What Spanish breakfast snack consists of fried dough, often dusted with sugar and served with hot chocolate? The answer is churros. These ridged fried-dough pastries are a familiar breakfast and snack in Spain and throughout much of the Spanish-speaking world.
Churro dough is typically made from flour, water, and salt, although recipes vary. It is pushed through a star-shaped nozzle, which creates the ridges that increase crisp surface area, then fried until golden. Churros may be straight, looped, or knotted, and are often sprinkled with sugar after frying.
In Spain, churros are especially associated with cafés and churrerías. They are traditionally dipped into thick, rich hot chocolate, producing the classic combination known as chocolate con churros. Unlike filled varieties popular in some countries, traditional Spanish churros are often plain inside, though regional and modern versions may contain chocolate, cream, or other fillings.
Churros are sometimes confused with buñuelos, but buñuelos are a broader family of fried doughs that can have different shapes, textures, and ingredients. Rosquillas are ring-shaped pastries, while pestiños are honey-coated fried pastries linked to Andalusian traditions.