Authentic Mexican Buñuelos (Buñuelos Mexicanos)
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Updated Nov 02, 2024, Published Feb 04, 2024
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Lightly sweetened and perfectly golden brown, this homemade authentic Mexican Buñuelos recipe is a must during the holiday season, but is lovely all year round. Each of these buñuelos mexicanos is essentially a crispy fried tortilla with cinnamon and sugar, perfect for drizzling with a touch of honey.
This traditional Mexican treat is a favorite at our house, especially around Christmas. Served with cafe de olla, smoky atole de pinole, or chocolate-y champurrado, they’re a bundle full of warm, cozy feel-good-edness. Give this simple, 30-minute crispy fritter recipe a try – I’m sure you’ll love it!
What Are Buñuelos?
Buñuelos Mexicanos (pronounced “boon-WELL-ohs meh-HE-KHAN-ohs”) are delicious Mexican fritters, light and crispy compared to thicker Latin American versions. My grandma made them like her flour tortillas, frying them to golden perfection and drizzling with miel virgen (honey). I still remember licking my fingers, wanting more!
This recipe is also in the first Muy Bueno cookbook, and a variation with gingerbread piloncillo syrup appears in Muy Bueno Fiestas. These are known as buñuelos de rodilla, or “knee fritters,” made simply with a rolling pin, unlike buñuelos de viento, which require a rosette-shaped mold, the buñalera.
Ingredients & Substitutions
You only need a handful of pantry ingredients and a few kitchen staples to make this simple recipe for buñuelos Mexicanos.
- All-Purpose Flour: Plain flour is all you need.
- Baking Powder: Not to be confused with baking soda, this leavening agent is what helps the tortillas rise slightly without poofing up like a donut.
- Salt: A little bit of salt helps to balance the sweetness.
- Ground Mexican Cinnamon (Canela): This warming spice is central to a lot of Mexican desserts. Feel free to experiment with other warming spices like star anise, cardamom, nutmeg, or even pumpkin pie spice. While they won’t be traditional, they’ll be delicious!
- Milk: I prefer using whole milk for a little extra richness, but you can swap in the dairy or plant-based milk of your choice.
- Butter: I used unsalted butter here, but feel free to use salted and slightly decrease the amount of added salt by a pinch or two if needed.
- Vanilla Extract: For aromatic warmth. You can also use an equal amount of vanilla paste or vanilla powder, or half as much ground vanilla bean.
- Eggs: I generally use large eggs, so if you’re swapping in liquid eggs from a carton, use a scant ½ cup.
- Neutral Oil: For frying the fritters. I typically reach for canola oil, but vegetable, avocado, or grapeseed oil will also work.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar is the best for making cinnamon sugar that will stick. Don’t use brown sugar as the added moisture could make your buñuelos a little soft.
How to Make Buñuelos Mexicanos
Only about 30 minutes stand between you and a pile of this easy buñuelos recipe. Make sure to check the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and quantities and watch this video showing how simple it is to make these authentic Mexican buñuelos!
Step 1: Mix dry ingredients: In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
Step 2: Heat dairy: In a saucepan heat milk, butter, and vanilla and bring to a boil. Set aside to cool.
Step 3: Mix wet & dry: In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, then add the beaten eggs to the room temperature milk mixture and whisk quickly. Add the liquid mixture to dry ingredients and mix well.
Step 4: Knead dough on lightly floured surface 2 to 3 minutes until smooth.
Step 5: Shape: After you knead the dough, divide into 20 dough balls. With a rolling pin, roll out thin tortillas and place them on a clean, dry tablecloth.
Step 6: Dry: Lay out all the thin tortilla flats on a tablecloth and let them dry. Turn them over once to ensure they are dry on both sides. This helps remove most of the moisture before frying, which helps to prevent the oil from popping out at you.
Step 7: Fry: Heat one-inch of oil in a skillet wide enough for the tortillas to fry flat. Deep-fry tortillas in the hot oil until golden brown, turning once. Remove from pan; stand vertically in a bowl lined with paper towels and drain excess oil.
Step 8: Garnish: While still warm, sprinkle fried tortillas on both sides with sugar-cinnamon mixture. Enjoy!
Expert Tips & Tricks
- Roll thin: The dough should be rolled very thin, almost transparent, to achieve the classic crispy texture. If the dough is too thick, the buñuelos may turn out doughy.
- Dry: When all the rounds are on the tablecloth, let them dry, turning them over once, for about 30 minutes. This helps remove most of the moisture before frying, resulting in a crispier buñuelo that absorbs less oil while cooking. Prick each round once with fork times to prevent bubbles from forming during frying.
- Temperature: Maintaining the right medium-high temperature of the oil is crucial. It should be hot enough to puff up the dough instantly but not so hot that the buñuelos burn. Before you put your first buñuelo in the oil, make sure it hits a temperature of about 325-350 degrees F. No thermometer? Stick the handle end of a wooden spoon in the oil — if it bubbles relatively aggressively, it’s ready to go. If your buñuelo sinks to the bottom without bubbling much, the oil needs to be hotter.
- Fry: To cook the buñuelos evenly, gently press down with a spatula or spoon while frying. This ensures that all parts of the buñuelo are submerged in oil and get an even golden color.
- Drain: After frying, place the buñuelos on a paper towel or a rack to drain excess oil and avoid greasiness.
- Coat while warm: Generously dust the buñuelos with cinnamon sugar while warm to guarantee it adheres to the crispy fried dough.
Frequently Asked Questions
Buñuelos are often mistaken for sopaipillas. Sopaipillas are closer to fry bread and puff up like a pillow when they hit the oil. They turn golden brown on the outside, but are soft and bready in the inside. Authentic Mexican buñuelos, on the other hand, are rolled out thin and fried until crispy.
The dough for softer sopaipillas is also enriched with more eggs and fat, contributing to their softer consistency. Buñuelos also have less leavening added, which keeps them from puffing up too much.
Both are tempting cinnamon sugar-dusted Mexican desserts, but they’re quite different. As we’ve discussed above, buñuelos are rolled out super thin, fried until they’re golden and crispy, and sprinkled with a generous dose of cinnamon and sugar. They’re like the delicately crunchy leaves of autumn — light, airy, and full of flavor.
Now, on to cinnamon churros, which are kind of like Mexican donuts. They’re made from sweet dough that is piped into long, ridged sticks or round swirls for stuffing (like these lemon cream filled churros), and then fried to perfection before rolling in cinnamon sugar. When you bite into a churro, there’s a delightful crunch followed by a soft, slightly chewy inside. And let me tell you, dunking them in Mexican hot chocolate? That’s a match made in heaven!
To me, they taste like my abuela’s kitchen — warm, cozy, and totally comforting. The predominant flavor is cinnamon sugar, and the texture is light and crisp.
They are excellent served as is, but I personally love drizzling them with sticky honey, a warm piloncillo syrup, or even some warmed maple syrup. Bonus points if you serve them with some cafe de olla. YUM! I also imagine they’d be darn good crushed on top of vanilla ice cream.
Absolutely! Try making them with flour tortillas like in this Easy Buñuelos {Tree Ornaments} recipe or this Buñuelo Berry Muffin Cups recipe.
They definitely can be! Try these gorgeous buñuelos de viento.
Storage Instructions
I recommend stacking them on a plate and covering them with a simple paper towel or light kitchen towel on the kitchen counter for up to three days to keep their crunch and texture.
If you tried this delicious recipe for homemade Authentic Mexican Buñuelos (Buñuelos Mexicanos), please let me know! Leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #muybuenocooking.
Mexican Buñuelos Recipe (Buñuelos Mexicanos)
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup milk
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 beaten eggs
- Canola or vegetable oil for frying
Sugar coating
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- In a saucepan heat milk, butter, and vanilla and bring to a boil. Set aside to cool.
- In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, then add the beaten eggs to the room temperature milk mixture and whisk quickly.
- Add the liquid mixture to dry ingredients and mix well.
- Knead dough on lightly floured surface 2 to 3 minutes until smooth.
- After you knead the dough, divide into 20 dough balls. With a rolling pin, roll out thin tortillas.
- Lay out all the thin tortilla flats on a tablecloth and let them dry. Turn them over once to ensure drying on both sides. This helps remove most of the moisture before frying.
- Heat one-inch of oil in a skillet wide enough for the tortillas to fry flat. Deep-fry tortillas until golden brown, turning once. Remove from pan; stand vertically in a bowl lined with paper towels and drain excess oil.
- While warm, sprinkle fried tortillas on both sides with sugar-cinnamon mixture.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Originally published: December 2010. This recipe is also published in the Muy Bueno cookbook.
OMG!!!! Made this buñuelos today. They are do delicious! They puff up beautifully!! My family loved them. They are so light and crispy’
Just found your website last. I made the bunuelos this evening and they came out delicious. My kids loved them, especially since it was my first time making them. I remember my mom always making them for us when we were young and Ive always bought them. Thank you…for sharing your recipe!
I was just telling my husband I wish I had learned how to make bunuelos like my grandma did ever New Years Eve, I remember she used to put the sugar & cinnamon mix in a brown paper bag then added the bunuelos and gently coated them. Thanks for the recipe, hope they come out like Ama used to make!! 🙂
Great recipe! It’s the first recipe I try and it’s definitely a keeper. My grandmother would make them for Christmas but unfortunately I never learned how to make them. I was intimidated at first because I remembered they are a lot of work but they’re so worth it. They were a big hit with my family, they liked them a lot. Thanks for the recipe and also for putting El Paso on the map with your great recipes. I read the article on the El Paso Times about your book and can’t wait to get it after going through some of your recipes on this site. They look and sound delicioso.
Hi Sandra, welcome to all that is muy bueno! We are delighted to hear that your bunuelos turned out well and that everyone loved them. Look forward to hearing more about any other recipes you try. Happy Holidays!
I just made these for Christmas Eve and they turned out AMAZING!!! Thank you for the great recipe!!!
Welcome Julia and thank you for making the bunuelos. We are so happy that they turned out delicious. Happy Holidays!
My dad made bunuelos every year for Christmas when I was young… He gave me his recipes (his version of “You get flour, add baking powder…. ) no measurements .. Pretty sure he just made it off the top of his head? I also remember laying them out on table cloths to let them dry… Plan on making my husband some for Christmas. Im gonna Try & start the family tradition all over again now that I’m married.
Sounds like a great tradition to bring back to your family. We love making our bunuelos every year, and yes, laying them out to dry overnight helps them cook quicker. They also get a perfect crunch when you do this. Feliz Navidad and please post pictures on our facebook page with your bunuelos and renewed family tradition.
Hola!
Me encanta bunuelos(:
I am currently a freshman in high school, and making these was an extra credit assignment in my Spanish I class. Unfortunately, I didn’t make them but later that night decided to try the recipe for myself and my family.
We all LOVE them!!!(:
Gracias!!
Muy rica!!!(:
I like to make these and let them melt in my mouth and drip down my throat. Anyway to increase my pleasure?
CAN I OMIT THE CINNAMON TO MAKE FLOUR TORTILLAS?
Hola Rachel: You only need flour, baking powder, salt, lard, and water to make tortillas. Sorry we do not have a recipe on our blog yet.
Just found your wonderful website last week when my husband and I were looking for a recipes for bunuelos. Found the recipe easy to follow we celebrate a very late Christmas holiday with some relatives and my husband said we would bring desert. We both work together on the dough I ended up rolling them out and he did all the frying , leaving me to sprinkle them with the sugar. They came out perfect when the other guest saw them they shouted out wow, yummy who made the bunuelos. Thank you so much for your website. I’m making a list right now for your tortilla soup one of my favorite.
Linda, we are glad you found our site too. It’s always great to hear that our recipes are easy to follow and that you get the same delicious results we do. Bunuelos are always a fav at our house too. Let us know how your tortilla soup turns out. Bienvenida amiga to all that is muy bueno….