This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

A selection of churros from Honchos

Honchos is located at 6421 Broadway

ChurroStar has several locations in San Antonio.

I Love Churros is located at 7007 Bandera Road, Suit 14.

Munchies has several locations in San Antonio.

Pop's y Mas is located at 4522 Fredericksburg Road in the Wonderland of the Americas food court.

A selection of churros from Honchos

Step aside, Homer Simpson. And take your doughnuts with you. When it comes to deep-fried desserts, churros are king in South Texas.

Like many beloved food items, the exact origin of churros is more than murky. They  likely took the form we know today in what is now Spain and Portugal, possibly making their way to Europe from China via Portuguese traders. What is known is that by the 1500s, Spanish explorers brought them to the Americas, where the sugar- and cinnamon-spiced treats took root.

In San Antonio today, you can find churros in scores of grocery stores, bakeries and other places. That includes the mega retailer Costco, which has provided many parts of America with its first taste of these sweet treats.

If your sweet tooth is acting up and only a churro will satisfy it, this guide will provide all the details you need for a tour of San Antonio's best spots to indulge in one.

A selection of churros from ChurroStar

Operating out of a pair of food trailers, one at the intersection of Loop 410 and Nacogdoches Road, and another at the intersection of U.S. 281 and Bitters Road, and out of a cute house in Southtown dubbed La Churrería, ChurroStar provides one of the most immersive, sugar-coated churro experiences in San Antonio.

Whether  served straight up, dunked into ice cream, coiled into rounds for a churro ice cream sandwich or stuffed with flavorful fillings, all the churros from this provider were, first and foremost, about the crunch. The churros, which were extruded from a hand-cranked machine, all had a golden blond color and satisfying snap that gave way to the slightest of chewy interiors.

ChurroStar, 2347 Nacogdoches Road, 210-260-9743; 13802 Embassy Row, 210-259-5510; La Churrería, 1036 S. Alamo St., 210-275-2272; churrostar.com, Facebook: @ChurroStarTX

On ExpressNews.com: Mexican bakeries: Top 5 best San Antonio panaderías and best conchas, empanadas, doughnuts and more

A selection of churros from Honchos

This establishment in the heart of Alamo Heights (they also have a food truck near the Medical Center) rightfully bills itself as The House of Churros. With the widest selection of churro preparations and vibrant dipping sauces available in the city, shaded outdoor seating and an attached boutique stocked with novelty toys, clothing and beverages, including a "beer" designed for dogs, Honchos is the perfect destination to bring a sweetheart for a sugary date.

Churros come in several forms here, from traditional straight sticks (both full-size and miniature), loops dunked into ice cream and lassos to a large, party-size coil called a twine. All were fried to perfection with a delicate, shatteringly crisp exterior over a soft, almost creamy interior with just the right level of chewiness. The wide range of dipping sauces include standouts such as spiced cajeta, blueberry syrup and almond cream.

Honchos, 6421 Broadway, 206-304-6771; 5800 Babcock Road, 210-760-0377, honchoschurros.com, Facebook: @honchoschurrosalamoheights

A selection of churros from I Love Churros

Tucked into a shopping plaza along Bandera Road in Leon Valley, this business is the most Instagram-ready churro spot in the area. Occupying two well-decorated and camera-friendly units with ample seating and an outdoor patio, I Love Churros not only looks great, but it's serving killer churro preparations, as well. The churros here were the lightest and most delicate of all sampled for this story, with a razor-thin crispy exterior that gave way to an airy crumb that melted away in seconds.

The traditional churros are nearly 2 feet long and heavily coated in cinnamon and sugar. The miniature versions are a more manageable size and just as well dressed. Keeping in the restaurant's whimsical spirit, the churro splits are served in a boat-shaped container with churros providing the hull of a vessel loaded with scoops of ice cream in unique flavors, including rose petal and horchata.

I Love Churros, 7007 Bandera Road, Suit 14, 210-888-1550, Facebook: @ilovechurrosatx

An order of churros with ice cream from Munchies

Munchies isn't a churro-exclusive operation, offering a wide menu of San Antonio favorites, such as mangonadas, shaved ice doused with syrup, loaded nachos and Flamin' Hot Cheetos coated in cheese sauce served in the bag. But all those extra delights don't detract from the churros, which are available served plain with dipping sauce or packed into a container with three scoops of ice cream.

The churros had an excellent texture with an ideal balance of crunch and chew. The sugar coating was the most cinnamon-forward of the churros sampled, with a pungent aroma and almost peppery bite of spice. When enjoyed alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream, the cooling silkiness perfectly balanced all those flavors and textures.

Munchies, 923 N. Loop 1604 E., Suite 109, 210-988-3563; 5602 W. Hausman Road, Suite 105, 210-541-4436; 2211 NW Military Highway, 210-636-0597, munchiesnacksa.com, Facebook: @Munchiesnacksa

On ExpressNews.com: Raspas are a puro San Antonio summer treat thanks to a guy from Dallas

An order of churros from Pop's y Mas

The next time you catch yourself shopping in the Wonderland of the Americas mall and a sugar craving kicks up, head directly to the food court on the first floor. Pop's y Mas is there to satisfy your sweet tooth with a huge menu of sugary treats, including raspas, paletas, ice cream sundaes and, of course, churros.

Churros are fried to order and served piping hot, either with a dipping sauce or dunked into a cup of ice cream. If you like a churro that bites back with a dense, chewy texture almost like a yeasted doughnut, this is the churro spot for you. Paired with a small cup of caramel sauce, these churros taste like tradition and nostalgia, helped in part by the restaurant's mall food-court setting.

Pop's y Mas, 4522 Fredericksburg Road in the Wonderland of the Americas food court, 346-779-1635, orderpopsymas.com, Facebook: Pops y mas

Paul Stephen moved to San Antonio from North Carolina in 2017 to join the Express-News Taste team. In that time, he's cooked through about 1,000 recipes, noshed at more than 200 restaurants and seriously considered getting a map of the city's grocery stores tattooed on his arm for easy reference. He cannot be trusted around your cookbook collection.