Crispy Vegan Air Fryer Onion Rings Recipe
Are you ready to indulge in guilt-free snacking without compromising on taste? We have a mouthwatering recipe that will satisfy your cravings and keep you coming back for more. Crispy Vegan Air Fryer Onion Rings, are a plant-based appetizer that you can’t resist!
Can vegan onion rings really be as crispy and delicious as the traditional version? The answer is a resounding yes! These onion rings are the perfect combination of crunch and flavor, and they are incredibly easy to make. Plus, they are cooked using an air fryer, which means you can enjoy all the crispy goodness without the excess oil.
Why You’ll Love Air Fried Vegan Onion Rings
- A quick and easy appetizer, a tasty snack, or a tangy side, these onion rings are very versatile.
- It’s a guilt-free and delicious plant-based appetizer that people won’t even realize is vegan.
- They’re naturally dairy and egg-free and can easily be adapted to suit a gluten-free, low-carb, and keto-friendly diet as well.
- The panko breadcrumb coating crisps up the onion rings beautifully, providing that mouth-watering golden outer edge with sweet and softened centers.
Ingredients for Homemade Air-fried Onion Rings
You’ll need all the ingredients in the photograph below.
Are Yellow or White Onions Better for Onion Rings?
Both yellow and white onions can make good onion rings, but most people prefer using yellow onions:
- Yellow onions are a bit sweeter and milder in flavor than white onions. When battered and air-fried into onion rings, they tend to have a nice sweetness to them.
- White onions have a sharper, more pungent flavor. While they can work for onion rings, their strong flavor can sometimes overpower the batter and frying.
- Air fried onion rings made with yellow onions tend to brown and crisp up better on the outside while remaining tender inside.
So, while you can absolutely try white onions if you prefer their sharper zing, we opt for white onions.
How to Make This Vegan Onion Rings Recipe
A complete printable recipe and the measurements in both US customary and metric are available in the recipe card below.
Preheat your air fryer to 400°F (200°C).
Prepare the eggless onion ring batter by combining the chickpea flour with water and adding cornstarch.
Add in smoked paprika, nutritional yeast, salt, and garlic powder. Whisk well to avoid clumps in the batter. The result should be quite thick; if it isn’t, you can add a little more cornstarch.
Peel the onions and slice them into ½-inch thick rounds. Separate the onion rounds into individual rings and place them in a separate large bowl.
Put the remaining cornstarch in a small bowl. Then, using tongs, take one of your onion rings at a time and dip it into the cornstarch, making sure to coat it evenly on all sides. Gently shake off any excess coating.
Next, dip it in the chickpea egg and make sure it is perfectly coated. Then dip it in panko breadcrumbs.
Place the coated onion rings in a single layer in the air fryer basket, ensuring that they are not overlapping.
Cook the onion rings in the air fryer for 8-10 minutes, flipping them halfway through to ensure even browning.
Once the onion rings are golden brown and crispy, remove them from the air fryer and transfer them to a serving plate.
Serve the vegan air fryer onion rings immediately with your favorite vegan dipping sauce.
What Should I Serve With Air Fryer Homemade Onion Rings?
These onion rings are great when dipped into your favorite vegan dipping sauces try them dipped in homemade vegan ketchup, vegan mayo, or go for double onion flavor and try them in carmalized onion hummus (shouldn’t work but does).
They pair perfectly with a delicious chickpea burger or eaten alongside a cauliflower pizza or chili pizza.
How Long Will These Homemade Air Fryer Onion Rings Stay Crispy For?
Like most fried foods, these vegan onion rings will remain crispy for a couple of hours after making them.
They’ll certainly lose their crispy factor if stored overnight, in which case you will need to add them back to the air fryer for a few minutes in order to regain some of that crispiness.
Tips for making the best vegan air fryer onion strings
- I’ve used chickpea flour and water as the binding agent for the panko breadcrumbs, which makes these onion rings vegan and dairy-free. If you don’t need them to be vegan, you can use two regular eggs instead.
- For gluten-free air fryer onion rings, use a gluten-free panko breadcrumb alternative. This option should be readily available in most stores and online.
- Ditch the panko completely for vegan onion rings without breadcrumbs, and use almond flour instead. This will give you eggless onion rings that are not only gluten-free but also low-carb and keto-friendly! You should note that you probably won’t get as much of a crispy finish to your onion rings as you would when using the breadcrumbs.
- If the batter comes out a little too thin, add an extra teaspoon of cornstarch to the mix until you get a thicker consistency.
- Since all air fryers cook at varying heats and times, it’s best to use this recipe cooking time as a guide while keeping a watchful eye on your onion rings so they don’t burn.
Other Vegan Recipes for You to Try
Vegan Air Fryer Onion Rings Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups panko see notes for alternatives
- 3/4 cup chickpea flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 large onions white or yellow
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp cornstarch for the batter
- 1/2 cup cornstarch for dipping
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Start by chopping the onions in thick slices, about 4-5 slices per onion. Then separate each ring by pressing from the centre, leaving 2 stuck together if they’re too thin.
- Prepare the vegan onion ring batter by mixing the chickpea flour with water, and 2 tbsp of cornstarch. Then add smoked paprika, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder. Whisk well to avoid clumps. This should result in a thick batter, if it is not, you can add a little more cornstarch to thicken.
- Place the other ½ cup of cornstarch in a small bowl, this is going to be the first step for the onion rings.
- Take one ring and coat it with cornstarch, then shake off any excess. Then place it in the chickpea egg, make sure it is perfectly coated. Then dip it in panko.
- Place each ring in the Air Fryer basket without overlapping, you may need to cook them in batches.
- Cook them in the Air Fryer at 400F / 200C for 8-10 minutes.
Ah just spotted it. It’s helpful to have the ingredients in the order you use them in the recipe. Also 1/2 a what of cornstarch for dipping?
It’s also better to have the quantities in grams as well for us non US folks!
Thank you. Looking forward to these! xx
Hi Helen! Thank you for the feedback. I have updated the recipe 🙂 For the grams, I’ll take note of that for future recipe creation!
Thanks for the recipe; it was good. I do not use cornstarch; replacing with either arrowroot or tapioca starch. (Corn is not great for us to consume.) Next time though I will make some changes to the recipe.- I use chickpea flour on a regular basis and know that it thickens and keeps thickening. Next time, I will use more like one cup of water when mixing so that the batter is not too thick.
My trick to not have a huge mess is to place a very large cookie sheet under my three bowls; that saves clean up big time!