Oven-Fried Onion Rings, Take II

So, back in February, I made some oven-fried onion rings, along with a killer dipping sauce. It tasted just like the sauce you get with an onion that has been bloomin’. The onion rings were absolutely delicious – crunchy and full of authentic fried flavor without needing to actually boil a vat of oil and smell up the house. The recipe wasn’t without its faults though – the crushed potato chips seemed to have a hard time adhering to the batter because they were in such large chunks. Some readers reported that their potato chip mixture ended up thick and gloppy from the batter sticking to clumps of chips. The reviews were decidedly mixed, and I had added reworking the recipe to my list of things to do this summer.

Well, imagine my surprise when I strolled into Sam’s Club last week, walked past the magazine stand, and noticed a “Summer Entertaining” issue from Cook’s Illustrated that included a recipe for oven-fried onion rings! I took it as a sign, bought the book immediately, and as soon as I got home got to work checking out the differences in the recipes.

The biggest difference between the two is that this one adds saltines to the potato chip coating, and both are ground together in a food processor so that a finer crumb is produced, which really worked wonders when dredging these. The saltines also help to absorb extra grease from the potato chips, which keeps them from becoming too oily while still retaining a great “fried” consistency and flavor.

Another difference is that the seasonings (cayenne, salt and pepper) are added to the buttermilk mixture instead of the initial flour dusting. I think this helps give the onion rings great flavor, as the buttermilk batter adheres in a much more pronounced way than the initial dusting of flour does. The cayenne is great, not over-powering, and gives the onion rings a fabulous kick.

Just a couple of subtle differences, but they make a huge difference. I would definitely recommend this recipe, and will be putting a note on the previous recipe to refer to this one from now on. But, you should definitely not make these without the awesome dipping sauce. It’s money, and we all know the dipping sauce is what makes onion rings.

Next I think I will try beer-battered, deep-fried onion rings, look out!

One year ago: Chocolate Espresso Semifreddo

Oven-Fried Onion Rings

Yield: About 24 rings, serving 4 to 6

Prep Time: 45 minutes | Bake Time: 23 minutes

½ cup all-purpose flour, divided
1 large egg, room temperature
½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon salt
¼ ground black pepper
30 saltine crackers
4 cups kettle-cooked potato chips
2 large yellow onions, cut into 24 rings (see note)
6 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Adjust oven racks to lower-middle and upper-middle positions and heat oven to 450 degrees F. Place ¼ cup flour in shallow baking dish. Beat egg and buttermilk together in bowl. Whisk remaining ¼ cup flour, cayenne, salt and pepper into buttermilk mixture. Pulse saltines and potato chips together in food processor until finely ground; 8 to 10 pulses.

Place crumb mixture in second shallow baking dish.

2. Working one at a time, dredge each onion ring in flour, shaking off excess. Dip rings in buttermilk mixture, allowing excess to drip back into bowl, then drop into crumb coating, turning rings to coat evenly.

Transfer coated rings to large plate or tray.

3. Pour 3 tablespoons oil onto each of two rimmed baking sheets. Place baking sheets in oven and heat until just smoking, about 8 minutes. Carefully tilt heated sheets to coat evenly with oil, then arrange onion rings on sheets. Baking, flipping onion rings and switching and rotating position of baking sheets halfway through baking, until golden brown on both sides, about 15 minutes. Briefly drain onion rings on paper towel-lined plate. Serve immediately.

* Note 1: Slice the onions into ½-inch-thick rounds, separate the rings, and discard any rings smaller than 2 inches in diameter. It will depend on the size of your onions, but both of mine ended up being sliced into 4 to get the ½-inch-thick rounds.

* Note 2: The onion rings can be breaded in advance and refrigerated for up to an hour. Let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking them; if baked while still chilled from the refrigerator, the onions will not cook enough to soften and will remain crunchy.

(Recipe adapted from Summer Entertaining from Cook’s Illustrated)

Onion Rings Dipping Sauce

Prep Time: 5 minutes

½ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons ketchup
2 tablespoons horseradish
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
Dash ground black pepper
Dash cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate.

(Recipe from CopyKat.com)

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