Perfect Onion rings recipe?
I eat healthy foods all the time but my guilty pleasure are amazingly thick, crunchy, semi greasy onion rings. Yet, I cannot for the life of me make them the way some of my favorite restaurants make them. What should I do? I have followed some recipes but let us be serious, they never work. Any help would be great.
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21 Comments:
Not onion rings, but onion strings, though I'd imagine you could just make rings out of them, but I find these very tasty!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/03/onion-strings-oh-yeah-baby/
bobcatsteph3 at 10:01PM on 07/17/08
I love the step by step photos and I am salivating over those strings as we speak. Thanks bobcat. Some of the photos on A Hamburger Today of the Onion rings next to the burgers are amazing. They are perfectly sculpted.
JacquelineS at 10:17PM on 07/17/08
1 cup beer
1 cup flour
Thick cut onions
Flour the moist raw onions (dredge lightly) Dip into batter. Fry up. Sprinkle with salt when done, malt vinegar is tasty too.
YUM.
That is my fave way anyhow! :)
Those are one of my guilty pleasures too...so rarely eat them though!
sadiepix at 10:22PM on 07/17/08
I hear you about looking at pics, I was telling my sister the other day there is a Red Robin commercial on with onion rings beside the burger that look awesome!
I am more of a fry girl, but onion rings can hit the spot, just not when you get the too greasy ones, those are just a travesty!
I serve the Pioneer Woman's with a creamy horseradish dip with tabasco mixed in for a kick.
bobcatsteph3 at 11:38PM on 07/17/08
What I do is very similar to what SadiePix has posted. The thing about that recipe is that you can season it any way you'd like even before cooking. Sometimes I'll add just a touch of granulated garlic or ground mustard, depending on my mood.
I've found though that the beer you use makes a difference, and that even Miller High Life is an excellent choice for this. Stoughts and draughts seem to make the rings taste a little odd because they're too strong, but even something "normal" like a Bud Light works nicely.
LunaPierCook at 5:48AM on 07/18/08
The one thing I would suggest to make them crisp (without having to overcook them) is to cut the onions a day or two ahead of time, put them in a pan and let them sit in the fridge until you're ready to cook them. This allows them to dry out a bit and the effect is twofold - the dry onions allow the batter/breading to adhere to the the onion a little better and they also produce less steam when they cook. The result is a very crispy/crunchy ring.
deeoh1 at 8:27AM on 07/18/08
All great suggestions for me. Which type of Onion do you think is best for flavor/frying?
JacquelineS at 8:37AM on 07/18/08
JacquelineS:
I prefer Spanish onions for rings.
deeoh1 at 9:02AM on 07/18/08
I can't remember where I found it, but I came across something a while back talking about soaking the onions in ginger ale along with fresh grated ginger before breading them - I tried it and that's the only way I make them anymore. I'll have to find the article.
worldcupfever at 12:01PM on 07/18/08
My family owned a Dairy Queen years ago and they made their onion rings fresh every day (not frozen!). They'd cut the onions ahead of time, as suggested above, dip them in a buttermilk mixture, then the dry batter mixture which seemed to be a seasoned mix of cracker meal? The cracker meal stuff really stuck to the onion and created the perfectly crispy crust when deep fried. Wish I had the recipe......
(I'm also a fry girl, but the perfect onion ring is sooooo good)
StripeyChef at 12:12PM on 07/18/08
I love Vidalia onions for frying. I think they add the right amount of sweetness to go along with the tangy buttermilk.
bobcatsteph3 at 12:43PM on 07/18/08
I like to cut my onions(vidalias or oso sweets) real thin...soak em in butermilk (or milk-whatever is on hand) with a dah of tabasco sprinkled in. Then I do a quick flour/salt(and sometimes cajun spices) dredge and into the sizling oil they go. When they are golden brown- they go onto a paper grocery bag (awesome for soaking up the greasies!) add a little more salt to taste and then viola!!!! into my mouth.
Rarely do these get to a plate or to the table because I am a hedonist.
bisbee at 2:49PM on 07/18/08
bisbee, it is so hot out right now particularly down in the USq subway and yet your description makes me want them right now!
JacquelineS at 4:07PM on 07/18/08
Oh shoot- I hadn't seen that link up there.... Pioneer Woman has a very similar recipe-follow hers it's real thorough. I Ree's blog- she's awesome!
bisbee at 6:12PM on 07/18/08
I didn't have a recipe, but last time I made them looked something like this:
2 cups flour
Enough Heineken to make the rings look like a thick pancake batter
Tandoori Masala (ethnic diversity rocks!)
Salt
Chili Powder
Fry in 350 deg oil. The tandoori masala gives it a nice caramelized tint.
browntown at 11:59PM on 07/18/08
Oh yeah, always take off the slimy silverskin (that's what it resembles) from the onion slices. This makes the onion stay put in the batter, giving you three-four amazing onion-y greasy bites instead of having one bite of slimy onion and three bites of batter.
browntown at 12:03AM on 07/19/08
Texas 1015 onions
eatorama at 2:33PM on 07/19/08
Funny you should ask--I just saw this on America's Test Kitchen:
Oven-Fried Onion Rings
from the Episode: Drive-In Specials
We had the best results with kettle-cooked potato chips.
Makes 24 rings, serving 4 to 6
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg , at room temperature
1/2 cup buttermilk , at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Table salt and ground black pepper
30 Saltine crackers
4 cups kettle-cooked potato chips , crumbled into smaller pieces
2 large yellow onions , cut evenly into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
See Illustrations Below: Deep-Fried Coating without the Deep Fryer
1. Adjust oven racks to lower-middle and upper-middle positions and heat oven to 450 degrees. Place 1/4 cup flour in shallow baking dish. Beat egg and buttermilk together in medium bowl. Whisk remaining 1/4 cup flour, cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper into buttermilk mixture. Pulse saltines and chips together in food processor until finely ground and place in separate shallow baking dish.
2. Pull apart the rings in each round, discarding any that are less than 2 inches in diameter. Working one at a time, dredge each onion ring in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in buttermilk mixture, allowing excess to drip back into bowl, then drop into crumb coating, turning ring to coat evenly. Transfer to large plate and repeat with remaining onion rings.
3. Pour 3 tablespoons oil onto each of two rimmed baking sheets. Place in oven and heat until just smoking, about 8 minutes. Carefully tilt heated sheets to coat evenly with oil, then arrange onion rings on sheets. Bake, flipping onion rings over and switching and rotating position of baking sheets halfway through baking, until golden brown on both sides, about 15 minutes. Transfer onion rings to plates lined with paper towels to drain briefly. Serve immediately.
MAKE AHEAD
Oven-Fried Onion Rings can be breaded in advance and refrigerated for up to an hour. Let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking; if baked straight from the fridge, the onions will not soften properly and will remain crunchy.
HeartofGlass at 7:18AM on 07/20/08
- Get in car, go to Sonic Drive-In.
- Park car in available space.
- Press button on menu board.
- Order the onion rings when friendly voice comes on speaker.
- Sonic employee delivers freshly made o-rings to car.
My perfect recipe. :)
FastFoodCritic at 11:24AM on 07/20/08
Vidalias and Texas sweet onions are both great choices.
Add a little hot sauce (Tabasco, etc.) to your batter.
@FFC...LOL
holdthemayo at 7:46PM on 07/20/08
Try this recipe from Saveur. The unexpected ingredient in the coating is corn starch -- makes them nice and crispy.
http://www.saveur.com/article/food/Onion-Rings-
Trucster at 11:53AM on 07/21/08