Chasing Churros: An Ancient and International Mystery

July 31, 2026 Jillian Novak

Here at Euphoria Chocolate Company, we believe in connecting to our ingredients. When we develop a new truffle, we want to provide a moment of flavor that takes you somewhere timeless, that gives you a moment of escape from the every day. So when we thought about crispy, doughy, warm, chewy churros (and how to turn them into a truffle), we just couldn't resist learning everything we could about them.

A continually popular snack, these fresh, cinnamony fried dough sticks are a staple at fairs, festivals, and even Disney Land... but they also led us to a mystery: where exactly did they come from?

The leading theories on the origin of churros argue for either Spain, China, or the Arab world providing the initial inspiration (despite recipes from the late Roman Empire proving that fried dough was enjoyed in Europe long before the supposed introduction of churros!).

Want to decide the mystery for yourself and see which theory sounds the most plausible? Read on!

Theory 1: The Islamic Empire and Spanish Shepherds

The Moors, North African Muslims of Arab and Amazigh descent, occupied the Iberian Peninsula from the 700s until the late 1400s CE. This occupation had profound impacts on Spanish culture and cuisine, creating a unique fusion of cultures and culinary traditions that continues through the present. The Spanish quickly embraced the flavors and techniques of Moorish culinary practices into their own cuisine. One such recipe was that for tueles.

Tueles were typically ring-shaped or spiral fried pastries made from a simple mixture of flour, water, and salt. After being fried, tueles were eaten as a sweet indulgence. Spaniards began referring to them as tejeringos or calentitos and eventually started dusting them with cinnamon and sugar to make them sweeter. According to legend, roving Spanish shepherds began frying up the sweet treats as an easy, portable, and convenient meal from simple and common ingredients during their extended countryside wanderings.

In rural Spain, particularly in the Andalusian region, shepherds led a nomadic lifestyle, herding their flocks across vast expanses of land. Before the churros, the breakfast of the Spanish shepherds consisted of fresh bread. However, baking bread every morning is quite a time-consuming activity. Especially when you have to roam the lands all day after. Because of that, they were searching for portable and filling food that could sustain them during long days of tending to their sheep. Churros proved to be an ideal solution. The dough was simple to prepare with just some basic ingredients, and the elongated shape made them easy to carry. Shepherds could whip up churros quickly, fry them over an open fire, and enjoy a warm and satisfying treat on the go. Additionally, the versatility of churros also played a role in their popularity among shepherds. This simplicity made churros a cherished part of the shepherds’ daily routine.

This theory attributes the change in shape from rings to the elongated cylinders of modern churros to the rustic simplicity of the shepherds' preparation method in the field and the convenience of a hand-held, stick shaped pastry. The name churro is even said to derive from the horn shape of the Iberian Churra sheep (the bloodlines of which live on in the modern Navajo-Churro sheep.)

Churra sheep in Portugal with characteristic curly horns

A Churra sheep in Portugal with characteristic twisted horns

As tueles gave way to churros and churrerías—specialty churro shops—started popping up in cities, the cinnamon-and-sugar dusted snacks slowly but surely became a staple of Spanish culture. As the Spanish expanded their global reach during their invasions of Central and South America, they brought churros with them. Once churros arrived in Mesoamerica, it was only a matter of time before the colonizers began dunking their doughy treats into the thick chocolate that they learned of from the native peoples, giving birth to churros con chocolate. The Spanish later imported cocoa to the European continent, and the combination of churros and chocolate was set along the path to greatness and still remains popular today.¹

Theory 2: The Islamic Empire and the Chinese

Other historians point to the North African zlabia, a similarly-shaped fritter from Algeria that is still widely consumed today. Still others point further back to the Persian zulabiya, a fried dough treat that spread along the Silk Road* and, by the 1200s CE, had already been popular for hundreds of years in the Arab world. The zulabiya still exists in India as the jalebi, and historians do know that Arab traders had contact with the Chinese via the Silk Road routes well before Europeans made their way to Asia. Further support for the zulabiya as the progenitor of the churro come from early Spanish-language cookbooks referring to the fried dough recipe as zulâbiyya; the cookbook recipe dates from the 13^th century CE.

*The Silk Road trade routes were active from approximately 130 BCE until 1450 CE, allowing for 1,500 years of cultural interconnectedness.²

Sean Chen, a scientist and culinary historian, located Chinese books and recipes proving that Islamic-style fritters appeared in Mainland China at least two hundred years before they were allegedly introduced to Spain by the Moors. The Qimin Yaoshu, a Chinese agricultural text from the 500s CE, describes "an exceptionally crisp thin looped-shaped pastry, fried in either tallow or butter and doused in honey or jujube molasses." Chen's research led him to conclude that these pastries, similar to the Indian jalebi, had been introduced by Muslim and Turkic Uygur peoples and were prevalent in China long before the Iberians developed their churros. Finally, sanzi dough twists, common in China but especially so amongst its Muslim Uygur populations, also resemble jalebi.³

Theory 3: Fried Ghosts; or China and the Portuguese

A legendary, spooky fritter called youtiao originated in Song Dynasty China (ca. 960-1279 CE). According to the story, an official named Qin Gui was convinced by his wife to execute a Yue Fei, a beloved general. In an act of protest against the murder, a cook whipped up a pair of breadsticks to resemble Qin Gui and his wife and deep-fried them (in a tasty variation on burning someone in effigy).

Youtiao is still a widely-consumed breakfast dish in China. It is often served with congee or rice pudding. Youtiao’s nickname, you zha gui, translates to 'deep fried ghosts,' a reference to its legendary origin story about Qin Gui and his wife. Youtiao is still commonly served as a pair of fried dough sticks, just like the legend implies.

According to the Portuguese/Chinese origin theory, Portuguese sailors who travelled to China in the 16th century encountered youtiao. They liked it so much and were so impressed with it that they took the recipe back with them to Europe. Once it arrived on the Iberian Peninsula, so the story goes, it spread to neighboring Spain and the rest of Europe in the form of churros.

One problem with this theory, however, lies in the making of the pastry. Because churros are made by pressing dough out of a pastry bag and through a star-shaped tip, they belong to a category of fried foods that someone regrettably named 'syringe fritters.' Syringe fritters grew in popularity throughout Europe in the 16th Century. Fried ghosts, notably, are not extruded in the same way and are shaped by hand before frying, which makes this connection less plausible. Additionally, youtiao are served in pairs, also unlike churros, which are cooked individually.^{4, 5, 6}

The Timeline and the Apicius

Finally, there is Apicius, a cookbook from the late Roman empire with a fried dough recipe nearly indistinguishable from modern churro dough. The Romans were known to enjoy Chinese silk, however, which they obtained via the Silk Road, so the cross-cultural influence of Chinese and Arab recipes on the Roman cookbook cannot be ruled out.^{5, 6}

So, now we've heard the stories. But how do they line up with history?

130 BCE — The origins of the Silk Road are established in Han Dynasty China
100s CE — The 1st-century Roman cookbook Apicius publishes a recipe for a fried flour-and-water dough that is nearly identical to churros
500s CE — The Qimin Yaoshu publishes a recipe similar to jalebi and other Muslim-influenced pastries known to exist in China and theorized to derive from Persian/Arab zulabiya. The Plague of Justinian arrives via the Silk Road in the Western Roman Empire in the late 500s
700s-1400s CE — Moors occupy Spain and shepherds supposedly adapt churros. Song Dynasty rules China from 960-1279 CE, during which time youtiao are allegedly invented.
1453 CE — Ottoman Empire closes Silk Road in boycott of trade with the west; Age of Sail is born
1500s CE — Portuguese sailors travel to China; Spaniards colonize the Americas; 'syringe fritters' that are similar to churros gain popularity in Europe

As we can see, the chronological evidence shows that the Portuguese/Chinese theory is the least likely. If an argument is to made historically for one theory, it appears most likely that some combination of the first and second theories would be closest to the truth: Islamic-style fried dough treats spread along the Silk Road into Asia where it blended with local cultures before spreading into Europe via Moorish influence, where it again merged with local culinary traditions. But it is impossible to deny that Europeans were consuming fried dough as early as the late Roman empire.

At the end of the day, however, the truth is likely far simpler than crediting any one culture for the creation of churros: fried dough is a magical and universally-beloved human experience. Every culture has iterated on it. Wherever there is flour, water, and oil, fried dough has emerged. When cultures adopt and share flavors and cooking techniques, our experiences surrounding food only become more fulfilling and meaningful. Embracing change leads to delicious indulgences. And that's why we're proud to add our twist on the rich, indulgent churros con chocolate—in truffle form!

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