Vegan Air Fryer Churros

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Crispy on the outside and soft inside, these Vegan Air Fryer Churros coated with cinnamon sugar are an irresistible guilt-free snack. Simply dunk them in some chocolate sauce or caramel sauce or enjoy them as is.

Churros are typically fried. I have taken this guilt out by air-frying these churros. Yes, it uses minimum oil, in the dough and just on the top, so that they are moist while baking. 

As they are Vegan, they do not have any butter or eggs. This air fryer baked churros can really be enjoyed as a light tea-time snack. This is a great snack option when you have a sudden guest. They get done in a maximum of 60 minutes from start to finish. Best enjoyed hot with some hot chocolate or a cuppa.

So what are Churros?

Churros are deep-fried pastry dough sticks from Spanish and Mexican cuisine. Churros are normally formed into long lengths of dough pushed through a piping bag, that is deep-fried and then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. They are enjoyed by dipping in chocolate or caramel sauce.

I first had these churros in a Christmas market. We ordered them and enjoyed them hot coated with cinnamon sugar. They were so addictive and especially in the cold freezing weather in December. With some hot chocolate, it is a must-have. 

The vendor however had a special machine to make these churros. Something like our chakli maker, but bigger in size. He has filled the dough in it and was directly frying the churros in it. 

The pastry dough is typically made using water, butter, sugar, salt, flour, egg, and vanilla extract. Most of the recipes do have eggs in them, but I did read on the net that the traditional ones did not have eggs. Now I am not sure if that is right or not, but then I decided to make this eggless too. 

My son loves churros and he is all mad about it. So when I told him I would be making some he went all mad :-). In fact, both my kids enjoyed it thoroughly and asked me to bake this again. At once I thought maybe they would not like it, as they are not fried and by the time I click pics they were a bit cold. But I had to ask them to let me taste too :-). 

Why Air frying instead of Frying?

I made this baked as opposed to fried, as I generally avoid frying anything which directly has dough in it. The dough absorbs a lot of oil and the food is too heavy to consume. Yes, the fried churros are the tastiest ever, but they are oily at the same time.

Making churros was on my list for a long. So when Preethi Prasad from Preethi’s cuisine asked to make some street food for our Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge group, I decided to make these Vegan Air Fryer Churros.

My partner for this theme was Archana from The Mad Scientist Kitchen and she gave me Vanilla Essence and cinnamon as the secret ingredient. I gave her tomato paste and paprika and she made this Veggie Quesadilla. A delicious and nice meal, or a lunch box idea.

If you are looking for such similar street food or air fryer recipes, try this Air Fryer French Fries or this Air Fryer Soft Pretzel Bites. Ragda Pattice, Homemade Mumbai Vada Pav, Pav Bhaji, No onion no garlic pav bhaji, Yufka (Turkish Flatbread) are a few of our favorite street foods of ours.

Ingredients used in Vegan Air Fryer Churros

• Whole Wheat Flour (Can be replaced with all-purpose or plain flour)
• Baking Powder – Generally not added, I have added it as it does not contain eggs. I added them so that they are soft on the inside.
• Water
• Oil
• Vanilla Essence
• Sugar 
• Salt 

Tips and tricks while making Vegan Air Fryer Churros or Baked Churros

• At times while making the dough it might get stiff. The flour must have absorbed more water. In that case, just add some more hot water to the dough and work your way.
• Refrigerating the dough before piping or refrigerating the piped churros is good. It helps to achieve a crisp outer texture and retains its shape while frying or baking.
• I would advise piping the churros first and then refrigerating as refrigerating the dough and piping makes it a bit tough.
• I am using a piping bag with a nozzle, if you do not have one simply pipe them using a heavy-duty zip-lock.
• Do not overfill the piping bag or nozzle.
• If you have more dough or leftover dough, refrigerate them in an air-tight container or in plastic wrap. 
• You would need to bring it out slightly to room temperature to pipe the churros, as the very cold dough would be difficult to pipe.
• Coat it with cinnamon sugar immediately after baking or frying. This helps them stick better.
• While air frying always preheat the air fryer.
• Depending on your air-fryer size you would need to make them in batches. 

Storage

I would not advise keeping the leftover baked or fried churros as they would go soft. It is best to enjoy them hot. However, if you have some leftovers store them in an air-tight container for 2 days. Reheat when consuming.

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Linking this with

And Sunday Funday Where the theme this Sunday is Christmas Sweets and Treats by Wendy Klik. Do check out the different Christmas sweets and treats recipes by my fellow bloggers

• Christmas Tree Peanut Butter Blossoms from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• German Chocolate Caramel Bars from Palatable Pastime
• Homemade Jujube Jelly Sweets from Sneha’s Recipe
• Maritozzi from Culinary Cam
• Two-minute Quick Fudge from Food Lust People Love
• Vegan Air Fryer Churros from Cook with Renu

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