These Churro Waffles are made of choux pastry, so their texture matches real churros - crisp crust, custardy interior, and cinnamon-sugar coating.
Today's recipe is very closely related to one I published recently - Honey Cruller Waffles. Although I published the Honey Cruller Waffles recipe first, the idea for both actually started with this recipe - Churro Waffles.
I had the idea to make Churro Waffles for a long time before I actually got around to doing it. When I started doing research to develop the recipe, I was disappointed to find out that all of the existing Churro Waffles recipes seemed to be just regular waffles coated in cinnamon sugar.
I wanted my Churro Waffles to resemble actual churros as closely as possible - the unique texture included.
What are churros?
Churros are made from choux pastry (or pâte à choux) that are piped into a fluted line. Then they are then deep-fried and coated with cinnamon sugar. The result is a sweet, crunchy snack, with a slightly custardy interior.
When I first tried to make churro waffles, I had no idea if it would work. I made my very first batch of choux pastry batter and put it in the waffle maker to cook. I was very pleasantly surprised. The waffles were indeed crispy on the outside, with a soft, custardy interior - just like churros.
How to make Churro Waffles:
The first step to making churro waffles is to make choux pastry, which is very much nothing like making regular waffle batter. Making choux pastry first involves heating water, butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan until it comes to a boil.
Then you turn down the heat and add the flour to the mixture. The mixture will quickly form a very stiff, sticky dough that forms a ball. Transfer this dough to a bowl and let it cool for a few minutes.
While you're waiting, you can mix together the cinnamon-sugar mixture, melt a little butter, and plug in your waffle maker.
When the dough has cooled slightly, mix in the eggs and vanilla. You'll want to make sure you have a very firm grip on the bowl and the mixer because the dough is very stiff. The dough will initially break apart and look "curdled". Keep mixing, and it will eventually come back together. Now you can cook it into waffles.
I found that it took longer to cook choux pastry in my waffle maker than regular waffle batter, so if you have a timer built into your waffle maker, it probably won't be accurate for this recipe.
You'll know your churro waffles are done when the waffle maker stops steaming. Then carefully open the lid. If the waffle is golden brown, it's good to go.
Lightly brush the cooked waffles with melted butter and coat them with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve them immediately, or keep them on a wire rack in a 200°F oven to keep them warm until they're all finished cooking.
If you like, you can serve them with caramel sauce, dulce de leche, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, or ice cream.
Churro Waffle Ingredients and Substitutions:
Making churro waffles from scratch doesn't require any unusual or uncommon ingredients. In fact, you probably already have everything you need!
- Water - Tap water is fine here
- Unsalted Butter - you can easily replace butter with a dairy-free butter alternative to make this recipe dairy-free
- Granulated Sugar - The sugar you add to the waffle batter could be replaced with almost any other type of sweetener, but replacing it with low-calorie sweetener will likely affect the browning of the waffles. I don't recommend replacing the sugar used in the cinnamon-sugar coating with another sweetener, as it will greatly affect the texture of the coating.
- Salt - I used regular table salt for this recipe.
- All-Purpose Flour - I did not test this recipe with any other type of flour, and don't recommend using a different type.
- Large Eggs
- Vanilla Extract - Either real vanilla extract or imitation vanilla will work here.
- Canola Oil - I chose canola oil for it's high smoke point and neutral flavor. You could also use vegetable oil, avocado oil, grapeseed oil, corn oil, or sunflower oil.
Want more Waffle recipes?
Churro Waffles Nutrition Notes:
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for one waffle if the recipe makes 10 waffles. If your waffles are smaller or larger than mine (eg. if the recipe makes more or fewer waffles), the nutrition information will vary accordingly.
Note that the nutrition information does not include any dips or garnishes that may be included with your churro waffles.
Churro Waffles
Equipment
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter or replace with dairy-free butter alternative to make these waffles dairy-free
Waffles
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup unsalted butter or replace with dairy-free butter alternative to make these waffles dairy-free
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- canola oil to grease the waffle maker
Serving Garnishes (optional - use as many as you like, or none)
- dulce de leche
- caramel sauce
- chocolate fudge sauce or ganache
- whipped cream
- vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Turn the oven on to 200°F if you wish to keep all of the waffles hot while you're cooking them. If you plan to serve them immediately after each batch is done cooking, you can skip this step.
- Whisk together ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugarr and ½ teaspoon (1 g) cinnamon in a medium bowl to make the cinnamon-sugar coating. Set aside. Melt 1 Tablespoon (14 g) unsalted butterr in a small, microwave-safe bowl on high power for 30 seconds. Set aside. (You may need to re-melt it again later for a few seconds if your kitchen is cool.)
- Add 1 cup (236 ml) water, ¼ cup (57 g) unsalted butter, 1 Tablespoon (12 g) granulated sugar, and ¼ teaspoon (1.5 g) salt to a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and add 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour. Stir the mixture with a rubber spatula, smoothing out any lumps of dry flour. Continue to cook and stir until the mixture is mostly smooth, with a thick, paste-like consistency, about 2-3 minutes.
- Transfer the flour mixture to a mixing bowl and let it cool for 5-10 minutes.
- In the meantime, crack 2 large eggs into a small bowl or measuring cup. Add ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) vanilla extract and gently whisk them together with a fork. Now's also the time to get out your waffle maker and start pre-heating it.
- Add the egg mixture to the bowl with the flour mixture. Beat together with a hand mixer until the egg is fully incorporated. Make sure to hold your mixer and the bowl firmly, as the batter will be very stiff (alternatively, you could use a stand mixer). Note that when you first add the eggs, the batter will intitially separate and look curdled. Keep mixing until the batter comes together. It will still be quite thick and pasty.
- When the waffle maker is hot, brush or spray the surface of the waffle maker generously with canola oil. Spoon about 1-2 tablespoons of the batter into the center of each section of the waffle maker (eg mine makes two square waffles at once, so I put a total of two scoops of churro batter into the waffle maker at a time). Note that with this amount of batter, the churro waffles will be small and irregular-shaped. If you want to make full-sized waffles, you will need to use more batter and carefully spread the batter over the surface of the waffle maker, but then the recipe will make fewer waffles.
- The waffles are done cooking when the waffle maker stops steaming and the waffles are golden brown on the outside. They make take a little longer to cook than the timer on your waffle maker indicates, if it has one.
- While still hot, lightly brush the waffles on both sides with the melted butter, then sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture, tapping off any excess back into the bowl. Repeat with the remaining waffles.
- Serve the waffles immediately with any desired garnishes, or keep them all hot in a 200°F oven while cooking the remainder of the waffles. If you need to reheat any leftover waffles, do so in a toaster oven, oven, or air-fryer as they will become soggy in the microwave.
Nutrition
Natalie says
These turned out so well! I made them before supper and they held in the 200F oven perfectly for a super yummy dessert! Thank you!
Carissa says
I'm so glad they worked out well for you guys!
Jade says
I wanted to leave a comment because everyone loved them. I made them for a Mexican-themed Mother’s day brunch I was struggling to decided between a regular Belgian waffle recipe with cinnamon sugar on top or try one with the choux style dough. Very glad I went with this one. I doubled the recipe to be able to make full sized waffles. The recipe was really fairly easy to make and follow. They definitely take some time to get golden brown in the waffle maker as the recipe mentions so keeping them warm in the oven works well. I served them with a chocolate sauce made with Abuelita Mexican chocolate and a caramel sauce.
Carissa says
Thank you so much for the lovely comment! I'm so glad everyone loved the recipe 🙂