Crispy Air Fryer Onion Rings Recipe

August 18, 2020 *Updated* Sep 06, 2022 / By: Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy 166 Comments

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These Crispy Air Fryer Onion Rings are the hands down the BEST we have ever eaten.

Homemade onion rings are so good, especially when you make them in an air fryer. Less oil does not mean less crispy. You can even make them spicy too.

Crispy Onion Rings made in the air fryer.

Let’s face it, all that deep-fried food is not the greatest for your health. Make onion rings from scratch without a deep fryer.

I happen to love fries and had to find another way to make them so that I could enjoy them more than a few times a year. Crispy Spicy Fries happen a lot around here now. The perfect side to ANYTHING.

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Looking for a great appetizer or main dish? Fish cakes in the air fryer work well for both.

RECIPE and INSTRUCTIONS for these air fried onion rings can be found at the bottom of this post.

Onion cut into slices and separated into rings.

Ingredients For Air Fryer Onion Rings

These easy onion rings turn out crispy, delicious and are fun to make. Get the kids involved if you like (maybe not the slicing part). Once you have onions sliced and separated into rings, the rest is like an assembly line.

I promise you will not miss the deep-fried variety again. You will need:

onions
eggs
flour
panko breadcrumbs
seasoning

These onion rings are made with no buttermilk.

Best Onions To Use

Honestly, I don’t think there is a right or wrong onion (except for just yellow cooking onions).

Spanish
Sweet White
Vidalia
Red (the variety used in this recipe)

My pickled onions are made with red onions too. Experiment and see which onion variety you like best. They will all turn out delicious and super crispy.

Have you ever tried Caramelized Onion Jam? This bourbon flavoured condiment is perfect for burgers and more.

And talking about delicious recipes, this Homemade Onion Gravy is the BEST gravy from scratch hands-down. Any steak would love to be topped with this rich sauce.

How To Coat Onion Rings

You will have 3 different bowls to dip and coat in. One for eggs, one for flour and one for breadcrumbs. There really isn’t an onion ring batter. More like layers of coating.

I seasoned each of the bowls with Frank’s seasoning. We love our food on the spicy side. Feel free to omit this if you prefer, add more if you like, or use something else altogether.

Now here comes the fun (and a bit messy) part, ALL the dipping! This process involves several dipped and coated layers, but trust me, it is so worth the effort.

Onion rings getting coated with breadcrumbs.

For each onion ring you will:

dip in egg mixture
then flour mixture
back in egg mixture
again in flour
one more egg dip
then in breadcrumbs

After all the dipping and coating, place your battered onion rings on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

NO, you cannot skip this step (just in case you were wondering).

Close up of the crispy coated onion ring ready to eat.

This is our favourite air fryer onion ring recipe. The only way we will eat them now.

Recipe Tips

Can you cook frozen onion rings in the air fryer? YES! In fact, these are cooked from frozen. Once they are all coated, you place them in the freezer for at least 30 minutes (but up to 1 week).
How long does it take to air fry onion rings? That will depend on your particular air fryer. This recipe was cooked at 375ºF for 10-12 minutes.
Be sure the cut your onion into THICK slices, and separate the rings before coating.
Spray the onions rings with some cooking spray before placing them in the air fryer. This will help give them a nice brown colour as they cook.
The smaller rings will cook faster, so you may want to remove those before the rest are done so they don’t burn.
I love using *(affiliate) panko breadcrumbs in recipes. This is the key to ultimate crispiness. Regular breadcrumbs work, but not as well.
You can use any kind of seasoning you like for this onion ring recipe. I used *(affiliate) Frank’s Seasoning since we like our food on the spicy side. You can try Italian, Greek, or Jerk seasonings. There is no wrong way to make these tasty and delicious.
Can you reheat onion rings? YES, these reheat beautifully. Use a lower temperature like 325-350ºF for about 5 minutes (or until they are hot enough for you).

A tray of coated onion rings ready to go into the freezer.

There are lots of different brands of air fryers on the market. For this recipe, I used the *(affiliate) Breville Smart Oven Air.

This oven has a large mesh basket that slides into the oven. This makes it very easy to cook a lot of food at once.

Perfect for large cuts of meat like steaks and pork chops. Great for chicken wings andy Crispy Baked Chicken Drumsticks too.

You can also use this as a regular oven, toaster oven, pizza oven, proof bread, bake cookies and more. BONUS, it works as a dehydrator too. The perfect little oven for many uses.

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If you love this recipe, you might like to have a look at these other air fryer recipes from some of my blogger friends: