OMG Oven Baked Vegan Onion Rings
 
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When my friend requested low fat onion rings I kind of let out a sigh, maybe I even rolled my eyes. I’m not crazy about onion rings in the first place and so of course I would be even less crazy about low fat ones. Right? Well, sometimes it feels good to be wrong! I ended up gaga over these. Somehow the greasy mess that is a diner onion ring became a thing of beauty when coated in some whole wheat bread crumbs and baked in a superhot oven. Coupla things. You have to use sweet onions for this, like vidalia or walla walla. Otherwise the taste won’t be as special and the texture won’t be as juicy. Also, if things go as planned, you’re not going to use all of the onions or all of the coating. Just use the nice big rings and use the tiny inside rings for something else. For the batter and coating, you need a lot to get everything breaded, but there will be a bunch left over. Them’s the breaks.
Author:
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 vidalia onions (about a pound), or other sweet onion like Walla Walla
  • ½ cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons non-GMO cornstarch
  • 1 cup cold unsweetened almond milk beverage
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • Cooking spray
Instructions
  1. Slice onions into ¾ inch thick rings. Separate the rings and place in a bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel or something, to keep the onioniness out of your eyes.
  2. Preheat oven to 450ºF. Line a rimmed 12×18 baking sheet with parchment paper, spray with cooking spray.
  3. Now you’ll need two bowls for batter and breading. If you’ve got large, wide cereal bowls that’ll do the trick. In one bowl, dump in the flour and cornstarch. Add about half of the almond milk and stir vigorously with a fork to dissolve. Add the rest of the almond milk and the apple cider vinegar, and stir to incorporate.
  4. In the other bowl, mix together the bread crumbs and salt. Drizzle in the oil and use your fingertips to mix it up well.
Assemble the onion rings:
  1. Get a conveyor belt going. From left to right, have the onions, the flour mixture, the breadcrumbs mixture and lastly the baking sheet. Dip each onion slice into the the flour, letting the excess drip off. Transfer to the breadcrumbs bowl and use the other hand to sprinkle a handful of breadcrumbs over the onion, to coat completely. This may take a bit of practice. Carefully transfer each onion to a single layer on the baking sheet. Make sure you use one hand for the wet batter and the other for the dry batter, or you’ll end up with club hand.
  2. Spray rings lightly with cooking spray and bake for 8 minutes. Flip, and bake another 6 minutes. Rings should be varying shades of brown and crisp. Taste one to check for doneness. Serve as soon as possible. With ketchup if you must.
Notes
This recipe is reprinted with permissions from Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast & Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.
Recipe by Go Dairy Free at https://www.godairyfree.org/recipes/baked-vegan-onion-rings