These apple fritters are made with fresh apples, and topped with a simple glaze. This recipe takes 30 minutes to make with no yeast or rising time, and it tastes like apple donuts!
These fritters are made with a simple pancake-like batter, filled with apple cubes, fried to golden brown perfection, and topped with a simple glaze, cinnamon sugar, or powder sugar.
This recipe is super quick to make, with no need for yeast, rising time, or rest time. It's simply making the batter and frying it!
If you like apple recipes, check out our apple pie cookies, apple cinnamon rolls, apple crumble cake, apple fritters, apple crumble muffins, easy apple cake, apple crumble pie, and apple turnovers!
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Why this recipe works
- Extremely easy to make.
- Is ready in 30 minutes.
- Loaded with cinnamon and fresh apples.
- Melt in your mouth delicious.
- Made with simple ingredients.
- Perfect when you need a fall-themed dessert.
What are apple fritters?
Apple fritters are basically apple donuts. They are made with a simple batter and apple cubes, topped with a simple glaze or cinnamon sugar. These fritters are fried and not baked, so they can keep their shape while cooking.
We like adding fall spices to our simple batters like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
Ingredients
Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Full measurements are in the recipe card below.
Apples– we like to use granny smith apples for this recipe, they are a little bit less sweet, but any kind of your favorite apples will work!
Brown sugar– we use brown sugar for this recipe. Brown sugar adds a caramelly flavor. You can use dark brown sugar as well.
Butter– you will need to melt the butter. We used unsalted butter for this.
Lemon juice– helps to balance the sweet flavor.
Flour- use all-purpose flour for this recipe. Self-rising flour or cake flour can work great for this recipe as well.
Baking powder– to allow the cake to rise. Ensure that the baking powder is no expired.
Eggs- you will need 2 large eggs, make sure that your eggs are at room temperature.
Whole milk- Use whole milk for this recipe.
Spices- our favorite spices for these fritters are cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
Vanilla extract- for extra flavor.
Kosher salt– use kosher salt for this recipe.
Simple glaze
To make the glaze you will need three simple ingredients:
Powder sugar- use powder sugar for the glaze. We like making our own powder sugar at home, simply blend granulated sugar in a blender and that’s it!
Milk- we used milk for the glaze, but you can use heavy cream, water, or lemon juice. It’s up to you!
Vanilla extract- for extra flavor.
Instructions
Peel, core, and cut the apples into small cubes.
In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, milk, melted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, kosher salt, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and brown sugar. Mix with a whisk until it's well combined.
Add the flour, and baking powder. Mix with a whisk until almost combined.
Add the apples and fold lightly until the apples are covered with batter.
Heat canola oil or vegetable oil in a dutch oven, saucepan, or frying pan and allow it to get to about 180c (350f).
Scoop the apple batter with a ¼ measuring cup or an ice cream scoop and fry in small batches for about 2 minutes on each side.
Remove the fried fritters to paper towels to drain any excess oil. Let the donuts cool for a few minutes or until they are cool enough to hold.
Make a simple glaze
Into a small to a medium mixing bowl add the powder sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Mix with a spoon until the mixture is smooth.
Dip the fritters into the glaze and transfer the glazed fritters to a cooling rack to let the excess glaze drip off.
Serve warm and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Use fresh apples. We find making apple crumble pie with fresh apples instead of canned apples. The naturally sweet and tart flavors that the apples naturally have makes fritters irresistible.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Make sure that your apple pieces are about the same size, this step ensures that the apples bake evenly.
- Don't overmix the batter, this step ensures that you have fluffy and moist fritters and not dense and dry fritters.
- Don't overcrowd the pan when cooking the fritters, this step ensures that your fritters cook well.
- Remove the fried fritters to paper towels to drain any excess oil.
- Use room temperature ingredients.
Faq's
We like serving fritters with a simple glaze on top. Don’t skip this step because the fritters aren’t very sweet. Another way we like to serve these is to cover them with cinnamon sugar or simply dust them with powder sugar.
Use your favorite kind of apples! We like using granny smith apples, but any apple kind will work. If you like sweet apples, use Honeycrisp, or pink lady.
As long as you fry these fritters, the crispier they will get. We like eating our fritters when they have a dark brown color. Place your hot fritters on paper towels to let them cool a bit and to prevent them from turning soggy.
How many apples you need depends on the side of your apples. We used 5 large granny smith apples for this recipe. You will need about 7 cups of sliced apples for this recipe.
Storing
The fritters will last for about 2 days at room temperature, stored in an airtight container. We suggest eating them fresh, but they are delish for two days as well.
Freezing
Yes, you can freeze the fritters after it’s cooled completely in an airtight freezer-friendly container for up to 2 months. We don't like freezing the apple fritters simply because they taste the best when they are fresh and warm.
Substitutions
Dairy-free- make these dairy free by swapping the butter with vegan butter and the milk with vegan milk.
Variations
Simple glaze- make a simple glaze that is made with powder sugar, milk or cream, and vanilla extract. Drizzle or dip the fritters.
Powder sugar- another way to serve these fritters is to dust them with powder sugar.
Cinnamon sugar- mix 1 tablespoon of cinnamon with ¼ cup of granulated sugar and coat the fritters with cinnamon sugar after it's cooled a bit.
More apple recipes to try
Apple upside-down cake- This upside-down apple cake features an incredibly moist cake that is loaded with cinnamon and nutmeg and topped with a caramelized apple topping.
Apple crumble pie- This apple crumble pie is made with a delicious spiced apple pie filling, topped with a decadent flavorful crumble topping, inside a flakey butter pie crust. This apple crumble pie is the perfect fall dessert.
Easy apple cake (sharlotka)– This easy apple cake is going to be your new favorite easy and light cake! This cake is fluffy, light, airy, moist, soft, and delicious.
If you tried this recipe, don’t forget to leave a rating and a comment below. We love hearing from you.
If you liked this recipe:
📖 Recipe
Easy Apple Fritters
Ingredients
Apple fritters ingredients:
- 3 Apples peel and chopped
- 2 tablespoon Brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ⅓ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ⅓ teaspoon Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 50 g Butter melted
- 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
- 2 Eggs
- ⅓ cup Milk
- 2 teaspoon Baking powder
- 1 ½ cup Flour
Apple fritters glaze:
- 2 cups Powder sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ¼ cup Milk
Instructions
- Peel, core, and cut the apples into small cubes.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, milk, melted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, kosher salt, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and brown sugar. Mix with a whisk until it's well combined.
- Add the flour, and baking powder. Mix with a whisk until almost combined.
- Add the apples and fold lightly until the apples are covered with batter.
- Heat canola oil or vegetable oil in a dutch oven, saucepan, or frying pan and allow it to get to about 180c (350f).
- Scoop the apple batter with a ¼ measuring cup or an ice cream scoop and fry in small batches for about 2 minutes on each side.
- Remove the fried fritters to paper towels to drain any excess oil. Let the donuts cool for a few minutes or until they are cool enough to hold.
Make a simple glaze
- Into a small to a medium mixing bowl add the powder sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Mix with a spoon until the mixture is smooth.
- Dip the fritters into the glaze and transfer the glazed fritters to a cooling rack to let the excess glaze drip off.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
Eva says
The best apple fritters recipe ever!