Introduce yourself to these sweet and soft air fryer apple fritters that are coated with a buttery glaze. Fresh apples and cinnamon come together to create a classic apple dessert that is ready in less than 30 minutes!
Why This Recipe Works
Ever get a craving for warm cinnamon, butter, sugar, and sweet and juicy apples? Yeah, me too, so I had to put the air fryer to use for some scrumptiously desirable air fryer apple fritters.
Warm, sweet, and good enough for breakfast or brunch, these fritters are great for any time of the year, but especially during autumn whenever apples, spices, and cool nights are in the air. Whenever my friends start their journeys with intuitive eating, these fritters are what I recommend because they are great for honoring any sweet tooth.
Air fryer apple fritters are perfectly sweet and topped with a buttery and creamy glaze that is so simple to make. The chunks of apples make the fritters moist and everything you could ever dream of a recipe.
Ingredients
- Flour: I used all-purpose flour, but you can experiment with 1:1 gluten-free flour or whole wheat.
- Milk: Full-fat dairy milk is what I use because it is creamy and smooth, but you can use your favorite kind of milk.
- Apples: Any variety will work, but I personally like Fuji, Gala, Honey Crisp, or Pink Lady apples.
- Butter: Make sure the butter is melted!
- Sugar: Both granulated and powdered sugars are needed for these fritters.
How to Make This Recipe
Simple, quick, and effortless, this recipe encompasses all of the above!
Step One: Preheat the air fryer. Next, in a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
Step Two: In another bowl, combine the egg, sugar, milk, vanilla, and butter.
Step Three: Next, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.
Fold in the apples.
Step Five: Next, line the air fryer basket with parchment paper. Drop a heaping cup of batter onto the parchment paper. Make sure there are some pieces of apples on top of the fritters.
Once the fritters have cooked, transfer them to a wire rack.
Step Six: Meanwhile, make the glaze. Combine the butter, powdered sugar, and milk together in a bowl until it is a uniform glaze.
Take the slightly cooled fritters and place them face down into the glaze. Allow the glazed fritters to cool and enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
Apple fritters will last in the refrigerator for up to a week and at room temperature for two to three days.
Apple fritters are called “fritter” because the word originates with Latin word, “frictura”, which means “to fry”.
Yes, they are considered pastries! Sweet, flaky, and buttery–everything a pasty is made of!
The two are very similar, although fritters are usually made with fruit and fried. Pancakes are typically just made with flour and some other basic ingredients (sometimes fruit) and cooked on a griddle.
Expert Tips
- Serve these fritters with your favorite coffee, tea, or milk.
- Be sure to preheat the air fryer. If you do not have a function for preheating the air fryer, then turn it on for five minutes prior to cooking these fritters.
- I have not used different fruits for this recipe, but feel free to try! I also have not tested this recipe with dried or canned apples.
- Make sure the glaze is clear enough where you can see the color of the fritter coming through, but not too clear. Make sure the glaze isn’t too white, either!
If you love this recipe, be sure to leave a star rating on the recipe card and leave a comment below!
Don’t forget to pin it on your Pinterest board for later, or tag me on IG @no.food.rules if you try the recipe and love it!
Other Recipes You Will Like
XOXO
-Colleen
Air Fryer Apple Fritters
Equipment
Ingredients
For The Fritters
- 1 cup all- purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp milk I used full fat cow’s milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp butter melted & cooled
- 1 cup apples peeled & chopped
For The Glaze
- 3 tbsp butter melted & cooled
- 1 c powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer to 300 degrees F. If you don’t have a preheat function you can simply set your air fryer to 300 and let it run for ~5 minutes to reach the desired temperature.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl combine the egg, sugar, milk, vanilla and butter. Mix well.
- Now add the flour mixture to your bowl of wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Fold in your apples.
- Line your air fryer basket with parchment paper (I like to lightly spray mine with non-stick spray) then drop a heaping 1/4 cup of the batter onto the parchment paper. My air fryer can hold 3 at a time. You will likely need to do more than one batch. You do not want to overcrowd your fritters. I recommend making sure there are a few apple pieces on top to make the noticeably apple fritters!
- Air fryer your apple fritters for a total of 12 minutes.
- Once cooked you can remove your fritters from the air fryer and place on a cooling rack.
- As your fritters cool you can make the glaze by combining the butter, powdered sugar and milk together in a shallow bowl or container and whisking until you get a uniform glaze. This should be a light white color and just a bit runny where it can run off a spoon. If it’s too thick pop it in the microwave for a few seconds (5-10 at a time) until it gets runny again
- Now take your slightly cooled fritters and place them face down in the glaze and cover the tops fully- no need to do the bottom (note: you want to see that they’re glazed but the glaze should be see through enough where you can also see the color of the fritter coming through- it shouldn’t be white and it shouldn’t be clear! Somewhere in the middle 🙂 )
- Allow to cool fully and enjoy!
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