in to fry a second or third batch, allow the oil to come back up to or cool down to 350*-375*F.
Serve same day for best tasting churros with chocolate sauce. Protip: if you plan on having only a few, don’t fry off all the batter and save it for another yummy day. Enjoy with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate.
Help Making Churros with Chocolate Sauce
How to Use a Piping Bag:
- Insert the piping tip and cut a hole accordingly. Push some of the bag into the tip to prevent any leakage.
- Fold the the top quarter to third of the bag over and hold the bag there. Spatula your batter into the bag wiping the spatula with your hand through the bag.
- Fold the top back over and hold the top of the bag with your non-dominant hand. With large piping bags I will actually twist the end and put under my arm pit for safe keeping.
- Squeeze the center of the bag and twist. This your pressure point and your control point of the bag. The further from the tip, the more strenuous and less control you have over the bag.
- Use the meat of your hand to then squeeze out the contents. Release to stop.
How to Fry Churros:
- The key to frying anything is to have your station set up and ready to go with everything within arms length: pan or pot for frying (I use a wide fry pan with right angle edges) with 2 inches of oil, metal tongs (don’t forget to click at least twice prior to using), the coating station close to the frying pan (I use my 9×12 cake pan), and a plate close to your coating station. You almost create an assembly line by going from the frying pan to the coating station to the plate without having to move very far.
- Make sure your oil is 350-375*F. When your oil is heating keep an eye on the temperature using a high temp thermometer. Once you add the cold churros, the oil’s temperature will reduce so keep the heat at medium.
- Flip your churros carefully using metal tongs when they turn a golden brown on one side. Sometimes they won’t stay flipped over and that’s okay but definitely try your best.
- Make sure your oil temperature gets back up to 350-375*F. If it goes too high you can some more oil to the pan to bring it back down or turn off the heat and wait for it reduce in temperature.
- If your churros get too brown and crispy too fast it means your oil is too hot!
Enhancing This Churros with Chocolate Sauce Recipe:
- Use a larger star tip and fill with jam, dulce de leche, or chocolate mousse!
- Make a raspberry or strawberry chocolate sauce by whisking in jam into the sauce once it’s done for a more tart and fruity treat.
- Get spicy by mixing in a couple pinches of cayenne pepper with the chocolate sauce to add a little Mexican hot chocolate flair.
How to Store and Freeze Churros with Chocolate Sauce:
- Eat churros same day, however they can keep in a ziplock bag for up to 5 days. Warm before eating.
- Refrigerate batter before use for up to 10 days. Freeze either pre-piped or in a container for up to 2 months.
- Store churro chocolate sauce at room temperature for up to 7 days, in the fridge for up to 2 months, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Troubleshooting Churros with Chocolate Sauce:
- My dough has little white lumps in it! That’s flour that didn’t get worked in. Nothing to fear; just work a little harder with the spatula to work those out and/or beat in your mixer prior to adding the eggs.
- My dough looks like scrambled eggs! Your roux was too hot before adding the eggs! Sadly, you will need to start over. Next time, let the roux cool a little more before adding the eggs.
- My churros are crisp on the outside but raw on the inside! Your oil is too hot. You can’t fix your current batch, but you can save the next one by either adding more oil to cool it down or turning off the heat. The oil should be between 350*F-375*F.
- The ganache is not shiny and looks lumpy! It has separated due to either ingredient imbalance, heating issues, or whisking issues. Solve in this order: (1) whisk vigorously until it comes together and becomes shiny (this will usually work for me). If that doesn’t work then (2) whisk in a little bit of milk and whisk vigorously. And if that doesn’t work then (3) allow to cool then heat up and whisk vigorously or added a little bit of melted chocolate and milk and whisk vigorously.
Something else going wrong? Reach out and we will troubleshoot together!
Churros with Chocolate Sauce
Equipment
- Piping bag with star tip
Ingredients
Pâte à Choux
- 124 g Whole milk
- ½ tsp Granulated sugar
- 1 pinch Kosher salt
- 75 g Butter, unsalted
- 6 Tbs All purpose flour
- 3 ea Whole eggs
- 2-4 cups Canola oil for frying
Cinnamon Sugar Mixture
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 2 tsp Cinnamon, ground
Cayenne Chocolate Sauce
- 100 g Heavy cream
- 1 pinch Kosher salt
- 1 Tbs Corn syrup
- ½ tsp Vanilla extract
- 55 g Dark chocolate
Instructions
To Prepare the Pâte à Choux and Fry:
- Prepare a piping bag with a medium sized star tip (I use Ateco 844) and a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Bring the milk, sugar, salt, and butter to a boil in a medium pot.
- Add in the flour and stir until a thick dough forms. Cook for about 3 minutes or until a thin film coats the bottom of the pot (for a non-stick pot twait until little oil droplets form on the bottom). Beat out any flour lumps.
- Transfer to a heat resistant bowl and allow to cool to at most 165℉.
- Add the eggs one at a time mixing until fully incorporated before adding the next egg.
- Transfer the batter to your prepared piping bag and pipe 6-inch long logs on your prepared sheet pan. Place in the freezer for 30-45 minutes.
- In the meantime, ready your frying station, and mix together the cinnamon and sugar together in a rectangle or square baking pan. Heat the oil in your fry pan to 350°-375°F.
- Remove the pate a choux logs from the sheet pan and gently place in the hot oil. Place any remaining logs back in the freezer until next round. Allow to cook for 3-5 minutes on each side or until a deep golden brown. Please see my tips above for how to do this effectively. Immediately toss in cinnamon sugar.
To Prepare the Dark Chocolate Sauce
- Bring the cream, salt, corn syrup, and vanilla to a boil. Pour over chocolate and whisk until smooth.
- Serve churros with chocolate sauce on the side same day.
Nutrition
These were fantastic! Loved the chocolate sauce !
Thank you so much!
These reminded me of the old fashioned cruller sticks my German grandmother always had, so I had to try them. Yum! Cinnamon and dark chocolate, great combination!
Awww so happy to hear that!