Air Fryer French Crullers (Apple Cider Choux Donuts)

French crullers are the lightest donut in the case — hollow, ridged, barely sweet, and gone in three bites. They’re also the one most people never try at home, because the traditional method means a pot of 350°F oil and a very real chance of a soggy, collapsed ring floating in it.

The air fryer solves that. And because there’s no oil to dilute the flavor, I make the choux with apple juice instead of water, which is the part of this recipe I’d argue for hardest. The juice reduces slightly as it comes to a boil, and what’s left carries a soft apple-cinnamon note straight through the dough. You get the flavor of an air fryer apple fritter in a pastry that weighs almost nothing.

A word of honesty before you start: choux in an air fryer is not a beginner recipe. It puffs beautifully and then, if you open the basket too early, it deflates. I’ve included a troubleshooting section below because that’s the part every other cruller recipe skips.

Why Air Fryer French Crullers Work

Choux pastry doesn’t rise from yeast or baking powder. It rises from steam. You cook flour into a hot liquid until the starch gelatinizes, beat in eggs to build structure, and then the water trapped in that dough turns to steam in the heat and blows the pastry open from the inside.

That’s why the air fryer is a genuinely good tool here and not just a gimmick. Circulating hot air sets the outside shell fast while the inside is still steaming, which is exactly the sequence you want. The ridges from the star tip give the surface more area to crisp against that moving air.

What you give up is the deep golden color and the slight chew that oil produces. Air fryer crullers come out a shade paler and a touch drier. The glaze covers the difference, and you’ve traded a quart of oil for a spritz of cooking spray.

This works in any basket-style air fryer, air fryer oven, Ninja Foodi, or Instant Pot with a crisping lid. Times shift a minute or two by model — if you’re new to yours, my air fryer method hub has the temperature charts.

What Is a French Cruller?

A French cruller is a donut made from pâte à choux — the same dough behind cream puffs and éclairs — piped into a ring and fried. The name comes from the Dutch krullen, meaning to curl, which is also where the twisted, cakier “old-fashioned cruller” gets its name. The two are entirely different pastries that share a word.

The French version is the hollow one. Crack it open and there should be almost nothing inside: a thin eggy shell, a web of tender crumb, and air. That hollowness is the whole point, and it’s the standard I’d hold this recipe to.

Ingredients

Six things, all of them likely in your kitchen already.

• Unsweetened apple juice — replaces the water in standard choux. Unsweetened matters; sweetened juice scorches against the pan as it reduces and adds sugar you haven’t accounted for. Apple cider works and is better if you can get it.
• Unsalted butter — richness and steam. Use unsalted so you control the salt.
• Granulated sugar — just enough to encourage browning. Choux is not a sweet dough; the glaze does that work.
• Salt — small amount, non-negotiable. Without it the crullers taste flat and eggy.
• Ground cinnamon — warms the apple. Go light; too much dries the dough and mutes the fruit.
• All-purpose flour — the structure. Measure by weight if you can, or spoon and level. Packed flour is the fastest way to a dense cruller.
• Large eggs, room temperature — the leavening and the binder. Cold eggs seize the warm dough.

For the glaze: powdered sugar, a splash of apple juice or milk, and vanilla.

How To Make French Crullers in the Air Fryer

Step 1: Prep your parchment first. Cut parchment into 3-inch squares — one per cruller — and set them on a tray. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Do this before you touch the dough, because choux waits for no one.

Step 2: Bring the liquid to a boil. Combine the apple juice, butter, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the butter melts completely and the mixture reaches a full rolling boil. Don’t let it simmer along slowly — you’ll evaporate liquid unevenly and throw off the ratio.

Step 3: Add the flour all at once. Dump it in and stir hard with a wooden spoon. It’ll look lumpy and alarming for about fifteen seconds, then pull together into a shaggy mass.

Step 4: Dry the dough. Return the pan to medium heat and stir constantly for 2 to 3 minutes. The dough will smooth out, form a ball, and leave a thin film on the bottom of the pan. That film is your signal. You’re driving off moisture so the eggs have room to go in.

Step 5: Cool it down. Transfer to a bowl and stir for 3 to 5 minutes, or beat on low in a stand mixer, until the dough is warm rather than hot. Test it with a fingertip. Add eggs to hot dough and you’ll scramble them.

Step 6: Beat in the eggs one at a time. After each egg the dough will slacken, look curdled, and refuse to come together — keep beating and it will. Add the last egg in two halves, checking as you go. Finished choux should be glossy and thick enough to hold a ridge, falling from the spoon in a slow V. If it’s still stiff, add another beaten egg a tablespoon at a time.

Step 7: Pipe the rings. Fit a piping bag with a large open star tip — an Ateco 824 or Wilton 1M gives the classic ridges. Pipe 2½-inch rings onto the parchment squares, one per square. Keep them modest; oversized crullers brown outside before the center sets.

Step 8: Air fry. Lift the parchment squares into the basket, spacing them so no two touch — four or five per batch in most machines. Spray the tops lightly. Cook at 350°F (177°C) for 12 to 15 minutes, until deep golden and firm to a light press.

Step 9: Do not open the basket early. Not at eight minutes, not to peek. Cold air hitting a cruller that hasn’t set its shell will collapse it, permanently. Wait until minute twelve.

Step 10: Cool, then glaze. Move to a wire rack for 10 minutes. Whisk the powdered sugar with apple juice and vanilla until it ribbons off the whisk, dip each cruller face-down, and set it back on the rack to drip. The glaze firms up in about 15 minutes.

Repeat with the remaining dough. Piped choux can sit at room temperature between batches without harm.

Troubleshooting

They deflated. Almost always the basket was opened too early, or they came out before the shell was fully set. An underbaked cruller looks done and collapses on the rack. When in doubt, give it two more minutes — a slightly over-browned cruller is still a good cruller, and a deflated one isn’t.

They didn’t puff at all. Either the dough wasn’t dried long enough in step 4, or there was too much liquid left in it. Choux needs the starch fully gelatinized and the excess water cooked off before the eggs go in.

The dough is soupy and won’t hold a ridge. Too much egg. You can’t take it out, but you can make a second half-batch of dough without eggs and fold the two together.

The dough is stiff and pipes like caulk. Not enough egg, or too much flour from packed measuring. Beat in another egg a little at a time.

They’re dense inside instead of hollow. Usually piped too thick. Thinner rings, more of them.

The parchment lifted into the element. This happens and it’s the one real safety concern with air fryer choux. Loose parchment can block airflow or scorch. Keep the squares trimmed to the cruller’s footprint, weight them with the dough itself, and never run parchment in a preheating empty basket.

Storage and Reheating

Crullers are at their absolute best within two hours of glazing. That’s just the truth about choux — it starts pulling moisture from the air immediately and softens.

Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Don’t refrigerate; the cold accelerates staling and turns the shell leathery.

They revive better than you’d expect. Three to four minutes at 300°F in the air fryer drives the moisture back out and restores most of the crispness — the glaze will melt slightly and re-set. I’ve written up the timing for reheating donuts in the air fryer across every style if you want the full reference.

You can also freeze unglazed crullers for up to a month. Reheat from frozen at 320°F for 5 to 6 minutes, then glaze.

Make-ahead: the choux dough holds in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, covered directly against the surface with plastic wrap. Let it come to room temperature before piping or it won’t hold a ridge.

Variations

Swap the apple juice for water and you have a classic French cruller, ready for any glaze you like — the honey and vanilla glazes both work beautifully.

For a cinnamon-sugar finish instead of glaze, skip the dip and toss the warm crullers in cinnamon sugar, the same treatment I use on air fryer cinnamon roll bites.

Add a teaspoon of lemon zest to the dough and use lemon juice in the glaze for a sharper, brighter cruller.

If you want the apple flavor turned all the way up, serve these alongside air fryer apple pie bombs — the two together make a genuinely good fall brunch.

More Air Fryer Donuts

Choux is the ambitious end of homemade donuts. If you want something faster on a weekday morning, air fryer glazed donuts come together in a fraction of the time, and air fryer glazed biscuit donuts start from a can of refrigerated biscuits and take about ten minutes start to finish.

For something in between, air fryer banana donuts use up overripe bananas, air fryer mini powdered donuts are the ones my kids actually request, and air fryer Nutella donuts are exactly as good as they sound. Everything I’ve made in this category lives in the air fryer donuts archive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do my air fryer crullers collapse? The basket was opened before the shell set, or they came out underdone. Choux holds its shape only after the exterior firms — give them the full 12 minutes without peeking, and pull them when they’re deep golden and firm to the touch, not pale.

What size piping tip should I use? A large open star tip: Ateco 824, Ateco 826, or Wilton 1M. Anything smaller pipes rings too thin to hollow out properly, and a closed star tip gives you shallow ridges that don’t crisp the same way.

Can I pipe directly into the air fryer basket? It’s difficult and I don’t recommend it. Piping onto parchment squares lets you shape each ring on a flat surface and transfer it cleanly, and it’s what makes the difference between a neat cruller and a smear.

Do I need to preheat the air fryer? Yes, 3 to 4 minutes at 350°F. Choux needs immediate heat to generate steam. Starting in a cold basket gives the dough time to slump before it puffs.

Can I use gluten-free flour? A cup-for-cup blend will work but produces a heavier, less hollow cruller — gluten does real structural work in choux. Cassava flour is the substitution that performs best in this style of dough.

Can I deep fry this dough instead? Yes. Fry the parchment squares dough-side-down in 370°F oil, peel the parchment away with tongs once it releases, and fry 2 to 3 minutes per side until deep golden. Same dough, more color, more chew.