Cut the stem end off of the onion and slice the onion into ½" slices. I keep the paper on and make a small slice on the side of the onion to create a flat spot for stability. Place the flat side on the cutting board before slicing. Slice 3-4 slices of onion, each ½" thick. The amount of slices you get will depend on the size of the onion.
Carefully separate the onion into individual rings.
Remove the membrane from each onion ring. If you need instruction, see the written post or the video. This is easier with a cold onion.
Make the Wet Batter
whisk together the ½ cup of beer or cold water with 1 tablespoon of hot sauce and egg and put into a shallow container. Sift in ¼ cup of all purpose flour and gently fold into wet mixture until combined. Repeat with another ¼ cup of flour. Sift in the remaining ¼ cup of flour a Tablespoon at a time and fold into batter until the batter is the consistency of a thin pancake batter. You may use it all or you might not, go by the consistency and not the total amount of flour.
Add in the ½ teaspoon of sea salt and fold to combine into the wet batter.
Make the Dry Breading
Combine the 1 cup of breadcrumbs with ½ teaspoon of sea salt, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and ½ teaspoon of onion powder and mix together in a shallow dish or tray.
Batter the Onion Rings
Preheat your airfryer (with the basket in) on the hottest setting for a full 10 minutes.
Dip each ring into the wet batter to coat and lift with a fork to let the excess drip off.
Place the coated onion ring in the dry breading and cover the onion ring with the breadcrumbs. Let sit in the dry breading until you dip the next onion ring in the wet batter. This gives it a chance to set up.
Place each battered onion ring on a tray or cooling rack until you have enough for one batch. Try to batter various sizes so you can increase the amount you air fry at once by placing a smaller onion ring inside a larger onion ring. Just make sure they aren't touching.
Repeat for all the onion rings. I start air frying one batch while I'm still coating to speed up the process.
Air Frying the Onion Rings
Spritz the basket with oil. Place the onion rings in the airfryer making sure they don't touch for the best air flow and crisping. Spritz the tops with oil. Set the air fry (or air crisp) temp to 360℉/180℃ and the time for 7 minutes. You don't need to flip.
Place the air fried onion rings on a cooling rack to prevent steaming which causes them to get soft.
Repeat for the remaining onion rings. Serve & Enjoy!
Recipe time is for one batch, you may have to do several batches depending on how big your air fryer is. Times & Temps for Various Styles of Air FryersBasket Style, including Ninja Foodi & IP Duo Crisp: 360℉/180℃ for 7 minutes. Grill Air Fryer: Same as above.Oven Style Air Fryer: Increase temp by 25-50° and air fry for 7 minutes. Nutritional values based on ½ cup light beer and 1 tablespoon of oil for spritzing. The nutritional values in this recipe are based on using all of the wet batter and dry breading, even with a large onion (26 rings), I did not use it all, so the actual nutritional values are slightly less then what is stated. Nutritional values are provided as a courtesy and thesaltedpepper.com makes no guarantees of accuracy. We do our best to ensure they are accurate, but many factors influence nutritional values that are beyond our control. Different brands of items have different nutritional values, so it is always best to do your own independent nutritional analysis based on the items you are using in a recipe if you require a high level of accuracy. Thesaltedpepper.com will not be held accountable for any errors in the displayed nutritional information.