Sometimes you just really need that good ol’ pub food to go with your steak or burger. And, man do we love burgers in my house! I have always loved onion rings and prefer the beer battered variety. But you can only really find panko style ones from the freezer section. So what’s a home chef to do? Figure out how to make them at home, of course!
A Few Pointers
I learned a few things in the process. You gotta make sure that your batter is liquid enough not to cake on and solid enough not to slide off – it’s a delicate balance. If you have something close to pancake batter, you will be good. You want to make sure the oil is hot enough to sizzle when you drop the ring in, but not so hot that it cooks batter all the way through before it gets to the onion. You want the onion to be just a little soft, so that all the crunch comes from the batter.
Whenever you cook with alcohol, you want to follow the rule “If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it”. Whenever you cook with alcohol, like beer, it tends to intensify the flavor, so make sure you enjoy it. By using a beer in this batter, you get a nice light airy batter. Make sure not to over stir the batter, as you will lose the bubbles. You want it to be just mixed together, when you start battering the onions.
And you need the right tools for the job. I found that you can use either cooking chopsticks (if you know how) or these sort of skinny tongs that I ordered from Amazon. They made it so super easy to dip the ring in the batter, flip them in the oil and then remove them to the rack. Speaking of the rack – make sure it is paper towel covered, to soak up any excess oil from the pan.
We also discovered a new dipping sauce the last time I made them. We took a favorite BBQ sauce – it is a tangy variety – and mixed it with sour cream! It was a real zippy almost fry sauce and so good with these onion rings!
If you like this recipe and want to get more like it, you can purchase the Homemade on a Weeknight Cookbook in Paperback or Kindle (eBook) versions through Amazon.
Now let’s get cookin’!
Beer Battered Onion Rings
Ingredients
- 1 Yellow Onion cut into rings no more than ½ in thick
- 1½ cup Flour
- 2 tsp Sea Salt
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 12 oz Beer (Lager is best)
- 4 cups Oil
Instructions
- Prepare all of the ingredients. Add oil to large wide pan (like a large saute pan). Bring oil up to 400 deg.
- Mix flour, salt, paprika and baking soda together. Coat each onion ring in the flour and set aside.
- Mix beer into flour mixture. It should be the consistency of pancake batter
- Once oil is hot enough, dip a floured onion ring in the beer batter and coat completely. Gently drop into oil and let cook until brown then flip and cook until brown again. Remove to a cooking rack over paper towels. Serve immediately.
These look delicious! We were craving onion rings the other night and had the frozen ones. Hmmm. Can’t wait to try these!
They really are super easy to make and so tasty! Let me know how it goes.
I haven’t eaten onion rings in a while and this post made me crave for some good onion rings! Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday party!