The Curious History of Churros

Hot oil has the incredible ability to transform simple ingredients into something mind blowingly delicious. Cultures from around the world have versions of tasty, cheap, and delicious fried dough. There are beignets in France, loukoumades in Greece, jalebi in Pakistan, tulumba in Turkey, and pacczki in Poland.

There’s one type of fried dough I’ve been indulging in lately: Churros.

Churros are made by piping dough directly into oil. The ridged edges lead to maximum exterior crispiness to complement a soft, melt-in-your mouth center. Delicious is an understatement!

From sit down establishments to tiny food carts, churros are everywhere in Mexico City. But how did this dessert come to be?

I dove into the history of churros to find out!

Like most food history, the origins of churros are up for debate. (Check out my posts on The History of Pie, The History of French Fries, and the History of Cheesecake.) After sifting through blogs and articles, I’ve found the two main competing theories. I’ll explain both, and you can decide which you believe.

Theory One: The Origins of Churros Is China!

The first theory is that churros were inspired by youtiao, a traditional Chinese pastry.

Legend has it that youtiao dates back to the Song Dynasty. Qin Gui, an important leader, was convinced by his wife to execute a Yue Fei, a beloved general. In an act of protest, a cook whipped up a pair of breadsticks to resemble Qin Gui and his wife and fried them up. Youtiao’s nickname, you zha gui, translates to deep fried ghosts.  

Portuguese explorers happened upon youtiao in China in the 16th century, loved it, and brought it back to the Iberian Peninsula. Chefs transformed it into the star shape and added in some sweetness. This sweet dough proceeded to take Spain by storm.

Theory Two: The Origins of Churros Is Spain!

The second theory is that the history of churros can be credited to Spanish shepherds. These shepherds didn’t have access to ovens to make fresh bread, so they fried up a dough made of flour, water, and salt in pans instead. The shape and name takes after one of the animals they were herding, Churra sheep. These sheep have ridged horns similar to the edges of a churros. Thus, the Spanish are to thank for this delicious culinary creation!

How Did Churros Get to Mexico?!

Historians disagree on where churros were invented, but they do agree on how the treat made its way to the Americas: the Spanish Inquisition during the 1500s. The Spanish brought weapons, horses, disease, Catholicism, and churros to the New World. And churros have been a popular treat ever since.

Bonus Fact: The Spanish discovered cocoa from the Aztecs, and they brought it back to Spain. This cocoa was made into a thick hot chocolate that was perfect for churro dunking. Which is how the breakfast tradition of churros with hot chocolate in Spain came to be.

Which History of Churros Story Is Right?

There’s a key piece of the puzzle for theory one that doesn’t line up: timing. According to this theory, the Portuguese discovered youtiao in the 1500s. Yet, the Spanish were introducing churros to the Americas around the same time. Most blog posts and articles seem to favor the China theory, but the subsequent timeline is impossible.

Here’s the thing, versions of fried dough have popped up in many different cultures over the centuries. While churros are uncannily similar to youtiao, it isn’t outlandish to think that more than one person thought of frying dough in a stick shape. In fact, some historians think that both youtiao and churros actually stem from the Islamic zulabiya!

We might not ever know the true origin and history of churros, but we do know one thing: that churros are delicious.

Further Reading:

• https://saltandwind.com/stories/341-where-to-eat-churros-barcelona-spain
• coeurdexocolat.com/the-history-of-churro
• bbc.com/travel/article/20200616-the-complex-origins-of-beloved-churros
• https://www.taqueria27.com/2020/09/the-interesting-history-of-the-churro/