Saturday, September 8, 2012

Oven Fried Onion Rings...Low Carb

It is an overcast, dark and dreary Saturday afternoon here with occasional sprinkles coming down, although it looks like the sky could open up at any moment.  It's a great day to play around in the kitchen.  This afternoon I decided to experiment a bit.  I wanted to see if an "almond flour coated" onion ring would work.  So I did a "test batch", making only 1 dozen onions rings.  That way, if it wasn't any good at all...I wouldn't be throwing away a lot of ingredients as well as wasting a lot of my time.  I know that onion rings are typically deep fried...but I don't particularly care with all the mess that goes with that...so I thought I'd see how they would turn out in the oven -- and of course I wanted them to be wheat/grain free.

I started working on this because I am already thinking about some of my Thanksgiving recipes and wondering how I can revisit and revise some of them.  I was thinking this afternoon about my green bean casserole and trying to find a better substitution for the "fried onion" topping from a can that goes on them.  I'm also working on the "sauce" part too...but that will be another day's project.  So, these onion rings turned out surprisingly good -- not super crunchy like deep fried ones would be, but light and crispy and delicious.  Hubby, who is normally an onion ring snob, (unless they are from The Varsity) even liked them!  Below are a few pics as well as my "test batch" recipe if you decide you might also want to try them on a smaller scale first -- that way if you like it, you could multiply the ingredients or you could decide how you might want to adjust them to your own taste (add extra seasonings, etc.).  Enjoy!




Oven Baked Onion Rings

INGREDIENTS:


1 medium to large sweet onion, sliced into 1/4" rings

1 or 2 eggs (I used 1/2 cup Egg Beaters)
3-4 Tablespoons half-n-half
1/2 cup (slightly heaped) almond flour
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika (or enough to give color to the almond flour coating)
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Olive oil

DIRECTIONS:


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil (I used Reynold's non-stick foil) and brush lightly with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil (no need to use your good Extra Virgin olive oil; I used my light "non-virgin" olive oil for this).  In a small bowl, beat egg and half and half together; season with salt and pepper to taste; add onion rings to the egg mixture, toss and let sit to soak while you make the coating/breading.


In a shallow bowl or plate, mix almond flour, salt and pepper to taste, onion powder, paprika and mix well with a whisk to remove any lumps. 


Take onion rings out, one or two at a time and place in the flour mixture, pressing and turning over with a fork until well coated on both sides.  Place on lightly oiled foil covered baking sheet in a single layer, not touching each other.  Place in oven and bake 7-8 minutes; flip and continue baking another 7-8 minutes or until golden brown and done.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt, if desired.


Here they are baking away -- if you wanted them to be more "fried like", you could easily add more oil to the pan -- I only brushed about 1 tablespoon on.
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22 comments:

Steph said...

HELP! Can you post a "tutorial" for successful dredging such as these onion rings? A friend was dying for these and I want to make them too, they look picture perfect, but getting the breading to stay on without making a glompy mess in the dredging bowl is a challenge. His breading would not stay on his. A tutorial would be fabulous! Thanks!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Steph...sorry you had trouble with them. The key is to use a shallow bowl or dish for the "breading"...and make sure that you shake off any excess eggwash mixture. Lay the rings one at a time into the crumb mixture and using a teaspoon, spoon the crumbs over the top side, gently pressing into the breading...flip and make sure you gently press again -- you want to keep your bread crumbs as dry as possible (so you don't want a lot of excess eggwash dripping off in your crumbs making them clump up -- the coating should be light. Does that help you? Let me know. Thanks!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

P.S. -- If that doesn't work or help, I will make a small batch again and snap photos along the way to show you the steps.

Shieldmaiden96 said...

Finally got around to making these and they were outstanding. I was out of paprika so I used Zatarain's Creole Seasoning, which gave them a little 'kick'.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

So glad you liked them Shieldmaiden -- I bet the Zatarain's did give them some extra kick - I like things a little spicy. Again...glad you liked them...thanks!

Ali said...

Looks good! What do you suggest subbing for the half and half if you are dairy free?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Ali -- you could easily substitute unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk for the half and half. Hope you enjoy! :-)

Nancycm10 said...

I just made these for dinner and they are FANTASTIC! Love the "breading"...they have a great taste and texture. Great recipe. Thank you for sharing!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks, Nancy -- so glad you enjoyed them! :-)

Unknown said...

I just made these, OH MY GOD!
I used a vildalia onion, SO YUMMY!
Thanks for this!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

So glad you enjoyed them Nancy! Vidalia onions are my favorite onion too! :-)

Unknown said...

Hi there!! these look amazing- I am dairy free- so I was wondering if almond milk (plain) or unflavored/ unsweeted coconut milk would work..? Thanks!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Danielle,

Yes, most definitely. It shouldn't make any difference at all. Hope you enjoy! :-)

evelyn1954 said...

I stumbled on your recipe searching Pinterset. I want to thank you for sharing it. My son-in-law made it for me last night and it is AWESOME. The only changes I asked him to make was add a little garlic and a pinch of Cheyenne powder, he die mix the dry ingredients in a gallon zip-loc bag and that worked perfect for coating the onion rings, he also used my NuWave Oven it is a large 'Air Fryer' 10 minutes first side flipped over and 5 minutes second side. Looked exactly like your pic :) Tasted out of this world for this low carber!!! I want to try it again with cutting the onions into wedges and coating the petals something like out local Bob Evan's serves and see how that works. That way we could fit more on the grill at a time. I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks again

Unknown said...

Thanks

Unknown said...

trying these out tonight!! if possible, does anyone know the nutrition specs for these! trying to keep track of my macros thank you in advance!

Anonymous said...

I am making this but can I use heavy Whipping Cream

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Yes that will work!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Yes, that will work.

Sandra said...

This looks wonderful! How many carbs / onion rings per serving?

Anonymous said...

i am eating these as i write this note, they are delicious but i would prefer them crisper, do i need more oil on my pan, or should i simply cook them longer? Do you think this would be a suitable coating for onion bombs?




Unknown said...

How far in advance can these be made?