Beer Battered Onion Rings

I never fry food.  I might love french fries but at home I oven bake them.  Then one day I saw a picture with a stack of crispy onion rings and that was it, I whipped out the Ipad and went to Google. Do you remember those bricks of onion rings Tony Roma’s served alongside a tangy barbeque sauce?  Now those were dangerous.

Gathering all the ingredients I soaked the onion rings in buttermilk and set up my station to dunk, dredge and dunk again. I slid them gently into the oil and watched the oil bubble around them until they were a golden brown.  I dropped them onto a stack of paper towels to soak up the excess oil and sprinkled them with sea salt.

My efforts were rewarded. The beer in the batter creates a light crispy coating around the onion rings.  Stack them up and serve them while you are outside grilling.  They will disappear quickly.

Beer Battered Onion Rings

2 yellow onions, sweet ones like Vidalia
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
12 ounces beer, medium body
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

In a Dutch oven heat oil to 350 degrees F.

Cut onions 1/2-inch thick, separate into rings and soak in buttermilk for 1 hour.

Combine 1 cup of flour,  salt, pepper, mix thoroughly. In a medium bowl combine beer and 1 cup of flour, mix thoroughly.

Remove onion rings from buttermilk, shake off excess, dredge in flour, shake off excess, then dip in beer batter. Drop some onion rings in oil and continue process, being sure not to crowd rings as they will stick together. When golden, remove and let drain on paper towels.

Sprinkle with coarse salt.