Crispy Vegan Onion Rings
Oh my oh my oh my how I love these and could eat the whole batch!! These were seriously gone so quickly when I made them at home, my family just could not stop themselves from reaching for another one!
These onion rings are crunchy, crispy, thick, and 1000x better than what you order at a restaurant.
Why double dredge?
Ok, so it may seem annoying to add that flour-coated ring back in the yogurt, but I PROMISE you this is the secret to that amazing crunch! It creates an extra layer that goes around that ring and allows the bread crumbs to stick oh so beautifully to that ring.
Why yogurt?
Trust me on this one! Ever since becoming vegan, flax and chia egg substitutes have been my go-to because they’re ingredients I always have at home, and I feel like every vegan knows the ratio for an egg substitute by heart. But sometimes recipes don’t just need a simple binding agent and sometimes you may not want to use flax or chia.
Maybe you need something that has a little more fat, or maybe you don’t feel like waiting for the mixture to thicken, or maybe you’re one of those people that just don’t buy flax/chia and will avoid the recipe entirely because of this. Regardless, I wanted to use an ingredient that most people already have at home, is pretty inexpensive, and still does the trick for this recipe. So watered down yogurt it is!
Just make sure to use unsweetened plain yogurt so your onion rings don’t have a vanilla flavor. Unless you’re into that… in which case… you do you, I guess.
Please ignore the seemingly long list of ingredients and directions — this recipe is SO EASY! And did I mention sooo delicious and worth it?
P.S. don’t leave out the middles of the onion rings — they make the cutest tiniest perfect little bites!
Happy cooking!
Crispy Vegan Onion Rings
Ingredients
- 1 medium or large white onion
- 1 cup unsweetened plain vegan yogurt
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- lots of freshly cracked black pepper
- 2-4 cups panko* bread crumbs
- cooking spray/oil
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer to 350F.
- Cut off the ends of the onion and slice into thick rounds and separate into individual rings. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix yogurt and water. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix flour, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Set aside.
- In another medium bowl, pour in panko bread crumbs. (Start with less because you can always add more!) Set aside.
- Set up your bowls in the order of 1. yogurt 2. flour 3. bread crumbs.
- Dip each piece of onion in the yogurt, then in the flour. Then, dip it back in the yogurt and then coat it with bread crumbs. See notes**.
- Coat with cooking spray/oil and air fry for 10 minutes, flipping halfway. Be careful and gentle when removing from air fryer. Let cool and enjoy!
Notes:
*This recipe does not work as well with regular bread crumbs -- make sure to buy panko bread crumbs!
**This process will be messy. To reduce waste and keep mess to a minimum, keep one hand for handling the raw onions and yogurt and keep the other hand to coat the onion with flour and bread crumbs. This way you also don't make a mess in any of the bowls.