Beer Battered Baked Onion Rings + Sriracha Ketchup

I am shocked that I have waited so long to make an onion ring recipe.  Actually, I’m shocked that I pretty much never make onion rings.  They are one of my favorite indulgences of all time.  The smell of battered and fried onion rings is irresistible to me.

But I eat them rarely, and I eat the deep fried ones.  So I’m finally making a healthier recipe so that I can enjoy this treat more often.  

beer battered baked onion rings:
serves 6
1 onion
1/4 C flour + 6 T flour, divided
1/2 C beer of choice
1 C panko
4 T nutritional yeast flakes
2 t dried oregano
1 t celery salt
lots of crushed black pepper

Preheat oven to 375.  Set up a breading station so you can prepare your onion rings.  Line up 3 shallow bowls.  In the first, put the 1/4 C flour.  In the second, mix the 6 T flour and the beer.  In the third, combine the rest of the ingredients (not the onions . . . )

Slice your onion in rings about 1/2 inch thick.  Separate all the individual rings.  One by one, take an onion ring, cover it in flour, then the beer batter, then the panko mixture.  Place it on a foil-lined baking sheet.  You don’t need any cooking spray or anything, these guys don’t stick. 

As you keep making them, the panko mixture starts to clump together, but you can just press it onto the rings.  Don’t worry if they don’t look perfect, they will turn out prettier than you expect and mighty tasty too!

Bake for 30 minutes.

While the onion rings are baking, you can prepare a little dipping sauce.  Sriracha Ketchup.  Allow me to welcome you to what just might be the simplest thing I ever post.

I’ll tell you the recipe right off the bat: ketchup + as much sriracha as you can tolerate. Just kidding.  Add a little sriracha, give it a taste test, and keep adding until you like the flavors.  My combo is below.

sriracha ketchup:
2 T ketchup
1 1/4 t sriracha

I’m stealing this “recipe” from a bar near my old apartment in Pasadena, Congregation Ale House, that has about nine thousand dipping sauces of all sorts that they serve alongside french fries or (if you request it from a cute waiter) a giant soft pretzel.  I meant to post sriracha ketchup as its own post right after my giant pretzel recipe – but that whole finger-injury kind of messed up my planned blog posts.  A lot.  So when I had some sriracha ketchup at a bar here in Sacramento recently, I was reminded to post it! 

Worked nicely because onion rings + sriracha ketchup is an awesome pairing.  But what doesn’t go well with sriracha ketchup?

The answer is nothing.

Nutrition facts per serving (onion rings only): Calories: 169; Calories from Fat: 14; Total Fat: 1.5g; Sodium: 140mg; Total Carbohydrates: 29.7g; Dietary Fiber: 3.4g; Sugars: 2.0g; Protein: 7.1g