Homemade Apple Fritters
Bursting with cinnamon apple flavor and dusted in sugar, learn just how easy it is to make these fried homemade apple fritters.
My first memories of this homemade apple fritter recipe come from a family trip to the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee when I was about seven years old. Up until then, I’d never had them before but it was obvious that my parents were no strangers as they hunted down one particular restaurant just to partake of the treat, served alongside apple butter for dipping.
Apple lovers seem to hold these little handheld delights in such high regard that their eyes glaze over when talking of them. I’ve had more readers than I can count ask me if I had an apple fritter recipe and so today I’m bringing you my very own recipe for them. It’s one that my husband swears could bring about world peace if I played my cards right and kept the sides of apple butter coming.
So, what do you need to make homemade apple fritters? Ingredients I bet you have at home right now! Like milk, brown sugar, fresh apples, eggs, melted butter, cinnamon, and self-rising flour. These fritters are so easy to make. All you need to do is hand-mix the ingredients to make the batter, and then fry them in oil. Add a dusting of powdered sugar and you have yourself a batch of homemade apple fritters.
Your house is going to smell like a bakery and these apple fritters taste as if they came straight from a bakery too. With that cinnamon apple flavor in a buttery crispy fritter coating, and topped with sugar, these apple fritters are fall comfort food at its finest.
So, how ’bout them fritters?
The ingredients you’ll need for this recipe are:
- Milk
- Brown sugar
- Apples (I use a mix of red and Granny Smith apples to mix up the taste)
- Eggs
- Melted butter
- Cinnamon
- Self-rising flour
How to Make Homemade Apple Fritters, Southern-Style
Before you mix up your batter, pour about 1/2 inch of oil into a skillet and put it on medium heat on your stove eye/burner so it will be ready to fry in.
In a medium bowl, place your dry ingredients: flour, sugar, and cinnamon.
Stir that up well, breaking up any sugar lumps as you go.
Now you know if any of those lumps are really stubborn, it’s bad luck not to eat them.
Add in the wet ingredients: your milk and melted butter.
Add in eggs and stir that up well.
Peel and dice up your apples.
Toss that into your batter.
Mix together until your batter looks like this.
Now you’re ready to go!
Drop batter by spoonfuls into the hot oil.
I use a big spoon that holds about 1/8 of a cup but feel free to make these as large or as small as you like. Another option is to use a cookie dough scoop or ice cream scoop.
After they get golden brown on one side, turn them over to brown on the other.
Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the skillet and place them on a paper towel-lined plate.
If you like, you can roll some in confectioner’s sugar or just sprinkle confectioner’s sugar over them. I put some in a pie plate and roll them a bit but I usually only do this with half of them since we can never decide which we like best!
The cool thing about doing half in sugar and half plain is that you have to eat at least one of each!
I did volunteer to take a bite of one so y’all could see all the chunks of apple inside.
These are so moist and delicious!
And then I thought I wouldn’t be doing y’all right unless I showed you what it looked like with a little apple butter slathered on.
Yummm!
Storage
These fried apple fritters are best eaten immediately. However, you can keep leftovers in an airtight container for up to 24 hours and quickly reheat them in the oven or air fryer.
Recipe Notes
- To ensure your apple fritters don’t break apart once they hit the oil, it needs to be hot enough (375 degrees is the optimal temperature).
- If you can’t get enough cinnamon, add cinnamon to the powdered sugar topping.
- For added flavor, add a pinch of ground nutmeg, ground ginger, and/or apple pie spice.
- Speaking of added flavor, you can also add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the fritter batter.
- Any type of flour and milk works, like gluten-free flour, almond flour, and almond milk.
- For a touch of acidity and to keep the apples from browning, add 2 tablespoons of bottled or fresh lemon juice.
Recipe FAQs
What are the best kinds of apples to use in homemade apple fritters?
I use Red Delicious and Granny Smith to give two different sweet tastes to the fritters. Nothing like tingling the taste buds with different levels of sweetness and sour. But honestly, you can use whatever type of apples you fancy. Honeycrisp, Gala, and Fuji also work.
How do I make baked apple fritters instead of frying them?
Well, every Southerner knows it ain’t Southern unless it’s fried! But yes, you can bake apple fritters. I would recommend the following changes to the recipe:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and use a lined baking sheet or spray the sheet with cooking spray.
- Add two teaspoons of baking soda.
- Don’t melt the unsalted butter, cut it into the dry ingredients mix.
- Don’t over-mix the batter once you add in the milk and eggs.
- Bake at 400 for 10-14 minutes, but if they are smaller fritters then check after 8 minutes.
- If you want them a little crunchy versus soft, then broil them for 1 minute or so on each side.
- Coat with a bit of melted butter and then dip in the confectioner’s sugar, have them plain, or dip in the apple butter. Have ’em any way you like ’em!
You can also follow these instructions to bake apple fritters in the air fryer.
Can I top my apple fritters with a vanilla glaze?
Yes, if you’d like to top your homemade apple fritters with a glaze instead of sugar, you’ll want to combine 1.5 cups of powdered sugar, a dash of vanilla extra, and 1-1.5 tablespoons of milk in a bowl. Stir until smooth and then drizzle this over the fritters or dunk them into the glaze instead.
What’s the best oil for frying apple fritters?
You want to use an oil with a high smoke point, which is generally canola oil, vegetable oil, or peanut oil.
You may also enjoy these appetizing apple recipes:
Cinnamon Apple Crisps (Only 3 ingredients)
Ten Best Apple Recipes For Fall
Ingredients
- 2 cups apples, peeled and diced any kind of apple
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 3 tbsp melted butter
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar, optional
Instructions
- Mix flour, sugar, and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl, using a fork to break up any lumps.2 cups self-rising flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Add in milk, melted butter, and eggs. Stir well to combine.1 cup milk, 3 tbsp melted butter, 2 large eggs
- Peel and dice apples, then stir them into the batter.2 cups apples, peeled and diced
- Drop 1/8 cup of the batter into the hot oil and turn to allow them to brown on both sides.
- Drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Dust with confectioner’s sugar, if desired.1 cup confectioner's sugar, optional
- Serve with apple butter.
Nutrition
I made these today and they are wonderful!!! I even shared 🙂 Thanks for the yummy recipe!!
If I would’ve known these were that easy to make, I’d have been making my very own for years!! Great recipe! Thanks —
These sound awesome! I love them just about anyway or anytime! I especially love them on those gorgeous vintage plates! I have been collecting the jadite for some time now….never knew how much prettier they would be with apple fritters on them! I am so glad I “stumbled” onto this website….keep up the good work…it only makes the South look the way it really is….warm, welcoming and full of good things!
The Apple Barn in Sevierville,TN oh they have some pretty good fritters. I can’t wait to see where the next weekend adventure will take us. Wow, I think I just invited everyone to go with you Christy. It sure is fun hearing about the adventures. I took my 2 girls to our cabin in TN labor day weekend, had it all planned out in 20 minutes only to find the cabin was rented oh and that didn’t stop me I was ready we stayed at a hotel.
OH MY!! THERE USED TO BE A PLACE IN FLORENCE (CULPEPPER’S BAKERY) THAT MADE THE BIGGEST, BESTESTESS APPLE FRITTERS EVER. I’M TALKING ALMOST AS BIG AS A SOFTBALL! I CANT WAIT TO TRY THESE, CANT BELIEVE THEY ARE SO SIMPLE, BUT I’D NEVER THOUGHT OF MAKING THEM.
These do look good, might have to try them sometime. I remember day trips from when I was a kid, not too often, a lot of the time it was just to drive around for awhile looking at crops, etc., then maybe stopping for an ice cream cone. After I graduated and went to live with an aunt and uncle in order to get a job and go on to school, we took day trips quite frequently, to different lakes, parks, etc. in the area. Even took day trips half way across the state, we would take a picnic lunch with and find a nice park to eat in. I was in for a rude awakening when I got married and we would be sitting around in the evening and I would say lets go for a ride and we would get in the pick up and go to the one restaurant where the cop “co-workers” of my ex and his C-B buddies would hang out drinking coffee, and I had been referring to driving around looking at the new housing developments. We also could never take a day to drive half way across the state so the girls could see the state capital. He is just a different type of man, I guess. Anyway your recipes sound good and your stories are always interesting.
I love these too. When we go to Pigeon Forge Tennessee we always go to the Apple Barn for fritters and then we go next door to their store for some jars of apple butter to take home. I have their recipe somewhere. They give out the fritters, apple butter and their fruit tea recipes. I love the Apple BArn. They have a great breakfast. Yours looks delicious. I know I would love them in the sugar. Might as well add more calories. Happy fall weekends to you and the family. I think Madison is having their fall thing this weekend downtown and Athens has their Fiddlers Convention. It should be a great weekend.
I’m ALL OVER The Fiddler’s Convention! We LIVE for that weekend, it is out all time favorite festival. We may try to check out the street festival, too, but we’re undecided. Fiddler’s is a must.
Also, the Toy Story double feature in 3-D starts this weekend and is only playing for two weeks. We are HUGE Toy Story fans.
This is the busiest and most fun weekend of the entire year for me, well, next to Christmas 🙂
Hope you have a wonderful one!!!!!!
Gratefully,
Christy 🙂
HEY, WE’LL LOOK FOR YA AT FIDDLERS. MY LITTLE ONE IS A BEGINNER FIDDLER, HE WANTED TO ENTER, BUT JUST GETTING OVER A BROKEN COLLAR BONE SO HE HASNT HAD PRACTICE IS 6WKS. ANYWAY, WAS GONNA SAY, THERE WAS A VENDOR LAST YEAR ON SOUTH SIDE OF FOUNDERS THAT MADE CARAMEL APPLE (OR BANANA) SUNDAES. WE TRIED ‘EM AND THAT BECAME ONE OF MY SONS FAVORITE RV WEEKEND TREATS(HE LOVES THEM AT HOME TOO)