When You’re Craving Churros in Cozumel

It took me a while to find them, but Cozumel has more churro options than you might think.

If you vacation in Cozumel and like a sweet treat from time to time, or of course if you’re traveling to Cozumel with kids in tow, keep your eye out for some delicious Mexican churros.

What Are Mexican Churros?

Mexican churros are a simple but yummy sweet snack, often sold by street vendors.

Most of us from the U.S. have seen them around, especially in larger Mexican-influenced food scenes, like in L.A., NYC, Texas, Miami, and Chicago, but if you haven’t heard of them before, then you’re in for a…treat!

The typical churro is a fried dough stick that is ridged and coated in sugar and cinnamon, and sometimes served with a chocolate dipping sauce or other various cream or fruit sauces.

Churros were traditionally eaten for breakfast with a nice cup of strong Mexican coffee, but now they can be found in many Mexican menus as dessert items.

After several unscientific polls, we’ve determined the most important qualities of good churros are: The crunch of the outside shell, the soft, chewy interior, and the immediate dusting of a cinnamon-sugar blend, as soon as the fresh churro comes out of the sizzling oil.

But churros are more than just tasty snacks — they are also a symbol of Mexican culture and cuisine.

Nowadays, churros are everywhere, from bakeries to supermarkets. But to have the best ones, you need to find them fresh and hot.

Different Varieties of Sweet Mexican Churros

You can satisfy your sweet tooth in Cozumel with many different varieties of Mexican churros.

They are often served plain, with the dusting of sugar as mentioned above, and sometimes even stuffed with cream fillings of chocolate, strawberry jam, or dulce de leche.

The most popular varieties are probably the Mexican churro con chocolate or the churro con dulce de leche.

To find out more about how important chocolate is to this region and the Mayan traditions, check out this post next.

The Best Place to Find Churros in Cozumel

When visiting the island, there are several great places to find good churros.

Here are my top 6 places to score some fresh churros in Cozumel:

Churro Cart in Parque Benito Juarez

A great and easy place to start is at a street cart right in the town’s center plaza, or the zocalo as they’re known in Mexico.

Just to the south of the landmark clocktower, you’ll find a great little cart churning out fresh churros while you wait.

A small bag of churros is about $40 MXN (2 bucks, USD), and you can add some chocolate sauce or other toppings if you wish.

Great for snacking as you walk around the park and check out some live music at night or just people watch for free.

Street Carts at el Palacio

For some of the best churros, another great spot is the block full of food carts each night near the Palacio, or the town hall.

El Palacio is a few blocks south of Parque Benito Juarez, but is another nighttime hotspot for public shows, holiday fireworks, and annual Carnaval shows and activities.

And almost every night it’s also a fun (and free) gathering spot for families and kids intent on riding around in mechanical cars (so cute), trying their hand at art, or just general play.

Along the eastern edge of the plaza there, head for one of the street carts and look (or smell) for the guys with the fresh churros.

Even the machine they use to press out the dough is cool to watch for a while!

But the best part is the finished product – these churros are really good.

Also about $40 pesos, approximately.

“The Churro Guy” a.k.a. Javier

An awesome feature of Cozumel is that it still values local craftsmen and cooks, and often people buy and sell homemade treats via word of mouth, or directly from the source.

And one of Cozumel’s best loved artisans is Javier, “the churro guy.”

Javier makes and sells fresh churros each day. His are of the “filled” variety, mostly.

Look for him on his bike with his signature blue bucket full of sweet goods, or search for him on Facebook.

I’ve run into him a few times when a churro proved to be the ideal pick-me-up, and his are some of the best I’ve ever had.

You can also try to catch him on social media and order some here.

Local Restaurants in Cozumel with Churros

Many local restaurants are realizing how special their traditional treats are, and adding churros to their dessert menus.

Here are few I’ve noticed in the last year that offer churros to end even slighly more high-end meals, and often with a little something extra.

Kondesa

Kondesa is a lovely restaurant in a pretty garden setting, perfect for a date night, but also just good to try any time.

Bonus – they’re one of the places where eco-minded travelers and divers that know about the scourge of lionfish in the Caribbean can find lionfish cakes on the menu, and do our part to tamp down on the spread of this invasive species.

But back to dessert! Kodesa’s order of churros comes fresh, hot, and in a fun brown paper bag, with sides of awesome chocolate and cream sauces for dipping. They’re pretty sinful.

Kondesa is on Av. 5 Sur between calles 5 and 7 – see their webpage here

El Cielito Grill Bistro

El Cielito has a lot of traditional Mexican foods on their menu, including a mole sauce sampler and a dish normally reserved for September’s Mexican Independence day, chiles en nogada.

But they also have churros for dessert, and it’s a great way to end a classic meal here.

El Cielito is on Av. 5 and 3rd Street – link to their social page here

El Mercado Municipal

One other great place to look for good, authentic churros is at the public market (mercado municipal) in San Miguel de Cozumel.

If you’re following some of our posts on fun things to do downtown, or even better the post on free things to do in Cozumel, you’ll likely find yourself at the local public market at some point.

Poke around long enough and you’ll see the handmaking of tortillas, some great food stands to try some of the other classic traditional Mexican foods, lots of good plant-based produce and fresh juices, and of course some sweet churros.

Go on. Live a little.

When you’re vacationing in Cozumel, you can find great quality churros with a little help.

If you’re searching for the best churros in Cozumel, start with these 6 (and then keep going!)

And don’t forget to pair it with a rich Mexican coffee at any one of these (and more) great coffee shops around town.

Eat too much? No prob, just walk it off on one of these nice waterfront walking routes.

Or get in extra steps by continuing to explore downtown Cozumel and some of the island’s best and most authentic souvenir shopping.

Or just go get in some of that prime Cozumel scuba diving, already! You know you want to.

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