The #1 most important ingredient to make delicious homemade apple fritters is the dough!

This apple fritter recipe uses the same dough as my favorite dinner roll recipe. In my family, when you say “those rolls”, we all know what you’re talking about because I’ve been using the same recipe for years to make our favorite soft, buttery dinner rolls.

I’ve used that same dough to make cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, old fashioned glazed doughnuts, cinnamon bread, and doughnut holes. And apple fritters, of course.

The dough is soft, buttery, slightly sweet, incredibly simple to make and so easy to work with. It’s one of the most used recipes in my repertoire. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:

Milk. Preferably whole milk, but 2% will also work.
Granulated sugar.
Active dry yeast. This is the kind of yeast found in the baking isle of every supermarket, usually in little ¼-ounce packets, but sometimes also in a jar.
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk. That extra egg yolk makes this dough extra soft and flavorful.
Butter.
Salt.
All-purpose flour. I prefer to use all-purpose flour over bread flour in this recipe because it produces a softer texture.
The flavorings: To flavor the dough specifically for apple fritters, add pure vanilla extract, orange zest, and a pinch of ground nutmeg.

Here’s what else you’ll need to make apple fritters:

Tart, green apples. My favorite varieties of apples to use in these fritters is Granny Smith and Macintosh. The tartness of the apples keeps these doughnuts from being overly sweet. Also, both varieties hold up well frying.
Lemon juice, to keep the apples from turning brown.
Ground cinnamon.
Granulated sugar.
Apple cider vinegar. Just one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar balances out the sweetness in these doughnuts and intensifies the flavor.
Powdered sugar, for the maple glaze.
Pure maple syrup, for the maple glaze.
Vanilla extract and almond extract, for the maple glaze. Using both extracts is optional. Use only one or the other, or leave them out entirely if you want a more pure maple flavor.

Pro Tips for Successful Homemade Apple Fritters
Chop the apples very small – about the size of a pea. Chopping the apples any larger makes it difficult to get them to stay in the dough.
Lower the fritters into the hot oil on parchment paper “plates”. Let the fritters rise on parchment covered baking sheets. Then, rather than trying to lift them off the parchment without squeezing any air from the perfectly risen dough, just cut around the bottom of each fritter so that each one is resting on it’s own little parchment paper “plate”. Lower the fritter into the hot oil parchment and all. Then, just use metal tongs to lift away the parchment paper, which will come away from the dough easily.
A fry thermometer is a must! While frying the fritters, it’s important to keep the oil between 350 and 360 degrees. If the temperature of the oil is too low, the fritters will absorb too much oil, becoming heavy and greasy. But, if the oil is too hot, the outside of the fritters will burn before the inside is cooked through. The only real way to monitor the oil temperature as you cook the fritters is with a fry thermometer.