Homemade Onion Rings

My onion rings were truly MAGICAL! I have tried many onion ring recipes and have always been disappointed…until now. They were so crisp and insanely delicious!

After mixing the batter, I found that I needed to add another 1/4 cup flour and another 1/4 cup cornstarch to get the proper consistency. The temperature drops drastically between each batch, so put your thermometer in and bring the oil back up to 400°F. I believe adding the extra flour and cornstarch completely coated the onion.

It took me nearly an hour with a 10 1/2-inch cast-iron skillet. If I were using a deep fryer or 2 skillets, my time would be cut significantly. I sprinkled my onion rings with Grippo’s Gourmet Bar-B-Q Spice from my favorite Bar-B-Q potato chips in Cincinnati. OMG, I LOVE THESE! I felt like this recipe made far more than 4 servings—and this is from a certified fat man.

Wow! The best homemade onion rings ever. The batter forms a light, airy, crisp puff around the onion, and magically (yes, these are magical), the shell adheres perfectly to the onion.

The recipe makes a perfect batter—there was no need to add extra water to thin it. The onions fry fairly quickly in the 400°F oil—a little less time than the 3 to 5 minutes stated in the recipe. I went the “purist” route and seasoned the rings with fine sea salt after they were fried, but they would be fantastic with any number of seasonings, such as cayenne and/or a good smoky Spanish paprika.

Four large Vidalias produced a lot of rings, more than enough to make 4 to 6 people very happy. The prep time is pretty quick—about 20 minutes. The onions need to be fried in batches, so it takes some time to do the frying—plan on at least 30 minutes.

What a treat! These onion rings turned out beautifully, with a light, crisp batter on the outside and perfectly cooked onion on the inside.

I was only making a small batch, so I used a smaller pot, with high sides, but for a full batch of 4 onions, you’d want a large pot, or you would be frying for a couple hours. I followed the directions and added all the liquid to the dry ingredients, and I felt that the batter was too thin, as it barely seemed to coat the onions and certainly wasn’t as thick as pancake batter. However, the onions emerged from the oil with a light, crisp shell on them and they looked just like the picture. I’d add half the liquid, stir, and continue to add until you get the desired thickness.

This recipe makes a lot. Probably more like 8 servings. I don’t think I could eat an entire Vidalia onion worth of rings, no matter how tasty they were.

These were almost the best onion rings I’ve ever had. I cut the recipe in half, using just 2 large onions, and that was plenty for 4 people as a side. The crust was crisp, the inside cooked to perfection, and they were incredibly easy to make. My problem was that they all stuck together in a giant mass of fried onion mess. No matter how few I put into the oil, short of frying each ring individually, they seemed to gravitate towards each other. Next time I’ll reach for my biggest pot to attempt to alleviate this problem.

There was so much leftover batter—I know they’re supposed to soak in it fully but dumping out the near quart of remaining batter seemed wasteful (and not just the vodka, either!) Next time I’ll scale down the batter proportions even more. From start to finish, this took about half an hour. It’s something I would definitely consider as a quick side dish. The batter seemed slightly thin, I would try less liquid next time. The picture made the onion rings look like they came out a bright orange/red color, but I assume this was due to some added seasoning. I seasoned mine simply with salt and pepper when they were hot out of the oil and served them with burgers. Pretty perfect.