ONION RINGS

I saw this recipe on The Chew website when I was looking for interesting burger ideas.  We had recently eaten some great onion rings at Smashburger, and these looked a lot like theirs so I had to try them.  After all it was Saturday night, and I was just making us a burger, so I had to make the meal special somehow.  They are GREAT!  Sliced very thin you don’t get that big hunk of onion like so many onion rings have.  They are so crispy that even the next morning when I took the leftovers out of a baggie that had been stored in the frig overnight they were still crispy.  So when you are in the mood for something fried you have to try these.  They kind of remind me of the canned ones you use on the green bean casserole everyone makes for Thanksgiving, but so very much better!  The batter will probably be my go-to batter for other fried veggies as well – it would be great for fish or chicken too!

½ c. flour

¼ c. cornstarch
2 TB instant mashed potatoes
½ t. cayenne
½ t. dried thyme
1 c. club soda
Panko breadcrumbs
Flour
Canola oil
Salt to taste
2-3 medium onions, sliced very thin and separated into rings

In a shallow bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, instant mashed potatoes, cayenne and thyme.  Stir in club soda and allow to sit while cutting onions.  Mixture will thicken a bit.

Pour breadcrumbs into a second shallow dish and the dredging flour in a second dish.  Fill a heavy bottomed pot or deep fryer with 2” of oil, and heat to 365-370 degrees.

Dip onion rings into the flour, then in the batter and coat well.  Immediately coat with the breadcrumbs and drop into hot oil.  Brown on both sides, about 2 minutes.  Drain on wire rack over sheet pan and sprinkle immediately with salt.  Repeat until all onion rings are cooked.