This Amish Apple Fritter Recipe isn’t much more difficult than making pancakes, and a delicious treat, especially during apple season.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
These little apple nuggets are basically a doughnut. Let’s get that clear right off the bat. Yes, they are fried, and glazed too. And hot, crispy and impossibly delicious with chunks of fresh apples.
This is an easy recipe, so why not make some at home? Really great with a large mug of coffee. Here’s a few good reasons to try this recipe:
- These babies are packed with Granny Smith apple pieces, with just enough batter to hold the apple pieces together.
- If you can make pancake batter, you can make fritters too. It’s a simple batter that’s no trouble at all.
- The only heavy lifting with this recipe is frying them, which is little more than pouring enough oil into a heavy pot and watching that the temperature doesn’t dip below 375F degrees.
If you love apple desserts, here’s another delicious one for you. Bookmark this Fresh Apple Cake recipe to make later. It’s so good, and pretty too.
Ingredients You’ll Need
For the full recipe and list of ingredients and instructions, please scroll to the recipe card below.
- Apples: Tart and firm fresh apples like Granny Smith’s are the best bet for this recipe, because they hold their shape.
- Flour: Regular all-purpose flour.
- Sugar: Regular granulated sugar for the fritter batter, and powdered for the cinnamon glaze.
- Buttermilk: Just a quarter cup milk for a tangy flavor element.
- Eggs: Two large eggs are what we need.
- Lemon: To toss with the apples for color and taste.
- Cinnamon: Gotta have cinnamon in an apple recipe!
- Vanilla Extract: For the powdered sugar-based glaze.
Step-By Step Instructions
- Start by chopping up three(3) large apples, cutting them into half-inch pieces. Toss with fresh lemon juice and transfer to a medium bowl.
- Next, make a simple pancake-like batter. Use an electric mixer to combine the sugar and eggs – just a couple of minutes. Then, add the dry ingredients.
4. This is how the apple mixture looks when it’s fully combined with the chopped fresh apple chunks. Nice!
5. Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy pot, and have an instant read deep-fry thermometer handy. Just bring the oil to 375 degrees, and try your best to keep it there.
6. Next, fry the fritters in hot oil (you’ll need 4-5 cups- enough to submerge the fritters) for about two minutes on the first side until they’re a true golden brown color, then flip for another two minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and cool on a wire rack (place some paper towels under the rack to catch drippings). Make a 3-4 at a time with the remaining batter.
7. Just dunk into the sweet cinnamon glaze, or spoon it over the entire top of the fritters.
Tips and Possible Variations
- Keeping the oil temperature at 375F is a key to success with this recipe. Have an instant-read thermometer handy, and keep in mind that the temperature will drop when you add the fritters to the oil. In other words, don’t leave the area until you’re done frying. The goal is to keep the temperature as steady as you can. No problem!
- Use a large spoon – like the kind you eat your cereal with – to slide the fritter batter – a heaping tablespoon -carefully into the hot oil. This is a better option than using a round cookie scoop, which makes a round fritter that’s usually raw in the middle. Just a regular old kitchen spoon sort of flattens the dough as you slide it in, which makes for more even frying.
- Test one fritter first to get the hang of it. Then fry no more than four or five at a time, as too many will bring down the temperature of the oil and you don’t want to crowd them.
- Use a stand-mixer instead of a hand-held electric mixer if you’d like.
- Use a deep electric skillet with temperature control if you’d like.
Serving Ideas
- Don’t want to use a glaze? Make a cinnamon sugar mixture instead! In a small bowl toss half a cup regular sugar plus a teaspoon of cinnamon. Toss the hot fritters as soon as you pull them out from frying.
- This is a fun recipe to make on weekends. Impress your friends & family with some crispy bacon, hot coffee, a fabulous vegetable frittata, and a fresh carrot currant salad. Don’t forget the orange juice!
- These would be a special afternoon treat too, like for a party served with mugs of really delicious hot chocolate.
- Try this reader favorite apple recipe – Waffles with Apples! It’s perfect for a special breakfast or brunch!
Frequently Asked Questions
You can prep the apples and toss them in the lemon, and measure out the other ingredients, keeping them separate until ready to use. These are best eaten the day they’re made, preferably while still a little warm.
If you don’t like the glaze option, you can make cinnamon sugar instead (a half cup of granulated sugar with a teaspoon of ground cinnamon) tossing them together while the fritters are hot from the fryer.
More Recipes to Try
- Shredded Chicken Burrito Bowl: A fantastic, easy dinner with rotisserie chicken.
- Old Fashioned Apple Cake: A delicious version of a fall favorite.
- Fall Favorite Desserts: A list of wonderful fall dessert recipes.
- Apple Hand Pies with Pillsbury Pie Crust: Tasty and nostalgic.
- Best Cider Apples: A cozy, wonderful dessert.
- How to Make Apple Pie with Graham Cracker Crust: A tasty & easy pie.
- Cookie Dough Bites Recipe: A no bake treat that’s healthy-ish.
- Sweets Things: A round-up of easy desserts, all in one place.
- Rosa Parks Pancakes Recipe: A fantastic version of peanut butter pancakes.
- How to make banana bread without butter: A moist and delicious version.
- Apple Butter Cookies Recipe: Moist and yummy, with chunks of fresh apple.
- Waffles with Apples: These waffles are so good!
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Amish Apple Fritter Recipe
Ingredients
- FOR THE FRITTERS
- 3 cups Granny Smith Apples, peeled and diced into ½ inch chunks
- 2 teaspoons Fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 1 cup All Purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ¼ cup Buttermilk
- CINNAMON GLAZE
- 1¼ cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons or more Buttermilk
- 4-5 cups Vegetable Oil, for frying
Instructions
- FRITTERS: Chop the apples into a small ½ inch dice and toss with lemon juice.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer or stand mixer using the paddle attachment for 2 minutes. Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and buttermilk and mix until combined. Add the diced apples and fold the mixture together with a spoon.
- Heat the vegetable oil in the dutch oven until it reaches 375F degrees with an instant read thermometer.
- When the oil reaches 375F degrees, use a large spoon to carefully slide a flattened tablespoon of the fritter batter into the hot oil. You can fry 3-4 at a time, letting them cook on one side for 1 ½ minutes, then turning with a slotted spoon for another 1 ½ to 2 minutes. Check the temperature of the oil occasionally, you want the temperature to stay at 375. Higher than that the fritters could burn, lower than that, they won't fully cook in the middle. Check the heat after each batch is cooked as well.
- Remove to a wire rack with a paper towel under it while you cook the rest of the fritters. Finish the fritters by dunking or spooning the glaze over the top and letting them set on the cooling rack. Serve immediately with cinnamon glaze.
- FOR THE CINNAMON GLAZE In a medium-sized bowl, mix the powdered sugar, the vanilla, cinnamon and buttermilk and whisk until smooth. If the mixture is chunky or hard to stir, add a little more buttermilk, a teaspoon or so at a time, until the consistency is a thin glaze.
Notes
- Keeping the oil temperature at 375F is a key to success with this recipe. Keep an instant-read thermometer handy, and keep in mind that the temperature goes down when you add the fritters to the oil. The goal is to keep the temperature as steady as you can.
- Use a large spoon like the kind you’d eat your cereal with – to gently slide the fritter batter carefully into the hot oil, a generous tablespoon, sort of flattened as you slide it in. A large spoon helps to flatten the dough as you slide it in, and makes for even frying.
- Don’t want to use a glaze? Make a cinnamon sugar mixture (a half cup sugar and one teaspoon of cinnamon) and toss the hot fritters in this instead.
Nutrition
- Super important to read the whole recipe before you begin
- Pay attention to the ingredient list and photos for the recipe
- If possible, prep your ingredients a little before you start
- Always use a sharp knife for safety
- Use the size of pan called for in the recipe
- For savory recipes, taste and season as you go
- Buy fresh, organic ingredients, locally sourced whenever possible
The text of this post was updated for clarity in October, 2024.
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