{"id":8290,"date":"2026-10-19T15:18:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T06:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8290"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:49:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:49:34","slug":"churros","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/churros\/","title":{"rendered":"Churros"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Churros are a confection made by piping a dough of flour worked with hot water through a star-shaped nozzle into oil and frying it. Their surface is marked with fine grooves, and they are widely enjoyed, from Spanish breakfasts to Mexican street stalls. Even with a simple formula that uses no eggs or milk, the shape of the nozzle and the movement of the hands while piping give them their distinctive form. The thick porras differ in formula, shaping and the way they are cut.<\/p>\n

A dough worked with boiling water that keeps its firmness<\/h2>\n

The basic Spanish formula centers on wheat flour, water and salt, and some versions add a little oil. Eggs, milk and butter are not essential. When the water comes to a boil, the flour is added all at once and quickly mixed to make a firm, smooth dough. Besides adding the flour to the water in the pot, some specialist shops follow a method of pouring boiling water onto the flour all at once and working it.<\/p>\n

Working flour with hot liquid is similar to choux pastry, but both the formula and the finish differ from the shell of a choux cream puff<\/a>, which has eggs added afterward and is puffed in the oven. With churros, the firm dough is extruded, and in the oil the outside dries while the inside cooks through. The dough itself has little sweetness; the sugar added after frying and the drinks served alongside supply the sweetness.<\/p>\n

The star-shaped nozzle and the movement of the hands while piping<\/h2>\n

After the dough has cooled slightly, it is put into an extruder called a churrera. Passing through a star-shaped nozzle, it becomes a long rod of dough with continuous ridges and grooves. Compared with a round rod of the same thickness, the surface has more ridges and hollows, and the edges in contact with the oil dry first, giving a crisp bite. The moisture inside turns to steam with the heat, so the outside turns out crisp and the interior soft. Because the firm dough is pushed with steady force, a tool sturdier than the thin bags used for piping cream is used.<\/p>\n

The maker cuts the dough as it emerges and either leaves it as a straight stick or joins the two ends. There were also traditional churreras that were braced against the shoulder and pushed with the strength of the arms and body. The shape is determined not only by bending the finished stick afterward, but by the movement of the hands at the moment the dough comes out of the nozzle.<\/p>\n

Once fried, they are drained of oil, sprinkled with sugar and served immediately. In Madrid, too, the sugar-sprinkled style is popular. Biting into one fresh from the fryer, you taste the dry, crisp skin together with the soft interior of the hot-water dough.<\/p>\n

\"Churros<\/p>\n

Churros bent into loops. The nozzle ridges and sugar are visible on the surface. Photo: Juan Emilio Prades Bel, 2024-11-11, location unknown. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version from the distributing source; no additional processing.<\/p>\n

Porras: large spirals fried by two people<\/h2>\n

In Madrid, thin, folded-back churros are sold alongside thick porras. Some recipes (formulations and methods) for porras add a leavening agent such as baking soda; the dough is rested and then fried in a large spiral. They differ not only in thickness, but also in a formula that makes the interior rise and in the way they are shaped and cut.<\/p>\n

When making a large spiral, one person may extrude the dough continuously while another turns the dough in the oil with a long stick. The whole spiral is flipped to fry both sides, then taken out and divided with scissors or a knife. The movements in front of the fryer also differ between small churros fried one at a time and large porras made from one continuous length.<\/p>\n

\n\"Porras\n
Porras fried in a large spiral (September 1, 2024, location unknown). Unlike thin loop-shaped churros, a single continuous length of dough traces a large circle. Photo: Juan Emilio Prades Bel \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No content changes or cropping were made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The shepherd legend and the theory of an origin in Chinese youtiao<\/h2>\n

In the story that shepherds fried them outdoors in place of bread, the fact that they can be made with only fire and oil, without an oven, is tied to the name, which is linked to the horns of the Churra breed of sheep that they resemble. Another theory holds that Portuguese navigators brought back youtiao, a long, thin Chinese fried dough, which was then adapted in Iberia to a star-shaped nozzle.<\/p>\n

However, youtiao is made by frying two strips of dough joined together and is eaten as a savory breakfast. Churros are made by piping and frying a hot-water dough and are eaten sweet, so the methods differ. Food historians note that 15th-century Iberia already had fried hot-water doughs such as cohombros, and they question the theory of a one-way introduction from China. A Spanish-language dictionary also explains the confection’s name as onomatopoeic, and does not treat the sheep’s name as the established etymology.<\/p>\n

Records of fried confections and specialist shops in Madrid<\/h2>\n

In Madrid, a 1621 application to raise the price of fried confections made from flour and oil survives. These are thought to have been bu\u00f1uelos or something similar, and the name churros does not yet appear. By an 1887 business application, a “churro-making establishment” is explicitly named. This shows that by this time, among the shops selling fried confections, there were shops that specialized in making churros.<\/p>\n

Breakfast drinks and regional fillings<\/h2>\n

In Spain, churros are eaten at breakfast or at merienda, the afternoon snack, with thick chocolate or caf\u00e9 con leche, and also with chocolate on the morning of New Year’s Day. In contrast to Madrid’s thin folded-back churros and thick porras, in Mexico they are coated with sugar, and some are also injected with cajeta or chocolate. In Buenos Aires, churros filled with dulce de leche and dipped in thick chocolate are also eaten for breakfast. They differ in fried shape, filling and the time of day they are eaten, and are enjoyed at street stalls and shops in each place.<\/p>\n

\"Churros<\/p>\n

Churros being sold in Coyoac\u00e1n, Mexico City. Ridged fried confections are lined up at the stall. Photo: Eh\u00e9catl Cabrera, 2011-02-12, Coyoac\u00e1n, Mexico City, Mexico. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version from the distributing source; no additional processing.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Hot-water mixing<\/strong>: A method of making dough by adding hot liquid to flour and working it.<\/p>

Churrera<\/strong>: A tool for extruding the firm churro dough through a nozzle.<\/p>

Porras<\/strong>: Thick fried confections popular in Madrid and elsewhere. Some recipes add a leavening agent; they are fried in a large spiral and cut into pieces.<\/p>

Merienda<\/strong>: An afternoon snack in Spanish-speaking regions; a time for pairing fried confections with tea or chocolate.<\/p>

Caf\u00e9 con leche<\/strong>: Coffee with milk. One of the drinks paired with churros.<\/p>

Bu\u00f1uelo<\/strong>: One of the general terms for fried confections in Spanish-speaking regions. It also appears in historical records of trade connected with churros.<\/p>

Youtiao<\/strong>: A savory food eaten for breakfast in China, made by frying two strips of dough joined together. No direct transmission to churros has been confirmed.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. \n

    The assertion that the grooves always allow steam to escape safely is not supported by the confectionery sources actually consulted. The main text limits itself to the ridges and hollows created by the star-shaped nozzle and the role of the edges in contact with the oil.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  2. \n

    King Arthur Baking, \u201cChurros\u201d<\/a> \u2014 the grooves from the star-shaped nozzle, thickness that varies with the nozzle width, the number to put into the oil at once, and how they cook through. This is an American-style recipe with eggs and is not treated as identical to the egg-free Spanish formula.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  3. \n

    Buenos Aires City official tourism guide, \u201cWhat, where and when to eat\u201d<\/a> \u2014 the local style filled with dulce de leche and served with thick chocolate.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  4. \n

    Spain.info, \u201cChurros\u201d<\/a>: the basic formula without eggs or milk, mixing with boiling water, the extruder, sugar and immediate serving.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  5. \n

    Cuevas de la Cruz \/ Ben\u00edtez Ben\u00edtez, La churrer\u00eda, Madrid, 1982<\/a>: the distinction between the 1621 and 1887 documents, traditional tools, and the shaping processes for churros and porras.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  6. \n

    Kukuchurro, \u201cPorras vs. churros\u201d<\/a>: a working specialist shop’s account of leavening agents, rested dough, and the difference between thick spirals and thin sticks.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  7. \n

    Madrid Tourism Board, \u201cReposter\u00eda tradicional\u201d<\/a>: the sugar-sprinkled folded-back shape, breakfast and snacks, New Year’s morning.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  8. \n

    Spain.info, \u201cCocina de la Comunidad de Madrid\u201d<\/a>: thin churros and thick porras, and the pairing with chocolate on New Year’s Day.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  9. \n

    Spain.info, \u201cSpain, non-stop nightlife\u201d<\/a>: chocolate and churros as breakfast after a night out.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  10. \n

    Larousse Cocina, \u201cChurro\u201d<\/a>: the Mexican extruder, sugar, breakfast and snacks, and sales on the street.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  11. \n

    Real Academia Espa\u00f1ola, \u201cchurro\u201d<\/a>: the definition of the confection and the treatment of its etymology as onomatopoeic.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  12. \n

    El Pa\u00eds \/ El Comidista, \u201cLos churros vienen de China\u201d<\/a> \u2014 a food historian’s critique of the Chinese-origin theory, and the older cohombros.<\/p>\n<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Churros are a confection made by piping dough into oil and frying it. The grooves running along the surface come from the star-shaped nozzle, and the hot, sugar-coated sticks appear at breakfast and snack time in Spain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6848,"menu_order":45,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Churros","subtitle":"Fried dough dipped in warm chocolate","topics":"Fried dough \/ Breakfast and snacks \/ Chocolate","country":"Spain","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["chocolate","cream","butter","egg"],"texture":["smooth"],"occasion":[],"method":["fried"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[164],"class_list":["post-8290","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"manual","sweetlore_related_articles":[8326,8272,8273,8280,8281,8282,8310,8322]},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t