This easy baked apple fritters recipe is a great way to make homemade fritters with delicious fresh apple flavor. No need to fuss with deep frying, nor make a trip to the donut shop.
With just a few basic ingredients and some fresh apples, you can whip up these delicious treats that are crispy on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside with tender chunks of apple. The warm fritters are sure to be a big hit with your family and friends.
Baking rather than frying apple fritters takes a lot less effort and creates less mess too!
How to Make Baked Apple Fritters
Making baked apple fritters is easy. Follow along here for step-by-step directions, with pictures or hop down to the printable recipe card if you prefer.
The recipe makes 12 fritters.
Prep: 20 minutes | Bake: 20 minutes
muffin pan (½ cup capacity per cavity)
Ingredients for Apple Fritters
Here is all you need to make these delicious baked apple fritters:
- 1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour or white whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 medium apple, peeled and diced (for tart apples, Granny Smith apples are a good choice, for a sweeter variety, I recommend Honeycrisp apples)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil for baking pan (any flavorless high heat oil such as, avocado, light olive or canola oil)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190C.). Coat the inside of muffin cups with oil, use all the oil and if some pools at bottom, leave it there.
Peel and dice the apple into ½ inch pieces.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients except for the powdered sugar (flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices). Swirl around a whisk to distribute and break up any clumps.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla. Whisk together, incorporating the flour slowly until smooth.
Stir in the melted butter.
Place the prepared muffin pan in the oven to heat up for 5 minutes so that it is hot when you put the apple fritter batter in.
Just before the pan is ready, add the diced apples and the vinegar to the batter and stir to evenly distribute. Do not do this step until the last minute – the reaction between the baking soda and vinegar needs to occur while baking to rise the dough, since there is no yeast.
Scoop batter into the hot muffin tins (a ½ cup measuring scoop is good for this), filling to about ½ inch below the top.
Place in the oven immediately. Bake for 18-20 minutes until a cake tester inserted comes out clean and edges are golden brown. Do not open the oven for the first 15 minutes of the bake.
Allow to sit in the pan for 5 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool.
In a measuring cup or other vessel with a pour spout, mix the powdered sugar with 1-2 tablespoons milk, water or apple juice until a thick syrup forms. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract if you like for a vanilla glaze.
Place the cooling rack with muffins over a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and pour the glaze over the fritters while they are still hot. Serve warm, but allow to cool for at least 10 minutes first.
Variations on the Recipe
Here are a few changes you may like to try when you make the baked apple fritters yourself.
- Use a teaspoon of apple pie seasoning in place of the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe. Try my making your own with my homemade Apple Pie Spice Recipe.
- Add some finely chopped pecans into the fritter batter or sprinkle on top immediately after applying glaze.
- If you don't have apple cider vinegar on-hand, you can use lemon juice in place of it in the batter recipe. The acid in it will trigger the same reaction and create a fluffy dough.
- Rather than glazing shake the fritters in a plastic bag with cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.
- Swap half the sugar in the recipe for firmly packed brown sugar if you like.
Storing the Baked Fritters
These homemade apple fritters are best served the same day, but can be stored for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
For longer storage, freeze for up to 3 months.
Reheat in a microwave, toaster oven or an air fryer on a low heat setting.
Best Apples for Fritters
As I mentioned, a nice tart Granny Smith would be the top choice, but Honeycrisp is a close runner up with it's sweetness and strong apple taste. Yellow Delicious (not red), Cortland or Pink Lady would be acceptable choices as well.
While you technically could if you sprayed the muffin pan several times, I don't recommend it. You won't be sure you have enough oil and it is sort of against the point of using the spray for a thin coating anyway.
If you enjoyed these baked apple fritters, you may also like some of my other donut recipes or apple dessert recipes, such as my Apple Cinnamon Scones or Apple Cider Donuts. Check out my Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins too, as they are also made in a muffin pan.
Baked Apple Fritters
Equipment
- muffin pan standard size (½ cup wells)
- wire cooling rack
- baking sheet and parchment Optional, for catching drips while applying sweet glaze
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup flour all-purpose flour or white whole wheat is fine
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
- 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 medium apple peeled and diced (for tart apples, Granny Smith apples are a good choice, for a sweeter variety, I recommend Honeycrisp apples, but any good baking apple will be OK)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil for baking pan any flavorless high heat oil such as, avocado, light olive or canola oil
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190C.). Coat the inside of muffin cups with oil, use all the oil and if some pools at bottom, leave it there.
- Peel and dice the apple into ½ inch pieces.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients except for the powdered sugar (flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices). Swirl around a whisk to distribute and break up any clumps.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla. Whisk together, incorporating the flour slowly until smooth.
- Stir in the melted butter.
- Place the prepared muffin pan in the oven to heat up for 5 minutes so that it is hot when you put the apple fritter batter in.
- Just before the pan is ready, add the diced apples and the vinegar to the batter and stir to evenly distribute. Waiting until the last minute to add vinegar is essential so the reaction between it and the baking soda will occur during baking, not before.
- Scoop apple fritter batter into the hot muffin tins, filling to about ½ inch below the rim.
- Place in the oven immediately. Bake for 18-20 minutes until a cake tester inserted comes out clean and edges are golden brown. Do not open the oven for the first 15 minutes of the bake.
- Allow the apple fritters to sit in the pan for 5 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool.
- In a large measuring cup with pour spout, mix together the powdered sugar with 1-2 tablespoons milk, water or apple juice until a thick syrup forms.
- Place the cooling rack with muffins over a parchment paper lined baking sheet and pour the powdered sugar glaze over the fritters while they are still hot. Serve warm, but allow to cool for at least 10-15 minutes first.
Terri says
These little fritters were so delicious. My husband and son took the few that remained in their lunches today.
Brina Z says
I tried this recipe over the weekend and most of these little muffins were eaten warm with butter. None made it to breakfast the next day. 😋