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Air Fryer Apple fritters with Brown Butter Glaze

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These easy air fryer apple fritters with brown butter glaze are healthier than an old fashioned fritter, yet still a delicious and tasty air fryer dessert.

A cooling rack with brown parchment underneath it with air fried apple fritters on top. They're golden brown and have glaze dripping down the sides. There's a cup of coffee in the background with a red apple and two whole cinnamon sticks.

It’s still summer and well into the 80’s, but as we approach September, I can’t help but dream of all the delicious apple and pumpkin fall recipes…IT’S ALMOST APPLE SEASON PEOPLE!!!

Can you tell I’m a little bit excited???

These air fryer apple fritters are the perfect recipe to kick off Fall.

Made with fresh apples and an easy batter, the fritters are baked in the air fryer until the edges are crispy and golden, then drizzled with a brown butter glaze while still warm.

Hello Fall :).

A cooling rack with brown parchment underneath it with a air fried apple fritter on top. It's golden brown and has glaze dripping down the sides.

Apple fritters are like a mix between a doughnut and cake.  They’re cake like on the inside, but crispy and golden on the outside.

The dough doesn’t need to rise so they’re easy and quick :).

The apple fritter recipe is adapted from SmallTownWoman .  Hers are the original fried version so if you want to try them the good old fashioned way, you can follow her recipe.

I must stress that because these are made in the air fryer and not actually fried, the texture is different than a regular apple fritter.

While they still have those crispy golden edges, the inside is light and cake-y.

I suggest using firm apples like Granny Smith or Honey Crisp apples for these apple fritters.  You don’t want any thing too soft like a red delicious or Macintosh.

How to make apple fritters in the air fryer?

  1. Line the basket of your air fryer with a piece of parchment paper (I like to cut it to fit) or air fryer basket liners (affiliate link) and brush or spray lightly with oil.

  2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl, whisk to combine.

  3. Make a well in the center and add your wet ingredients (milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice).  Stir just until combined then fold in your diced apples.

  4. Drop about ¼ cup of the batter onto your lined air fryer basket.  Depending on the size of your air fryer you may only be able to fit 2 fritters at a time.  (You don’t want to overcrowd or they won’t get crispy.)

  5. Lightly dab the tops of the fritters with oil (or spray with an oil sprayer!) and set your air fryer to 400 degrees for 4-5 minutes or until deep golden brown.  Flip over and repeat on the other side.

  6. Place on cooling rack and drizzle with brown butter glaze while still warm.  (I place a piece of parchment underneath the cooling rack to catch the drippings).

*I also recommend getting an oil sprayer (affiliate link) instead of dabbing the oil with your brush.  The sprayer gives you a more even and lighter coat of oil, helping to create that golden crisp :). 

Air fried apple fritters on top of a cooling rack with parchment paper. They're dripping with brown butter glaze. There's a cup of coffee and red apple in the background with two whole cinnamon sticks.

These homemade, no fry apple fritters are an easy air fryer dessert recipe. They take minutes to make and have way less calories than the traditional fried version.

If you don’t have an air fryer yet, I’ve recommended my favorite in the recipe card below :).

It has a digital display for easy use, and it comes in 3 different sizes, however I highly recommend the 5.8 or 7 QT so you can fit a lot more instead of having to cook in batches.

For other easy air fryer recipes check out:

For more Fall Dessert Recipes try:

A cooling rack with brown parchment underneath it with air fried apple fritters on top. They're golden brown and have glaze dripping down the sides. There's a cup of coffee in the background with a red apple and two whole cinnamon sticks.

Air Fryer Apple fritters with Brown Butter Glaze

Yield: 10 Fritters
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

These easy air fryer apple fritters with brown butter glaze are healthier than an old fashioned fritter, yet still a delicious and tasty air fryer dessert

Ingredients

Brown Butter Glaze

  • 1 cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1/4 cup Butter, (1/2 stick)
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla
  • 1 tbsp Milk, if needed

Apple Fritters

  • 1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
  • 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup Milk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • 1 tbsp Lemon Juice, fresh
  • 2 Eggs
  • 2 large Apples (such as Honey Crisp or Green Apples), peeled, cored and diced small
  • Canola or Vegetable Oil, for brushing/spraying

Instructions

Brown Butter Glaze

  1. Place butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Continuing melting the butter until it starts to foam and turn brown. Once browned, remove from heat to cool slightly. You should smell a nutty aroma and see brown specks in the butter.
  2. Add powdered sugar to a small bowl. Add browned butter, milk and vanilla whisking until smooth. (If mixture is too thin for your liking, simply add more powdered sugar.) Set aside.

Apple Fritters

  1. Line the basket of your air fryer with a piece of parchment paper or air fryer basket liners (link below). I like to cut it to fit so there's no overlapping over the edges. Brush lightly with oil or spray lightly with an oil sprayer (link below).
  2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in medium bowl.
  3. Make a well in the center and add milk, vanilla, lemon juice and eggs. Stir until evenly combined, then fold in the apples.
  4. Drop about ¼ cup of the batter onto your lined air fryer basket. Depending on the size of your air fryer you may only be able to fit 2 fritters at a time. (You don’t want to overcrowd or they won’t get crispy.)
  5. Lightly dab the tops of the fritters with oil using a pastry brush or oil sprayer. Set the air fryer to 400 degrees for 4-5 minutes or until deep golden brown. Flip fritters over and repeat until both sides are golden brown.
  6. Place apple fritters on cooling rack and drizzle with brown butter glaze while still warm. (I place a piece of parchment underneath the cooling rack to catch the drippings).

Notes

*Apple Fritter Recipe adapted from SmallTownWoman.

*These apple fritters are a bit more cake like inside than regular fried fritters since they are not actually being fried.

*If your glaze is too thin for your liking, simply add more powdered sugar or use less milk.

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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 fritter
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 168Total Fat: 4.13gSaturated Fat: 2.36gUnsaturated Fat: 1.39gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 161mgCarbohydrates: 29.95gFiber: 1.2gSugar: 13.84gProtein: 3.12g

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© Wine a Little Cook A Lot
Cuisine: American

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Janie Freeman

    We enjoyed these. They are more cake but healthier than the fried. The brown butter icing made them even better.

    Reply

  2. Helen G

    I just made them with flax eggs, almond milk, & earth balance and the batter just needed a little extra milk to come together 👍🏻

    Reply

  3. Zoie Penick

    My sister and I made these today. There were so good! My family loved them. Our family part about it was the glaze. Definitely making this again for sure. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  6. Sonya Nelson

    The glaze makes these! These were fast and easy! I ran one over to my neighbors to enjoy. Amazing. Sent the recipe
    To 3 people already!

    Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi Ruth, I’m not familiar with the Cuisinart air fryer but I don’t see why you couldn’t try them in it! Good luck and let me know how they come out 🙂

      Reply

  8. Sharon

    Hi Cherie, happy to know these can be made GF. What brand of GF flour or flour blend did you use]?. I would love to make them. Thanks so much for your reply.

    Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi Sharon! I tend to favor Bob’s Red Mill Products, they have an all purpose gluten free flour that would probably work great in this recipe 🙂

      Reply

  13. Debra Carral

    Oh my! These were delicious! Thanks so much for this recipe. I did make some substitutions, but my husband and I LOVED these. For the fritters, I used 1 cup white whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup AP flour, instead of white cane sugar I used brown sugar, and slightly less than 1/2 tsp of salt. I cooked mine at 390 degrees instead of 400 as my Ninja 5 in 1 gets pretty hot.

    Reply

  15. Cherie

    My mom and I just made a batch of these GF. The look on her face when she tried one was worth every minute of making these! It is my first thing I’m making in my new air fryer. Thank you for the recipe!

    Reply

  17. Laurie

    My Mom gave me her air fryer last night because she’s never used it. I made these fritters this morning and they’re amazing! If these are the kind of tasty treats I can make in less than 30 minutes I’m in big trouble and should probably give the air fryer back to my Mom!

    Reply

  18. Laura

    I just made these (doubled the recipe) and they turned out amazing! They actually rose a bit, so I made them a bit smaller for bite-sized, made 5 in each batch. The dough is very sticky, so here’s a tip: I used 2 teaspoons to drop rounded amounts in the air fryer, but I dipped the spoons in solid coconut oil first! This way nothing stuck to the spoons, and I didn’t need to top the fritters with oil as they were nicely touched by the coconut oil. They turned out beautifully!!

    Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi! I’m not sure if freezing the dough would work, the baking powder might lose it’s activeness. However, if you air fry the fritters you can certainly freeze them unglazed after they have cooled. They will keep in a zip lock bag for up to 3 months.

      Reply

  20. SP

    Found this recipe while searching for apple desserts, sooo glad I tried it. These are delicious! We have a local spot that sells the best fried fritters but when you’re watching calories….this was my first attempt at brown butter, although nervous I’m happy I did it, the flavor makes all the difference. Definitely a go to air fryer dessert for us in the coming months.

    Reply

  21. Dee

    I made these gluten free! They were great! I just subbed regular flour for gluten free flour and it worked great!! I also used almond milk! They were really good! I’ll be making them again! I want them to be a little more “greasy” (to mimic a real deep fried doughnut), so I’ll will spray with more oil next time!.
    This is a great, easy recipe. Thank you!!!

    Reply

  23. Christopher A Ciabattoni

    When you state that you line the basket of the air fryer, are you referring to the bottom of the basket or the whole basket?

    Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi Christopher, you just want to line the bottom of the basket to prevent the fritters from sticking :).

      Reply

  25. Keith

    I made these for Mother’s Day for my wife. They turned out great – delicious. I used two very large apples, so the recipe ended up making 12 fritters. I discovered that I needed to flip the fritters after the top was golden brown.

    Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi Keith, I’m so glad you enjoyed them :). Yes, flipping them is a good idea, I will add it to the recipe instructions. Thank you!

      Reply

  26. Anonymous

    I just made this recipe they’re super delicious. I miss read the directions for the icing and accidentally use a whole stick half a cup of butter when I made it it became a little thick and a weird consistency but it still tasted great. I was able to drain out some of the excess butter and put it on my fritters. Thank you for this recipe it was delicious.

    Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi Shay, I’ve updated the nutrition facts on the bottom of the recipe. There are 168 calories in each fritter including the glaze :).

      Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi! There are 168 calories per fritter (with glaze). I’ve updated the nutrition facts at the bottom of the recipe :).

      Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi Lauren, I’m not 100% sure because I’ve always made the batter right before I air fry them. My best guess would be that it’d be okay for a couple hours but I wouldn’t go longer than that. Good luck!

      Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Thank you Sharon! Glad you and your family liked them. Definitely a great quarantine recipe 😉

      Reply

  32. Ev

    Made these today! They turned out great! I think they would have been better if I used baking apples, but great recipe that I will use again. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  33. Dianne

    I cut the recipe in half and I also needed to add more milk..also used a sugar substitute..came out perfect..did not have any powdered sugar so my husband dipped them in maple syrup. He is a happy camper!

    Reply

  34. Reeta

    I made these today, my first air fryer attempt at desserts. Pleasantly surprised that they looked almost as good as yours, and they tasted great! Like little apple cakes inside. Followed your recipe. Thank you.

    Reply

  36. Falcon Michaels

    I just tried this recipe. It took an extra 1/3 cup of milk to make the batter to the proper consistency. All over a very good recipe

    Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi Falcon, glad you liked the recipe 🙂 Thanks for letting me know about needing to add the extra milk (I’ll have to add that in the recipe notes!)

      Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi Pamela! I have not tried these with almond flour but I’d suggest if you do try it start with the 1 1/2 cups of flour as the recipe calls, and then adding more if the dough looks too thin. Good luck!

      Reply

  38. Katy

    I just made in my AF 10 yummilicious babies for the 4am “goûter” break with this recipe.
    Thanks a lot, easy made, super tasty.
    Adopted ✔️
    Greetings from france ☺️

    Reply

  39. Betsy

    Hi, I made these tonight and they were very good! I am new to the air fryer and have only a small one, so first I tried 2 at a time, as you suggest. Then I decided to try making one large one at a time and that worked too. Both were yummy! This recipe made for me 4 small and 4 large fritters. And they were pretty easy to make, so thanks!

    Reply

  40. Sarah

    The ingredient list states granulated sugar but instructions state powdered? Is it granulated or powder? Planning on making this weekend, they look amazing!

    Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi Sarah! It is powdered sugar for the glaze, and then granulated for the fritter batter. I hope you like them!

      Reply

  41. Wine a Little Cook A Lot

    They are on the flatter size than regular fried fritters! I adjusted the milk amount so the batter shouldn’t be so thin. I agree with you…they are not the prettiest but that’s why I love the glaze, it hides all the imperfections ;).

    Reply

    • Wine a Little Cook A Lot

      Hi Amanda, the batter is supposed to be thin. The end result should be light and airy with slight crispy edges :).

      Reply

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