Whether you want to add fried onions as topping in a burger, tacos or eat them on their own, taste of these crunchy fried onions are satisfying. Fried onion is one of the famous sides served all around the South Asia. You can easily purchase them from your local grocery store, but the fun and taste start when you choose to make your own. And the recipe is simple; a major ingredient is of course onions.
Ingredients of Fried Onions
- Large onions, thinly chopped into small rings.
- Flour
- Freshly grounded black pepper.
- Frying oil; vegetable or canola oil preferred.
- Air fryer, if you don’t want to use oil.
- Buttermilk (Optional)
Here is a quick glimpse about the topic that this post is going to cover:
Inside this article (Quick Summary)
Few things that need to be considered about fried onions:
You can easily jump to the recipe and start making fried onions right away. But if you consider these steps then, there is a good chance that your fried onions will be crispy, crunchy, and mouthwatering.
Picking up right onions
Fried onions are all about the types of onion you choose. There are several onions like red, silver, yellow, white onions. Most of the people take the sweet onions as an ideal one but it is neither wrong nor right. What you need for best fried onion is thin layer chops which are necessary for deep frying. You can use silver or red onion, but we prefer red onions over silver ones.
Conclusion: For our Fried onions we will be using thin copped Red Onions.
Cutting the right size
You are not going to fry the whole onions and right size is crucial for the taste of the fried onions. Onions need to be peeled, cut in half then chopped into thin slices. You can simply use onion slicer, or if you have good knife skill then it should not be hard at all. Have a look on this picture to get a rough idea on sizes.
Selecting the right fryer
You can use Air Fryer and completely skip this process. While it might taste completely same whether you use air fryer or cooking oil, but we highly recommend using canola oil for this.
Benefits of canola oil
Canola oil is rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid and is one of the healthiest cooking oils out in the market. Canola oil has 7% saturated, 64% Monounsaturated fat and 28% polyunsaturated fat. Canola oils contain Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) which helps to protect heart through its effect on blood pressure, cholesterol, and inflammation. (Source: WebMD)
Choosing the right fryer size is also crucial and it totally depends on how much fried onions are you making. Make sure to pick large enough fryer which let onion to spread out evenly. Imagine cooking a lot of French fries in small container and they come out soggy.
Conclusion: Canola oil or Air Fryer. Fryer size needs to be large enough to let onion spread evenly.
Using the right amount of oil
You can use little oil and stir the onions evenly to cook it however we recommend using truck load of oil. You might think it is so unhealthy but trust us, onion does not absorb a lot of oil. Just use enough oil to make use onion remail afloat throughout the cooking.
Stirring and Cooking time
Try using a spoon or skimmer and do not skim too much. Just stir occasionally here and there to make sure onions spread out and gets evenly fried. Cooking time depends on the intensity of flame. Here is the guide medium intensity flame:
- 5 to 8 minutes: Let the oil heat up and do not add anything to oil up until this time.
- 8 to 12 minutes: Pour onions into the oil slowly and let it evaporate. The size of an onion will shrink as it gets evaporated.
- 12 to 18 minutes: Onions will start turning into golden color and start crisping up. Stir 2 to 3 times occasionally and you can remove it if your do not want it to be crispy.
- 18 to 23 minutes: Onions will be golden and crispy now. Small chops will be crispy already. Reduce the flame into small heat and stir constantly. Finally, you can remove onions once they turn into crispy golden color.
Recipe for Fried Onions
Now, let us start the crackdown of our cooking recipe. Follow these directions to get crispy mouthwatering onions:
- Peel the onion and remove all the outer layer and roots. Soak the onions into buttermilk (optional for added flavor) or water.
- Take out onions and chop them into fine slices. You can again leave it inside buttermilk for a bit.
- Add 1 tablespoon of flour for each onion you are using. If you are using 5 onions add 5 tbsp. of flour. Add salt and pepper and mix it evenly.
- Cooking Instructions:
Cooking Fried Onions in Air Fryer:
We have got a lot of question about cooking in air fryer. So, to make your life easy here how to cook fried onions in air fryer.
- Place onion ring into the Air Fryer basket. Make sure there is enough space between onions to let them cook evenly.
- Spray some cooking oil and cook it for 11-15 minutes in 400 °F.
- After 6 minutes into the cook, take out onions and spray a little oil again.
- Take out your crunchy Fried Onions and let cool.
- Serve them with some dipping sauce or sour cream.
Cooking Fried Onions in Oil:
Add canola oil to preferred fryer and follow:
- 5 to 8 minutes: Let the oil heat up and do not add anything to oil up until this time.
- 8 to 12 minutes: Pour onions into the oil slowly and let it evaporate. The size of an onion will shrink as it gets evaporated.
- 12 to 18 minutes: Onions will start turning into golden color and start crisping up. Stir 2 to 3 times occasionally and you can remove it if your do not want it to be crispy.
- 18 to 23 minutes: Onions will be golden and crispy now. Small chops will be crispy already. Reduce the flame into small heat and stir constantly. Finally, you can remove onions once they turn into crispy golden color.
Once they are cooked, pour them out from oil and let it cool. Once cooled, serve them with some dipping sauce or sour cream depending on your choice.
Fried onion Calories and Nutrition per Serving (28 g)
| Calories | 46 cal. |
| Protein | 0.6 g |
| Carbohydrate | 3.9 g |
| Fat | 3.1 g |
| Fibre | 0.9 g |
*(Source: Weightlossresources.co.uk)
Storing Fried Onion
You can batch cook fried onions and store them in a freezer for 4 months. All you need to do is let the onion cool down and pack them in an airtight bag and store inside freezer. Once frozen they will have shelf life of 5 days meaning you can take them out on Monday and eat on Friday. Once defrosted, pour some oil in a pan, and fry them up again to make it hot.
Leftover oil: Solution
Since you cooked onion onto the oil, you can simply filter the crumbs out and reuse the oil to cook something else. The best part of the oil is, it will still have onion flavor into it as you fried onions on them.
Question and Answers
- Q: Are Fried Onions Healthy?
A: Onions are rich in antioxidants and sulfur containing compounds. Their anti-inflammatory effects aids on reducing cancer, lower sugar level and improve the bone health.
- Q: Can you fry onions in butter?
A: Why not. But the more fat in the pan, the more onions will fry rather than soften. It is recommended to use oil or combination of oil and butter.
- Q: Can onions be eaten raw?
A: Onions are meant to be eaten raw. If you eat a raw onion, you can get most of its sulfur compound.
How to use Fried Onions daily?
Onions are one of the versatile vegetables which fits into anything. Whether its on your breakfast or lunch or dinner, onions are always doing their job enriching the flavor. Here are some of the handful ideas to use fried onions.
Breakfast
Toss up some eggs into a pan, add some fried onions and stir them. Add some cheese and you have a cozy and quick breakfast for the right start of your day.
Lunch
Why not add crunch into your lunch? You might like raw onions into your burger, try it with fried onions today, you will not regret. You can also use fried onion as a topping into your deli or fruit salads.
Snacks
Add some crispy fried onions to the pan, toss some cheese on, let the cheese melt, and remove. Now get some dips, I prefer chili sauce and sour cream. You have very own popcorn replacement for you Netflix time.
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