September 21, 2013 September 21, 2013/ Morgan
I only know of a few people that don’t like onion rings. You can just go away now. I’m going to indulge all of my onion ring loving friends with a recipe for some awesome spicy beer battered onion rings with a super crunchy coating. Yummmmm! I love onion rings. Love them. But I hate greasy ones. And what I especially hate is the feeling my face gets after eating greasy onion rings – it feels just as greasy and nasty as the food wreaking havoc on my guts.
So I decided today that I was going to make some good ole baked ones at home.
My inspiration came from the huge onion in my refrigerator. The other day I bought the BIGGEST ONION EVER at the local farm stand. Check out these pictures I took of it :
(It was really early in that picture above!!)
Add a little chipotle dip into the mix and you’ve got a vegan side dish fit for any company. Seriously, no one can complain. The coating sticks perfectly to the onion so you don’t get “slippage.” You know.. where the onion slips right out of the batter and you’re left with eating the rest of a sloppy onion (ew no) or just crunchy batter with no onion (sad.) That doesn’t happen with these at all! So get your big sweet onions ready and get to baking!
- 1 large sweet onion cut into 1/4″ – 1/2″ rings
- 2/3 cup beer (or milk)
- 1/2 cup tofu mayonnaise (plant strong mayo recipe here or use your favorite vegan mayonnaise. If you use premade vegan mayo you should cut the salt back a bit in this recipe.)
- 3/4 cup flour (whole wheat or regular)
- 3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 3 Tablespoons corn starch (or arrowroot)
- 2 teaspoons salt free Cajun seasoning (or your favorite seasoning blend like ones from Mrs. Dash or otherwise)
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 & 1/2 – 2 cups panko breadcrumbs (whole wheat if you can find them!)
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a bowl large enough to fit your onion rings whisk together the beer, tofu mayo, flour, nutritional yeast, corn starch, Cajun seasoning and salt. Place the panko breadcrumbs in a separate bowl that can also accommodate the size of your rings.
Starting with the largest rings you have dip the onion rings (one at a time!) into the wet batter and then shake off the excess. Then dip into the panko and lightly sprinkle the crumbs all over it. Place it on the parchment lined baking sheet. Using the big ones first means that you can then easily place the smaller ones inside and around the larger ones and fit more onto one pan. You can place the rings fairly close together and even inside of each other as long as they aren’t touching. Continue until you have the pan filled.
Bake for 15 minutes and then flip the rings over. Bake for an additional 5-8 minutes or until nice and crispy. Enjoy with your favorite dip!
Quicky Chipotle Onion Ring Dip
- 1/4 cup tofu mayo
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon chipotle powder
- 1 Tablespoon ketchup
Mix and dip. The end!
September 21, 2013/ Morgan/ 
