Disneyland is celebrating Pixar Fest this summer by expanding its line-up of flavored churros, so of course we had to assemble a team to hit the park and try them all! Four of us tasted seven churros available in Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, and here is our ranking, from best to worst.
Our top two specialty churros were $5.75 and the others were $5.25, though some had optional sauces for $1 more. For comparison, a regular churro at Disneyland costs $4.75.
1. (Tie) Carrot Cake Churro
New Orleans Square, Disneyland
We ordered this one with slight skepticism, but it won us all over with its unexpectedly accurate flavor. All of these specialty churros are a base of Disney's regular churro Tio Pepe's-brand churro, rolled in a variety of new and colorful coatings in place of the traditional cinnamon sugar. Just like a pumpkin spice latte consists of — only the spices associated with pumpkin pie — the Carrot Cake Churro isn't vegetal, delivering hints of allspice and maybe nutmeg in place of real carrot. These spices deepen the flavor of a traditional churro. But the real star here is the included dipping sauce — a cream cheese frosting mixed with whisper-thin shreds of carrot and raisin, which round out the churro's flavor and make for a tasteful delight.
1. (Tie) Coco Churro
Frontierland, Disneyland
Rolled in salted cocoa and served with a chile pepper-infused Mexican chocolate dipping sauce (included in the $5.75 price), the Coco Churro tastes warmer on the tongue than the traditional churro. Over the course of tasting seven different flavors of churro, it became apparent that we reacted best to ones that fell on the "less sweet" end of the flavor spectrum. One of the reasons why people love churros is that warm cinnamon flavor that balances the sweetness of the sugar. When Disney's speciality churros failed, they lost that balance by becoming overly sweet. But the Coco Churro avoided that failure and won us over with its tasty zing.
3. Kevin's Churro
Town Square, Disneyland
Named for the kooky bird in Pixar's Up, this churro is as "frooty" as the bird’s plume is colorful. It tasted a bit like licking the bottom of a bag of Froot Loops to me, but others in our group didn't see that as a problem and appreciated the fruitful notes this colorful coating added. A dunk in the $1 chocolate sauce also helps.
4. Ants on a Log Churro
Flik's Fun Fair, Disney California Adventure
Drizzled with icing and topped with puffed rice cocoa cereal, this one looked and tasted like a slightly fancier version of a traditional churro. At this point on our list, none of us feel that the specialty churros are worth the 50-cent upcharge over the regular cinnamon churros anymore.
5. Golden Churro
Critter Country, Disneyland
Glittering with gold-colored sugar, this churro allegedly has a lemon taste, but none of us could find it. Like a mediocre Disney Channel production, this one is bland, but pretty.
6. Strawberry Churro
Tomorrowland, Disneyland
Glowing laser red, the cloying sweetness of this churro felt like a lightsaber to the tongue. One of us declared that this and the pineapple churro were "pretty much interchangeable trash" for their sickly sweetness. But another taster countered that at least you could pretend that this one was a lightsaber and play with it, instead of eating it. So that keeps the Strawberry Churro out of last place.
7. Pineapple Churro
Sleeping Beauty Castle/Hub, Disneyland
Dubbed by many as the "Dole Whip Churro," Adventureland ought to sue for defamation by false association. "It's like eating tropical Febreze," one of our team said, spitting it out. The $1 marshmallow sauce didn't help. We ate less than half the churro before giving up. On my way over to the trash can I asked, "Does anyone want the rest?", and a man sitting next to us hollered "I'll take it." So I handed it over... and he knocked off all the neon-yellow sugar before eating the now-plain remains. Smart move.
While none of us plan on eating another churro for quite awhile, the Carrot Cake, Coco, and Kevin churros are all definitely worth checking out. Otherwise, save yourself the 50 cents and stick to the traditional churro.
Thank you to Natalie Niles, Brian Niles, and Sara Watson for joining me on the Theme Park Insider Churro Tasting Team!
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Missed Opportunities :
- Pretzel Churros - comes with free mustard or upgrade to cheese dipping sauce really just a pretzel the length and shape of a churro
- S'more Churro - Graham Cracker flavored churro with a chocolate core that comes with a marshmallow dip.
- Lox and Bagels Churro - An everything bagel churro with onion and capers baked in. It comes with a salmon flavored cream cheese dip and a wedge of lemon. For a few extra bucks you can have the bagel smeared with the cream cheese and then wrapped in thin slices of smoked salmon
- Sour Patch Kids Churro - It's a huge Churro shaped tube of Sour Patch Kids flavored candy. The super sour sugar coating gives it the feel and texture of a churro, but it is all gummy candy.
- Thanksgiving Day Churro - A Churro shaped tube of Stove Stop Stuffing that comes with a tart cranberry filling and a cup of gibbet gravy.
- Cherry-Berry Churro (Fans of the Six Flags chain from the late 60's through the mid 80's will understand this one) It's a tart raspberry and cherry flavored ice cream treat in the shape of a churro. It is served on a plastic stick. Once the Churro is completely eaten, a character figure, such as a Cowboy, or a Miner is revealed on the stick.
- PB&J Churro - It's a white bread flavored Churro that has a Peanut butter filling and comes with a cup of grape or strawberry flavored dip. The crust can be cut off for picky eaters.
- Pigs in a Blanket Churro - This would a breakfast version of Disneyland's super popular Corn Dog. Here you'd get a breakfast sausage dipped in a pancake batter, which would be fried and served with a maple syrup dip.
- Cronut Churro - A churro made with croissant dough that one might assume would be light and delicate, but in fact is super heavy and not at all worth the calories or time spent waiting in line.
I'm out, but I look forward to seeing other people's ideas for lost opportunities for special churro flavors.
S'more is (was) excellent!
Oh I got to get in on this...
Fire Churro - Plain churro quick dipped in hot sauce and covered in crushed Doritos Blaze.
The whimsy on this website is sometimes infectious. Thanks TPI for putting a smile on my face today. I especially liked the photos of the disembodied arms and hands holding the churros.
- Brian from Florida
Yeah, Disneyland did the S’mores churro before and it was definitely top three for me.
Fire needs to be the Hot Cheeto Churro and we’re there.
For an amazing churro experience go to Amara Cafe in Pasadena. You won't regret it.
Ok Robert, if you are going to one up me.
Flaming Foster Churro - Plain, dipped in rum, match included. Side of banana flavored sauce.
The photos of these churros are stunning, holy cow!
Hey Robert, who's the lady?
I've had a few more ideas:
Neapolitan Churro - It's a single churro with three sections of flavor - Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla.
Mom's homemade Fruit Pie Churro - It's a flaky pastry crust Churro with your choice of three classic pie filling dips - Apple, Cherry or blueberry included in the price with an optional scoop of vanilla ice cream to dip into.
Don't know how I forgot to include - Cotton Candy Churro! It's cinnamon sugar flavored cotton candy with a classic Churro as the stick the cotton candy is spun on.
Come on y'all... add to the list.
Here is another one. Chicken and Churros - it’s a walking around cone full of Chicken strips and churro bites that comes with a blended butter and maple syrup dip.
Ok, one last one...
IncrediChurro, plain, candy apple glaze served in a souvenir Jack-Jack color changing mini-cup holder with a neck strap.
On a side note; older posts might get more notice if there was subtext below the headline that indicated NEW and the number of REPLIES. If we see it increasing we see that the post is still active.
Stevo B - love the idea of it being dipped in Candy Apple Glaze. I also agree on the post showing current comments. That already happens in the discussion forum section.
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Or save yourself 4 dollars and get a standard churro at Costco for a dollar.