While secretly flipping through a cookbook at my son’s soccer game last weekend, I came across a recipe for onion rings. In between whistle blowing and down-the-field dribbles, I started doctoring up these onion rings in my head. And I thought they might be good for an after-soccer weekend lunch… complete with Chicken Salad Sandwiches. Baked BBQ Onion Rings is what I had come up with.
How to make Baked BBQ Onion Rings:
First things first. You need a couple of big onions. I like to use sweet Vidalia onions because I think they taste better. But if you can’t locate those, just get regular onions. You’ll slice your onions into rings. At this point, you can get your oven heating. And because you’ll be putting the onion rings onto a hot baking sheet, go ahead and put a couple of baking sheets in the oven to heat up too.
Each onion ring is dipped in a mixture of barbecue sauce, eggs and flour. I like to use Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce since that’s my family’s favorite.
Dip the onions rings right on in there and then shake off the excess sauce.
Dip the sauced onion in Panko breadcrumbs. Panko breadcrumbs are a flakier version of breadcrumbs that you can find in your market’s Asian aisle.
Get it coated on all sides.
I like to organize mine on a (cold) baking sheet so they’ll be ready for transfer once they’ve all been dipped. When you have them all coated and ready to bake, you’ll transfer them to one of those piping hot baking sheets that has been pre-heated along with the oven. Spray the onion rings lightly with a little bit of cooking spray (that’ll help give them the crisp you’re looking for.)
These Baked BBQ Onion Rings take a total of about 15 minutes to bake, turning to get all sides golden and crispy.
Even avid ketchup eaters will agree, you don’t need any of that stuff to dunk your onion rings into… the bbq sauce provides plenty of flavor, with the sauce already “built-in” to the ring. I have to say– we think these Baked BBQ Onion Rings are awesome. They are lightly crisp with a great smoky/spicy flavor and they are not deep fried (yay!) And just for the record, I’m not recommending that you take your cookbooks to soccer games. You should be watching your kids play soccer If you’re looking for more recipes that you can make to serve with a sandwich or burger, you might also enjoy my Old Fashioned Macaroni Salad or this All American Potato Salad. Baked Garlic Parmesan Potato Wedges, Creamy Buttermilk Cole Slaw and Baked Sweet Potato Fries are delicious choices too!
