Do you want to satisfy your sweet cravings but are currently on a diet or looking to eat healthy? Then some Spanish desserts are perfect for you.
The healthy churros are the healthiest take on the classic Andalusian churros that everyone knows and loves, offering the same delicious taste and crispy texture with a healthier twist.
Read this article and we will show you how to make healthy churros, while also giving you the best tips for storing, serving, and customizing the ingredients of this fantastic recipe.
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Pssst…!!?? You can’t get enough of Spanish dessert recipes? Have a look at my other posts:
Background of the Dish
The homemade churros were created centuries ago by shepherds from southern Spain who were looking for a way to replace their daily bread with a portable and easy-to-make alternative while they tended to their flocks.
That is how the original easy churros recipe was born, but over time people played with different alternatives, and they wanted a version that could be enjoyed no matter their dietary restrictions or preferences.
Thanks to this, the healthy churros were developed, showcasing new ingredients like whole wheat flour, coconut sugar, honey, and olive oil, while also featuring a different cooking method (baking or air frying).
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Things You’ll Need for Healthy Churros
To prepare healthy churros, you will need whole wheat flour, honey, olive oil, water, and coconut sugar as the main ingredients.
A key tip on how to make Spanish churros is that you can replace the piping bag with a churrera or a clean ziploc bag (making a cut in the corner).
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) water
- 1 cup (120gr) whole wheat flour (for added fiber)
- 1/2 cup (60gr) all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- A pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup (60gr) coconut sugar (for coating)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (for coating)
How to Make Healthy Churros – Step by Step Guide
- For the first step in this healthy churros recipe, you have to preheat the oven to 200°C or 400°F. Also, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Then, grab a medium-sized pot or saucepan and mix the water with honey, butter, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Bring it to a boil over medium heat.
- When the mixture boils, remove it from the heat and stir in both of the flours all at once. Mix with a wooden spoon until you get a homogenous sticky dough that pulls apart from the sides. Let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes.
- After that, add the vanilla extract and the egg. Mix until they get fully incorporated in the healthy churros dough.
- Now, transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a star shaped tip. Pipe around 4 inches of the dough into the lined baking sheet, leaving some space between them.
- For the cooking step of this easy Spanish churros recipe, bake them for around 20 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. You can cut one in half to check if they are fully cooked.
- Then, mix the coconut sugar with the cinnamon and place it in a shallow dish. Pass the warm churros through that mix to coat them. If the mix doesn’t adhere to the churros you can brush them with a bit of olive oil or butter to help this process.
- For the final step in the best Spanish churros recipe, serve them warm optionally with toppings such as chopped fruits, melted dark chocolate, sugar-free jam, etc, and enjoy.
Substitution of Ingredients
What we love the most about the easy recipe for Spanish churros is that it only calls for a few basic ingredients, and still, there are changes that you can make to them.
If you don’t have whole wheat flour then you can take inspiration from the gluten-free churros and use your favorite gluten-free blend, as it will be slightly healthier than the regular A-P flour.
To have a flavor more similar to the authentic churros you could replace the honey or maple syrup with brown sugar, and the same goes for the coating (although it is more bitter than coconut sugar).
You can copy the churros air fryer recipe and cook these delicious churros in the air fryer, though if it is smaller than your oven then you might have to do it in batches.
Try our latest Churros without butter, a simple and crispy churros recipe just too good to be true.
Are you craving more Spanish desserts churros with different flavors? Then, you must check the breakfast churros, the churros balls recipe, and the churros cheesecake.
Tips on Serving Healthy Churros
The healthy churros are the most versatile Spanish churros recipes when it comes to serving: they can be enjoyed as a dessert, as an afternoon snack, or during breakfast with low-fat yogurt as the dip.
Spanish churros and chocolate are the best combinations, and here you could make the Spanish hot chocolate recipe to serve it as a beverage or prepare a dip with dark, sugar-free chocolate to stay on the healthier side.
Other healthy toppings that go well with the Spanish recipe for churros include freshly chopped fruits, a drizzle of honey or maple syrup, sugar-free strawberry jam, etc.
During the fall season, this Spanish churros recipe would complement really well with a homemade apple compote, as it contrasts beautifully with the cinnamon-sugar coating.
Are you hosting a party, and don’t know what to serve as a dessert? Andalusia has the perfect solution to your problem with this and other sweets like the Spanish rice pudding, the delicious flan, and the orange flan recipe.
How to Store Healthy Churros
Once you finish making the healthy churros you can either serve them right away or store them so that you can enjoy this sweet treat whenever you want.
The easiest way to store it is to prepare and cook these authentic Spanish churros and place them in an airtight freezer safe container, where you can keep them in the fridge for 5 days or at room temperature for 2 days.
To freeze them, pipe the healthy churros into the lined baking sheet and take them to freeze them until they harden, then you can store them in a ziploc bag (so they occupy less space) for up to one month.
After that, simply continue with the cooking step of the original Spanish churros recipe without thawing the churros (they will hold their shape better this way).
Other Andalusian desserts that you can prepare and store include the baked churros, the Spanish Apple empanada, Spanish dessert churros or the churros cake.
Recipe Card: Healthy Churros
Easy Healthy Churros Recipe
Do you want to satisfy your sweet cravings but are currently on a diet or looking to eat healthy? Then some Spanish desserts are perfect for you.
The healthy churros are the healthiest take on the classic Andalusian churros that everyone knows and loves, offering the same delicious taste and crispy texture with a healthier twist.
Read this article and we will show you how to make healthy churros, while also giving you the best tips for storing, serving, and customizing the ingredients of this fantastic recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) water
- 1 cup (120gr) whole wheat flour (for added fiber)
- 1/2 cup (60gr) all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- A pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup (60gr) coconut sugar (for coating)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (for coating)
Instructions
- To start with this authentic Spanish churros recipe, preheat the oven to 200°C or 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium size pot, mix the water with honey, butter, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Bring it to a boil over medium heat.
- Once it boils, remove it from the heat and stir in both of the flours all at the same time. Mix with a wooden spoon until you get a homogenous sticky dough that pulls apart from the sides. Let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Add the vanilla extract and the egg. Mix until they get fully incorporated in the Spanish style churros dough.
- Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a star shaped tip. Pipe around 4 inches of the easy Spanish churros dough into the lined baking sheet, leaving some space between them.
- Bake the Spanish breakfast churros for around 20 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. You can cut one in half to check if they are fully cooked.
- Mix the coconut sugar with the cinnamon and place it in a shallow dish. Pass the warm healthy churros through that mix to coat them. If the mix doesn't adhere to the churros you can brush them with a bit of olive oil or butter to help this process.
- To finish this oven baked churros recipe serve them warm and enjoy.
Notes
Combining both flours is the best way to make churros healthy yet preserve their original flavor and texture.
Instead of baking them, you can choose to air fry churros, which will take a similar amount of time (from 18 to 22 minutes).
The coating is one of the things that make it have a similar taste to the traditional Spanish churros, but you could use brown sugar as a replacement for the coconut sugar if desired.
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 152Total Fat 5gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 31mgSodium 27mgCarbohydrates 22gFiber 1gSugar 4gProtein 3g
All information presented and written are intended for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other health-care professional. The writers and publishers of visitsouthernspain.com are not nutritionists or registered dietitians. Statements within this site have not been evaluated or approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Hola, I’m Paulina! Together with my team, we are passionate about Southern Spain. Here we share all you need to know for great times in Southern Spain with the best places to visit, stay and, of course, the best food to eat.
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