Name: Beer Battered Onion Rings Recipe
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 large yellow onions; 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 2 teaspoons paprika; 2 teaspoons garlic powder; 2 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided; 2 teaspoon nutritional yeast; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper; 12 ounces pale ale beer; Oil for frying; Large Bowl; Deep fryer, cast iron skillet, deep pot or pan; Thermometer; Whisk; Paper towels; Wire cooling rack; Tongs or slotted spoon

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Beer battered onion rings are super crispy, simple to make and loaded with flavor. Make them as a side to complement a burger, or enjoy on their own with your favorite dipping sauce.

close up shot of vegan onion rings on a platter with dipping sauce

Next time you are craving onion rings, which is probably right now since you’re here, you have to try this recipe. With this beer batter, you can achieve ultimate crispiness effortlessly. Let’s get cookin’!

ingredients for beer battered onion rings on gray background

Here’s What You Need to Make the Onion Rings:

For the Batter:

Beer: I recommend using a pale ale or light beer to make your batter. I used Stella Artois, and it came out perfectly. An important thing to note is that all of the alcohol will cook off during the frying process, so, unfortunately, you will not get tipsy when eating these. If you prefer non-alcoholic beer, you can also use that for this recipe.
Spices: The spice blend for these beer-battered onion rings is quite simple. It contains paprika, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper. Feel free to add or subtract the amounts as you see fit. If you’re not a fan of spice, I recommend omitting the cayenne pepper. It’s subtle but will pack a tiny bit of spice.
Flour: The onion rings should be coated in all-purpose flour to optimize crispiness. I like to do this step before making the batter because the longer the onions rest after being doused in flour, the better.
Baking Powder: This will help the beer batter puff up and get golden brown when frying. We prefer to use aluminum-free baking powder.

Other Ingredients Needed:

Ice cold salted water: Before the batter and frying process starts, the slices of onions should soak in ice-cold saltwater for about 20 minutes. This will help the onions rings stay nice and crispy.
Onions: The best onions to use are large yellow or sweet / Vidalia onions, but white onions can also be used.
Oil for frying: A neutral oil with a high smoke point is ideal. I recommend using canola oil, safflower, sunflower, vegetable, or avocado oil.

overhead shot of vegan onion rings on a platter with dipping sauce

Additional Equipment:

Large Bowl: This will be used for soaking the onions.
Deep fryer / deep pot or pan: If you don’t have a dedicated deep frying pan or set up, I recommend using a cast iron pan. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the batter, I don’t think these would cook up the same in an air fryer.
Whisk: To help remove all of the clumps from the beer batter.
Paper towel-lined plate: For removing excess oil from the onion rings after being fried.
Cooling rack: This is optional, but a cooling rack will help the onion rings stay crispy after they’re fried.
Tongs or slotted spoon: add and remove the battered onion rings from the hot oil.

dipping beer battered onion rings into sauce

Need Dip Ideas?

The possibilities are endless! Whether you want to keep things classic with ketchup and mustard or spice things up a bit with something more unique, you can’t go wrong.

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