Perfect Onion Rings?

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Janet H

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I love onion rings but they may possibly the biggest regular disappointment on menus. Surely someone can still make decent onion rings, but most often they are frozen mashed and extruded onion bits coated in gooey, salty breading. Horrible.

My project this month is to learn to make perfect onion rings and so I have questions and need advice.

I've tried a few times already and had some failures. The first problem I have in the choice of onion. I've tried 2 so far, a walla walla sweet, with a high water content (turned mushy and wet) and a red onion which got tough and was VERY oniony.

What kinds of onions would be best?

The next challenge is the breading. I like them crispy, light and tasty - maybe with a little corn flavor but not a thick batter.

Do you have a great recipe?
 
I love onion rings but they may possibly the biggest regular disappointment on menus. Surely someone can still make decent onion rings, but most often they are frozen mashed and extruded onion bits coated in gooey, salty breading. Horrible.

My project this month is to learn to make perfect onion rings and so I have questions and need advice.

I've tried a few times already and had some failures. The first problem I have in the choice of onion. I've tried 2 so far, a walla walla sweet, with a high water content (turned mushy and wet) and a red onion which got tough and was VERY oniony.

What kinds of onions would be best?

The next challenge is the breading. I like them crispy, light and tasty - maybe with a little corn flavor but not a thick batter.

Do you have a great recipe?
Janet,
how about a tempura batter for the onion rings.? I'll check and see about a recipe if this interests you.
kadesma
 
We've had our best success using sweet onions which get soaked in ice water first and when we use rice flour as a coating.
 
Spanish onions .. soak in ice water .. tempura batter .. yum ! :yum:
 
Seems to me, they work best if left in the ice water overnight (or longer). I use rice+chickpea flour. I use Spanish onions.
 
I saw a show where Ina Garten soaked her onion rings in ice water. Made sense at the time, it crisps them up, I guess.

Then there's always Dairy Queen. :LOL: They use real sliced onions, not onion mush. The batter is usually nice and crisp, but probably thicker than what you want.
 
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