Often served during the Christmas and New Years holidays, this Mexican Bunuelos recipe makes the perfect fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar!
Bunuelos are one of my favorite treats that my family makes during the Christmas and New Years holiday. What’s not to love about fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar, am I right?
For the holidays, we always have a big stack of bunuelos, tamales, empanadas, and posole, as well as a pot full of Mexican Christmas Ponche, Atole, Champurrado, or Mexican Hot Chocolate. We go all out for Christmas and New Years and it’s so so good!
As a little kid, I remember my mom standing at the stove top frying bunuelos and placing them on a large plate covered in paper towels to help catch any excess frying oil. She’d cover them with cinnamon sugar, move them to a serving platter and continue frying more. I would always sneak up behind her and grab a freshly fried bunuelo to snack on while she finished making them.
Okay, okay. Who am I kidding. I still do that! I’ve never been good at waiting until they’re all fried to have a taste. I can’t help it!
What are bunuelos?
Bunuelos are a dessert made from fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar. They’re usually flattened into disks and served around Christmas and New Years in many Mexican households.
My family always made them exactly as shown in this recipe, but there are tons of variations throughout Mexico and Latin America.
Ingredients you’ll need
- all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt
- warm water
- oil for frying
- granulated sugar, ground cinnamon
How to make bunuelos
- Make the dough by adding all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Mix together until combined. Add warm water and 4 tablespoons oil. Mix together with a fork until the dough comes together.
- Transfer the dough onto a clean working surface and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Roll the dough into a ball, place it in a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough by dividing it into 8 separate pieces and rolling each piece into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out each ball into an 8 to 10-inch circle.
- Fry the dough by heating frying oil to 350°F. Fry each dough circle for about 60 seconds, turning once with metal tongs, until golden brown on both sides. Transfer to prepared plate to drain any excess oil.
- Garnish the bunuelos with cinnamon sugar and eat!
Tips and tricks
- Bunuelos can fluff up a lot when frying, creating huge air pockets that look cool but aren’t very conducive to eating. To minimize the very large air pockets, I recommend using metal tongs to keep the dough fully submerged in the oil for the first 10-15 seconds of frying. This will fry both of the sides at the same time, reducing the amount.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on the bunuelos as soon as possible to ensure that it “sticks” to the fried dough.
For more Mexican Christmas recipes, take a look at 12 Mexican Christmas Food Recipes to Make This Year!
More Mexican desserts you’ll love
- Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars
- Marranitos (Mexican Gingerbread Pigs)
- Capirotada (Mexican Bread Pudding)
- Easy Pumpkin Empanadas
- Mexican Wedding Cookies (Polvorones)
- Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
For the bunuelos
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 4 tablespoons oil, plus 2 or more cups for frying
For the cinnamon sugar topping
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
For the bunuelos
- Add all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Mix together until combined.
- Add warm water and 4 tablespoons oil. Mix together with a spoon or your hands until the dough comes together.
- Transfer the dough onto a clean working surface and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Roll the dough into a ball, place it in a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- While the dough is resting, cover a large plate with paper towels, fill a large saute pan with 1 to 2 inches of frying oil and make the cinnamon sugar topping. Set aside.
- Divide the dough into 8 separate pieces and roll each piece into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out each ball into an 8 to 10-inch circle. (I recommend laying the rolled out dough onto a large kitchen towel in one single layer. Don't stack the rolled out dough on top of each other or it may stick.)
- Heat the frying oil to 350°F. Fry each dough circle for about 60 seconds, turning once, until golden brown on both sides. Transfer to prepared plate to drain any excess oil. Sprinkle heavily with cinnamon sugar topping.
For the cinnamon sugar topping
- Combine granulated sugar and ground cinnamon in a small bowl.
Isabel’s Tips:
- To store, I recommend stacking them on a plate and covering them with a simple paper towel or napkin on the counter for up to 3 days. If you cover them completely with a air tight cloche or place them in the fridge, they can lose some of their crunchy and crispy texture. They'll still taste good though!
Nutrition Information
How can I make them to taste like a cookie than too sweet with the syrup
Hi Dani! I’m not really sure I understand your question. Do you mind elaborating? We would be happy to help!
Perfect!! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
¡Saludos Isabel! Your recipe sounds easy and delicious! I want to try them out pa la navidad. Have you tried making the dough fresh and stored it to fry at a later date? We’re traveling for Christmas and I’m hoping to get a jumpstart on them to just roll them out and fry them when ready to eat. Any suggestion is appreciated. ¡Feliz Navidad!
Hi Luna! We have not tried storing the dough and frying them later. We recommend using the dough as quickly as you can, but if that’s not possible, just storing it in the fridge and using it as soon as possible to yield the best results. Hope this helps!
I did make your doughnuts. They are really good. My grandchildren like them as well
Thank you Isabel, you explain in such great detail. My husbands grandmother made these for him when he was a kid. She is no longer with us and I am going to try and make these using your recipe this Christmas as a surprise for him.
Hi Jenn! What a sweet gesture! Thanks for using our recipe.
Everything is easy to get together and make yummy!!
Just made this tonight trying to recreate bunuelos like my mother in law always made. We slice the rolled dough into 4-5 even long slices and put a slice down the middle of each slice (but not all the way to the ends.) We then pull one end through the middle slice to for twist. The cinnamon sugar catches in the twists and makes them even yummier. Thank you for posting this recipe. It passed the taste test with la Familia.
My mother used to make these on New Year’s Eve. But she made a syrup too, can u tell me a recipe for the panocha syrup?
Hi Annette! We don’t have that recipe, but there is a recipe for cajeta on the website that’s pretty similar. Hope that helps!
My ancestry is German/Canadian, but I love Mexican cuisine.
Thank you so much for your efforts, Isabel.
Isabel’s reciepes really put a smile on my face because her ideas and thoughts of these wonderful mexican desserts give me reminders of my childhood == God Bless You, Miss Isabel!!