Over the Easter weekend, I ran the Pittsburgh Pirates 5K with my sisters and cousin. Of course, I’ll be one of the first to mention that I really dislike running. I love doing cardio, but running has just never been my ideal way to do it. We had so much fun at the 5K, and since it seems to be turning into a sort of tradition around holidays, I decided I should start running at least once a week so my leg muscles are not so sore after these races. I started yesterday and did 4 miles. My knee started protesting at about 2.5 miles, and now it’s a challenge to bend it. Oops… Let this be a reminder to always recover from the first run before moving onto the second. 😉
Totally unrelated to running, but completely delicious (and way better than running), are these onion rings. I’ve made onion rings a couple of times, but I never paid enough attention to amounts of ingredients to be able to share. And, honestly, those tries were not that great. After reading all about soaking the onions in buttermilk first from Sally’s Baking Addiction, I knew I had to try again. Boy, what a difference it made! The onions are perfectly soft, and they taste fantastic.
I adapted Sally’s recipe to make it completely gluten free by using corn meal and almond meal as the batter for these onion rings. The only issue I had was that my olive oil sprayer stopped working, so my onion rings turned out a little bit drier than I would have liked (as you can see). The flavor was still great, though, so I had to share them. Just make sure you give them each a good spray with olive oil (or another vegetable oil, or even coconut oil) so they’ll be super crispy!
These onion rings are a great snack, and you won’t miss the fried onion rings one bit! I’m so happy to have finally found a good (and easy!) baked onion ring.
Are you a person that orders onion rings or fries when you go out? Honestly, I’m a sucker for either.
- 2 large sweet onions, sliced (or 3-4 medium onions)
- 2-4 cups buttermilk (just to cover the onion slices)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1 cup ground cornmeal*
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- olive oil spray (or other oil spray)
Place the sliced onions in a shallow baking pan, and pour the buttermilk over top so that it just covers the onions. Cover the pan with plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge to soak for at least 2 hours to overnight (the longer, the better).
Once the onions have soaked, remove them from the fridge and set them aside.
Preheat the oven to 425ºF, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, beat the two eggs, and set aside.
In a large dish (I used a pie plate), combine the almond meal, cornmeal, and seasonings, stirring until well mixed.
Take each onion slice from the buttermilk and dip into the egg to coat. Dip into the breading mixture, sprinkling some breading on top to make sure it is totally covered. Once coated, place onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining onion slices (if you need more breading, make more).
Once all of the onion rings are on the baking sheets, spray each ring with olive oil spray.
Bake at 425ºF for about 15 minutes, and then flip the rings and spray with olive oil spray again. Bake for another 15 minutes, until lightly browned and crispy. The time may vary depending on your oven, so be sure to watch them, and just remove them when they look good to you!
Serve immediately. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and reheat in the oven.
adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction
*If you are gluten intolerant, make sure the cornmeal you use is certified gluten free, as it varies between brands with cross contamination.