Baked Onion Rings

A long time ago I remember giving a restaurant server a very hard time for putting onion rings on top of my burger. At the time, I failed to recognize the genius behind taking one of the world's most delicious foods and using it as a topping instead of a side dish. No one needs a lecture on how deliciouly unhealthy deep fried onion rings are for the body, so instead I'll tell you about my quest to perfect the baked onion ring.


To recreate the perfect baked onion ring, one must first do exhaustive research on the competition. It wasn't easy finding the best onion rings around, I had to taste test rings at a dozen different restaurants which was a tough job, but I was willing to make this sacrifice for my readers. In the end, I decided the best rings were thick cut with a crisp coating of breadcrumbs, suitable for dipping or topping a burger. Back in my kitchen, my next problem was how to get the batter to stick to the ring. I tried both milk and buttermilk, both of which failed miserably. Then I switched to double breading, where you repeat both steps of breading twice. This was significantly messier and yielded soggy breading. Then I swapped my buttermilk and used beaten eggs which solved the problem of getting the breading to stick, but I still couldn't get very good breading coverage on the onion rings. Then I remembered being a kid and helping my mom make double-breaded pork chops, the first layer was a thin coat of flour followed by the actual breading. This method was a winner, perfect ring coverage! After baking in a hot oven, we had rings that were well seasoned, flavorful, and perfectly crisp without any grease.

Since I was already improving a classic recipe I decided to go all out and seasoned my breading, both for appearance and for flavor. For this I used Old Bay Seasoning which is traditionally used in seafood dishes, but the flavors are classically American and would pair nicely with any kind of burger. If you are used to using seasoned salts like Lawry's, Old Bay is a blend I would highly recommend adding to your spice cabinet - it works with everything from seafood to vegetables and is a nice change of pace. Now to the part that actually matters. My favorite restaurant deep fried onion rings have 1300 calories and 56 grams of fat per serving. This baked version is equally crisp and more flavorful, with just 200 calories and 3 grams of fat per serving. Serve these with my Cowboy Burgers and you won't be able to find a reason to leave your house to get a good burger and onion rings again. Enjoy!

Baked Onion Rings, Serves 6
2 large yellow onions
2 cups panko bread crumbs
2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease two baking sheets. Peel and slice onions into thick slices and separate into rings. Set up three shallow bowls for dredging the onion rings. In the first, mix the panko, Old Bay, garlic powder, paprika and salt. In the second, beat the four eggs. Place the flour in the last bowl. Arrange your bowls so the eggs are in the center, and the flour and panko on either side. Dip the onion ring into the egg first, then transfer it to the flour. Shake off all the excess, then transfer it back to the egg to recoat. Finally coat the onion ring in the panko mixture and shake well to remove the excess. Place the breaded onion rings on the baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and cripsy; if baking both pans at the same time, swap the pans between the top and bottom racks halfway through baking.