Beer Battered Onion Rings

Beer Battered Onion Rings

The other day we made Baked Black Bean Burgers to share with you guys, but you should know-we didn't eat those burgers alone; they each came with a hefty side portion of these awesome, crispy onion rings. 
We filled the onion ring batter with an orange wheat beer that truly compliments the thick, crunchy rings and makes for an onion ring so good, its more suited to being an onion-ring-donut!
We don't normally make or eat many fried foods, but sometimes, you just have a craving that needs to be caved to. And frankly, these were worth every extra bit of oil and calories involved. I know we shouldn't make a treat like this weekly, but damn its tempting.

Ingredients:
1 large onion
1 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tblsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 bottle (vegan!) orange wheat beer
1 cup peanut oil, for frying

Directions:
First, chop your onion into large rings by slicing the onion width-wise about every 1/4-1/2 inch. Set aside. 
Grab a mixing bowl and whisk together flour, cornstarch, nutritional yeast, salt & pepper, baking powder, onion powder, and garlic powder. 
Add the orange wheat beer and whisk again to combine all ingredients. 
Once mixture is prepared, pour the one cup of peanut oil into a deep, heavy skillet and let heat to between 350-375 degrees. Test using a thermometer. 
Place individual slices of onion into the batter, coating thoroughly. Once coated, drop into the heated oil using tongs. Let fry on each side for about 3-5 minutes, flipping midway. 
Be sure when you're adding rings to the oil to not overcrowd the rings. Usually about 3-5 rings can fit to fry at a time. 
Rings are finished when they reach a uniform golden-brown color and crunch.
Remove the rings from the oil using tongs, and immediately place onto paper-towel lined plates. This allows the rings to cool while the paper towels soak up any extra oil.
Wait until cooled, then enjoy with ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce, or just by themselves!
(We ate ours pretty quickly, and I wouldn't recommend saving any extras. Fried foods get kind of yucky when left over night in the fridge! However, the batter would be fine by itself in the fridge for several days.)

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