I’m sharing my easy recipe for Apple Fritters made without yeast! These are tender, fluffy, and sweet, and they’re coated in a simple apple cider glaze. Recipe includes a how-to video!
The Easiest Apple Fritters
Apple fritters are a fun, easy, and irresistible fall treat. Among apple desserts, they are often overshadowed by apple pie or apple crisp, while apple turnovers or apple muffins typically take the apple breakfast crown. But fritters can be either (depending on your sweet tooth!) and deserve to enjoy all of their soft, spiced apple glory.
This recipe is made yeast-free with a batter that’s essentially a thicker version of my buttermilk pancake batter. This means there is 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! Yay for yeast-free!
That being said, “go” with caution, because hot oil is no joke! I’m including some tips for those of you who are new to frying or just need a refresher. Don’t be intimidated by this though–I promise, these are easy peasy.
What You Need
You’ll notice we’re using just a few basic pantry staples in this apple fritter recipe. Here are the important ones:
- Apples. The best apples for making apple fritters are the ones you enjoy eating (so most likely not Granny Smith, save that for apple cake)! I like to use Gala, Fuji, or the ever-popular HoneyCrisp. They’re also great with Golden Delicious!
- Cinnamon. Tossing the apples with a bit of ground cinnamon before stirring them into the batter gives them a nice extra flavor!
- Eggs. Make sure you whisk your eggs really well until they’re pale and foamy.
- Melted butter. Use unsalted butter and let it cool a bit before adding it.
- Oil. I recommend using vegetable, canola, or peanut oil.
SAM’S TIP: I like to use an ice cream scoop with a lever to drop my batter into the oil; it makes the process so much easier and less messy.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Apple Fritters
- Whisk together your sugar and dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy, then add milk and vanilla. Whisk the butter into this mixture.
- Carefully fold together the wet and dry ingredients, then gently fold in your apple pieces.
- Heat the oil, then fry your apple fritters in small batches.
- Coat the fritters in glaze after frying, if desired. And by “if desired” I mean this step is absolutely mandatory, you’ll love this apple cider glaze!
SAM’S TIP: If you really don’t want to make a glaze for your apple fritters, just toss them in cinnamon sugar (or use powdered sugar) shortly after frying. They can also be enjoyed plain!
Tips For Frying Apple Fritters:
The most difficult part of today’s process is the frying itself. Truthfully this process isn’t really difficult; it just requires careful monitoring (if you’ve made my fried donut holes, you’re already familiar with this).
If frying is new to you, here are a few key tips to make the process as smooth as possible (you may want to watch the video in the recipe card too!).
- Use 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 too many fritters can make it drop so low that your fritters may be under-baked on the inside.
- Do a test batch first to get a good idea of when your apple fritters are finished frying. At the correct temperature, they will be golden brown after 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.
- Make sure that your oil temperature comes back to the right temperature before adding your next batch!
Frequently Asked Questions
This is most likely the result of oil temperature. If your oil is too cool, your fritters will take a long time to fry and will end up greasy. Avoid oil temperature problems by using a thermometer, monitoring the temperature of your oil closely, and frying in small batches!
Unfortunately, these do not keep very well into the next day. For best taste, I recommend enjoying them shortly after making and dipping them.
I have never tried baking this recipe rather than frying, but I do not think it would turn out very well.
Looking for more donut shop favorites? I have lots of donut recipes to choose from!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Apple Fritters Recipe
Ingredients
- Vegetable or canola oil for frying
- 1 ½ cups apples* peeled, cored, and cut into ¼″ pieces (215g)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon divided
- 2 cups all purpose flour (250g)
- ⅓ 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**
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Combine your apples and ½ 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 ½ 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
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
This recipe was originally published September 24th, 2018. Updated to include more helpful tips, recipe remains the same!
Jeremy
I was following your apple butter recipe, which I’ve used before, came across this, and thought, why not? Deep frying usually scares me because of, well, all the stuff mentioned and all the things that can go wrong. Mine turned out awesome! I’d post pics but not sure I’m able. They were crunchy in the right places, cakey in the right places, and the apples were perfect. Thanks for all the tips, and following them all should make them turn out like mine did. Family loved them, and I got about 15 out of the batter. Bout 5 we couldn’t eat, so I’m gonna test your they’re not very good the next day theory. 😉
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Jeremy! Unfortunately there isn’t a way to post pictures here, but if you have an Instagram you can tag me @sugarspun_sam. I’d love to see them! 🙂
Kimberly Blair
Mine seem to come out so runny that when I put it in the oil, it makes more like a funnel cake:(
Sam
Hmmm that’s odd. The only thing I can think of here would be too much liquid in the dough. Was it really soft?
Nilda
Hi Sam,
I haven’t made them yet, but if I decide to skip the glaze and just use the cinnamon and sugar, is that a combo of cinnamon and sugar together? I wasn’t sure what you meant in your Notes section.
If together then how much of each?
Thank you
Sam
Hi Nilda! I actually have a post on making your own cinnamon sugar that will work great here. I hope you love them! 🙂
paulette
This recipe is amazing. I have been waiting for a very long time for such a recipe. I tried one time and the butter could not hold because I used an air fryer.
Toby
Have you ever tried making them in an air fryer?
Sam
Hi Toby! I have not. I’m not sure how the batter would hold up in an air fryer.
Joyce
I made these, and learned A LOT about deep frying! I had trouble maintaining the oil temperature. I made six that were gorgeous but may not be done in the middle and six “blackened” fritters that are definitely done in the middle but not as attractive. I used a thermometer and watched it carefully, but every other batch burned regardless of returning to temp, which I did between batches. Oh well! They taste great. The glaze really makes them! I love your site and all your recipes.
Sam
There’s definitely a learning curve with frying, I feel you there! It could be an issue of the thermometer being bad, too, unfortunately that happens sometimes (and is so frustrating when it does!). I am glad you still enjoyed and that you have been enjoying the recipes, Joyce! Thank you for commenting!
Brenda lynn
Watching some of the videos, I find myself getting annoyed at times because they’re either too long, or there’s too much information that’s not important. I absolutely enjoyed your video, the way you speak, and get to the point. I’m hoping you’ll put more videos out there!
Sam
Thank you so much, Brenda! I have been trying to make a video for every post that goes out. I do have a lot of videos over on my YouTube channel too. 🙂
Sue
These are very tasty. Recipe makes quite a few. We had leftovers. They are good reheated in Air Fryer on the bake setting. Fresh is still best.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for letting us know how you liked them, Sue! ❤️
John
Very tasty.I found that I needed to thin the batter down with more milk otherwise I got more of an apple ball than a flat fritter. Likewise more apple cider to get the right consistency in the icing, which definitely benefited from using apple cider as it resulted in a noticeably more apple flavor. I will use more cinnamon next time, and maybe a bit of nutmeg. A very good recipe!
Bernie
I love apple fritters
Dani
This recipe seems nice and it it clearly explained. However I have a question, will the apples get cooked all the way through? Or will they still have a slight crunch after cooking?
Sam
Hi Dani! They are mostly tender when finished baking, much like the filling of an apple pie. 🙂