Crispy Onion Rings: How to cook onion rings without breadcrumbs or eggs

They are either a hot crispy marvel that gives your tastebuds a trip to heaven or they are a soggy, oily and unappealing disaster that just happens to tag along a burger meal. In today’s cooking tutorial we’re taking the more optimistic route. In addition to onion rings, you will also learn how to make two super-easy sauces to go with the crispy onion rings.

Ingredients you will need for extra crispy onion rings:

• 125g or 1/2 cups mayo
• 50g or 1/4 cups sour cream
• 15g or 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove, pressed/minced
• 15g or 1 tbsp hot sauce
• 1 chipotle in adobo

Ingredients you will need to make Herbed Sauce:

• 125g or 1/2 cup mayo
• 50g or 1/4 cup sour cream
• 15g or 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove, pressed/minced
• 10g or 3-4 tbsp chives, minced 
• 10g  or 3-4 tbsp fresh dill, minced

Cooking method for golden-brown eggless and breadcrumb free onion rings:

1. Take two white onions and cut off both poles. Carefully cut one layer deep to remove the outer layer. 
2. Once the onion is cleaned up, cut the onion into 3 quarters to 1 inch (2cm) thick pieces, and when you reach the last piece, lay it flat and slice horizontally. 
3. Separate the rings, removing the middle half from each, leaving only larger outer rings which should be 2 and ½ inch at its smallest. 
4. To make the dredging, in a medium bowl, combine 400g of flour, 150 gm of corn starch, 6 gm of baking powder, 2 gm of paprika, 2 gms of salt, and 3 gm of pepper. 
5. In two small separate containers, add 2 - 3 cups of buttermilk to one and another 2-3 cups of plain all purpose flour to the second for the dredge.
6. Drop each ring into the plain flour to coat, then into the buttermilk. Allow excess to drip off then drop into the dredging to coat. Repeat for all rings. 
7. When finished, dredge each ring a second time by dipping it into the buttermilk then into the dredging to coat. Place each ring in a single layer on a baking tray. 
8. To fry, fill a large heavy bottomed pot ⅓ of the way up the sides with neutral frying oil and heat over medium until the temperature reaches 350F/175C.
9. While the oil heats, preheat the oven to 200F/95C and add an empty sheet tray with a wire rack. This is where you’ll keep the already-fried onion rings warm while you finish frying.
10. When the fry oil is up to temp, lower the onion rings in carefully, one at a time. Be sure to allow enough space around each ring so that they don’t touch. 
11. After 2 minutes, flip rings over to fry for about 2 more minutes or until they are golden and crisp. Then lift rings from oil using a strainer and place them on a wire rack in a preheated oven until ready to serve.

Sauce Preparation Method:

1. For the Chipotle Ranch, add all ingredients to a high sided container and spin with an immersion blender until well broken down. 
2. For the Herbed Ranch, blend mayo, sour cream, lemon juice, and garlic until smooth. Stir in herbs.

Lastly, before you get started with the actual cooking, make sure to avoid picking yellow onions for the dish as they tend to get soggy and can be overly sweet. The snack preparation also requires dredging, so for those unfamiliar with the concept, to dredge is to lightly coat food with a dry ingredient, such as flour, cornmeal, etc.