Home made beer batter onion rings may be a little fussy, but it’s worth the effort. Delicious!

I’ve seen a lot of re-worked recipes for onion rings over the past year.  Most of them have been “healthed up” recipes and generally baked.

Now, I don’t eat onion rings very often–maybe 2-3 times per year at best.  But when I want them, I don’t want some dried-out baked (and probably tasteless) version of the real thing. And unfortunately, that’s what the myriad of versions I saw looked like.

Since these aren’t an every-day food or even weekly for most people, bite the bullet and have the authentic kind. Your health will not suffer, trust me.

Crispy and crunchy

You really should use Spanish or Vidalia onions with this for extra sweetness, but I’ve also used plain old yellows and they taste fine.  So use what you have when the onion mood hits you.

The batter is simply my general beer batter that I use for fish, chicken and assorted other veggies I dip and fry on occasion. You can add any additional flavorings to it.  I tend to use seasoned salt as a general seasoning, but I’ve also used Old Bay in this when I’m doing fried shrimp.  Old Bay doesn’t taste bad for onion rings either.  Use about 1 teaspoon in addition to the seasoned salt.

That stuff you see in the jelly jars in the background of the photos is homemade Comeback Sauce.  It’s EXCELLENT (yes, I’m shouting) with onion rings, so make some up and try it.  It’s also a good salad dressing, burger sauce and general condiment…plus it’s easy to make.

Beer Batter Onion Rings

• 2 large sweet onions (Spanish, Vidalia)
• 2 cups buttermilk or sour milk*
• 1/2 cup flour
• oil for frying
• Batter:
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp seasoned salt
• 10-12 oz ale or beer

*Milk can be soured by adding 1 tbs of vinegar or lemon juice to each cup of milk you use–in this case 2 tbs to the 2 cups.


Peel and slice onions in 1/2-inch slices.


Pour buttermilk into a zipper storage bag; add onion slices. Seal and marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.


Heat about 2-inches of oil in a deep skillet or saute pan to 350 degrees.


Remove onion slices from bag; drain and separate into individual rings. 


Mix batter ingredients, starting out using 10 oz of ale/beer. Add more if necessary to form a thick but pourable-consistency batter. Let stand 5 minutes.


Shake off any excess buttermilk off the onions and dredge in the 1/2 cup flour.


Dip onions in batter, making sure it is covered completely in batter; let excess batter drain back into bowl after coating each ring. Dip ONLY enough rings that you can fry at a time–don’t crowd the pan. It’s better to fry in small batches and keep the cooked ones hot in a 200 degree oven.


Fry about 10-15 minutes, turning rings half way through the frying time. Remove from oil with tongs to paper towel lined plate.  Keep warm in a 200 degree oven while frying other batches.


Serves 4. Serve with Comeback Sauce

Beer Batter Onion Rings

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