Breadcrumb, flours, paprika, buttermilk, onions, and other ingredients make up an air fryer onion rings recipe that is so good, that kids will adore it.
One of the easiest American appetizers to make is onion rings in the air fryer. After dinner, these are the perfect treat to munch on. Onion rings cooked in an air fryer are so crisp and delicious that they are great as a midday snack, an appetizer, or a game day snack. When made in an air fryer, this is my go-to dish for a quick and easy snack. They prevent the need for excessive oil, which can be messy to clean up and may not be beneficial because of the extra calories it provides. This is what makes this dish so good for you. Few tablespoons of oil is all you need for calorie-free, perfectly cooked onion rings in an air fryer.
One of the most successful bloggers I follow wrote an article last week about the day they first reached a certain traffic or readership milestone and how they still vividly recall it to this day. This past Friday, when my meal was finally deemed gawk-worthy, and the joy that accompanied the subsequent increase in Foodgawker-related pageviews, are two days I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
But what I found on Saturday night when I was holding a BBQ for Mateja’s birthday was much more significant, thrilling, momentous, and so on. We were going to throw a party by the water at Cultus Lake Provincial Park, which is only about ten minutes away from our house. The weather, however, had other plans and had been threatening this concept with dire predictions all week. We scrapped our original plan and had everyone come back to our place to play it safe. We ordered premade burgers instead of making them since we expected a larger attendance and because we knew it would be awkward to use other people’s grills if we’d gone through with our original plan to meet by the lake. Seeing as there was no way for me to impress our friends with our protein preparation, I set out to find a unique ingredient to throw into the mix.
It was at this point that I realized I could make tasty onion rings at home—hence, my “finding.” Just because I’d never heard of it before doesn’t imply it’s impossible; if a restaurant can make onion rings as a side dish, then surely a home cook can, too. You might give them a shot, and they could even be passable, but they wouldn’t hold a candle to industry heavyweights like my personal favorite chain, A&W. Oh, how I was wrong, and how deliciously wrong I was.
Ingredients
1/3 cup self-rising flour
A pinch of paprika
SALT: 1 tsp, divided
1-and-a-half cups of buttermilk
1 egg
Panko breadcrumbs, one cup
a tablespoon and a half of olive oil
1 medium-sized yellow sweet onion, sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rings
Optional Oil Spray
Instructions:
Step 1:
Set up 4 plates of varying depths. Flour, paprika, and half a teaspoon of salt should be mixed together in the first plate. Put a quarter cup of the flour mixture from the first bowl into the second bowl and add the buttermilk, milk, vinegar/lemon juice, and egg.
Step 2:
Put the panko breadcrumbs, 1/2 tsp salt, and the olive oil in the third bowl and stir with a fork until the oil is evenly distributed. Then, separate the panko in half and place half in a separate bowl so that when the first bowl becomes sticky, the second bowl can be used instead.
Step 3:
Make sure the onion rings are completely dry by blotting them with a paper towel. Use a fork to dredge the onion rings in the flour mixture, then dip them in the buttermilk mixture, and then coat them in the panko mixture.
Step 4:
Spray the fryer basket with oil and arrange the onion rings in a single layer to cook in an Air Fryer. More compact rings can be nested inside larger rings with open space in between them.
Step 5:
Tend to the onion ring at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 11-15 minutes, or until it is golden brown and crunchy. After around 6 minutes, spray with cooking spray; flipping the onion rings is not necessary.
Step 6:
When ready to serve, delicately lift the onion rings with a cookie spatula or fork.
