Apple Fritters

One bite of these crispy, buttery homemade apple fritters, and you’ll swear off store-bought fritters for the rest of your life. They just don’t compare to the freshly fried version. This quick and easy apple fritters recipe makes delicious clusters of tender apple-filled batter, deep-fried until crispy and golden on my own stovetop. They taste like little bites of apple pie!

My whole family went absolutely nuts for them. The hubs even said these apple fritters are some of the best things he’s ever eaten, and he has tested a lot of treats. There were serious discussions over who got to claim the last fritter. I know I’ll be making them again soon!

Reasons to Love This Foolproof Apple Fritter Recipe

• Filled with fall flavors. The combination of tasty apples, comforting spices, and warm, pillowy dough is just delightful. These would be perfect for a fall breakfast, brunch, or as a light dessert with a scoop of ice cream.
• Perfect texture. When I tested and refined this apple fritter recipe, I found that a slightly thicker batter gave me the results I was after. A thinner batter made the fritters feel more like funnel cake. While I love a good funnel cake, a fritter is more of a donut, so it needs to have a little more structure and texture.
• Packed with fresh apples. These fritters definitely deliver. They’re not too dense or heavy, and they’re jam-packed with juicy Granny Smith apple pieces.

Ingredients You’ll Need

One more wonderful thing about this recipe is that you don’t need fancy ingredients to make classic apple fritters from scratch. Refer to the full recipe details and quantities in the recipe card when preparing your fritters. For now, here are some quick notes.

• All-Purpose Flour: Measure with a food scale if you have one. Otherwise, spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level the flour afterward. Never scoop directly from the bag, or you’ll over-measure.
• Sugar: You can use white or brown sugar here.
• Baking Powder: This helps your fritters get fluffy while they cook.
• Spices: I flavor these fall fritters with a blend of ground cinnamon and nutmeg, plus a pinch of salt. You can swap the individual spices for apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice if you’d like.
• Milk: This can be whole milk, 2% milk, or any kind you have on hand.
• Large Eggs: To bind the fritters together.
• Unsalted Butter: Butter is a must for great flavor. I use my favorite Challenge Butter. I love that it’s high-quality butter that goes from farm to fridge in just two days, ensuring that it’s nice and fresh. It also has no added hormones, artificial flavors, or fillings, so you can feel good about feeding it to your family. If you haven’t tried Challenge Butter before, I highly recommend it! The flavor is wonderful, and it adds the perfect amount of richness to these fritters.
• Granny Smith Apples: While other apples will work in this recipe, Granny Smiths are always my first choice. Peeled, cored, and chopped.
• Vegetable Oil: Or your preferred oil with a high smoke point for deep frying. Vegetable oil, canola oil, and peanut oil are good options.
• Glaze Ingredients: You’ll need powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar), heavy cream (or milk), and vanilla extract to make the glaze for your fritters. You can substitute vanilla with another flavoring extract, like almond or lemon, for a different flavor profile.

Fritters vs. Donuts

Traditionally, fritters are a type of donut. Both fritters and donuts are deep-fried and glazed. The main difference is the shape. Donuts, of course, have their signature ring shape. Meanwhile, I like to think of these apple fritters as free-form apple donuts, where the dough is scooped into the frying oil for a less uniform shape.

How to Make Apple Fritters

I’ve found that it’s best to prepare the batter first, then heat the oil. You don’t want the oil to overheat while you’re busy chopping, whisking, and mixing. If the oil is too hot, the outside of the fritters will burn before the inside cooks through. Here are the steps:

First, Prepare the Batter

• Prepare the apples. Start by peeling and coring the apples. Then, chop them into half-inch pieces, similar to how you’d dice the apples for apple muffins.

• Stir together the dry ingredients. Next, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl. Set the dry mixture aside for now.
• Combine the wet ingredients. Meanwhile, combine the eggs, vanilla extract, and milk. Whisk the wet ingredients together until they’re well combined.

• Mix the wet and dry ingredients. Now, gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until everything is mostly combined.
• Add the apples and melted butter. Gently fold the apple chunks into the batter. Once the apples are incorporated, stir in the melted butter.

Deep-Fry the Fritters in Batches

• Heat the frying oil. Add about 1 ½ to 2 inches of oil to a heavy skillet or Dutch oven. Heat the oil to 375°F, using a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature.

• Fry the fritters. Using a large spoon, carefully drop dollops of batter into the hot oil, spreading them out a bit as you add them to the pan. I recommend frying 2-3 fritters at a time. Cook until they turn golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. The temperature will decrease as you add fritters and increase when you remove them. Try your best not to overcrowd the pan, to keep the oil at 375°F.
• Continue to cook in batches. Transfer the fried apple fritters to a cooling rack with paper towels to drain. Then, continue to fry until all the batter is used up.

Cool and Add the Glaze

• Mix the glaze. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and 3 tablespoons of cream to a medium-sized bowl. Whisk everything together until the mixture is smooth, adding more cream to thin out the glaze if needed.

• Coat the fritters. You can either drizzle the glaze over the fritters and spread it out evenly or dip the fritters into the glaze. Either way, let the fritters cool for about 5 minutes before you add the glaze so it doesn’t completely melt. Serve your apple fritters warm with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Tips for Perfect Fritters

Check out these tips and tricks to make sure your fritters come out flawless.

• Don’t overmix the batter. Overmixing is a common mistake in baking, and it also applies to these fritters. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients just until the batter is combined, and don’t overdo it. Overmixing results in dense, chewy fritters.
• Use the right apples. I strictly use Granny Smith apples for my apple fritters. They hold their shape very well and provide a lot of flavor. In a pinch, you could use Honeycrisp or another variety with nice flavor, but Granny Smith is definitely the best choice.
• Don’t overfill the skillet. Don’t fill the pan too high with oil. This will make splattering impossible to avoid, and it makes frying unsafe.
• Fry in small batches. You don’t want to cook too many fritters at one time. It’s important that the oil stays as close to 375°F as possible, and the temperature will be easier to maintain if you work in small batches. A Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot also makes it easier to maintain the oil temperature.

Variation Ideas

If you’d like to do something a little different with your fritters, it’s always fun to experiment! These are some easy variations that you can try.

• Caramel apple fritters. Instead of vanilla glaze, dip your fritters in gooey brown sugar caramel sauce or homemade salted caramel sauce.
• Different fruit. If apples aren’t your cup of tea, use whatever fruit you’re craving in their place. You can’t go wrong with bananas, diced peaches, or chopped strawberries.
• Cinnamon apple fritters. Instead of coating your fritters in glaze, roll the crispy fritters in cinnamon sugar.
• Make them chocolatey. Drizzle your freshly fried apple fritters with homemade hot fudge sauce. Regular chocolate syrup works as well.

What to Serve With Apple Fritters

I highly recommend enjoying your fritters while they’re fresh. It’s hard to rip yourself away from them anyway! If you really must store some and warm them up later, see the Storage section below for details. In the meantime, here are my serving suggestions:

• Cozy drinks. Enjoy a fresh apple fritter alongside your morning coffee or tea, or wash it down with homemade apple cider.
• Brunch. Serve these fritters as a sweet treat next to a hashbrown breakfast casserole or this overnight breakfast casserole at breakfast or brunch.
• Fall dessert. Top these apple fritters with homemade mascarpone whipped cream or enjoy them a la mode, cobbler-style with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Storage and Reheating

• Refrigerate. Place the cooled apple fritters into an airtight container and refrigerate them for up to 4 days.
• Reheat. Reheat fritters in the microwave for 5-10 seconds or in a 350°F oven for about 5 minutes, or until they’re warmed through. You may notice that the glaze has melted off in the oven – feel free to make some more if you’d like.
• Freeze. Although they won’t be as yummy as they are when they’re fresh, you can freeze these fritters without the glaze if desired. Place the cooled fritters into a freezer-safe container and freeze them for up to 2 months. Thaw them out in the fridge before you reheat and glaze them.

Watch How To Make It

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More Fall Apple Recipes

• Apple Upside Down Cake
• Apple Fritter Monkey Bread
• Caramel Apple Cheesecake
• Apple Snickerdoodle Cookies