Friday, March 20, 2009

Waiting for the Recovery with Oven-Fried Onion Rings

There are many theories floating around these days about what signs will accurately indicate a turn-around in the economy; things like housing starts, interest rates, and commodity futures. But, I'm going with the O.R.C.I., the onion ring consumption index.

My theory has it that the higher the frequency of onion rings ordered, the better the economy is doing - and more importantly, the better people are feeling. You just don't order onion rings any old time, mainly because they're a side dish you have to pay extra for. You have to take a moment for some self-negotiation before ordering onion rings.
In those few seconds of contemplation, much is revealed. Can you afford it? Does your current mood and situation warrant this crisp indulgence? Onion rings are also ordered when good things have happened; you order them after you get a raise, after a hole-in-one, after a new high bowling score. Happy people spend more money.

I will continue to monitor the national O.R.C.I. for you, and will be sure to let you know when these tough times are over, but until then here's a video recipe for making onion rings at home.

I don't really deep-fry at home, and neither do most people, so when I find a recipe that does a reasonably good job at producing something close, I jump on it quick. This onion recipe is easy, low-fat, and if you use the recommended Panko breadcrumbs, produces a light and crisp onion ring. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
2 egg whites
2 tbsp milk
pinch of cayenne
1 yellow onion, sliced, separated into 1/2-in thick rings
1/2 cup flour, seasoned w/ salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
3 to 4 cups Panko, Japanese-style breadcrumbs
vegetable oil spray


View the complete recipe

40 comments:

Connie T. said...

This looks good. My question is, if I make them this way, can I put them in a fryer or do I need a different coating?

Chef John said...

i've never tried, but assume they would be fine.

Anonymous said...

I think buttermilk instead of regular milk would be good too, also, I happen to have some in the fridge.

~ Peggasus

Anonymous said...

Oh my!!!! I love onion rings....and to bake them...wow. Thanks so much for this recipe. It is a MUST try!
Way to go Chef John!

CollegeGourmet said...

I'm not a big fan of low fat food, but these look quite good!

People Chow said...

The biggest problem with oven-baked onion rings is that the coating does not brown evenly. The part of the onion not touching the pan never seems to brown. To avoid this, you might consider adding the panko to a skillet with a tiny bit of oil and "dry fry" the breadcrumbs until they turn brown. Then, you can use the browned panko to coat the rings like normal and then bake. They do not brown much more in the oven -- even after baking for several minutes. When prepared this way, they taste even better and are wonderfully crispy.

Anonymous said...

Low Fat foods usually alter specific ingredients so the fat content is reduced. Like Low Fat Milk,. These are low fat due to the changed process. That's the genius of our dear friend, Chef John. He's devised a way to make something that is normally very high in fat and came up with something that has minimal fat. Weight Watchers should hire him as a consultant!

Chef John said...

great idea! I wish the blog I stole this idea from had thought of that!

Anonymous said...

You used the "old seperate through your hand method"?! Mine? Jeez, you got to warn me when you do that Chef... I almost got fired.

I was wondering where all of these onion rings came from...

Scott - Boston

Anonymous said...

This is great! I'm constantly craving o-rings but I don't do deep-frying at home. One question from the video: do you spray the baking sheet prior to placing the o-rings on it, or just spray the rings after placing them?

Thanks Chef!

Chef John said...

i just sprayed the top

Chef John said...

when will you learn, never play my videos with the sound on!

Luatica said...

Actually I alwaays thought that onion rings were the poor people's version of calamari rings and such.

Also if you make then breadcrumbs yourself with stale bread (in my house we used to get lots and lots) you can get somet thicker than usual breadcrumbs like panko.

Left over bread, cheap onions. Great cheap food.

Anonymous said...

Hey Chef Jon...panko is still pretty rare here in Madrid...and when you find it it's like 5 bucks for a small bag...so my question is...is there a way to make a reasonable facsimile of it myself...

Thanks for any tips..

Anonymous said...

Hi Chef John Mitzewich!
Well come to my house:
Bep Lo Lem Blog
Thanks

Anonymous said...

so what do i do with a spare egg yolk?

Chef John said...

just make fresh slightly larger bread crumbs and toast lightly before using.

Anonymous said...

looks delicious!

missatam said...

My bread crumbs clumped up instead of coating the onion rings evenly. How do i prevent this?

Chef John said...

not sure. you saw what i did, did you do it the same way? maybe it clumped as you handled it. lighter touch maybe

dining table said...

Thanks for the video. I never made perfect onion rings. I hope this recipe can help me make a nicer version.

pan-aho said...

so happy to find this recipe ... love onion rings, but the frying makes it a no-no for me... Chef John to the rescue ~ could i just ask you a favor, your Chefness? would you please say: pahn instead of pan? the Japanese pronunciation of bread is pahn even tho' it's spelled pan. ko means child or offshoot, so the crumbs are an offshoot of the bread. thank you, then maybe others will learn of the proper pronunciation.

Chef John said...

no

pan-aho said...

huh?

Mel said...

These were AMAZING!! Used vidalia onions. As a non-lover of onions, I was worried about the taste and consistency. However, they tasted just like fried without all the grease. Thank you SO much; these will become the new go-to side.

chris said...

Chef John,

juzt wanted to know if the chocolate lava cake had baking pwd mixed in the flour or i need to skip adding baking pwd?

Chef John said...

No, just the ingredients listed.

Anonymous said...

Hey everyone looking to make these. They are very easy and take around 10 mins to prep, also they are kinda bland, so i will incourage this dipping sauce found on this web page ignore the onion ring recipe and go down to the sauce its great

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/02/22/onion-rings-dipping-sauce/

Anonymous said...

what can you substitute for the vegetable oil spray?

Unknown said...

chef john your awesoooooooooome! your senesce of humer and they way you talk about the food especially, i hope you can keep the good work up

Unknown said...

chef john your awesoooooooooome! your senesce of humer and they way you talk about the food especially, i hope you can keep the good work up

Anonymous said...

Yes. Chef John, you have an excellent 'senesce of humer' and even more excellent recipes. Thank you for sharing them.

Cory said...

Hi Chef, just curious: what would happen if you used the whole egg?

Chef John said...

Not sure!

Anonymous said...

I have made this recipe a few dozen times now (thanks, Chef John!) and have found that using the whole egg works fine, I can never taste the cayenne (so I don't use it anymore), and the texture of the panko is better if you put it in a food processor to reduce the crumb size. We love these with a dipping sauce that is 50-50 mayo and prepared horseradish (the only ingredients should be horseradish and vinegar).

Unknown said...

Made this tonight and it was a winner! Now I'm going to experiment using this batter to make chicken fingers!

Deniz said...

Chef, the crumbs just didn't stick to the onions properly, they slid right off them, so I had to pile them on and they were still partially coated. They were still awesome though!

SS4Kokoro said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Athena said...

If you want, you can prep the breadcrumbs with a drizzle of olive oil, toss them until coated then apply to the onion rings. At this point seasoning is most efficient so that it sticks better to the food. This will give an overall browning to the surface. Also, I might flip them half way through cooking and either bake on the bottom rack so the browning is best on the bottom of the onion or top rack and browning is best on the top of the onion.

Art Mom said...

I love these onions. I made them in fall 2017 as onion rings as per the recipe and to the letter, and on Memorial Day as blooming onions. Yep! As for the coating, I have made an alteration, and it is something I learned on the fly while camping and had to make-do, to get the coating to stick; I used dried egg-white. I cut open and flower-cut the onion, and then let its juices come out a bit, then dipped it into the dried egg-white the way you'd use flour to coat. Doing this, the egg-white dries hard, and quite quickly, so after dipping the onions into the egg powder, then into milk then panko, it all stuck together before putting into the oven. Presto! It really was awesome. Making more now, in fact, which prompted me to re-see the recipe and hence post the experience. I douse up the coating mixture with ground, mixed pepper corns, smoked paprika and just a tad of horse radish cream to the milk coating rather than the dip, as we don't use dip for these. All in all took a good hour after baking was finished before we could enjoy these. Thank you Chef John!