Our family loves these oven-baked onion rings, and we’ve been making them for a long time.
Sweet Vidalia onions are coated in flour, then buttermilk, and then crushed potato chips. To spice things up a bit, I add dried herbs to my friend’s recipe along with cayenne pepper. My recommendation is to cut your rings nice and thick, so you get a crunchy outside and a soft onion inside. They will become brittle and overcooked if you cut them too thinly.
I have already written about them before, so I won’t elaborate here. You can find the recipe below with my flavoring adjustments.
Oven-Baked Onion Rings
Two Vidalia onions (any sweet onion will do)
Baked Potato Chips (about 3 cups)
½ Tsp Cayenne Pepper
½ Tsp Garlic Powder
½ Tsp Onion Powder
½ Tsp Dried Thyme
½ Cup plus 2 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
Buttermilk, 1 cup low-fat
Adding salt and pepper
Prepare the oven by preheating it to 450°
Cut the onions in ½ inch thick rounds. Please make sure they are thick because that will affect the taste and texture of your final product. You lose the onion’s excellent texture contrast and sweetness if you overcook or cut them too thin.
Finely grind the baked potato chips in the food processor. Pour the ground-up chips into a shallow bowl for dredging.
The chips should be seasoned with cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and dried thyme. Combine well.
Separate the onion slices into rings, discarding any broken or smaller inner rings. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the remaining rings with 1/2 cup of flour. Please make sure all the onions are covered with flour by closing the bag and shaking it.
Add the remaining two tablespoons of flour and salt, and pepper to taste to the buttermilk.
Place the floured rings on a baking sheet, dip them into the buttermilk mixture, and coat them with the potato chip mixture.
At this point, you can spray some canola oil on the rings. However, I bake them dry on Silpats. Silpats are my favorite, and I use them for everything. I can usually fit about 18 rings per cookie sheet, and I will use two cookie sheets if I have room in the oven.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 18-20 minutes until golden brown, preferably at 425F. On the inside, you want a sweet, soft onion that is nicely browned and crunchy on the outside.