Have you ever made fried apple fritters before? They’re so easy and this recipe uses no yeast! Sweet, tender, fluffy, and absolutely packed with flavor! Dip them in a 3 ingredient apple cider glaze or roll them in cinnamon/sugar and enjoy! Recipe includes a video!
The Easiest Apple Fritters
It’s finally, officially, Fall so I hope you’re prepared for lots of apple and pumpkin recipes. We’re kicking off the season with one of my favorite Fall treats: Apple Fritters.
These apple fritters are made yeast-free with a batter that’s essentially a thicker version of my buttermilk pancake batter. The best part of this is that there are no long, impatient bouts waiting for dough to rise before you can fry them, just mix up the batter, heat up the oil, and go!
Just… go with caution, because hot oil is no joke. Be careful about gently lowering your batter into the oil without creating a splash. I have a burn on my hand because I became a little… overzealous… with my own frying.
How to Make Them
My apple fritter is incredibly easy to make, mostly thanks to the fact that there is no yeast needed. Making them is just a few simple steps:
- Prepare your batter by whisking together your sugar and dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, whisk your eggs until frothy, then add milk and vanilla. Whisk the butter into this mixture.
- Carefully fold together wet and dry ingredients and gently fold in your apple pieces.
- Heat oil in a Dutch oven or saucepan and allow it to come to temperature. Fry apple fritters in small batches.
- If desired, prepare glaze to coat fritters with after frying.
Tip: Toss your apples with a bit of ground cinnamon before stirring them into the batter, this gives them a great extra flavor!
Tips For Frying:
The most difficult part of today’s process is the fact that the fritters need to be fried. This isn’t really difficult, but if you’ve never done it before here are a few key tips to make the process as smooth as possible for you (and it may be helpful to watch the video in the recipe card!).
- Not all oils are created equal. I recommend using vegetable, canola, or peanut oil for frying apple fritters.
- You will need a thermometer to make sure your oil is at the correct temperature. Make sure that the tip of the thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pan — it should be resting about mid-way through the oil.
- Fry in batches of just 2-3 fritters. Adding the batter will cause the oil temperature to drop, and adding more than 2-3 can make it drop so low that it will take a long time to fry and they may be under-baked on the inside. Make sure that your oil temperature comes back to the right temperature range between batches.
- Do a test batch first to get a good idea of when your apple fritters are finished frying. At the correct temperature, they should be fried until golden brown and this should be about 60-75 seconds on each side. However, if your oil is too hot they will fry much faster and could be golden brown on the outside and still raw and gooey on the inside. After frying your test batch, let the fritters sit for about 2-3 minutes (to completely finish cooking) and then cut one in half and take a peek to make sure that the center is fully cooked.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use an apple that you enjoy eating (so most likely not Granny Smith, save that for your apple turnovers or apple pie)! I like to use Gala, Fuji, or the ever-popular HoneyCrisp when making apple fritters. They’re also great with Golden Delicious.
I have never tried baking this recipe rather than frying, but I do not think it would turn out very well, unfortunately.
Unfortunately, they do not keep very well into the next day. For best taste, I recommend enjoying shortly after making and dipping them.
I really don’t recommend it. While you could try, without knowing the exact temperature of your oil you are likely to end up with fritters that are under-baked on the inside or greasy. Most likely you’ll end up wasting most of your batter trying to get it just right.
Tip: If you don’t want to make a glaze for your apple fritters, just toss them in a blend of cinnamon and granulated sugar (or use powdered sugar) shortly after frying!
More Apple Recipes to Try!
- Apple Butter (this is a great recipe to use up a LOT of apples!)
- Apple Cake
- Apple Crumb Muffins
- Apple Crisp
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Make sure to check out the how-to VIDEO in the recipe card!
Apple Fritters
Ingredients
- Vegetable or canola oil for frying
- 1 1/2 cups apples* peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4″ pieces (215g)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon divided
- 2 cups all purpose flour 250g
- 1/3 cup sugar 66g
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 cup milk 235ml
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled several minutes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar 250g
- 1-2 Tablespoons apple cider, water, or milk**
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Combine your apples and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl and toss until apples are coated with cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a separate, large bowl, combine flour, sugars, baking powder, remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl and whisk until well-combined.
- Crack your eggs in a separate bowl and use a whisk to beat until pale yellow and frothy (about 15 seconds). Add milk and vanilla extract and whisk together.
- Slowly, while whisking, pour melted butter into wet ingredients and whisk until well-combined (mixture may look slightly curdled).
- Pour wet ingredients into dry and use a spatula to fold ingredients together until about halfway combined. Add cinnamon coated apple pieces and continue to fold into batter until all ingredients are just combined.
- Set the batter aside and fill a Dutch oven or large saucepan 2-3″ deep with oil for frying. Fix a candy thermometer to the edge (make sure it is in the oil but not touching the bottom of the pan) and set your heat to medium-low. Oil will need to reach 360-365F (175-185C) before you can continue.
- While oil is heating, prepare your glaze by whisking together sugar, apple cider (or substitute) and vanilla extract until smooth. Set aside.
- Once oil has reached temperature, use a large spoon or an ice cream scoop (this is my preferred method) to scoop about 3 Tablespoons of batter and *carefully* drop into the oil. Repeat with 2 more scoops of batter and fry each for 60-75 seconds on each side, or until golden brown.
- Use tongs to remove apple fritters to a paper-towel lined plate and allow to cool several minutes before dipping in glaze and transferring to a cooling rack to allow glaze to set. Be sure to allow the oil to return to the correct temperature before frying more fritters.
- Apple fritters are best enjoyed warm the same day they are made for best quality.
Notes
Nutrition
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This recipe was originally published September 24th, 2018. Updated to include more helpful tips, recipe remains the same!
Christy says
These turned out great! We made them twice already and plan to make them again!!
Sam says
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Christy! 🙂
Kimberly says
I want to make these but know they should be eaten fresh/right away, that being said can I make the batter and store it for a few days before frying?
Sam says
Hi Kimberly! While I haven’t tried saving the batter, it should be ok to keep refrigerated for a day or two. Good luck and let me know how it goes! 🙂
Dorothy says
These are wonderful. My first attempt at making apple fritters. The flavor was wonderful but I think I may need to adjust the consistency of my dough. Mine was too sticky to make nice little balls. I would like to be able to control the shape a little better. Although I may be the only one who noticed. Everyone else was eating them too fast to care about the shape.
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that everyone loved them, Dorothy! 🙂
Diane Kish says
You make it look easy, can’t wait to try this recipe!
Sugar Spun Run says
Thank you so much, Diane! I hope that you find the instructions easy to follow. 🙂
Rebecca says
I made these and subbed 1:1 gluten free flour for AP flour. They came out perfectly!
Sam says
Thank you so much for the feedback! I am so glad they turned out and you enjoyed them, Rebecca. 🙂
Paula Campbell says
Apple Fritters are my absolute favorite! Cannot wait to try this recipe, and I love the idea of apple cider glaze. Thank you, Sam, for sharing! Will let you know how they turned out.
Sam says
I hope you loved them, Paula! 🙂
Wendy says
Another tasty recipe! As much as I love glaze, I think 1/2 the amount would be enough.
Sam says
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Wendy! 🙂
Amy says
I am so glad to have found you! Awesome recipes with perfect instructions. Thank you!
Sam says
Thank you so much, Amy! I’m glad you have enjoyed everything. 🙂
AJ says
Mine were way too crispy outside and not done inside. Cooked them at 360, sadly I threw them all away as I couldn’t find a way to cook them through without over cooking the outside. Any tips? If I left them longer the outside is way overdone and really saturated with oil.
Sam says
It definitely 100% sounds like your oven thermometer is incorrect and your oil was actually too hot. What you are describing is exactly what would happen if that was the case. I would calibrate your thermometer or at the very least lower your oil temperature according to what your thermometer suggests.
Belinda New says
Could the size have played into it?
Sam says
While it could, it’s more likely the oil temperature here. The fritters would have to be significantly larger to cause an issue like this. 🙂
Andrea says
This was such a good recipe! Very easy and so delicious!!
Sam says
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed, Andrea! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Johanna says
Your recipe was the first one I tried (this past April) in making homemade apple fritters; they’re my husband’s favorite treat so I decided to give it a try. They’re amazing, truly. Even sans icing. I keep thinking about trying another recipe… But why bother?! Don’t mess with perfection. I have been giving them away when I make them so we don’t eat them all, any everyone raves. Just made them again (for maybe the 5th time) and halved the recipe, subbing out almond coconut milk for whole milk and they’re just as delicious as ever. Thanks for this little taste of autumn!
Sam says
I am so glad you have enjoyed them so much, Johanna! That is so kind of you to bake them for everyone else too! 🙂
Parv Gupta says
One of the best ever apple fritters recipe i have ever tried. Thanks for sharing this recipe with all of us.
Liza says
These are amazing. I make this same recipe every fall and whenever my husband is really craving it. What a winner. He’s super picky! Thank you for the wonderful recipe. :*
Sam says
I am so glad everyone enjoys them so much, Liza! 🙂
Jo says
My husband said these are the best apple fritters he’s ever had – nd the man loves apple fritters. Easy and delicious, THANKS!
Sam says
I am so glad he enjoyed them so much, Jo! 🙂
Amber says
I made these this afternoon, and first of all they are delicious! But I have an issue with the consistency after they’re done. I had the temp right where you said to have it, but the fritters are runny inside. What would you suggest I change for the next time? And… any ideas on how to cook the inside a bit more at this point so we can enjoy the rest of the batch?
Sam says
Hi Amber! It sounds like they may just need a bit more time to cook. Leave them in the oil a bit longer and they should be fine 🙂
Mike says
I found cooking them at a continue heat of 340 gives the inside more time to cook before crust is to brown. Love the recipe though.
Beth Said says
Can you use Apple juice instead of cider?
Sam says
That should be fine 🙂