Healthy Onion Rings

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Say no more to greasy onion rings. These Healthy Onion Rings are baked in the oven with less oil, less fat, and less mess. The results are exceptionally crispy and delicious homemade onion rings in under 30 minutes.

Jump to:

• Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• Ingredients You’ll Need
• Step-By-Step Instructions
• Expert Tips
• Variations
• Storing & Freezing
• Recipe FAQ‘s
• Recipes You’ll Love With Onion Rings
• Healthy Onion Rings

Check out my Plantain Croutons and my Air Fryer Carrot Chips for more delicious snack ideas.

I love onion rings, but I don't love when they're greasy. Restaurants typically deep fry onion rings, so I made these oven-fried ones a non-greasy alternative. They're quick, easy, and taste like restaurant-quality hand-breaded fried onion rings.

You'll love how simple this is. After slicing, you'll coat the onions in flour, yogurt, and breadcrumbs before baking them in a hot oven. A quick stay under the broiler creates the ultimate crunch on the surface, and that's all there is to it!

This recipe is great for gatherings. Serve your onion rings with various dipping sauces for an appetizer no one can resist. Alternately, you can serve your onion rings on the side of burgers, hot sandwiches, hot dogs, wings, and just about anything else. Enjoy!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• No oil! These onion rings are baked instead of deep fried.
• Kid and adult approved. Everyone loves crispy onion rings!
• These onion rings are a delicious and healthy alternative to French fries.
• Great as a healthy side, snack, and appetizer.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Onion: Sliced into ¼-inch thick slices. You can make homemade onion rings with yellow or white onion, keeping in mind white onion has a more intense oniony flavor. Sweet onions are also an option. Try with Maui or Sweet Vidalia.
• All-Purpose Flour: Onion slices are first dredged in flour, giving the wet onion ring batter (nonfat yogurt) something to cling to.
• Plain Yogurt: Helps make a thick, extra crunchy onion ring breading and adds a subtle tangy flavor. You can use regular, low-fat, or nonfat yogurt. Plain Greek yogurt works as well.
• Breadcrumbs: The final layer of the breading. You can use plain breadcrumbs or Italian breadcrumbs. You can also use panko breadcrumbs, but the texture of the breading will be different.
• Salt: Enhances the flavors.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1: Prepare for baking.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Step 2: Prepare the dredging station.

You'll need three shallow bowls. Add flour to the first bowl, yogurt to the second, and breadcrumbs to the third.

Step 3: Batter onion rings.

First, dredge onion slices in flour, shaking off excess. Then, dip them into the yogurt and press them into the breadcrumbs, coating them evenly. As you work through the batch, place the breaded onion slices on the prepared baking sheet.

Step 4: Bake, then broil.
Sprinkle with salt, then bake until the onions are tender-crisp (15-20 minutes). Next, set the oven to broil and continue cooking until the breading is golden and crispy (2-3 more minutes).

NOTE: You can print the FULL recipe with all ingredients & detailed instructions below!

Expert Tips

• Cutting onions into rings - Trim the stem and root and remove the peel. Then, trim a very thin slice on one side, creating a flat surface to keep the onion from rolling as you slice. Next, cut crosswise into ¼" thick rounds with the cut side facing down.
• Soaking onions - If you're using a pungent onion like white onion, you can soak the slices in cool water for 15 minutes to ease the intense, raw oniony taste. You can also soak onions in milk to mellow out the flavor.
• Bake on a rack - Place onion rings on a wire rack set on top of a baking sheet. This lets the heat come in direct contact with both sides, giving you an even golden crisp on the top and bottom.

Variations

Healthy onion blossom - To cut an onion into a "blossom," first cut off the non-woody end. Then, with the woody root end facing down, cut down the middle lengthwise, stopping about a ½" before cutting all the way through. Make a second cut down the middle widthwise, again stopping about a ½" from the bottom. Finally, gently pull the segments apart to create the blossom.

Healthy onion petals - Prefer petals to rings? First, trim away the non-woody end. Then, cut the onion in half lengthwise with the woody end facing down. Firmly hold the halves in place and make a second cut down the middle widthwise, creating four segments. Pull apart the layers in each piece to make petals.

Dipping sauces - We can't forget about the sauce! Pair your crispy baked onion rings with condiments like ketchup and ranch, or make zesty onion ring sauce with mayo, horseradish, ketchup, and paprika.

Try the healthy homemade sauces featured in these recipes:

• Baja Sauce
• Creamy Avocado Sauce
• Cilantro Lime Sauce
• Skinny Chipotle Sauce

Storing & Freezing

Storing: Let cool, place onion rings in a zip-top bag, press out as much air as possible, and keep refrigerated for 2-3 days. To reheat leftovers, place them on a baking sheet and back under the broil until the breading crisps back up.

Freezing: Cool completely, then place onion rings on a baking sheet and set the baking sheet in the freezer until the onion rings are frozen. Keep the frozen rings in a freezer-safe zip-top bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat directly from frozen for 10-15 minutes.

Recipe FAQ‘s

Recipes You’ll Love With Onion Rings

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