Oven-Fried Onion Rings

 
I have a hubby who does NOT like onion rings.  At all. Period.  End of discussion.  Never. EVER.
So imagine my surprise when he was digging into these like they were… good.  Great, even.
I double checked to make sure it was really my hubby I was looking at, and then I marked this recipe with an underlined GREAT!
My favorite thing about these is that they are crispy without being heavy and greasy, and they were also great on burgers or even on a steak salad.  Mmm… steak salad.  I think I had better go amend my weekly menu…
 
OVEN-FRIED ONION RINGS
 
1/2 cup flour, divided
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 tsp paprika (or cayenne pepper)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
30 saltine crackers
4 cups kettle-cooked potato chips
2 large white or yellow onions
6 T vegetable or canola oil
 
Heat oven to 450 degrees, with one rack set in the lowest position, and another in the upper-middle position.   Slice the onions into 1/2 inch thick rounds and separate into rings to get 24 rings.
(I saved the middle smallest rings to chop up for another dish.)
Place 1/4 cup of the flour in a shallow dish.  In another dish, beat the egg and buttermilk together.
Add the remaining 1/4 cup flour, paprika, salt and pepper into the buttermilk mixture.
Process the crackers and chips in a food processor until finely ground.  Put in a third dish.
Dredge onion rings one at a time, dipping in the flour first, then the buttermilk mixture, and the crumb coating last, turning to coat evenly.  Shake excess off after each step.
Set coated rings on large plate while you repeat coating each ring.
Pour 3 T oil onto each of 2 rimmed baking sheets.  Place the baking sheets in the oven and heat for about 8 minutes, until just smoking.
Tilt the hot sheets to coat with the oil.
Lay the rings out in a single layer on the baking sheets.  Bake, flipping the onion rings and rotating the pans halfway thru baking, until golden brown, about 15 minutes total.
Transfer to a paper-towel lined rack briefly before serving.
Recipe slightly adapted from Annie’s Eats, originally from Cook’s Illustrated
 
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