Carnival Ears Crispy Sweet Fried Dough Recipe 2026

This is the traditional Galician recipe for what is known in its homeland as orellas de Entroido, a fried dough made with basic ingredients like wheat flour, eggs, anise, and a fat such as cow lard or butter.

Milk and yeast are two ingredients that depend on the cook preparing them. Some recipes include milk, others water, and others include neither. Regarding yeast, there are supporters and detractors.

Some argue that dough with yeast does not become crispy, while others defend its addition to achieve a more manageable dough. Personally, I have made ears with and without yeast, and I can say that whether they turn out crispy or not does not depend on the yeast. The best trick to make them crispy is to add crumbled lard at the end.

Recipe information

• Preparation time: 30 minutes
• Cooking time: 20 minutes
• Total time: 50 minutes
• Servings: 8
• Category: dessert
• Cuisine type: Galician
• Calories per serving (kcal): 245

Ingredients for Carnival ears

For the dough:

• 300 g wheat flour
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 eggs
• 50 ml anise liqueur
• 1 pinch of salt
• 50 ml water
• 75 g cooked cow lard or butter

For frying:

• Sunflower or olive oil for frying
• 1 lemon peel (optional, to flavor the oil)
• 1 star anise (optional, to flavor the oil)

For decoration:

• Powdered sugar or regular sugar to taste

How to make Carnival ears

We prepare the ingredients and sift 300 g of flour into a bowl.

We grate 1 lemon, add 2 eggs, 50 ml of anise liqueur, 50 ml of water little by little and as the dough accepts it, 1 pinch of salt and finally, 75 g of cooked cow lard at room temperature or, failing that, the same amount of butter.

We mix these ingredients with our hands and begin to work the dough.

When it is smooth and elastic, we cover it and let it rest in the refrigerator for approximately 1 hour.

After the resting time, we begin to form the ears. To do this, we take portions of dough and roll them into balls with our hands.

Next, we roll out the portions of dough well with a rolling pin. Do not worry about the shape; the ears are completely irregular. The important thing is that the dough is thin. It is important not to put flour on the work surface. If the dough sticks to us, lightly grease the rolling pin and the countertop, but we will not use flour.

If we take more dough, we will get larger ears, although they are more difficult to handle when frying. However, as with everything, this is a matter of taste and custom in each household.

Once we have all the ears rolled out, put a pan on the fire with plenty of sunflower or mild olive oil. Optionally, add 1 lemon peel and 1 star anise to flavor the oil. Take the ears with your hands and bring them to the pan, always taking advantage of this time to stretch them a little more with your hands.

Fry each ear one by one in the pan carefully and with 2 forks, wrinkle them in the middle to give them the ear shape and to prevent oil from accumulating in the middle. It will take a few seconds to brown on one side. Once golden, turn it over and let it brown on the other side.

Once each ear is fried, drain it from the oil and place it on absorbent paper. Then place it on a serving dish. Repeat with all the ears. Once fried, sprinkle them with powdered sugar or regular sugar, according to taste and custom.

Then, we can taste them.

Easy preparation summary

1. We sift the flour into a bowl
2. We add the rest of the dough ingredients
3. We mix
4. We let the dough rest
5. We cut portions
6. We roll them out with a rolling pin
7. We can make them larger or smaller
8. We heat the oil and optionally flavor it
9. We fry the ears one by one

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