For Shortcut Apple Fritters At Home, Use Store-Bought Pancake Mix

There's a certain unadulterated joy in discovering a life-changing cooking hack. For example, did you know you could combine avocados with a jar of chunky salsa to make delicious instant guacamole? Another favorite is mixing pickle juice and hummus to make a super-quick and creamy salad dressing. Using a store-bought pancake mix to make apple fritters at home is right up there with the best kitchen shortcuts. Not only will it save you tons of time prepping your batter, it'll also ensure that flavor-wise, your favorite snack hits the sweet spot every time.

Like any good cooking shortcut, this one is grounded in strong logic. Most store-bought pancake mixes use flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt as part of the base. This is essentially the same set of ingredients you would use if you were to make the batter for your apple fritters from scratch. So all you need to do is get your oil hot enough to fry, add water to the pancake mix to bring it to the right consistency, whisk in a beaten egg, mix in your chopped apples, and start frying your fritters. 

Sure, you could upgrade the fritters by adding a signature touch to the batter — a hit of cinnamon pairs beautifully with apple, as does a hint of vanilla extract. But honestly, the manufacturers of store-bought pancake mixes would've spent years perfecting their recipe, so they're as good a starting point as any for a low-effort, high-reward snack.

These shortcut apple fritters are almost guaranteed to be a hit, unless you make one mistake. When you're using a store-bought pancake mix for the batter, it's important to check the packet to make sure it uses regular flour. When it comes to pancake mixes, there's a wide variety of options in the supermarket today, including gluten-free mixes made not just using almond flour, but also buckwheat, millets, sorghum, and brown rice flour, each catering to different types of diets. If you use any of these non-traditional mixes to make the batter, there's a strong chance that the flavor and consistency of your apple fritters will be affected. Our recommendation would be to stick with old-school favorites like Krusteaz, Hungry Jack, or Bisquick — all of which are on our list of best pancake mixes of 2025 — for this experiment.

Another mistake would be to use apples that are going soft. The most commonly recommended apples when it comes to making fritters are Granny Smith or Honeycrisp, both of which are firm and tart, which means they will retain their texture once fried.

If you do run out of apples and have some pancake mix leftover, don't worry — this secret ingredient's versatility goes beyond fritters. You can also use the pancake mix to make delicious donuts at home!