Go Back
Print

Classic Beer Battered Onion Rings

Crispy, light and full of flavour, you will love these onion rings!

Course side
Cuisine American
Keyword batter, beer, onion
Prep Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 2 large sweet onions

Dredging Flour

  • 1 cup flour can use cup for cup Gluten Free flour blend substitutes
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 tsp salt

Batter

  • 1 cup flour see above
  • 4 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp white pepper
  • 1 12 oz can beer ice cold Lager or Blonde
  • peanut oil or other oil with high burning point enough to fill the wok or dutch oven you are using a few inches high
  • flakey salt to finish

Instructions

  1. Slice the onions into 1/2 inch rings. Separate them into individual rings. Place them all into a bag or container and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. You can have this step done first thing in the morning.
  2. When ready to fry, pull the onions out of the fridge and remove the inner thin membranes from the rings. Chilling will help the membrane separate easier)
  3. In a large freezer bag, add all the Dredging flour ingredients. Add the onions, close the bag, and give everything a good shake to help coat all the onions.
  4. Fill a wok or dutch oven with 2-3 inches high with the oil. Preheat the oil over medium high heat, you want the final temperature at no more than 375F. Prepare a baking sheet with a cooling rack covered with paper towel. Preheat the oven to 200F.
  5. In a medium bowl combine all the dry ingredients of the Batter. Add enough of the ice cold beer to create a batter, whisking it until it is like very thick pancake batter. Add the beer in batches till this consistency is achieved. But don't over-mix, some small clumps of flour are fine. An onion ring should be covered and hold onto the batter without losing it all back into the bowl.
  6. Using tongs a fork (or your fingers) slowly lower the onion into the oil, releasing when halfway submerged. The oil should be working, not overly bubbling, but not too gentle either. Add more onion rings, without crowding. Fry, flipping them as soon as they turn a golden brown. The whole time in should be about 4 minutes. If they are turning too brown too quickly, then adjust the heat. But don't lower it too much, this is what causes the batter to absorb more of the oil, and you will get soggy battered rings, and will end up eating more oil than is healthy.
  7. Transfer the rings to the paper towel lined cooling rack. Immediately sprinkle with salt. When all the onion rings are fried up you can transfer the whole baking sheet to the oven to keep warm.

Air Fryer Second 'Fry'

  1. If you have an air fryer, you will love using it to rewarm the finished rings. The fryer will use the residual oil on the rings to crisp them up perfectly. Use a setting between 325 and 350F (you know your fryer!) and place the rings on the fryer basket in one layer. Fry for about 8 minutes till crisped.