Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 16 mins
Total: 26 mins
Servings: 4
Yield: 24 bites
Funnel cake is a sweet, crunchy, and delicious pastry that’s a summer staple at the fair. This air fryer funnel cake delivers all the fluff with a slight crunch to the outside, but there’s no fussy pot of oil involved.
So, what's the difference between fried dough and funnel cake? Funnel cakes are technically a type of fried dough much like doughnuts, fritters, and elephant ears. However, funnel cake typically uses baking powder as a leavener versus active yeast. The dough is poured through a funnel—hence the name funnel cake—in into hot oil in a swirling shape, but you can utilize a piping bag or resealable plastic bag like we do here.
To hold up in the basket of the air fryer, we created a thicker dough than traditional recipes. For a mess-free cleanup, we use a basket liner to ensure the best possible product.
Serve it with marshmallow fluff, Nutella, or strawberry sauce to make it a full party. Alternatively, it’s just as delicious with a shower of confectioners’ sugar or cinnamon sugar.
«So. Very. Delicious. Never in a million years would I think to have funnel cake at home. And without the hassle of frying? Spectacular. Though the thicker batter makes for a different texture, it’s necessary for cooking in the air fryer. But yummy fried-dough goodness is still the end result.» —Renae Wilson
A Note From Our Recipe Tester
Ingredients
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2 large eggs
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2 tablespoons granulated sugar
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1 cup whole milk
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
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1 teaspoon baking powder
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1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
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Cooking spray, for frying
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Confectioners' sugar, for garnish
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Strawberry sauce, optional
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Marshmallow fluff, optional
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Nutella, optional
Steps to Make It
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Gather the ingredients. Preheat the air fryer to 400 F.
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Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until foamy and pale yellow.
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Whisk in the whole milk and vanilla extract to the mixture.
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Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then gradually add it to the wet mixture—be careful not to overmix, but just until there are no lumps or pockets of dry ingredients.
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Add the batter to a large piping bag or plastic ziplock bag. Cut off the end of the bag to create a medium-sized hole, about 1-inch in diameter.
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Line the basket of the air fryer with an appropriate sized liner. You can also hole punch a piece of parchment paper if you can’t get liners.
Pipe about 12 (1-inch) rounds of batter onto the liner. Cut the thick batter with kitchen shears as you pipe if you’re having trouble releasing the batter from the plastic bag. Spray the tops of the batter with cooking spray.
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Heat for 8 minutes at 400F until golden brown, risen, and crisp.
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Remove the bites and top with confectioners' sugar. Continue cooking in batches until you use all of the batter.
Serve with strawberry sauce, marshmallow fluff, or nutella, if desired.
Tips
- This recipe looks and tastes best when piped into bite-sized pieces as they stay crispy in smaller pieces; however, you can pipe them into the traditional funnel cake shape, if desired.
- You can keep the funnel cake bites warm in a 200 F oven while you make the additional batches.
Recipe Variation
- Whole milk gives a good ratio of fat and acid to the recipe for that nice fluffy interior, but you can substitute 1:1 other milks, including non-dairy.
How to Store
The funnel cake bites can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature for three days.
To reheat, pop them back in the air fryer for 1-2 minutes at 400 F.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 4 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 384 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 5g | 6% |
| Saturated Fat 2g | 10% |
| Cholesterol 99mg | 33% |
| Sodium 318mg | 14% |
| Total Carbohydrate 70g | 26% |
| Dietary Fiber 2g | 7% |
| Total Sugars 16g | |
| Protein 12g | |
| Vitamin C 0mg | 0% |
| Calcium 161mg | 12% |
| Iron 4mg | 21% |
| Potassium 192mg | 4% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
