Onion Rings

One of my favorite fried foods is a golden brown, crispy, and delicious onion ring. Great next to a juicy grilled burger or even on their own, they're a special treat I like to make for myself and my family/friends once in a while when we want something fried and salty. Most onion rings are either beer battered or have a floury and crisp coating on the outside. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the beer battered onion rings. It always seems like the entire onion comes out of the fried batter when you take the first bite. That's not an issue with these onion rings! Coated with flour and panko bread crumbs - every bite will be crispy and delicious!

2 very large onions (Spanish or Vidalia)
2 cups of butter milk
1 ½ cups of flour
½ cup of Panko bread crumbs
Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable or Peanut Oil for frying



Peel and slice the onions into large slices about a ½ inch thick or so. Separate the onion slices into individual rings. In a large mixing bowl, add the buttermilk and stir in 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and a ½ teaspoon of black pepper. Add the onions to the buttermilk mixture and let them soak for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour and bread crumbs with 1 teaspoon of salt and black pepper. Mix together and set aside.

Once you're ready to fry the onion rings, fill your deep fryer to the recommended fill line. If you're using a pot to fry, add enough oil so that the oil line is about 2 to 3 inches above the bottom of the pan. Heat the oil to about 350-375 degrees over a medium high heat. Take a cookie sheet or a large platter and line with a few paper towels. We'll use this to let the onion rings drain off any excess oil once they're fried.

In small batches, take the onion rings out of the buttermilk (allow some of the milk to drip off) and dredge the onions in the flour and bread crumb mixture. Coat the onions well. Test the oil by carefully dropping one onion ring into the oil. You should see bubbles immediately around the onion ring and it should float towards the top of the oil. Fry the onion rings in small batches, if we add too many at once the temperature of our oil will lower and we won't get an even fry. Patience when cooking goes a long way my friends!

Fry the onions for about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the onion rings once about half way through their fry time. Once they're golden brown and crisp, use a pair of metal tongs or a wire spider to carefully remove them from the hot oil. Place the onion rings on the paper towels to drain and continue to fry the rest. Season with salt while the onion rings are still hot. You can keep the onion rings warm in a 200 degree oven until you've fried them all.