Ingredients
- 4 large Vidalia or sweet onions, thinly sliced into rings and placed into ice water for at least 10 minutes
- 3 tbsps cornstarch
Batter:
- 3 tbsps cornstarch (to coat the sliced onions, before battering)
- 1 ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1 ¼ cup ice cold water (adjust this amount depending on how thick you want your batter)
- Optional for variation: Panko breadcrumbs or other breadcrumbs
Other Items needed:
- Large mixing bowl filled 1/4 full of ice. (once batter is mixed, the bowl is placed into the larger bowl filled with ice – this will help keep your batter cold as you work)
- Oil for frying – about 2″ high in large a pot – you can also use a deep fryer if you have it
- Candy thermometer or deep fry thermometer – to clip to the side of your pan with the oil
- Large cookie sheet lined with paper towel with a metal rack over it. This will be used to drain any excess oil once the onion rings are cooked.
Instructions
- Preheat your deep fryer (or large pot of oil in the stove) to 375°F.
- While waiting for the oil to heat up, remove the onions from the ice cold water and thoroughly dry them using paper towels. It’s ok if there’s a little moisture but try to get as much of it removed as you can.
- In a dry mixing bowl, toss the onion slices with the 3 tbsps of cornstarch. Be sure all onions are well coated.
Prepare the Onion Ring Batter
- Using a whisk, combine dry ingredients for the batter in a medium mixing bowl; flour, cayenne, baking powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Using the whisk, combine the 1 ¼ cup ice cold water with the dry batter ingredients. Adjust the amount of water used depending on how thick you’d like your batter. I find thicker is best so the batter sticks!
- Place the bowl of mixed batter over the large mixing bowl with the ice. This is important in making sure your batter stays at the proper cold temperature as you work.
Cook the Onion Rings
- Before frying, make sure your oil has reached 375°F.
- Take about a handful of onions at a time and dip them into the cold batter mixture. Make sure that they are well coated all over.
OPTIONAL for variation: if you’d like your onion rings breaded in addition to the batter, quickly dip them in panko bread crumbs after battering - Drop each ring into the oil to cook. Try to avoid having them touch each other in the beginning stages of the cooking or they’ll all stick together!
- Cook the rings for about 2-3 minutes or until golden, flip them part way through if necessary.
- Once the rings have finished cooking remove them from the oil using a mesh basket or strainer and lay them onto the wire rack over a baking sheet to drain. This is important to maintain the crispness of the onion rings.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT lay the onion rings on paper towel as this will make them greasy and lose their crispness. While frying the remaining onion rings, you can keep the finished pieces in the oven to warm (at 200°F) while on the wire rack. - Continue the batter dipping and frying process until all the batter and onions have been cooked and set on the rack to drain.
To Serve
Serve immediately as a side with burgers or any of your other favorite foods. Onion rings are great with my homemade Zesty Onion Ring Dipping sauce!
Notes
To prevent the onion rings from sticking to the bottom of the fry basket while cooking:
When frying, sometimes your fish will sink to the basket’s bottom and adhere to it!
Tip #1: When dropping your onion rings into the deep fryer, hold it in the oil with your fingertips for a couple of seconds to fry them lightly, then allow them to fall in. This will allow the batter a chance to fry for a little before sinking down and becoming trapped on the basket’s bottom.
Tip #2: Make sure the fry basket is fully immersed in oil before adding the onion rings to the oil. If you put a piece of freshly battered onion rings in the fry basket and then submerge it, they’ll stick to it.
- Category: Side
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: American
