Choux Pastry

4.50 from 10 votes
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Choux pastry or Pâte à Choux is a French pastry made of eggs, butter and flour. Learn all about its ingredients, fillings, tips and how to pipe with this easy choux pastry recipe.

Choux pastry in a basket.
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Choux Pastry Recipe

What is a choux pastry? In French, choux pastry is called pate a choux.

It’s a pastry dough used in many desserts, for example: cream puffsprofiteroles, French beignets and gougères (cheese puffs).

They are very easy to make at home. They are light, fluffy, airy, buttery, eggy and great with a variety of fillings.


Recipe Ingredients

A close-up view of Choux Pastry, showcasing the delicate, golden-brown puff pastry shells.

This recipe calls for five (5) simple ingredients that you already have at home:

  • Unsalted butter
  • Water
  • Salt
  • All-purpose flour
  • Eggs

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.


How To Make Choux Pastry

A delightful display of Easy French Choux Pastry Puffs, exhibiting their golden-brown exterior and airy, hollow interior.

First, heat butter and water on low heat. Add in the flour, salt and stir quickly to form a dough.

Let the dough cool off before you add in eggs and mix well.

To make pate a choux puffs, pipe the dough to form puff shape with a pastry piping bag.

Bake the puffs at 425F (220C) for 30 minute or until the choux puffs turn golden brown.


Filling Ideas

Pate a choux are basically pastry shells, so you can fill them up with either a sweet or savory filling.

Here are some of the filling ideas you can try at home. The possibilities are endless!

  • Cream custard filling, for example: cream puffs.
  • Chocolate sauce or caramel sauce, for example: profiteroles.
  • Ice cream.
  • Chicken salad can turn choux pastry into a light meal.
  • You can add cheese into the choux pastry batter and turn it into gougères.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to pipe choux pastry?

You can use a pastry bag or piping bag to pipe the dough.
You can also pipe the dough using a plastic bag by cutting off one of the bottom corners.
Transfer the dough inside the bag, press and squeeze it out of the cut corner to form the puff shape.

Why is my choux pastry dough runny?

In warmer countries, the dough might be runny and hard to form a shape when you’re ready to bake.
If it happens, please chill the dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or longer before piping.

How many calories per serving?

This recipe is only 379 calories per serving.

A half opened French Choux Pastry puff showcasing its delicate and cripsy shell encasing its soft and airy interior.

What To Serve With Choux Pastry

Serve these pastries as is, with strawberry jam, sweet or savory filling. For an afternoon tea, I recommend the following recipes.

I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on FacebookPinterest, and Instagram for new updates.


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4.50 from 10 votes

Choux Pastry

Choux pastry or Pâte à Choux is a French pastry made of eggs, butter and flour. Learn all about its ingredients, fillings, tips and how to pipe with this easy choux pastry recipe.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 4 people
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Ingredients  

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 eggs , or 1 cup eggs
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

Instructions 

  • Put the butter and and water into a saucepan on low heat.
  • Add in the flour and salt, turn heat to simmer. Stir quickly until a dough is formed and does not stick to the saucepan. Let cook for about 1-2 minutes to dry up the water a little bit.
  • Transfer the dough to a big bowl and leave to cool for about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time using an electronic mixer (low speed) until the mixture is well combined and sticky.

How to Pipe Choux Pastry?

  • Using a plastic bag with one of its bottom corners cut off (cut a small opening), scoop the dough into the plastic bag and push it to the part where the corner is snipped off. You can also use a piping bag.
    Piping bag for choux pastry dough.
  • Squeeze and pipe the dough onto a greased baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. When pipping the dough, use a clock-wise motion to form a small coil shape. Leave enough rooms in between each pastry.
    Chous pastry dough piped on a baking sheet.
  • Bake in a preheated oven at 425 °F (220 °C) for about 10 minute, and then at 375 °F (190 °C) for 20 minutes, or until they turn golden brown. Remove from oven and serve warm.
    Choux pastry

Notes

  1. Some eggs are bigger than the others. Use small eggs or just barely 1 cup of eggs if you can’t decide on the size of the eggs.
  2. In warmer countries, the pastry dough might be too "runny" and hard to form a shape when you’re ready to bake the choux pastry. Chill the choux pastry dough in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes before piping them for baking.
  3. DO NOT use aluminum foil for baking as the bottom of the choux pastry will be burned. I ran out of parchment paper hence I used aluminum foil.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g, Calories: 379kcal, Carbohydrates: 24g, Protein: 9g, Fat: 27g, Saturated Fat: 16g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 224mg, Sodium: 215mg, Potassium: 101mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 0.3g, Vitamin A: 944IU, Calcium: 38mg, Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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About Bee Yinn Low

Bee is a recipe developer and best-selling cookbook author, sharing easy, quick, and delicious Asian and American recipes since 2006. With a strong following of almost 2 million fans online, her expertise has been featured in major publications, TV and radio programs, and live cooking demos throughout the United States and Asia.

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6 Comments

  1. Judy says:

    Very hard to find pastry recipe for begets! Still havent found

  2. Alexandria says:

    How many can you make with this recipe?

  3. viktoriya says:

    I like this recipe because its so easy good.

  4. June says:

    Why do the cream puffs at the bakery shop is crispy and does not flatten when it is cooked and cooled. Mine always looks nice when just taken out of the oven but unfortunately later in the day it is slightly flatten and soft.