Have you ever made fried apple fritters before? Don’t be intimidated because this recipe is so simple to make at home, and like my popular donut holes, it require absolutely no yeast or rising!
Apple fritters are somewhat sweet, tender, and fluffy, and are absolutely packed with flavor. Dip them in a 3 ingredient apple cider glaze or roll them in cinnamon/sugar and enjoy!
Recipe includes a simple step-by-step video (at the bottom of the recipe) to walk you through the process of making your own apple fritters.
It’s finally, officially, Fall so I hope you’re prepared for lots of apple and pumpkin recipes (and if not, what do you want to see!? Send me an e-mail or leave me a comment and let me know!). 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 the dough to rise before you can fry your apple fritters, 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.
What Kind of Apples Should I Use to Make Apple Fritters?
For apple fritters, I recommend using an apple that you enjoy eating. For most people, this is not a Granny Smith — though this is a classic baking apple that’s great for my apple turnovers, I found it to be too tart for apple fritters.
My recommendation is to use an apple that’s not too sweet nor too tart, and I like to use Gala, Fuji, or the ever-popular HoneyCrisp when making apple fritters. They’re also great with Golden Delicious (my apple of choice when making apple butter).
Whichever apple you choose, I recommend tossing the pieces with a bit of cinnamon. A little goes a long way in adding great fall flavor into each bite of your apple fritters.
Can I Store Apple Fritters?
Unfortunately, these apple fritters do not keep very well into the next day. For best taste, I recommend enjoying shortly after making and dipping them, like just as soon as the glaze has set and you can devour them without burning your mouth 😉
Tips for Frying Apple Fritters
- Not all frying oils are created equal. I recommend using vegetable, canola, or peanut oil when frying apple fritters.
- You will need a thermometer to make sure your oil is at the correct temperature. When fitting it to the side of your pan, 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, otherwise you could get an inaccurate reading.
- I recommend frying apple fritters in batches of just 2-3 fritters. Adding the batter will cause the oil temperature to drop, and adding more than 2-3 fritters can make it drop so low that it will take a long time to fry and your apple fritters 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.
Enjoy!
How to Make Apple Fritters
My video for these Apple Fritters is at the bottom of the recipe! If you enjoy watching my cooking videos, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.
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
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.
Sharon says
Any luck freezing the apple fritters? I bought a bushel of apples (much cheep er than purchasing by pound) from a local orchard. Making lots of apple butter using your great recipe, but I need many more ideas I can freeze for upcoming winter treats
Cathy says
You do a great job explaining in your video.
Sugar Spun Run says
Thank you so much, Cathy! I appreciate the feedback, I try. 🙂
Jill says
Making these today.Tryed these at a country fair and enjoyed them.So decide to make my own.First time wish me luck.
Sam says
I hope you love the apple fritters, Jill! 🙂
Marie King says
I have veen looking for a good apple fritter recipe and I think I found one. I will be making ttbes sometime in Sept. when our temp. cooll down. We’re in SC and temps are in the 100’s. I’ll let you know how they turn out. Thanks for your recipe. They look delicious. Can’t,wait to make them.
Sam says
I hope you love them Marie! Good luck staying cool! 🙂
nettie says
well, its september in SC and I’m still waiting for the temps to get out of the 90s. lol!
K. Ivie says
Can this batter be made the night before?
Sam says
Hmm I haven’t tried keeping the batter overnight, but it may work. 🙂
K. Ivie says
Well then I’m gonna have to give it a whirl and see what happens!
Charlie says
Your apple fritters are delicious. Almost as good as the ugly fritters in OBX from the Orange Blossom
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed the apple fritters, Charlie! 🙂
Mzingeli says
This is beautiful and am learning a lot from you .
Sam says
Thank you so much! I am glad I can help. 🙂
Melanie says
I have an old family donut recipe that I usually make around the holidays, but I made these instead since I have some Honey Crisps and cider that I needed to use up. Delicious! I cooked down about half a cup of cider to concentrate the flavor. They were a huge hit. Thanks!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Melanie! Thanks for giving this recipe a try. 🙂
Holly says
Can’t wait to try these! I think the prep, cook, total time is inverted.
Jeff says
Just wanted to say thanks for the recipe! We were on a hunt for the best apple doughnuts, and the one we had at a farm yesterday were pretty underwhelming. I decided to make my own to make up for that, and went with this recipe – they were phenomenal!
The only changes I made to the fritters were I used half buttermilk and added a bit of freshly grated nutmeg and some allspice, but they were pretty minor changes overall – the recipe is fantastic. And I didn’t have cider but wanted to have an apple flavored glaze, but luckily I had apple butter – turned out great! Thinned it out with a bit of milk for the right consistency, and it was perfect.
Also, I have to disagree with you, think these are fantastic the next day! We actually liked them a bit more when they weren’t straight from the fryer – the crust/glaze hardens a bit, but in a good way, and I thought the texture held up really well. Plus, surprisingly, I felt the flavor of the spices came through more. I froze some unglazed fritters (individually wrapped in plastic, then all in foil in a freezer ziploc bag), so we’ll see how that goes!
Thanks again!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed them and liked them the second day too! Thank you for taking the time to comment to let me know. ☺️
nettie says
Thanks for this tidbit, I wanted them for an after dinner treat this evening but didn’t want to do all that work when I’m ready to quit for the night. I’ll make now and pull out right after dinner!
Jess says
Will definitely be making these apple fritters tomorrow!
Sam says
I hope you love them! ☺️
Jackie L. says
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it! ☺️
Lisa Kaste says
they should be fried until golden brown and this should be about 60-75 minutes on each side.
Hi Sam – these look scrumptious and I can’t wait to make them after we go apple picking next weekend. The recipe directions are fine – but in your paragraph above you talk about frying for 60 minutes – you’ll want to change your content to “seconds”.
Thanks for another great recipe! lisa
Sam says
WHOOPS that’s a big difference!! 😂
Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Lisa, fixing it ASAP!
Paulette Reeves paulat_1@ says
I hope you mean seconds not minutes.