Beer brings best friends together in the backyard! Serve these fried things up with beer batter and be the hit of the backyard party this National Beer Day.
Frying things is FUN.
Frying things and then eating those fried things with a cold, crisp brew is even more FUN!
If you want some real FUN, invite your pals to a backyard barbecue and fry things in a beer batter and then toast the pals with a chilled cold one.
Yes…that works.
You can use this batter for other things like shrimp, pickles, mushrooms and cauliflower.
Everything tastes better when it’s battered in beer and fried in hot oil.
In honor of National Beer Day, here’s my take on big, fat, puffy fried onion rings with a really yummy sauce.
Beer Battered Fried Onion Rings
With Spicy Dipping Sauce
These fried onion rings are a perfect pass around, backyard appy! The dipping sauce is reminiscent of that Aussie-style dish. (You know the one I’m talking about…) In early summer markets, you’ll find smaller, tender spring onions with white or purple bulbs. You can use the same technique described here to fry up these babies. They turn into crispy, golden strings which you can mound on top of your favorite burger. It’s all yummy!
Serves:
A Crowd
Ready In:
30 – 45 minutes
Ingredients
For Onions
2 large white sweet onions, cut into ¼-inch slices
2 cups buttermilk
For Dipping Sauce:
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon ground oregano
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
2 or more drops hot pepper sauce
For the batter:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup rice flour
2 cups club soda
1 (12-ounce) bottle beer
For dredging:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
For big finish:
Vegetable oil for frying
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Flaky salt (like sea salt)
Directions
Separate the onion rings and place into a shallow bowl or baking dish. Cover with buttermilk pushing the rings down into the liquid while you get everything else ready to go.
Whisk together mayonnaise, ketchup, horseradish, paprika and oregano. Season with some of the salt and pepper. Stir in as much hot sauce as you like. Pour the dipping sauce into a bowl.
Whisk together 1 cup all-purpose flour with 1 cup rice flour in a shallow bowl or baking dish. Stir in the club soda and beer.
Place the remaining 2 cups all-purpose flour into a shallow baking dish. Whisk in chili powder and season generously with salt and pepper.
Heat about 3-inches of vegetable oil in a deep, large pot over medium-high heat to 350°. The vegetable oil should come no higher than one third up the side of the pot. Once you add the onion rings, the oil will bubble up. The temperature of the oil will go down when you add battered onion rings and then come up again as they cook. I use a candy thermometer to make sure that the temperature is hot before I add more onion rings to the oil.
Lift an onion ring out of the buttermilk and shake off the extra liquid. Dredge into the seasoned flour and then dip into the beer batter, again shaking off the excess liquid. Place the battered onion ring into the hot oil. Continue this process to fry several rings at a time, being careful not to place too many into the oil at the same time. You want them to swim freely as they fry. Use a slotted spoon or spider strainer to turn the rings in the oil until golden brown on both sides, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the rings to a paper towel lined baking sheet.
Continue with the remaining rings until there are none left. Once you remove the onion rings from the oil, immediately sprinkle with parsley and flakey salt.
Serve with dipping sauce.
Cook’s Tip
For a really FUN presentation at your next barbecue, serve these onion rings right out of the fryer and onto a foot-long wooden dowel mounted onto a wooden block. You won’t find this in the restaurant supply store. Instead, you’ll have to get your best DIY buddy to make them for you. Your friends will love plucking a puffy onion ring right off the stick.
