Cravings for fried foods, like Onion Rings, can be expensive to get as an appetizer or addition to a meal when eating out with the whole family. Even for this solo person, finding my favorite foods isn't cheap or easy. 

Over the weekend, instead of caving into the urge to call a to- go order in from a local restaurant, I tried my hand at making air-fryer onion rings. It probably saved my body from the ton of grease AND I could control the ingredients too! 

The hardest part.. well, the part that requires the most patience, is coating the onion ring completely. It's time-consuming. In fact, it's so time-consuming that one of Wilmington's local restaurants JUST brought back their onion rings to the menu because they had to have staff dedicated to JUST making that menu item ALL day long. From peeling and cutting to battering, those staff have their work cut out for them!

While my air fried onion rings aren't Guy Fieri worthy, I certainly enjoyed them. Here's my recipe. Add to it, use your own crumbs, use your own dredging flours.. whatever you like! Get the family involved making them too. You might not want your littles slicing onions, but they can certainly use their hands to get into the batter. 

Sure it will be messy. But helpful hint.. if you use a cooking tray and place the bowls/ batter trays on top of the cooking tray, you can have your child sit at the counter or kitchen table and work away. When you are done, the tray gets taken to the sink and the mess is minimized. Otherwise, batter, flour, and spices WILL get all over the surface! 

Don't forget your favorite dipping sauce too!