What happens when an apple meets a fried doughnut? You get these incredibly delicious homemade Apple Fritters!
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Apple Fritters
Now that the weather is finally getting nicer, (fingers crossed it stays that way.) I can’t stop thinking about fair food. From funnel cakes to churros sausage sandwiches, I. love. it. all!
But I especially love those heavenly delights that are apple fritters! Being that the fair doesn’t come around too often, I figured I’d better learn to make them at home.
With a few ingredients that I’d bet are already in your pantry, you can make this apple fritter recipe too. The recipe is so easy that you’ll want to make them all the time.
As much as I like to take kitchen short cuts and make things as easy as possible, unfortunately this recipe can’t be made in the air fryer or baked. If I get enough interest, I’ll put some time into making recipes for those though, just let me know!
Types of Apples
Apple flavors really run the gamut, so pick yours based on personal preference, color and texture. My favorite is always a red delicious, but here are a few more options:
- Granny Smiths – slightly tart and green.
- Honeycrisp – a little more delicate in flesh, but juicy.
- Golden Delicious – Yellow with delicate flesh.
You can use a variety of apples in your apple fritters to get an even more sophisticated flavor profile. But I would recommend using something tart like granny smith apples in addition to something sweet like the other varieties.
Ingredients
The rest of the simple ingredients are pretty standard pantry staples.
- Flour – We need something to hold that delicious batter together, and all purpose flour will do just that.
- Ground cinnamon – Apples and cinnamon go hand it hand. To bring the full effect of fall flavor, we add some ground cinnamon to the batter.
- Baking powder – Baking powder will help that batter to get a nice rise so that it’s perfectly fluffy
- Salt – I like to use fine sea salt for this recipe. Different salts measure differently, so make sure you’re using a fine salt here.
- Brown sugar – Besides the apples having their own sweetness, we need a little extra help from sugar. We use brown sugar because it has that deliciously sweet molasses flavor.
- Lemon juice – Lemon not only adds a tart flavor to this apple fritters recipe, but it also helps to prevent the apples from browning.
- Whole milk – We will use milk for the fritter batter, but also to make the icing that we drizzle on top.
- Eggs – Eggs act as a binding agent which we need to hold everything together, but they also add moisture to our apple fritter batter.
- Butter – I like to add some melted butter to the batter. It helps to make sure this batter is buttery and delicious.
- Vegetable oil – This is what we will use for frying. Vegetable oil is the easiest to use to ensure we maintain the correct oil temperature.
- Powdered sugar – These sweet treats wouldn’t be complete without a deliciously sweet icing to drizzle on top!
- Vanilla extract – Just to add a little flavor to our icing, we need a splash of vanilla.
How to Make Apple Fritters
- Dry ingredients. Start by sifting your dry ingredients together in one large bowl.
- Wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the brown sugar with your wet ingredients and mix completely. Slowly add in the dry mixture and mix until combined.
- Apples. Add chopped apples, making sure to coat each apple with the batter mixture.
- Dry. Drop spoonfuls of the coated apples into the hot oil and fry until golden brown.
- Transfer. Once they reach the golden brown color, take them out of the oil with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a cooling rack over paper towels.
Apple Fritters Toppings
Life is filled with choices and this is one. How to top them! You can three choices:
- Cinnamon Sugar – If you prefer a crunchy cinnamon sugar exterior, stir together 1 cup white sugar with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Toss hot apple fritters in the sugar mixture. You can also dust them with powdered sugar.
- Brown Sugar – I like using brown sugar for a slightly molasses taste and deeper flavor- light or brown sugars work. You can use white sugar as well.
- Glaze– A simple glaze is also totally acceptable.
- Powdered Sugar– As is a light dusting of powdered sugar. If you go this route, wait to dust until you are ready to serve. If you do it before, the sugar will absorb into the fritter and get cakey.
Storage, Make Ahead & Freezing
Storage: You can store these apple fritters in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will stay for up to three days.
Make Ahead: Technically you can make them ahead of time, but there is nothing like freshly fried apple fritters. You will lose the crunch and heat if you fry them ahead of time. What you can do is make the batter ahead of time and place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to fry them.
Freezing: You can freeze cooked apples fritters in an airtight plastic bag for up to 4 months. However, when thawed, they might be a little gummy. You can try to revive them by giving them another quick fry. You will never be able to match the deliciousness of a freshly fried apple fritter.
More Easy Apple Desserts
Apple Fritter Recipe
Ingredients
Apple Fritters:
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 2 eggs , lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon butter , melted
- 3 cups apples , peeled, cored and chopped
- Vegetable oil , for frying
Topping:
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- 3-6 teaspoons milk
Instructions
- Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whisk together brown sugar, lemon juice, whole milk, eggs and melted butter.
- Slowly add dry mixture until just combined.
- Add chopped apples, folding by hand.Heat vegetable oil over high heat until it reaches 350-375 degrees.
- Drop apple mixture by the spoonful unto hot oil.
- Brown on both side, approximately 2-3 minutes.
- Drain on a paper towel lined plate.In a separate bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, vanilla and milk until a drizzle-able consistency.
- Place apple fritters on parchment paper or cooling rack and drizzle with powdered sugar icing. See notes for alternate cinnamon sugar topping. You can also dust the powdered sugar icing with even more powdered sugar like pictured here.
- Eat hot or room temperature. Store in an airtight plastic container.
- If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was.
Video
Notes
You can also dust them with powdered sugar.
Is there an oven bake recipe for these?
Too gummy otherwise!
Hi Lisa, no, the batter would just spread. You really need the quick heat of oil to cook it. Fried fritters should be gummy though, they should be light, fluffy and crispy.
I wonder if these would be good in an air fryer?
Hi Tricia, I would like to think they would, but I don’t even own an air fryer so I don’t know how to convert the recipe.
Made these for my husband’s birthday breakfast! He loved them!
Yay!!! Tell him happy birthday from me 🙂
Oh my gosh, apple fritters are my favorite, but I never thought of making them myself!! Really look forward to trying these!
Oh boy! You just found my weakness and now I am gonna have to break down and make me some apple fritters for breakfast 🙂
These are dangerous — so delicious and addictive!
This looks delicious and thanks so much for your sifting tip! I’m not a huge baker and am totally guilty of thinking it was a waste of time! Very helpful post.