Recipes, Small Bites

Beer Battered Crispy Onion Rings

Crispy, golden and absolutely easy these Beer Battered Onion rings are the perfect appetizer or side dish!

Beer Battered Onion Rings are the perfect combination of crispy, light and fluffy with a hint of sweetness from the beer. A great side or topping for game day!

Follow these simple steps and you’ll be amazed how delicious these onion rings turn out!

  • In a bowl whisk together your beer and egg and set aside.
  • In another bowl whisk together your flour, baking powder, salt, garlic powder and pepper.
  • Add in your beer and egg mixture.
  • Whisk this mixture until its smooth and no lumps remain.
  • In a shallow bowl add your additional flour and dredge your sliced onions in the flour.
  • Dunk your onion rings into your batter and deep fry in 350 degree F oil until golden brown, flipping a few times.

See how easy this recipe is?

The sweet lime aioli is quick to come together and can be prepared ahead of time. Just whisk all the ingredients together!

You can eat these onion rings as a side to your burger and pile them on top. We piled them onto our Beef Short Rib sliders! 

Ingredients 

LIME AIOLI

  • 1/3 cup mayo
  • 1 tablespoon ketchup
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
  • 1 clove garlic finely minced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice

ONION RINGS

  • 2 large sweet onions rough skins removed, cut into 1/2 inch rings and separated
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 1–1 1/2 cups beer
  • Vegetable oil for frying

INSTRUCTIONS

In a small bowl combine mayo, ketchup, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, garlic, olive oil, and lime juice.

Begin by peeling the onions and slicing very thinly, use a mandoline slicer if you can. Separate the onion slices and place them in a shallow baking dish and pour the buttermilk over the top. Press the onions down so they’re submerged as much as possible and let them soak on the counter for at least an hour. If necessary, stir them around a bit halfway through the soaking process.

Set 1/4 cup of flour aside on a shallow plate. In a medium bowl combine 1 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, cumin, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, garlic powder, beaten egg and 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups beer depending on how thick you want the batter.

Heat oil to 375 degrees. Dip onion rings in flour on a shallow plate and then into batter. 

Fry battered onion rings in the hot oil until browned, about 4 minutes. Place on paper towels while working in small batches.

Serve hot with Lime aioli or pile them on top of your sandwich!

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Recipes

Zeppole

In 2007, my family and I took a Carnival cruise around the Mediterranean coast. My Papa, grandfather had the biggest sweet tooth and loved to try all the Italian desserts. While we were in Naples, we stopped at a cafe for Limoncello. In the bakery case, they were selling fried dough dusted with powdered sugar, Zeppole. Naturally, my Papa ordered us some to go along with our Limoncello. We were handed a brown paper bag filled with Zeppoles.

We explored Naples, carrying that beautiful greasy bag, pulling Zeppole out one at a time, getting the sugar all over ourselves. We were two very happy people! 

Zeppole are tiny Italian doughnuts – crisp, light and incredibly fluffy, usually served in a brown paper bag or wrapped in parchment paper.

Zeppole make the perfect Hostess gift. Brian and I made them for our Friends Thanksgiving at our friend’s Jason and Paul’s house.

As it turns out, Zeppole are really easy to make at home and take almost no time at all — about 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup of unsifted flour
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder
  • dash of salt
  • 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
  • 1 cup of whole milk ricotta cheese 
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • Confectioners Sugar for Dusting or maybe Cinnamon Sugar
  • Canola or vegetable oil for frying

Directions

Crack your two eggs into the mixing bowl and beat until foamy.  

Add all of your dry ingredients into the eggs in the mixing bowl while on slow speed and then add  your ricotta and vanilla right away.  

Continue to mix on a slow speed till it is all combined.  The batter will be thick…creamy and sticky.  It is not a cookie dough consistency…it is a rich thick waffle type batter. Do not over mix.

Have your oil ready in your favorite pot.  I use a cast iron  dutch oven.  Your oil should be approximately 375 degrees.

I use a small cookie dough scoop …first I spray it with oil so that batter doesn’t stick …then scoop up the batter (no exact measurement here : ) and carefully drop it into the oil…repeat with consecutive scoops but don’t let them touch…

Zeppoles will turn themselves over. Fry them for about about 3 minutes…if they are a little bigger…a little longer.

Once you get to that nice deep golden brown it is time to scoop them up and place them on brown paper or paper towels to drain. Continue with another batch. 

Sprinkle them with Confectioners sugar or some Cinnamon Sugar.