I’m not sure if I know a single person that doesn’t like Beer Battered Onion Rings (same goes for French fries). Seriously though, what isn’t there to enjoy about onion rings? When made well, they’re light, fluffy, crispy, salty, and slightly sweet.
Our recipe for Beer Battered Onion Rings is super simple and result in the best tasting, most crispy coated onion rings! We use a couple different ingredients and basic tricks to ensure these are the best you’ll ever taste!
How to Make Beer Battered Onion Rings
Process
- Preheat oil to 350˚F.
- Toss onion rings with some of the all-purpose flour until each onion ring has a light dusting of flour surrounding it. Set aside.
- Place flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and salt into a mixing bowl and whisk together.
- Whisk in beer and ice cubes until mixture is smooth.
- Dip onion rings, a few at a time, into the batter until fully coated.
- Lift onion rings from the batter, shaking off any excess. Carefully drop the coated rings into the oil and fry for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oil and place onto a baking sheet lined with a cooling rack and paper towels. Repeat until all onion rings have been fried.
- Serve onion rings with a side of ranch dressing (or other condiments of choice).
How to Get the Crispiest Beer Battered Onion Rings
Our beer battered onion rings are super crispy and stay super crispy for awhile (long enough that the last onion ring eaten is practically just as crispy as the first one eaten).
Our secret for the extra crispy coating is using a blend of all purpose flour, rice flour and cornstarch. The rice flour absorbs less oil than wheat flour creating a thinner, crispier and less greasy coating. The cornstarch prevents the glutens in wheat flour from developing, resulting in a crispier coating as well.
A lot of recipes call for baking powder and an egg for dredging, but with our combination of all-purpose flour, rice flour, and cornstarch you get the perfect thin, crispy yet still tender and fluffy coating that pairs perfectly with the soft and sweet onion interior.
What to Serve with Beer Battered Onion Rings
You obviously don’t need to serve anything with onion rings, because it make a great appetizer or snack on its own, but they also go really well with SO many dishes! Some of our favorites are:
- Bacon Westen Double Cheeseburgers
- Seared Ribeye
- Copycat Popeyes Chicken Sandwich
- Slow Cooker BBQ Beef Brisket
- Carne Asada Torta
- Chivito
Tips and Tricks for Beer Battered Onion Ring Success
- Don’t skip out on the rice flour or cornstarch! They’re the secret to the extra crispy coating on the onion rings and what makes the crispy texture last.
- The ice cubes really help the batter stick to the onion rings once they’re fried because it keeps the batter very cold, which is what causes the batter to stick to the onion rings.
- Draining the fried onion rings on a cooling rack is the best way to keep the onion rings from getting soggy on the bottom.
- Use a spider strainer to life the onion rings from the oil! I think it’s the best way to remove them from the oil without damaging any of the fried goodness around the onion rings.
More Delicious Appetizer Recipes You Will Love
Beer Battered Onion Rings
INGREDIENTS
- 2 large sweet onions, sliced into ½” thick rings and separated
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour divided
- 1/2 cup rice flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ⅓ cups beer of choice
- 3 ice cubes
- 6 cups vegetable oil
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oil to 350˚F.
- Toss onion rings with 1/2 cup all-purpose flour until each onion ring has a light dusting of flour surrounding it. Set aside.
- Combine remaining all-purpose flour, rice flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and salt into a mixing bowl and whisk together.
- Whisk in beer and ice cubes until mixture is smooth.
- Dip onion rings, a few at a time, into the batter until fully coated.
- Lift onion rings from the batter, shaking off any excess. Carefully drop the coated rings into the oil and fry for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from oil and place onto a baking sheet lined with a cooling rack. Repeat until all onion rings have been fried.
- Serve onion rings with a side of ranch dressing (or other condiments of choice).
NOTES
- Don’t skip out on the rice flour or cornstarch! They’re the secret to the extra crispy coating on the onion rings and what makes the crispy texture last for a while.
- Draining the fried onion rings on a cooling rack is the best way to keep the onion rings from getting soggy on the bottom.
- The ice cubes really help the batter stick to the onion rings once they’re fried because it keeps the batter very cold, which is what causes the batter to stick to the onion rings.
- Don’t skip out on the rice flour or cornstarch! They’re the secret to the extra crispy coating on the onion rings and what makes the crispy texture last.
- The ice cubes really help the batter stick to the onion rings once they’re fried because it keeps the batter very cold, which is what causes the batter to stick to the onion rings.
- Draining the fried onion rings on a cooling rack is the best way to keep the onion rings from getting soggy on the bottom.
- Use a spider strainer to life the onion rings from the oil! I think it’s the best way to remove them from the oil without damaging any of the fried goodness around the onion rings.
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The first few times I made this recipe I didn’t have rice flour, last time I did, and what a difference. I froze the leftovers and heated them in a toaster oven and they were still crispy. I’m making them today and made sure to have rice flour on hand. Thanks for a great recipe.
Hey Denney, I’m so happy you enjoy our onion rings recipe and even happier you were able to try it with rice flour – it really makes a difference with the crispness! Thanks for the overall feedback!
Made it last year and will make it again now that Vidalia onions are back in season. Used Pabst Blue Ribbon for beer. My 1st time making them was phenomenal.
Totally recommend !
This was my 2nd attempt at onion rings and the recipe is perfect. I didn’t have smoked paprika so used chipotle powder instead and they turned out perfectly. Had a little of the batter left over so made some corn fritters with the rest which were also excellent. I will echo some of the other reviews in here and say they were better than the ones I have had out by a good bit.
Coupled them with smash burgers which were a blend of lean beef and black pig “secretos” with a real cheddar melted on.
Finished that up with a home made tirimasu with ground pistachio nuts in it.
Amazing recipe! They were better than onion rings that I order from a restaurant. They were even crispy the next day after heating in the oven. Thank you so much!
It was my first time making onion rings. SO good
Made this last night and there STILL CRISPY the next day! Best ever recipe. It’s now apart of my collection. Will have to use it to make Honey Walnut Shrimp and chicken and fish!
So happy to hear that! Glad you enjoyed the onion rings! Great idea to use the batter for different proteins!
This recipe was exactly what I was looking for! So glad I had rice flour on hand already. Absolutely delish!!
Delicious and stayed crunchy even though my guests arrived late:)
So happy to hear that! I love these onion rings so much!
These are amazing, perfectly crispy and so yummy! Thank you for this recipe. If it were up to my boyfriend I’d be making these every night lol
Haha! I’m so happy you and your boyfriend enjoyed them! I love these so much!
Would your flour/rice-flour/cornstarch method work if dredged them in panko crumbs afterewards?
I don’t think the panko would stick to the batter mixture. If you want to breadcrumb coat onion rings they should be dipped in flour, then beaten eggs, then the panko for the best “sticking”
Is there a reason you don’t use eggs here? Just asking as most other recipes I’m looking at do.
Not using egg keeps the fried batter super light and crispy (for awhile)
Can you cook these ahead of time and re-heat in oven? As in a couple hours prior so I can make my steak au poivre w/o timing issues?
I haven’t tried it before, but don’t think these would hold up in the oven. They do stay crispy for at least an hour though!
Thanks Jenny. What do you think about frying once to ‘set’ to less than golden and then when ready to serve a quick second fry?
I’d love to try this in my air fryer – do you think it would be ok?
Unfortunately I don’t recommend anything with a wet batter to go into the air fryer. The onion rings will not cook up the same.
Do you re dip the onions in the batter when you double fry?
Nope….just remove them from the oil, allow them to sit for a few minutes, before frying them again
Instead of beer, do we have another altrnatives, since im not particularly allowed to consume it
You can definitely substitute seltzer water! The flavor/texture will just be a bit lighter :)
They burned! I ended up shortening the cooking times to two minutes each round, and they still came out with burnt batter (what was left on the rings), and soft onions.
hm, that’s really strange. This is basically a korean fried chicken batter and it takes quite a wihle for it to color and burn…
MMMMM!!!! Yuuuuuummy)