Healthy Onion Rings

Oh yes, you read that correctly--HEALTHY Onion Rings.  Oh, and I forgot to mention fantastically crunchy as well.  If you saw my post about these Cheesy, Garlic Hasselback Potatoes and thought, "did they really just eat those for dinner?"  The answer is a big N-O.  We had the potatoes, with healthy onion rings aaaaand steak.  It was fab.  Although, I'm pretty sure Mr. Schwartz could have ate only these onion rings, he is completely obsessed.  

Here's the lowdown.  And stay tuned--I'm having a lady party tomorrow complete with a dessert buffet.  Yes, you heard me, dessert buffet.  Which means, I baked.  Watch out.  

Musical Selection: Fidelity by: Regina Spektor 

 Start by slicing the onions.  I would do these a little thicker next time--some got a little too crispy for me.

 Let them soak in some buttermilk.  The recipe I found said over night but I didn't read the recipe all the way through--my bad--so I let them soak for a few hours.

Meanwhile, beat up a few egg whites.

 And mix the breadding--cornmeal, whole wheat flour, panko bread crumbs, paprika, salt and pepper.

 Mix it up.

 Once your onions have had a chance to soak, set up your assembly line.  You will take the onions from the buttermilk, to the egg whites, and then into the breading.  To get the breading to stick, I put the ring in the middle of the bowl, covered it and pressed down pretty hard.  Be patient, it might take a few to get the hang of it.

 Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and top it with a wire cooling rack.  Then, put your onion rings on top of that.  Spray with cooking spray.  1/2 way through the baking time, take them out, flip them and spray again.  I skipped this step and the bottoms were a bit "dusty" as well called them.

 Just a few minutes later, and these golden crunchy rings are all yours.

 A little bit of heaved dunked in ketchup.

The completed meal--perfection.

Healthy Onion Rings

2 large vidalia onions

1 quart of buttermilk

4 egg whites

1 cup medium ground cornmeal

1 cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

At least 12 hours ahead of time, slice onions into 1/2-inch thick rings.  Place in a bowl and pour buttermilk over top. Let soak for at least 12 hours.

When ready to bake, heat oven to 450 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk egg whites. In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour and panko with salt, pepper and paprika. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place a wire rack on top. 

Remove each onion ring from the buttermilk and dip in egg whites. Immediately dip in the breadcrumb mixture and press to coat. If bread crumbs won’t adhere, dip in egg whites and try again. Lay each ring on the wire rack. When all rings are ready, give each a quick spritz of non-stick spray. Bake for 15 minutes, then gently flip with tongs and spray again with  spray. Bake for 10 minutes more.

Serve with a boatload of ketchup. 

Enjoy! 

Recipe from: here