Amish Apple Fritters are luscious, deep-fried pastries filled with chopped fresh apples and warm cinnamon, then covered with a simple three-ingredient glaze. They taste even better than a regular donut, and once you've had a homemade fritter - soft on the inside, crispy on the edges, and dripping with glaze - you won't want the grocery store version anymore.
Best of all, they're easy to make: if you can whip up pancake batter, you can master fritter batter. With a pot of hot oil, you'll have a plate of warm apple fritters ready in no time.
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Ingredients
- Chopped Apples: Provide texture, flavor, and moisture to the fritters. They add sweetness and a fruity taste. (Tart apples or a mixture of apples works best.)
- Eggs: Act as a binding agent, helping to hold the ingredients together and providing structure.
- Milk: Adds moisture and helps create a smooth consistency. (Whole milk is preferred.)
- Lemon Juice: Adds acidity, which helps balance the sweetness of the apples and batter. It also enhances the flavor of the apples and prevents them from browning.
- All-Purpose Flour: Provides structure and volume. It serves as the base ingredient for the batter, binding all the other ingredients together.
- Baking Powder: Acts as a leavening agent, helping the fritters rise and become light and fluffy during frying.
- Salt: Enhances the flavor and balances the sweetness. (I use sea salt.)
- Sugar: Adds sweetness. It caramelizes slightly during frying, enhancing the flavor and creating a crispy exterior.
- Cinnamon: Provides a warm, spicy flavor. It complements the sweetness of the apples and sugar.
- Oil (for frying): Used to fry the fritters, creating a crispy exterior while keeping the interior moist and fluffy. (I like to use peanut oil or canola for frying.)
How to Make the Best Amish Apple Fritters
This homemade apple fritter batter is very easy to make. The only thing that takes a bit of time is chopping the apples and frying the fritters. You'll want to cut or chop the apples into very small pieces or grate them.
Beat the eggs. Add the milk and lemon juice. Mix the dry ingredients separately and add to the wet mixture. Mix only to combine. (If you feel like the batter is too thick, feel free to add another splash of milk.)
Stir in the apples, but do not overmix.
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Frying Apple Fritters
Fill a pot with oil, deep enough to cover the fritters. I tend to use a smaller deeper pot, so it doesn't take as much oil. It takes a bit longer to fry the fritters because only a couple fit at a time. But if you fry too many at once, it may decrease the temperature too much anyway. So it's best to fry only a few at a time.
Bring the oil to 350 degrees F. before adding the batter. (I always use a kitchen thermometer, and I strongly recommend using one for best results.)
If your oil is not hot enough the fritters will get soggy from consuming too much oil. If the oil is too hot, they will burn on the outside while the inside is still doughy. You may need to adjust the burner occasionally to keep the temperature consistent.
Drop the batter, by tablespoonfuls, into the hot oil. Try to spread the batter a bit so you don't end up with a fat ball.
Fry the apple fritters for about 2 minutes on each side until nicely browned. Remove with a slotted spoon or strainer skimmer and cool on a wire rack. (I place paper towels under my rack to catch the excess oil, and also the excess glaze. It makes clean-up easier.)
Be very careful while frying - the oil is super hot!
Glaze
This simple glaze is very easy to make. It's only a few ingredients mixed until smooth. Getting the fritters covered in the glaze can be a messy process. But it's worth it! Dunk the cooled fritters in the glaze and place them on a wire rack to drip off any excess glaze and air dry.
You could also place your fritters on a wire rack and spoon or brush the glaze over the top instead of dipping them.
To give you more options: rather than glazing your Amish apple fritters, you can dust them with powdered sugar. Or, while they are still warm, toss them in a cinnamon-sugar mixture (mix one teaspoon of cinnamon with about one cup of sugar). They will taste delicious either way!
Storing Fritters
Store the apple fritters, loosely covered at room temperature, (brown paper bags work great) for up to two days. Or refrigerate for up to a week.
You can also store them in an air-tight container. It may result in very moist fritters. But I love them either way!
Freezing Apple Fritters
Apple fritters freeze well. As with many pastries, they are the best in the first two days. To keep them fresh tasting, freeze some for later.
Let them cool completely, then place them into an airtight container or gallon-size ziplock bag and close them tightly. Freeze for up to two months.
To thaw, leave them at room temperature for an hour. You can reheat them in the oven for about five minutes at 375 degrees.
Dutch Apple Fritters (for Breakfast?)
So here we are, with another Amish breakfast pastry recipe to enjoy with your morning cup of coffee. But unlike my Cinnamon Coffee Cake recipe, homemade donuts, Amish Wet-Bottom Shoofly Pie recipe, or Shoofly Cake recipe, at least this breakfast dessert has healthy fruit on the inside!
And honestly, this recipe is not loaded with lots of sugar either. There's only one-fourth cup of sugar in the batter which makes about fifteen apple fritters.
The unhealthy part about this apple fritter recipe though is the fact that they are deep-fried and glazed. If you're concerned about your sugar intake, omit the glaze. And perhaps you could make them in an air-fryer?? I don't own an air fryer, so I haven't tried that. But if you have one, get adventurous, give it a try, and let me know how it turned out.
Homemade Amish Apple Fritters are great with coffee for breakfast, but they are equally amazing at any other time of the day. So if morning coffee with a sweet is not your thing, enjoy an apple fritter for a snack or after-dinner dessert. I'm sure a warm old-fashioned apple fritter would be amazing with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as well.
More Amish Pastry Recipes
More Amish Apple Recipes
This recipe makes the best Amish Apple Fritters! If you try it, I'd love it if you left a comment and star rating below. Thank you!
📖 Recipe Card
Amish Apple Fritters Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 c. finely chopped apples
- 2 eggs
- ⅔ c. milk
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 c. all-purpose flour
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ c. sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- Oil, for frying
Glaze:
- 2 ½ c. powdered sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3-4 Tbsp. milk
Instructions
- Peel and chop the apples into very small pieces (or shred them).3 c. finely chopped apples
- Beat the eggs, milk, and lemon juice. Mix well.2 eggs, ⅔ c. milk, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and stir into the wet ingredients.2 c. all-purpose flour, 3 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, ¼ c. sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon
- Stir the apples into the batter, but be careful to not overmix.
- Pour several inches of oil into a deep pot and bring it to 350°.Oil, for frying
- Drop the batter by large tablespoonfuls into the hot oil. (If it wants to drop into a round ball, try to spread it out a little.) It's best to fry only a few fritters at a time and not crowd them. Try to consistently keep the oil temperature around 350°.
- Fry the fritters for about 3 minutes on each side or until nicely browned. Remove them with a slotted spoon onto a wire rack to cool.
- Once cooled, dunk the fritters into the glaze and place them on a wire rack to dry. Or brush the glaze over the top.
- They are the best to eat while fresh. But you can also store them loosely covered at room temperature for up to two days. Refrigerate them for up to a week. Or freeze them in an airtight container for up to a couple of months.
Glaze:
- While the fritters cool, whisk together the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk in a small bowl. The glaze should be on the thinner side. If the glaze is too thin, add extra powdered sugar to thicken it. If it's too thick, add a little extra milk to thin it out.2 ½ c. powdered sugar, 3-4 Tbsp. milk, 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Notes
Nutrition
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Vickie
Hi Anna, …just wanted to say, tried recipe and was brilliant! These fritters are delicious. After reading Q & A’s, I also tried the Air Fryer in baking them. They came out perfectly done heated at 370 for 10 minutes, turning them over at the 5 minute mark. Toby taste and texture alone, seemed fluffier and outside layer had a nice light crisp crunch to it. For those looking to change up the sugar for both the ingredient in the fritter and the glaze, I switched that up in exact measurements to the recipe with Swerve and no changes to taste, texture or look of fritter, very good!
Anna
Awesome! Thank you for leaving all these tips! Much appreciated!
Ellen
I haven’t made these Apple Fritters yet but I’ve been asked to bake a dessert for a function so this is what I’ve chosen to make! I’ll do a dry run beforehand though! The recipe sounds like there definitely delicious so we’ll see! Thank you for this recipe❣️
Anna
I hope you were impressed. The problem with pastries like this though, they are always best when fresh on the first day.
Anna
They're so yummy!
Robin
Something is off with the milk in this recipe. i added more but mine still came out to stiff, whereas, they looked like ball shaped blobs and did not get done inside. ugh
Anna
I'm really sorry that they didn't turn out for you! I've never had any issues. But I did mention in the post that you need to try and spread the batter a bit so you don't end up with a fat ball.
Did you keep the oil temp low enough? Cooking with too hot oil will result in the fritters browning on the outside before they are done on the inside. Did you finely chop or shred the apples?
Cindy in GA
Loved this recipe! My family lived just outside of Lancaster, PA, for 25 years. We loved driving through the countryside, and the smell of these fritters reminded me so much of the wonderful foods we ate while there. A friend told me she used chopped up pie filling instead of the fresh apples.and lots of cinnamon sugar sprinkled on the batter as she mixed it in..So good! Easy to make. The most difficult part for me was ensuring the oil was hot enough. Thanks for sharing the recipe! My first try and my husband said it is a keeper!
Anna
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed them.