Air Fryer Onion Rings (Beer-Battered)
Make delicious beer-battered onion rings in the air fryer! Our recipe for air fryer onion rings is easy and makes minimal mess.
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 1 cup self-rising flour divided
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup beer we use Wernesgrüner Pils from Aldi
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon curry powder
- 1 cup stone ground yellow cornmeal divided
- 1 large Vidalia onion cold and sliced into ½” rounds
- oil spray such as avocado oil spray
Instructions
Creating your workstation
- To prepare beer battered onion rings, you will want to set up a work station using 3 containers or bowls. In the first container, whisk together ½ cup self-rising flour with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch.
- In the second dish, whisk together 2 large eggs, ½ cup beer, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, and ¼ teaspoon curry powder. Add remaining ½ cup self-rising flour and whisk until smooth. This mixture will have a thin batter consistency.
- Pour ½ cup cornmeal into the third dish. NOTE: We work with ½ cup cornmeal at a time to help prevent clumping. Add more cornmeal as needed and discard cornmeal that gets clumpy.
Prepping the onions
- Slice off the stem end of 1 large Vidalia onion. Remove the first layer of onion, then slice the onion into ½ inch thick rounds. Carefully separate the rounds into individual onion rings. Reserve small onion pieces for use in other recipes.
- Using a fork, coat an onion ring in the flour and cornstarch mixture, and gently shake off any excess flour. Place in beer batter. Don't let your flour fork touch the batter.
- Using a separate fork, coat the onion ring in beer batter, making sure to fully coat all sides. Gently lift the onion ring out of the beer batter and allow excess to drip off. Carefully place the onion ring in the cornmeal mixture. Don't let your beer batter fork touch the cornmeal.
- Finally, using a different fork, fully coat the onion ring with cornmeal. Gently shake off excess and place onion ring on a rack while you continue to coat the remaining onions until all are coated. NOTE: Use a rack placed inside a baking tray. We line the tray with foil for easy clean up. Set rack with onion rings in fridge for at least 30 minutes before air frying.
Air frying onion rings
- When ready to air fry, preheat the air fryer to 400°F. Once the air fryer is preheated, remove the air fryer basket and spray the basket with oil spray. Place onion rings in a single layer in the air fryer basket. The onion rings should not touch. Spray with oil spray to coat each of the onion rings well. You want to make sure you coat the top side of the onions rings with the oil spray.
- Air fry at 400°F for 8 minutes, until golden brown and crispy. Use tongs to carefully remove air fried onion rings to a serving plate. Continue cooking until all onion rings are air fried. You will need to air fry in batches.
- Once all onion ring batches are cooked, add them all back to the air fryer at the same time to heat through for about 2 minutes at 400°F. They don't need to be in a single layer this time. Once done, serve and enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Let us know in the comments below!
Notes
- Be sure to chill your onion(s) before slicing. Using cold onions helps the breading to stick to the onions. If you onion is at room temperature just place it in the freezer for 30 minutes before slicing.
- Use a different fork for each container when breading the onion rings. That will help keep each fork clean so you don’t get clumps in the cornmeal.
- We work with ½ cup cornmeal at a time to help prevent clumping. Add more cornmeal as needed and discard cornmeal that gets too many clumps.
- No need to flip the onion rings. They will get crispy on both sides as long as they are in a single layer and not touching.
- Discard remaining flour mixture, beer batter, and cornmeal. It cannot be reused.
- The amount of onion rings this recipe yields varies depending on the size of your onion, but we found that there is generally enough for four servings.
Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 355kcalCarbohydrates: 64gProtein: 11gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 624mgPotassium: 310mgFiber: 5gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 123IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 40mgIron: 2mg