The ultimate guide to choux pastry: how to make it, pipe it, bake it perfectly, troubleshoot common issues, and how to use it.
I avoided making choux pastry for years because I thought it was too fussy and complicated, but honestly, once you know the basic technique and what to look out for, it's actually pretty straightforward. It's a recipe I've since made many times - from bakery kitchens to my own home - and one I now teach to home bakers with confidence because it's much more forgiving than it gets credit for.
I'll walk you through the process step by step, explain what to look for rather than just what to do, and help you make homemade choux pastry that puffs properly and holds its shape so you can use it to make profiteroles, eclairs, cream puffs, and more.
Recipe Snapshot
What it is: French pastry that puffs up in the oven and bakes light and crisp for desserts like eclairs and cream puffs.
Why you'll love it: It's a simple recipe that opens up a world of dessert possibilities once you've mastered the technique.
How to make it: Boil milk and water with melted butter, then beat in flour and gradually add eggs. Pipe and bake.
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What Is Choux Pastry?
Choux pastry (or pâte à choux) is a classic French pastry dough that is used to make light desserts such as profiteroles, cream puffs, and eclairs.
When it's baked properly, steam rises inside the pastry to puff it up and make crisp shells with a hollow centre - to be stuffed with all kinds of delicious fillings like pastry cream.
Ingredients
Choux pastry only uses a few basic ingredients, but each one plays an important role. Small changes here can have a big impact on how the pastry bakes.
- Water / Milk - The liquid in choux pastry is what creates the steam that makes it puff. You can use all water, all milk, or a combination of the two. After a lot of testing, I like to use a mixture of half milk, half water for a good rise from the water, with a bit more flavour and colour from the milk.
- Salt - You won't taste the salt, but it's essential. It strengthens the dough, helps bind the flour and liquid, and improves the overall structure of the pastry.
- Sugar - Choux pastry isn't meant to be sweet, but a small amount of sugar helps with browning. You can leave it out for savoury choux, but I usually keep it in anyway for better colour.
- Flour - All-purpose flour works best - it provides enough structure for the pastry to puff while still allowing it to expand properly in the oven.
- Eggs - Use large eggs at room temperature. The eggs help the walls of the pastry set while baking, so your choux doesn't collapse. The exact amount you'll need varies, so it's important to add them gradually and judge the dough by its texture rather than sticking rigidly to a number.
See the recipe card for quantities and the full recipe.
Measuring Ingredients:
I always recommend weighing your ingredients with a kitchen scale, but for choux pastry, it is especially important. Good choux is all about the balance and ratios of the ingredients, so accuracy is essential.
Things You'll Need
- Saucepan
- Wooden spoon
- Stand mixer - with paddle attachment
- Piping bag
- Baking sheet
The Most Important Choux Pastry Tips
In case you don't want to read the whole post, here is a summary of the most important things to pay attention to when making choux pastry:
- Cook the panade properly - After adding the flour, make sure you keep cooking until a smooth ball forms, and you can see a thin film on the bottom of the pan. It's crucial that you cook enough moisture out of the dough to prevent flat choux buns.
- Cool the hot dough before adding the eggs so the heat doesn't cook or scramble the eggs. You put the dough in your mixer bowl and spread it up the sides to cool it down faster.
- Judge the amount of egg by consistency - every time you make choux pastry dough, it will need a slightly different amount of egg. Learn to know when it has reached the right consistency using the guide above.
- Pipe steadily, holding your pastry bag at a 90° angle to the baking tray, apply steady, even pressure, and try to keep the sizes consistent.
- Rest the dough for 10-15 minutes after piping and before baking. Even better if you can chill it.
- Spray with water - Use a spray bottle to give the choux and parchment paper a fine mist of water just before baking, to encourage steam and help them to puff up evenly.
- Don't open the oven door - if you take the choux out too early or open the oven door before they have fully set, they will collapse.
How To Make Choux Pastry (step-by-step)
Choux pastry is a little bit magic - just butter, flour, eggs, and liquid, and somehow it turns into these hollow, crisp little clouds. It's actually a fairly simple recipe, but good results come from the technique and how these simple ingredients are combined.
If you carefully follow these step-by-step instructions, you will end up with crisp pastry that puffs up beautifully.
Boil Liquids
Combine the butter, milk, water, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the butter melts and the liquid starts to boil. Remove from the heat.
Add Flour
Add the sifted flour all at once and mix quickly with a wooden spoon or spatula until the flour is fully incorporated.
Cook the Panade
Return the pan to the stove and stir vigorously - you can kind of slap the dough against the sides of the pan until it forms a smooth dough and leaves a thin film on the bottom of the pan. If you swirl the pan around, it should form together into a ball.
This step dries the dough slightly and allows the starch in the flour to gelatinize, which is key to getting it pipeable and ensuring it puffs up in the oven.
Cool the Dough
Transfer the choux paste to the bowl of a stand mixer and use your spoon to spread it up the sides of the bowl to help it cool faster.
Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes until it is no longer hot to touch.
Add Eggs
With the mixer on low speed with a paddle attachment, add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition. For the final egg, add it gradually and judge the consistency as you go - the dough should end up smooth, glossy, and thick enough to hold its shape when piped.
You might not need all of the eggs - it depends on their size and how much moisture cooked out in the panade stage.
Test the Pastry
Knowing when the dough is ready is the most important step when making choux pastry. Look for a paste-like dough that is smooth, glossy, and pipeable. The best way to test is by dipping the mixer paddle, or a spatula, into the pastry and slowly lifting it out - if the dough is the right consistency, it will fall off in a V-shaped trail.
Stop adding egg once it reaches this point.
How To Know When Choux Pastry Is Ready
Other than the 'V-test' above, there are a few more signs that your choux pastry is ready:
- It should be smooth and slightly glossy.
- It should be thick enough that you can draw a trench in it with your finger and it won't fill in.
- If you put a little pastry between your fingers and pull them apart slowly, the top should make a V shape and the bottom should fall over on itself slightly, like medium peaks in meringue.
Piping Pâte à Choux
- Put the choux pastry in a piping bag with a piping tip fitted; the kind of tip will depend on the final shape of your pastries.
- Squeeze any air bubbles out of the bag, then put a blob of batter underneath each corner of the parchment paper (this stops it from sliding around while you pipe).
For choux buns - Use a round tip or just cut the end off of a piping bag. Hold the bag at a 90° angle to the pan. Keep the tip of the nozzle still to make little mounds of pastry.
For eclairs - Use a star tip with lots of teeth (like a French star tip), hold the bag at a 45° angle, and squeeze evenly from start to finish. You can pat down the end of the eclairs with a wet palette knife.
- Apply steady pressure while you pipe and try to be as consistent as possible with sizing. It can be helpful to draw or print out a guide to go under your parchment paper.
- Stop squeezing before lifting the bag to avoid tails, and finish with a slight flick of your wrist to break off the pastry.
- Leave enough space between pastries, as they will spread more than you think.
- Tap peaks down with a wet finger to even them out so they don't burn or rise unevenly.
How To Bake Choux Pastry
As choux pastry bakes, it goes through stages - Puff → Set → Dry. Understanding what's happening in the oven makes it much easier to adapt to different shapes and sizes.
- Start with high heat - When the dough hits that first blast of hot oven air, the moisture turns to steam and makes the pastry rise into perfect little domes.
- Set with a lower heat - Once the choux has had its initial rise, turn the oven temperature down to allow the structure to set and to bake fully into a nice, crispy pastry without getting too brown.
- Don't open the oven too early - If you open the oven door before the choux pastry has set, even just for a quick peek, the temperature will drop and the pastries will collapse. Resist the temptation!
- Let steam escape at the end - for an extra crisp shell, let steam escape after the pastry is baked by leaving them in a switched off oven for 10-15 minutes to dry out completely. For bigger choux buns, you can also pierce a hole in the bottom of each shell to let steam escape and prevent them from going soggy as they cool.
How to Know When Choux Pastry Is Baked
Know when choux pastry is baked - choux pastry needs a different bake time depending on the shape and size you pipe it, so it's better to learn the visual cues that it is properly baked than relying on a timer.
Choux should be golden brown all over. If it's your first time making choux, it needs to be browner than you are probably expecting. It should also feel light for its size and hollow when tapped. If it is soft or heavy, it needs longer to bake.
Larger or thicker choux buns need longer to dry out than smaller ones. It's better to bake for longer at a low heat than to blast them with high heat that may cause them to burn before baking fully.
Troubleshooting
Here are some of the most common mistakes when making pate a choux
Pastry is too stiff
The dough needs more egg. Add it gradually until the pastry is smooth, glossy, and falls in a thick V when lifted.
Pastry is lumpy
The dough was too hot when adding the eggs, causing them to scramble. Let the panade cool before adding the eggs.
Pastry is runny
This usually means the panade wasn't cooked long enough, or too much egg was added. Cook the dough until it forms a smooth ball and leaves a thin film on the pan, then add the final egg gradually and stop as soon as the dough reaches the right consistency.
Pastry doesn't rise
Either the dough is too runny, or the oven isn't hot enough. Check your oven temperature with a thermometer, or test with a small batch at a slightly higher temperature.
Shells collapse after baking
They were removed too soon. The shells must be fully set and crisp before opening the oven, or they will collapse as they cool.
Shells aren't hollow
There wasn't enough steam. This happens when the dough is too dry or too stiff. Getting the right moisture and egg balance is key for hollow shells.
Storage
Unbaked choux dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring it to room temperature before piping.
Baked puffs can be stored in an airtight container overnight or frozen for 3 months. Re-crisp them in the oven for 10 minutes before filling.
Filled choux pastries are best enjoyed within a few hours, as the filling can make the pastry go soggy.
Choux Pastry Recipes
It's amazing how many desserts can be made with a simple choux pastry recipe. Once you've mastered the process, it will open up a world of different ways to use it - here are some of my favorites:
- Cream Puffs - Individually portioned choux buns you can fill with creme diplomat or whipped cream. Or try something extra special and fill with chocolate mousse.
- Profiteroles - these classic French pastries are a mini choux bun filled with creme patissiere, chantilly cream, or ice cream and topped with chocolate ganache - great for parties as they are bitesized.
- Éclairs - long pastry shells filled with pastry cream and glazed with chocolate or caramel. Or try filling with pistachio pastry cream.
- Cruller Donuts - choux piped into a round and deep fried for a gloriously light donut, covered in glaze.
- Churros - tasty sticks of deep-fried choux, coated in cinnamon sugar.
- Paris-Brest - wheel-shaped pastry filled with praline cream.
- Gougères - cheese puffs made with Gruyère, cheddar, or your favourite hard cheese.
- Savory Choux Pastries - tiny buns filled with herbed cheese, pate, or other savoury spreads.
If you're new to choux pastry, my profiteroles or cream puff recipe is a great place to start.
Choux FAQ
If you have a question about choux pastry that isn't answered in the post, please leave it in the comments below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Yes, you can freeze both raw choux pastry and baked choux shells for up to 3 months. Re-crisp baked shells in the oven after thawing.
There are many desserts you can make with a basic choux dough, from filled choux buns like profiteroles and cream puffs, to eclairs and Paris Brest. You can also deep fry choux pastry to make French crullers and churros.
Classic fillings for choux pastry shells are:
- Pastry cream
- Chantilly cream
- Creme diplomat
- Ice cream
'Choux' is the French word for 'cabbages'; choux gets its name because baked choux buns look like tiny cabbages.
Classic Choux Fillings
You can fill your choux buns with anything you fancy, but these are some of my favorite choux filling ideas:
Recipe
Choux Pastry Recipe (Pâte à Choux)
Ingredients
- 1 stick Unsalted Butter 113g
- ½ cup Milk 120ml
- ½ cup Water 120ml
- 2 teaspoon Granulated Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp All-purpose Flour 130g (sifted)
- 5-6 Large Eggs (room temperature) *see notes
Equipment
- Wooden Spoon or Spatula
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients except the flour and eggs to a saucepan over medium heat. Stir together until the butter has melted and the mixture starts to boil.1 stick (113 g) Unsalted Butter, ½ cup (120 ml) Milk, ½ cup (120 ml) Water, 2 teaspoon Granulated Sugar, ¼ teaspoon (¼ tsp) Salt
- As soon as the mixture is boiling, remove it from the heat and quickly add all of the sifted flour. Mix quickly with a wooden spoon until the flour is totally incorporated.1 cup + 1 tablespoon (130 g) All-purpose Flour
- Return the pan to the heat and continue to beat it vigorously for 2-4 minutes until it comes together into a smooth, shiny ball and you can see a thin film on the bottom of the pan. If you are not confident that it is cooked enough, you can check the temperature - it needs to get to between 165-175°F (74-79°C)
- Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer and use your spoon to spread it up the sides of the bowl to help it cool faster. Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes until it is no longer hot to touch.
- Turn the stand mixer on low speed with a paddle attachment fitted. Add the eggs one at a time, letting them mix until completely incorporated in between each egg until you have one egg remaining. The amount of egg needed varies according to multiple factors, so you may not need all of the eggs to reach the right consistency.5-6 Large Eggs
- Crack the last egg into a bowl and beat it with a fork to break it apart. Add it to the mixer a little at a time, testing the pastry in between to see if is ready. You are aiming for a paste-like dough that is smooth, glossy, and pipeable. You can test if it is ready by putting a spatula into the bowl and lifting it out - if the dough is the right consistency, it will fall off the spatula in a V-shape. See the post above for more tips on how to know exactly when it's ready. Once the right consistency is reached, do not add any more eggs.
- Transfer the choux pastry to a piping bag with a round tip or star tip, depending on what kind of choux shells you are making. Squeeze any air bubbles out of the bag.
- Pipe a tiny amount of pastry into the four corners of a baking sheet and line it with parchment paper. This holds the paper in place as you pipe.
- For choux buns:Hold the piping bag at a 90° angle to the pan, squeeze steadily while holding the tip of the bag just slightly under the surface of the pastry to make little mounds of pastry on the sheet. For eclairs:Hold the bag at a 45° angle and apply even pressure as you draw a line on the tray. Try to make them the same thickness all the way down.You can use a printed guide underneath the the parchment paper to help get consistent sizing.
- Stop squeezing before moving your piping bag away, and flick your wrist to break the flow of the pastry. Make sure to leave plenty of space in between each one as they will puff up a lot as they bake.
- Dip your finger in a little cold water and gently dab down the little peaks to flatten them. Let the piped choux sit on the baking sheet for 10 minutes while you preheat the oven.
- How you bake choux pastry depends on what kind of choux shells you are making. See the individual recipe posts for guidance on each one. I have included the instructions for medium choux buns here as a reference point. Important: Bake time varies massively depending on size, shape, and moisture content - so it's best to learn the signs that your choux pastry is baked, rather than relying on arbitrary recipe times. See the post above for more information on this.
- For medium choux buns, preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C (180° fan-assisted). Bake the choux at this temperature for 10-12 minutes until they have risen.
- Once the buns have puffed up, turn the temperature down to 375°F / 190°C (170° fan-assisted) and bake for a further 25 - 35 minutes, or until the buns are golden brown all over and fully baked. Do not open the oven door in the first 20 minutes or the shells will collapse!
- Remove them from the oven and turn the oven off. Pierce a hole in the bottom of each choux bun with a skewer to let steam escape, then place them back on the sheet, hole-side-up and put back in the switched off oven with the door propped open to allow them to dry out for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool completely on a wire rack before filling.
Nutrition
Notes
Most Important Tips for Choux Success:
- Cook the panade properly - After adding the flour, make sure you keep cooking until a smooth ball forms, and you can see a thin film on the bottom of the pan. It's crucial that you cook enough moisture out of the dough to prevent flat choux buns.
- Cool the hot dough before adding the eggs so the heat doesn't cook or scramble the eggs. You put the dough in your mixer bowl and spread it up the sides to cool it down faster.
- Judge the amount of egg by consistency - every time you make choux pastry dough, it will need a slightly different amount of egg. Learn to know when it has reached the right consistency using the guide above.
- Pipe steadily, holding your pastry bag at a 90° angle to the baking tray, apply steady, even pressure, and try to keep the sizes consistent.
- Rest the dough for 10-15 minutes after piping and before baking. Even better if you can chill it.
- Spray with water - Use a spray bottle to give the choux and parchment paper a fine mist of water just before baking, to encourage steam and help them to puff up evenly.
- Don't open the oven door - if you take the choux out too early or open the oven door before they have fully set, they will collapse.
Hi, I'm Jules!
I'm a Scottish ex-bakery owner sharing my tried and true dessert recipes and expert tips to help you whip up impressive desserts at home.
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