Churros Recipe: the Popular Spanish Snack

The good ol’ churro. Everybody loves them, but traditional churros are made with refined white flour and table sugar, which can throw off  your blood sugar levels and digestion.

For my churros recipe, I use one of my favorite sugar substitutes and gluten-free flours to make this a healthier alternative for the churros you order from a food truck or vendor. Because, although those churros are certainly delicious, these are too full of unhealthy ingredients, and they won’t leave you feeling guilty (or sick) afterwards either.

What Is A Churro?

A traditional churro is a fried-dough pastry that’s coated in cinnamon-sugar and served hot. In the U.S., eating a churro is synonymous with attending a street fair or carnival, but churros are also popular in countries like Spain, Portugal, France, the Philippines, Cuba and Mexico.  We are used to eating long and straight churros that are fried, crunchy on the outside and doughy on the inside. But in other countries, churros are sometimes prepared thin and knotted, like a pretzel.

There are plenty of ways to eat a churro. You can enjoy it hot with a cinnamon and maple sugar coating (which is what I use for this recipe), dipped in coffee or even drizzled with melted dark chocolate. Either way, it’s a delicious and comforting dessert that can be prepared in a healthier, more figure-friendly way with this churros recipe.

Nutrition Facts

One churro made using this recipe contains roughly the following (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)   :

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• 298 calories
• 17 grams fat
• 32 grams carbohydrate
• 6 grams dietary fiber
• 4 grams sugar
• 6 grams protein
• 0.34 milligrams manganese (17 percent DV)
• 4 IU vitamin E (13 percent DV)
• 400 IU vitamin A (8 percent DV)
• 28 milligrams magnesium (7 percent DV)
• 0.9 milligrams iron (5 percent DV)
• 0.07 milligrams vitamin B2 (4 percent DV)
• 97 milligrams sodium (4 percent DV)
• 40 milligrams phosphorus (4 percent DV)
• 40 milligrams calcium (4 percent DV)
• 0.18 micrograms vitamin B12 (3 percent DV)
• 43 milligrams potassium (1 percent DV)

Here’s a quick glance at some of the top health benefits associated with the ingredients in this churros recipe:

• Paleo flour blend: Paleo flour blends are made with the best gluten-free flours, like almond flour, coconut flour, arrowroot flour and tapioca flour. I prefer not to use white or wheat flours because they are bleached and can be hard on your digestive system. The flours used in the Paleo blend are full of healthy fats, fiber and nutrients. Almond flour, for example, is packed with L-arginine, magnesium, calcium, potassium and manganese.

• Maple sugar: Unlike refined, table sugar that offers no nutrients, maple sugar, which is made by boiling the water off of maple syrup until you are left with solid sugar, acts as the sweetener in my churros recipe, and it contains important antioxidants and minerals, like zinc and manganese. Plus, maple sugar has a lower glycemic index than regular cane sugar, so it doesn’t impact your blood sugar levels as drastically. (6)
• Grass-fed butter: Did you know that grass-fed butter nutrition can actually be health-promoting? People often avoid butter because they think of it as an unhealthy food, but butter doesn’t contain any sugar, carbohydrates or health-hazardous trans fats. What it does contain is vitamin A, ant-inflammatory properties and medium-chain triglycerides that support your immune system and boost your metabolism. And one more thing about grass-fed better, it’s a ketogenic diet food because it is high in fat and contains zero carbohydrates, so you can include butter in your diet and still lose weight, reduce your risk of heart disease and maintain healthy blood sugar levels. (7)

How to Make This Churros Recipe

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Then add one-third cup of butter, 2 tablespoons of maple sugar and 1 cup of water to a saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted and the mixture has come to a boil, remove the pan from the heat.

Next, mix in 2 cups of the Paleo flour blend, ¼ teaspoon of sea salt and a teaspoon of vanilla extract, which I love using in my desserts because it adds flavor and contains powerful antioxidants, like vanillin.

Add 2 eggs and ½ teaspoon of cinnamon into the mixture and stir until the ingredients are well-combined.

There are many health benefits of cinnamon, including its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and immune-boosting abilities. Plus, it adds a sweet, woody flavor to these churros, which compliments the nuttiness from the gluten-free flours.

Your dough is ready to go and your just a few quick steps away from eating the most delicious churro. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag and prepare a baking sheet that’s lined with parchment paper.

Using the piping bag, add 4-inch strips of the churro mixture to the pan. Bake the churros for 15–20 minutes, until they are a light golden brown color.

The final step is to sprinkle or roll in your churro topping of cinnamon and maple sugar.

That was a pretty easy churro recipe, right? And your not “cheating” by eating these churros because they are completely gluten-free and free of refined sugar. Enjoy!!