Apple Fritters
Celebrate fall with homemade apple fritters! These fried apple fritters are topped with a cinnamon-vanilla glaze and easy to make too.
If you love fresh donuts, you’re bound to love their fall cousin! These apple fritters are made with fresh apples and warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, then fried until golden brown all over.
Once the fritters have cooled down, they’re topped with a simple but delicious cinnamon glaze. The glaze not only sweetens the fritters, but it also keeps them moist for days afterward.
Make these homemade apple fritters for a weekend breakfast or brunch, or whip up a batch in the afternoon as a fun fall snack. I don’t often deep fry foods, but I always make an exception for old-fashioned apple fritters!
Ingredients in This Recipe
Homemade apple fritters can be made using basic ingredients you likely have on hand already. Here’s an overview of the ingredients you’ll need to make this easy recipe:
- Apples: I really love Fuji apples for this recipe, but any kind of baking apple will work fine. Some other great options are Honeycrisp or Granny Smith apples.
- Lemon juice: A squeeze of lemon juice helps to prevent the apples from turning brown before being fried.
- All-purpose flour: I always recommend spooning and leveling your flour when measuring it to ensure you don’t measure out too much by mistake.
- Granulated sugar: I added just 1/3 cup sugar to the batter to lightly sweeten it. Fritter dough isn’t very sweet, which is why you always want to glaze them after they’re fried.
- Spices: Ground cinnamon and nutmeg add a lovely fall flavor, while salt enhances the apple flavor and balances out the sweet glaze.
- Milk: Whole milk works best in the fritter batter.
- Egg: To help bind everything together.
- Unsalted butter: Melt the butter and let it cool slightly before mixing it into the batter.
- Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla extract will deliver the best flavor.
- Oil: I recommend using canola oil to fry the fritters, since it’s neutral in flavor.
- Confectioners’ sugar: Gets mixed with a little milk, cinnamon, and vanilla to create the glaze.
How to Make Apple Fritters
The apple fritter batter itself is a cinch to make! It’s similar to my baked donut hole recipe, but thicker so that it’s easier to fry. Before making the batter, you will also want to heat 3 to 4 cups of canola oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
Here’s how the batter is made:
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In a large bowl, mix together the diced apples and lemon juice. Set aside.
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In another large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
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Once all the dry ingredients are combined, use a spatula to make a well in the center of the ingredients. Pour in the milk, lightly beaten egg, melted butter and vanilla extract.
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Mix until a batter is formed. It will be thick, that’s what you want!
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Fold in the apples until mostly coated in the batter.
It will seem like a lot of apples in the dough, but this is okay! The dough will puff up as it cooks in the oil and bake around the apples.
Next, you’ll need to deep fry the fritters. Here’s exactly how to do that:
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Once the oil reaches about 375°F, grease a 1/4 cup measuring cup with baking spray, or use a large scoop, and measure out 1/4 cup batter.
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Spray a metal spatula with nonstick cooking spray, transfer the batter onto it, and flatten into a medium disc.
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Carefully lower the battered spatula into the oil, the batter should slip off easily into the oil.
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Cook fritters on each side for 2 minutes or until they’re golden brown all over.
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Transfer the cooked fritters to a paper towel-lined plate.
Once the homemade apple fritters have cooled down, they’re ready to be glazed. The cinnamon-vanilla glaze is a simple combination of powdered sugar, ground cinnamon, vanilla, and whole milk.
I recommend using up all the glaze, even if it seems like a lot. It will keep the dough moist and it also adds sweetness, since fritter dough itself isn’t too sweet.
Can This Recipe Be Made in Advance?
Although leftover fritters are still delicious, I recommend making this recipe just before you plan on serving them. The dough will dry out slightly over time and will lose the slight crispness it started with.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
Store the cooled fritters in a container or Ziploc bag on the counter for up to one day. Alternatively, store in a container or Ziploc bag in the fridge for up to four days.
You can reheat fritters in the oven at 300°F for 8 to 10 minutes to enjoy! Feel free to reheat them in the microwave as a quick snack, too.
Baking Tips
- You’ll want to use a large pot to fry the apple fritters. The higher sides of the pot will protect you from any hot oil that splatters during the frying process.
- Use canola oil or another neutral-flavored oil for this recipe.
- Let the homemade apple fritters cool slightly before whisking together the glaze and dipping them into it.
More Apple Desserts You’ll Love!
Recipe Video
Apple Fritters
Ingredients
For the fritters:
- 3 to 4 cups canola oil
- 3 cups diced Fuji apples peeled, cored, and diced - approx 3 large apples or 4 medium apples (375 grams)
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour spooned & leveled (190 grams)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar (65 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ cup whole milk (120 ml)
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled (45 grams)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the glaze:
- 2 cups confectioners sugar (240 grams)
- 4 to 5 tablespoons milk or water (60 to 75 ml)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- To make the fritters: Heat the canola oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
- In a large bowl, mix together the diced apples and lemon juice. Set aside.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg until well combined.
- Once all the dry ingredients are combined, use a spoon or rubber spatula to make a well in the center of the ingredients. Pour in the milk, egg, melted butter and vanilla extract and mix until just combined.
- Gently fold in the apples until mostly coated in batter.
- Once the oil reaches 375°F (190°C), grease a ¼ cup measuring cup with nonstick cooking spray or use a large scoop, and measure out ¼ cup batter.
- Transfer the batter onto a large metal spatula coated with nonstick cooking spray and flatten into a medium disc.
- Carefully lower the battered spatula into the oil and the batter should slip off quite easily. If needed, you can use a spoon or fork to help slide the batter off the spatula into the oil. Only add up to 3 to 4 fritters into the oil at a time to prevent overcrowding.
- Cook the fritters for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown, then transfer the cooked fritters to a plate lined with paper towels to cool.
- To make the glaze: While the fritters cool, whisk together the confectioners sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon in a large bowl. The glaze should be on the thinner side. If the glaze is too thin, add extra powdered sugar to thicken it. If it's too thick, add a little extra milk to thin it out.
- Once the fritters have slightly cooled, dip each fritter into the glaze. If you have any extra glaze leftover, dip the fritters into the glaze one more time or simply pour the remaining glaze over them.
Can these be air fried in an air frt oven???
Yes! They don’t taste the same as the fried ones, but they still taste good. Just preheat your air fryer to 400°F, line the basket with parchment paper, spray the parchment paper with cooking spray, then drop 1/4 cupfuls of dough on it and slightly flattened each one. Spray each one with a little cooking spray to help them brown, then cook them for about 5 to 6 minutes, flip and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
Can I use fresh peaches instead of Apples?
I haven’t tried it, but I think it would be okay.
Excellent recipe! The batter holds together perfectly in the oil and the apples come out tender, but still have a little crispy bite to them. Definitely saved in my fave pinterest recipes. Perfect for a fall treat or any time!
I canned apples last fall. Can I use them instead of fresh?
That would probably be fine, I would just make sure to drain any excess liquid.
My husband is crazy about these fritters! I just made them a few days ago and he’s eaten half of them! I’m not a fritter person, so I don’t have an opinion! They are pretty fun to make though!!
I recently made apple fritters. After frying them, they came out a little crispy. I let them cool before putting on the icing. I noticed that later on in the evening they were soft and moist, but they lost their crispyness. Is that expected.
The icing will cause them to soften over time. If you don’t plan to serve them all at once, you can leave the icing off of some, then warm them back up, and add the icing right before serving. Hope that helps!
I made this recipe twice the first time they turned out Great , but this last time they were greasy, what did I do wrong? It’s a great recipe, just don’t know what I did wrong. Please Help , my Wife loved the first batch, not so much the second time.
Hi, Mike! Did you use a thermometer to check the temperature of the oil before putting them in? If the fritters were soggy and greasy, the oil may not have been hot enough. If they were crispy and greasy, they may have been over cooked. Did you also make sure to place them on a paper towel as soon as you removed them from the oil?
I made this apple fritters yesterday and they came out delicious.thank you for sharing
Do you have to use canola oil?
No, but you do need to use a neutral-flavored oil with a higher smoke point.
This is a really good recipe. The recipe made 18 apple fritters. I just used a spoon and scooped about 2-3T. of batter into the hot oil. I followed the recipe exactly and the batter will be really thick and look like it’s too much apple. When you fry them they turn out perfect once they puff up. Just make sure when you scoop up the batter that the apples are stuck into the batter. Otherwise, when you drop it in the oil the apples can fall off. The glaze is needed to add some sweet to the fritter because to me they weren’t sweet at all. I would add more cinnamon next time to the batter. Maybe even try a little maple syrup in the glaze. I would definitely recommend this recipe.
This recipe is Absolutely Amazing…
I fixed it for Thanksgiving and it was a HUGE hit. I wish I would have made more.
Thanks for sharing your recipes❤️
Made according to directions. The fritters were delicious…..
I was on the super struggle bus with this recipe. The flavor was really great and the finished product was yummy but here’s where I hit bumps in hopes it helps you too!
The batter is THICK! I cut the apples up like the photo shows, and it was nearly impossible to get it to coat well for me. Even went back through the recipe to make sure I didn’t miss a wet ingredient along the way. I ended up with a lot of un-used apple in the bottom of the bowl. I think when I try this again, I would cut the apple a bit smaller, and may be even let the apples sit in the batter for a bit to help it thin a bit since the apples will give off some juice as it sits (or maybe my apples were giant?).
It is entirely possible my thermometer is off (I will calibrate after this!) but the oil temp on the recipe made for a super burnt first batch that was still raw in the middle – and it wasn’t in for very long before burning. The oil temp drops naturally when you add food, so it cooled from that, plus I turned the burner back, and the remaining batches were much better.
The transfer process was really klunky for me. I kind of wonder if the batter was a bit less thick, if it might be easier to drop in?
I was just a tiny bit short on glaze for my last batch for dunking purposes. I drizzled, they tasted good, but I might make a touch extra than what the recipe calls for because having it fully coated in deliciousness is one of the best parts! ha!
The bits of apple that fell out of the fritter while it fried were a delicious little treat. Make sure to pull them out of the oil and save them. They get sort of caramely. Very yum.
I was struggling to turn these fritters over in the pan with the recommended oil measure. Maybe I used a larger pan?? I grabbed my deep saute pan (basically a dutch oven with a long handle like you’d see on a skillet) because it keeps the splatter contained, but the oil wasn’t really deep enough to dunk one side of the fritter to help flip. Because I was struggling with the batter clinging to the apples, I ended up with broken up fritters. Not totally a bad deal since it was like eating little fritter bites, but worth noting. I can typically bop something with my spider and get it to flip. This almost needed tongs to do the same thing. Next time, I’ll either use a smaller diameter pan so the oil is deeper, or add a few extra glugs of oil in my normal pan.
Like I said – end result was super duper yum. I will make these again!
Really good, 375 was a little too hot, they were brown within 30 seconds. Got a little more brown than I like but tastes good
I made this with King Arthur’s gluten free one for one flour, honey crisp apples (I had those on hand) and light brown sugar. They were so freakin fantastic it was hard not to eat all of them in one sitting! Great recipe. Easy to follow. Easy to make. HIGHLY recommend this recipe! I am going to try to bake the fritters next time just to see how they turn out.
Hi
I have an apple tree I’ve made several apple pies so far and apple fritters sounded good. I used this recipe it was easy and simple. They turned out beautiful and tasted delicious.
Thank you
Jackie
I made these tonight, my family loved them!
mine fell apart what did I do wrong.
Did they fall apart while you were frying them or after?
Love ❤️ it thank you , thank you, thank you. Do you know how long I have been searching for a fun and good recipe for Fritters that just tastes like home. 👍You did it
Right.
My husband is not really a dessert fan, that’s my vice, but he loves apple fritters and asked me to make them for Father’s Day. I tried once before and it was an epic fail so I was a little nervous until I found this recipe. I halved it for just the two of us and it was perfect.
Can you use other types of apples for this recipe?
Yes, you can use another baking apple like Honeycrisp or Granny Smith apples.
These fritters are delicious. I followed the recipe as written. I see no need to change anything. Easy to make and had everything in the pantry. I love making food from “scratch”. I made a batch one day which were all gone the same day. The next day my family asked me to make more. Definitely a keeper at my home.
Thank you, Janet! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Questions
1. Can these apple fritters be made in a air fryer?
2. Can you use a sugar substitute instead of granular white sugar?
3. Once fried, can you freeze them for later use and reheat in the microwave or toaster oven?
Hi, Jean! Here are the answers to your questions:
1. I’ve had a few people ask about using an air fryer, so I tested it out and it did work. I tested them at 400°F, lined the basket with parchment paper, sprayed the parchment paper, then drop 1/4 cupfuls of dough and slightly flattened each one. I sprayed them with a little cooking spray (to help them brown), then cooked them about 5-6 minutes, turned them and cooked them another 1-2 minutes. They don’t taste quite the same as the fried ones, but they still tasted fine!
2. I’m sure you could use a sugar substitute, but keep in mind that it will change the taste and texture of the fritters slightly.
3. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months. I’d recommend freezing them without the glaze, reheating them in the oven at 350°F until crisp and warmed through, let them cool, and then glaze them.