These old fashioned Apple Fritters are skillet fried and covered in an irresistible vanilla glaze. You’ll love nibbling on these homemade donuts while sipping coffee or cider with friends!
Looking for a donut that’s baked instead of fried? Apple Cider Donuts are always a good idea! This recipe for Chai Donuts is perfect donut for fall, too.
What are Apple Fritters
Apple Fritters are fried donuts with apples folded into the batter. Cooked in oil until golden brown, the crisp exterior yields to a fluffy inside filled with real apple pieces.
As much as I love the convenience of baked chocolate donuts, these apple fritters are well worth the effort.
You don’t need a deep fryer, either! I’ll show you how to fry apple fritters on the stove top with delicious results.
Once you’ve tried these fritters, you’ll need to whip up a batch of our favorite pumpkin french toast for breakfast!
Ingredient Notes
- Apples – They need to be peeled, cored and finely diced before adding to the batter. Aim to make your apple pieces smaller than 1/4 inch.
- Apple Pie Spice – Use your favorite homemade spice mix or any store bought version you like.
- Vegetable oil – This is for frying the donuts. Any standard vegetable oil blend or canola oil is perfect. The amount you need will vary depending on the size of your skillet.
Easy Instructions
Heat the oil first:
Add oil to a large pan or skillet. Let it heat up on medium-high while you make the batter.
Make the batter:
Whisk the dry ingredients together. Stir in milk and eggs. Now, fold in the apples.
Frying:
Add about 1/4 cup of batter to the preheated oil. Fry until golden brown on one side. Flip the fritter and fry until both sides are browned.
Check that the fritters are done by inserting a knife into the center. It should come out clean when fully cooked.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the fritters from the pan. Place them on a paper towel to drain excess grease.
Repeat until all the fritter batter has been fried!
Apple fritter glaze:
Whisk together the icing ingredients. Drizzle over apple fritters while they’re still warm. Enjoy right away!
Tips and Tricks
- Oil should be kept at 350 degrees F throughout the frying process. Use a thermometer to check the temperature frequently and adjust your stove settings as needed.
- Use two spoons to drop the batter into the oil. This allows you to spread the batter out for a flatter fritter that’s easier to cook evenly.
- Not in the mood for glaze? Toss apple fritters in cinnamon sugar or dust them with powdered sugar instead!
- I find sweeter apples, such as Gala, taste best in apple fritters.
- Serve them for dessert, warm, with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Recipe FAQs
If the inside of your donuts are consistently undercooked while the outside is nearly burnt, your oil is probably too hot. Turn down the heat a little and don’t forget to use that thermometer!
Making the fritter flatter and less condensed also helps the inside cook through more quickly.
This is one recipe I don’t recommend preparing in advance. Apple fritters don’t reheat well. Plan to enjoy them right away while they’re still warm!
You need enough oil to allow the fritters to float without touching the bottom of the pan. The amount of oil needed will vary based on your pan size.
This depends on your pan size. My 12 inch skillet could fry up to 5 fritters at once. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan. The fritters should have room to float without touching each other.
More Fall Baking
- Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Easy Apple Crumble
- Apple Pie Recipe
- Apple Slab Pie
- Apple Cinnamon Bread
- Pumpkin Pie
Easy Dessert Recipes
See all Desserts recipes
Apple Fritters
Ingredients
For the Batter:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon apple pie spice
- ⅔ cup milk
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups finely diced apple about 3-4 apples peeled and cored
- Vegetable oil for frying*
For the Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Add 1 ½ to 2 inches of vegetable oil to a large skillet or saucepan and heat on medium high heat to 350℉.
- While the oil is heating, make the fritter batter. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and apple pie spice in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the milk, eggs and vanilla.
- Fold in the apples and stir until just combined.
- When the oil has reached 350℉, it’s ready. Using 2 spoons, add about 1/4 cup of fritter batter to the oil. The two spoons will help make a fritter that is a little flatter, making it easier to evenly cook the fritter. Fry each side about 2 minutes before turning them over to brown the other side. Continue to check the oil temperature throughout the cooking time with the thermometer.
- Check the doneness of the fritter by inserting a sharp knife into the middle. If the knife comes out clean, they are done. Use a slotted spoon to remove the fritters and transfer them to a paper towel to drain.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle over warm fritters.
Notes
- STORAGE: These are best eaten right after they are made and glazed. They don’t reheat well.
- Special tools – a digital food thermometer to monitor the oil temperature. Keeping your oil at temp will result in a perfectly done fritter that’s not uncooked in the middle or overdone on the outside.
- Use 2 spoons to spread out the batter into a flatter fritter. The more compact the fritter is, the harder it will be to make sure it’s cooked evenly and not raw in the middle.
- Finely chop the apples in ¼” inch pieces. I used 1 granny smith and 3 gala apples. I would stick to the sweeter varieties of apples.
- If they are getting too done on the outside and not done on the inside, turn the heat down.
- OIL AMOUNT- I used a large 12” skillet when making the batches – I could get about 5 per batch and still have room for the fritters to float around. Make sure there is enough oil so that the fritter is floating, not touching the bottom and not touching the other fritters. This is why the amount of oil will vary.
- Donuts holes- could also make small donut hole sized fritters, but dropping less batter into the oil.
- Other options instead of glaze – toss them in cinnamon sugar or dust with powdered sugar.
Nutrition
Impress your friends with homemade Apple Fritters. These sweet fry cakes make a delicious addition to your weekend breakfast!
Can I make these g/f using bobs red mill flour
Can gluten free flour be used..like g/f bobs red mill
These are the best thing I’ve ever made!!! They turned out exactly like the pictures, perfect texture, flavor, color, AWESOME!! And so easy! And only one tablespoon of sugar in the whole batch?! They’re practically health food lol. Thanks Aimee, you’re a genius 🙏😁
Glad you enjoyed the fritters!!
CAN THESE BE BAKED, NOT FRIED?????????
I haven’t tested baking these.
Can we bake or air fry these fritters?
Do you think these could be baked instead of frying? Sound delicious!
I made these and I just have one word DELICIOUS
Tasted these apple fritters today and they were so good! It is easy to make too, a new recipe to add to our favorites!
These apple fritters were so good. Definitely worth it!
This is wonderful to make when guests are in town. I love how crunchy they are but still nice and doughy. The glaze just makes it even more wonderful.
I love these apple fritters! The recipe is so easy to make and they taste delicious. Nice and crispy on the outside and soft and done on the inside. Perfect amount of spices as well. Yum!