Onion rings

2 medium-large onions (yellow or white are fine)

1/2 cup corn meal

1/3 cup corn starch

3/4 cup GF flour (maybe a lil more)

2-3 handfuls seasoned breadcrumbs (optional, but adds some great texture)

Hefty sprinkle of paprika and garlic powder (optional)

Salt (for batter and for sprinkling)

~2 cups plain seltzer

Canola or vegetable oil, for frying

Cut onions into 1/2” thick rings, but don’t separate them yet!

(Optional, but it adds a little extra flavor) Lightly salt each side and place whole slices onto a hot skillet until lightly browned. Each side should probably take 2-3 mins. You do NOT want them to be at all soft; they should still be pretty firm except for maybe the outermost ring.

Separate rings and put them in a bowl, then cover in buttermilk and place in the fridge for ~40 mins.

Combine dry ingredients, and when you’re ready to start frying, add seltzer until it’s nice and smooth (I probably used around 1.5 cups, maybe a little more). The key is making it not too thick, and not too liquidy, but definitely a bit more on the liquid side. Play around with the first few attempts to figure out what works best.

Put 1 cup gf flour in another bowl to dredge the rings.

Heat at least 2” of oil in a deep pan. You want it nice and hot so the batter puffs up as soon as it hits the oil.

Set up a wire cookie rack on a plate or in a baking tray so the fried onion rings can drip off excess oil without getting soggy. A paper towel on a plate would also be fine if you don’t already have one though.

Grab the buttermilk-soaked onions from the fridge, and dump as much buttermilk as you can out of the bowl to make it easier to grab the rings.

Shake off excess buttermilk, lightly coat in flour, then dip in batter and toss in the oil. (I recommend designating one hand for flour and one for batter.) The batter should stick nicely to the onion as a solid but not-too-thick coating. You can slowly add in more seltzer to thin it out, or a little corn meal or flour to thicken it back up.

Cook on one side for 3-4 minutes, then flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the whole ring is a nice golden brown.

Remove and place on prepared wire racks to cool, salting immediately.

Repeat steps 9-11 until all the rings are used up, or you run out of batter like I did. Let me know how they turned out!!