Healthy Air Fryer Onion Rings Recipe

Onion rings that aren’t dripping in oil and are gluten free and dairy free!

For Christmas in 2020, I gave my husband the gift that every family seemed to get that year, an air fryer! This is the air fryer he got. When we realized how easy it is to use, we started brain storming all the greasy foods we missed. One of the ideas was healthy air fryer onion rings!

Ditch the trans fat

The classic onion rings are deep fried in some sort of oil, but typically vegetable or canola oil. It’s strongly recommended that people avoid eating foods fried in oils due to its high levels of trans fat. Not all fat is bad but Trans fat is the one to avoid (along with limiting saturated fat). Trans fat spikes your cholesterol which leads to high blood pressure and can result in heart diseases and stroke. Limiting your fried foods or finding alternatives (like this recipe for healthy air fryer onion rings), can literally be life changing. 400,000 American’s die from heart disease a year and it’s the leading killer in the industrial world. Heart disease does not come from old age, its an issue you can prevent or even reverse at any age with a healthy whole-food diet.

What’s in these onion rings:

Gluten free flour: I use Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour. I’ve found it to bake the best so far and not leave an after taste.

Seasonings: Garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, pepper and Old Bay Seasoning. If you like a little kick of spice the old bay seasoning adds so much flavor. I may be biased though. I love Old Bay Seasoning so much, my past workers gave me a large container of it as a going away gift. 😅

Breadcrumbs: If you want to make it gluten free make sure to use gluten free bread crumbs. If you don’t need it to be gluten free, you can use whole grain bread crumbs. (White bread crumbs have been bleached and extracted of nutrients. So you get more calories with no health benefits).

Eggs: The eggs are important for binding the bread crumbs to the onions. I have also seen recipes were they use beer but since we’re trying to keep these healthy and not tack on more calories, we’ll stick with eggs.

Of course onions: Depending on how many rings you’re trying to make, you may want multiple onions. However, you can get a small plate full with one large onion. I chose to use yellow onion because it has a slightly mellower flavor but you could also go with a sweet onion if you want more of an onion flavor.

Avocado oil: You just need a little drizzle but avocado oil has become popular because it has a higher smoke point (520F) so when it heats up the molecules won’t be changed. This is great because it reduces your exposure to free radicals that cause harm to your body.

The Prep

I should warn you, making onion rings can be a bit of a timely process because you have to cut the onions, prep the ingredients and then hand dip each onion ring. The best way to get the job done could be to recruit your family to help you. Make it a fun activity to do together. Nonetheless, the time put into these will be well worth it!

Save this recipe to Pinterest and tag @brittbehealthy on social media if you make these! I’d love to see your creations.