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
We love the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge TN! Our family makes the trip at least twice a year. I’ve bought the apple fritter mix that they sell in the store before, but it never turns out right. Your recipe is so much better and from the pics they look a lot better than mine. I’m going to try your version the next time I make them. Thanks!
I wonder why my scale keeps lying to me lately……..oh well I just make some Apple Fritters to ‘share’ ;0) Awesome looking yummies!~!
Wonder if anyone has tried these with a light glaze like one would find on a Krispy Kreme doughnut? I have purchased them that way and they are goooood!
Just in time for Apple season to get into full swing up here in Michigan! ONE thing up here that makes me happy (and not miss home so much) is that there are cider mills that serve hot cider and doughnuts all over the place. I must say that they do their apples proud up here! Every once in a while, you’ll find a fritter, too. That’s when I know that the baker “ain’t from around here!”
Hey, Christy, if you want to really get powdered sugar all over the sugar fritters, grab you a paper bag (or ziploc if you’re being tidy ) and fill it with your powdered sugar and shake those nice hot fritters like crazy! I’m imagining a nice little sugar-dance to go along with the shake. Yummmm! I’m going to make up some of those lovely fritters THIS weekend!
My oh my, these look amazing. I am actually on my way to the local apple orchard to get apples to can applesauce and apple butter. I’ve made you apple dapple cake a few times now and loved it. I am anxious to try the apple fritters. I just got a squeezo machine from ebay and hopefully it will make preparing the apples a breeze. That’s what I keep reading anyway. You just can’t beat home canned food. I just finished canning pears and thruought the summer canned cherry jelly (from my cherry tree), strawberry jam, blueberry jam, and peach jam. Now I just need that recipe of your mothers for her homemade sourdough bread. Love you Christi.
girl, where did you get those adorable leaf-shaped jadeite little doohickeys your apple butter is in? precious! also a little note on the chapstick thing, we have done that for years. be sure you grab the black tube and not one of the mentholated ones. I did that by accident one time and mercy! talk about burning- it will set you free, like mama used to say. it’s also pretty good for cuticles too….:o)
I’m guessing those would be equally delicious rolled in cinnamon sugar. Or drizzled with powdered sugar icing. I’ve just gained 5 pounds thinking about it! I wonder if there’s any way to make a baked version that would be yummy but healthier?