Picture this: you’re ten years old at your local county fair and the smell of a freshly fried funnel cake hits your nose. You wait patiently in a line that is miles long, but when you finally get that giant plate in your hands, it’s all worth it. You take your first bite, and it is warm, crunchy, sweet, vanilla-y, and covered in powdered sugar. No matter how old you are, you can probably recognize the smell of freshly fried funnel cakes no matter where you are. That smell will have you scouring the internet for funnel cake recipes without milk.
Funnel cake is fairly easy to make – sort of like donuts, but simpler. You will either thank us for this information, or regret finding out that you can eat funnel cakes at home every day if you wanted to. It depends how much self control you have – and how many dishes you’re willing to wash.
Traditional funnel cakes are made with flour, eggs, milk, sugar, salt, and baking powder. The batter is deep fried in oil and then doused in powdered sugar. As you might expect, you can easily swap the milk with any non dairy milk – soy, almond, cashew, oat, hazelnut, hemp, coconut…the options are endless! You will also want to watch out for butter – some recipes include this ingredient.
Now that you know how to make funnel cake dairy free, let’s dig into some recipes.
The Best Funnel Cake Recipes Without Milk
1. Make it Dairy Free – This vegan funnel cake recipe is a great place to start our funnel cake journey. It’s a simple recipe, using oat milk in place of regular milk and a flax egg in place of eggs. If you’re okay with eggs, you can easily swap in an egg to replace it. Check out the full recipe here.
2. Food Network – Alton Brown’s recipe for funnel cake calls for water instead of milk. It does call for butter, but you can easily swap that out for a dairy free butter, like this one. The rest of the ingredients should be ones you already have in your pantry: eggs, flour, sugar, salt, and powdered sugar. With over 100 reviews and a 4.5 out of 5 star rating, it’s a safe bet!
3. Divas Can Cook – These funnel cake bites have our stomachs growling. In her recipe, she uses almond milk and real butter. You can easily swap the butter for a dairy free version, making the whole recipe dairy free. Rather than the mess of ripping apart a larger funnel cake, why not just make it into bite size pieces? She also includes three dip recipes, though they all contain dairy. You can easily swap milk and butter out for dairy free options.
4. Tasty – If the funnel cake bites didn’t do it for you, what about funnel cake fries? Let’s be honest, funnel cake in any form is delicious. In this recipe, you’ll need to swap the two cups of milk it calls for with another milk. We recommend almond milk, as it has worked for several other recipes.
They also pack in several dipping sauce recipes, including strawberry, marshmallow, and chocolate – all of which you can easily make dairy free. The strawberry sauce is automatically dairy free. For the chocolate cause, just make sure to pick a non dairy chocolate, like this one. To make the marshmallow sauce dairy free, just swap the butter for your favorite dairy free butter.
5. Grandbaby Cakes – Strawberry shortcake funnel cakes – need we say more? Just as with the other recipes, replace the milk and butter with your non dairy products of your choice. The strawberry shortcake part comes into play with the toppings. You top each funnel cake with vanilla ice cream, sugared strawberries, and whip cream. If you’re on the lookout for an ice cream recipe, check out our post on the best soy ice cream recipes here.
6. Joy the Baker – Want to enjoy funnel cakes without the guilt? These small batch baked funnel cakes are the answer. The recipe only makes 4 palm sized funnel cakes, so you won’t binge on a giant batch of cakes. They’re even baked, so you’re skipping the deep fryer. Not only will your gut thank you, but you’ll have less of a mess to clean as well. As with the other recipes, just swap out the real butter for a dairy free version, and you’re ready to cook!
7. Fine Cooking – In this fun spin on funnel cakes, you’re using root beer in place of the milk or water you’d normally see. In fact, the whole recipe is accidentally dairy free, save for 2 tablespoons of milk in the icing. You’ll see cream of tartar in the ingredients, but don’t worry – that ingredient is naturally dairy free.
8. Air Fried – Another feel good funnel cake recipe. With air fryers now all the rage, why not try air frying a funnel cake? This recipe calls for greek yogurt in place of milk or water. Swap that out for Chobani oat milk yogurt, which you can find at Target. The result? Crispy, crunchy, warm, sweet, and overall awesome funnel cakes with no deep fryer needed!
No matter what style of funnel cake you choose – cake, bites, or fries – you’re in for a delicious treat. Most recipes only take 20-30 minutes, so you can be eating good in no time. Make sure you’ve stocked your fridge with non dairy milk and butter, plus any fun toppings you desire, and you’re ready to party.
Have you tried making any of the funnel cake recipes without milk at home? Leave your best tips in the comments below!
