I’ve really been missing onion rings since I went low carb.
Which is weird because it’s not like I ate them a lot before. I guess, like anything, it’s the knowing I can’t have them that makes me want them more!
I prefer beer battered onion rings, which these are not. But as a low carb substitute, they did have everything I look for in an onion ring.
Crunchy and savory on the outside – sweet and soft on the inside…
Mission accomplished!
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These low carb onion rings are super easy to make.
My only change would be to cut them thicker than I did, as my breading to onion ratio was a little heavier than I would have liked. Next time I’ll cut the onion rings to about 1/2 inch thick.
Some people have commented that the breading didn’t stick to their onion rings. Please note that it’s important that your oil is hot enough to weld it on there almost instantly.
Also, you have to bread the onion rings individually, a couple at a time, not just dump the whole lot into the egg and then right into the breading in one pile.
If you do that you’ll get a lumpy mess and nothing will adhere to the actual onions.
PrintLow Carb Onion Rings
- Yield: 4
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: Onion rings
Ingredients
- 1 large onion
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp coconut flour
- 2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp parsley flakes
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- salt to taste
- 1/4 cup olive oil for frying
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium saute pan.
- Meanwhile, beat the egg in a shallow bowl. Combine the coconut flour, parmesan, garlic powder, parsley flakes, cayenne and salt in a shallow bowl.
- Slice up your onion to a thickness of about 1/2 – 3/4 of an inch and break up the rings until you have a big pile. Add all of the onion rings to the beaten egg and mix thoroughly so they are well coated. Soak the onions in the egg for at least a minute, and then in small batches dip in the coating and then into the hot oil.
- Fry until golden brown and then turn with a fork or tongs to brown the other side. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to soak up any excess oil.
- Serve with sugar free ketchup or the sauce of your choice. Enjoy!
Nutrition
- Calories: 175
- Fat: 16g
- Carbohydrates: 4g net
- Protein: 3g
520
I am new to the low carb world and had to send you some good vibes! Your website has been super helpful! I just made this and it was delicious. I did use my air fryer because I hate frying things. I also used my favorite seasoning and little more coconut flour to make it easier to coat. Thanks so much!
Okay, made these one time just as listed and frying and the breading fell off. Tried them again in the air fryer (10 mins at french fry setting – 400 degrees) and then did a quick “in and out” fry with oil in the pan. PERFECT! The breading stuck perfectly and gave just that right amount of crispness. I also made them with almond flour instead of coconut flour and the taste wasn’t quite as good as the coconut flour, but it’s all right that way, too!
So GOOD!!! I made a batch of these onion rings, but instead of frying them in oil, I used my air fryer. I lightly coated each ring with olive oil cooking spray, and popped them in the air fryer set to 400 degrees.
After about 6 min they were done! I will be making these again for sure.
★★★★★
Despite all of the negative comments, we tried this recipe tonight. We double dredged the onion rings (egg wash, dry mix, egg wash, dry mix). They turned out perfectly!! Amazing recipe! Thank you so much!!
Thanks Shannon, glad you enjoyed them!
Epic Fail, Followed it to a tee and it did not work out well at all. Barely anything stayed on the onion.
Were you golfing or did you mean followed it to a T?
OMG these are so amazing! I just had onion rings for breakfast – HAHA! I was looking at the recipe and realized I have a half onion I needed to use. I followed the directions – sliced thin, egg wash then dredge in the flour/parm mixture. I heated avocado oil to hot and then cooked a few at a time. WOWZER! Thank you for bringing me back some yummy onion rings. :) I took a picture but not sure how to post it here. Sharing to a Keto FB page I am a member of and will post the pic there.
★★★★★
With all due respect, this is a bad idea. Tried the flour first before the egg wash and also cut the onions smaller while following the recipe. No good. Came out crispy but had a horrible flavor not even remotely close to onion rings I remember. It’s just not applicable nor worth the effort to cook on a low carb diet. A dream shortly lived.
I made these tonight and followed the recipe exactly. They turned out a complete disaster. The coating just fell off into the oil and became a charred mess. If I increased the oil temp therings burned within seconds leaving the insides raw. They honestly look and taste inedible. So upset. Was so looking forward to trying this recipe.
Keto and panko, auto correct is not my friend!
I wonder if a non-flour substitute would work like pork rinds ground up in the food processor, that is how I make Leto Parmesan chicken and the coating sticks just as well as Pablo bread crumbs. Would have to be pretty funky ground of course but maybe worth trying for a small test batch.
DELICIOUS! These are NOW my go to onion rings! My egg wash-flour dredge worked for part of my recipe and then didn’t stay put. BUT I just read that you cut them thin and I did not. My bad! Thank you soooo much for this recipe!
★★★★★
FYI: olive oil is NOT a high heat oil. It becomes rancid at high heat. Please do not use olive oil for frying.
Avocado oil would be an excellent healthy fat choice ;) other than that I can’t wait to try it!
Found this recipe at 10:30 am, was making them at 10:45. Now that I have polished them off (only used half an onion for the first cook), I am reading through the comments. First, have to report these are delicious, had them with the low carb ketchup I made, (not realizing that most of the food I used to put ketchup on was carby stuff)… They were delicious!!! Regarding the comments…there is NO “BATTER”. It is an egg wash, then a “flour dredge”….If you combining everything, pretty sure you will get the same result as the other unhappy cooks. Secondly, I’m looking at the other half of that onion, and may cook that up also, using the dredge, then egg wash, then dredge method, but I was perfectly happy with the first batch, tbh. Happy Cooking!!
THANK YOU for this comment! I have had great success with this recipe as is but there were so many negative comments that I took it down for awhile because I wanted to retest it in case there was a problem with it. People were asking where it was so I put it back up, but it’s been bugging me because I don’t usually get much negative feedback on recipes since I test them extensively before posting them. I think you hit the nail on the head perfectly on what some people’s issue has been with a batter vs dredge and I’m so very grateful that you’ve solved a mystery that’s been plaguing me for literally months! THANK YOU!
Unfortunately I followed the directions to a T, used a breading/dredge method as written, and still did not have success. I can’t imagine that many people misread the directions and created a batter.
Darn it! I think another issue is temperature of the oil – if the oil isn’t hot enough to firm the egg and flour mixture instantly then it just falls off. I will continue to experiment with a few scenarios to figure out the problem. Also when I make them I always slice the onions pretty thinly – were yours thin or thick?
Hmm, I don’t remember how thick I made them. I do remember thinking that next time I’d make them shoestring thin because I thought that would work better!
Thank you so much for the recipe. It seems the biggest issue I’m facing at this point isn’t the lack of delicious recipes….it is the plentitude of them. Your onion rings ROCKED, and I can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Happy Eating!!
★★★★★
I just whipped up a batch and they were awesome! When reading your recipe, I had to read step #2 twice: “Meanwhile, beat the egg in a shallow bowl. Combine the coconut flour, parmesan, garlic powder, parsley flakes, cayenne and salt in a shallow bowl”. I wonder if folks are confused and don’t realize you need to mix the dry separate? Thanks for this! YUMMY
That could be it, I’ll go make it clearer!
Thanks for this recipe. My Atkins hubby loves onion rings and I do not have a lot of experience in making them. They were not nearly as hard to make as I expected! This recipe helped me understand the how-tos and was pretty easy.
Currently making these.. What a waste of oil That’s all I have to say *thumbs down*
Thanks for the feedback Miranda, sorry you didn’t have success with them! I’m going to revamp this recipe to make it more user friendly asap!
Like a lot of other people I had a lot of trouble with these. Batter slid off, couldn’t get enough batter to stick to the onion in the first place. Do you have a recommendation on what kind of onion to use? I think smaller cuts is the way to go. I did the 1/2 inch and it was just really difficult to manage. I think I got like 2 decent rings out of the whole batch. I’d like to try again but would love some tips and tricks….
Been following a low carb diet for 2 months now and have just recently started missing my steak and chips, now I have something to make with my steak, can’t wait.
Unfortunately this didn’t work out and I ended up throwing it away. Have you tried this with the thicker slices as written? I think that’s the issue. This would work well for thinner slices, like what you made in the pictures. But the larger slices of onion, which I made as directed, just weren’t able to cook enough by the time the breading was crisp. I tried to salvage them in the oven and it didn’t work. I would make these again, but only as very thin shoestring onions.
Just saying I love you for this!! Thanks for this…I REALLY needed this recipe!
Just made these tonight and they turned out fabulous! Made your recipe to a “T” but did add one step: threw the onion rings in a bag with 1 tbl coconut flour prior to egg dredge. Its a critical step especially if your onions are “moist” . Taste just like flour batter! Thank you!!
Hi Mellissa,
Thanks so much for your recipes. I did try these this past week and like others, it turned out to be a a disaster! The batter didn’t stick at all, but I’ll try again with 1 more egg and more flour & cheese. I did this for my Meatless Monday and ended up eating just a little.
Sorry Naomi, I’m going to have to revisit this recipe and make it more user friendly with an updated breading option. I’ll get to work on that soon, promise!
This looks incredible but wouldn’t it be healthier to fry in coconut oil? I thought I remember reading something about Olive Oil not withstanding high heat.
Coconut oil would work too Janis!
Do you think you could substitute almond flour for coconut flour? I haven’t been able to find coconut flour anywhere!
I haven’t tried it Christy so I can’t really recommend it with confidence – in theory it should work though! I get my coconut flour online – it’s easier and cheaper than buying it in the store! Nuts.com is my favorite! You can click the ad on the right to get over there if you want to check out their prices. Enjoy the onion rings and let me know if the almond flour works!
Hey… Don’t suppose you’ve tried making these without the parmesan? My husband loves onion rings…but any cheese more exciting than mozzarella makes him ill. Is it vital to get it all to hold together & get the crunch, or d’you reckon I could just sub in a little more coconut flour? Thanks!
The parmesan kind of melts and hold it together, but in theory it would work without it and just a bit more coconut flour instead. Not really sure, since I’ve never tried it though. Let us know if you try it and if it’s a success or not!
I made them without parmesan since I didn’t have any. They were pretty good but they were not crunchy. They came out soft.
I served them in a big pile on individual plates with a side of sauce made from sour cream, sriracha, and a little ranch dressing mixed in.
Totally satisfying to my craving! My husband loved them too.
Glad you liked them Denise, it’s the parmesan that makes them crunchy though, so try that next time and they’ll be even better! :)
Hey!
Im absolutely thrilled with this recipe. Thank you!!
I was wondering, do you think i could use shredded coconut? I will order some coconut flour, but that is going to take a lot longer than I have patience for.
Hi Soraya, I don’t know if shredded coconut will adhere to the onions – I have a feeling it would fall off. But it’s an intriguing idea and I bet it would taste awesome if it works!! If you try it let me know how it comes out!
Heyy!!
I tried the recipe with shredded coconut but I could clearly see it wasn’t going to work. But the craving was huge so i decided to play around a little. I added two tbs spoons of soy flour. Of which I absolutely hate the flavor. And it worked like a charm. Couldn’t taste the soy flour at all. It had a nice hint of coconut. Big hit! Thank you.
Glad it worked out for you Soraya! Sounds good – I wonder if I can do the same thing with coconut flour and shredded coconut – might try it on some chicken soon. Thanks for the idea! :)
grrrrr… dredged in coconut flour, not almond flour!
I had a lone onion sitting in a bowl on my counter and remembered your recipe… Thank goodness!! I had been meaning to try it for a couple weeks. The only thing I did differently was toss the onion slices in a ziplock with some almost flour first like “regular” onion rings and then dredged in egg and the mix. Excellent, like usual! Thanks for posting such great recipes!
These had potential, but couldn’t get breading to stick, will have to try a finer grate parmesan & try again.
Try dusting them in coconut flour before dipping in the egg mixture as well – hope version 2.0 comes out better for you!
Would *LOVE* to see your take on fried pickles.
Hey now! Going to add that to my list of things to try, thanks for the idea!
We tried these for dinner tonight. COMPLETE DISASTER. First of all, one egg isn’t anywhere near enough. 1/4 cup of oil isn’t near enough. It cooked off almost immediately, leaving me with a dry pan and a charred mess. I kept adding more oil, but it kept cooking off. And I didn’t turn the heat up past medium. Oh, and the coating mixture was only enough to cover slightly less than 1/4 of the onion. These might work if you use a deep fryer, but don’t try pan frying them. Complete waste of time and resources.
Sarah, sorry these didn’t work out for you! I’m surprised to hear that you didn’t have enough egg or coating for the onion – it must have been one HUGE onion! The 1/4 cup of oil works but only in a smaller pan, and you have to cook them in relatively small batches or they won’t brown. Also, if your oil wasn’t hot enough from only going to medium heat, the rings will absorb much more of it than in really hot oil. Another thing is that if your coating was on really thick, it would absorb more oil than mine which had just a light coating on them. Other than that it’s hard for me to guess what went wrong having not been there. I hope you have more success with some of the other recipes, thanks for the feedback!
I just tried these and they’re amazing!
Thanks Veriria, so glad you had good success with the recipe!
I used Carbquick instead of coconut flour and it worked just fine.
Thanks for sharing that, good to know it works!
Has anyone tried frying these in coconut oil?…I find it does not absorb as much and is better for high heat frying. I think I will try it..
Thanks Nancy, I’m going to try that next time too!
I tried these tonight and the coating would not stay on! I think next time I’ll do like I do with my fried chicken, and dry-coat the onions first, and then do the egg dip and re-coat them with the dry stuff. Makes for a thicker crust that might have a better chance of holding. :)
A few people have had trouble with the coating staying on and I’m not sure why. I will have to make them again and experiment – I had no trouble with it sticking on my batch. One problem may be the coarseness of the parmesan cheese in the breading. I use a very powdery grated cheese but if you’re using a really coarsely ground cheese then that might be part of the problem. I think a double coat is a great idea – let us know if it helps!
Totally drooling! I’ll have to try these.
Hope you like them Cecilia, let us know how they come out!
how about the eggless mayo, like Nayonaise? I havent tried it for this.
Thanks Suzette – the eggless mayo is a great idea for an alternative – if anyone tries it I hope they’ll report back on how it works!
I am soo excited to try this!! I am allergic to eggs…any ideas for a substitution?
What Suzette said! Eggless mayo might work, if you try it let us know!
I have never made onion rings. I love them, but just haven’t done it. These look great – I need to do this recipe. And soon. Thank you!
Hope you like them!
having trouble getting these crispy on the outside – any suggestions? do they have to be submerged in the oil? thanks!
The oil has to be about 350 degrees or they won’t crisp up – you’ll probably have to flip them halfway through to brown and crisp the other side. Another thing is don’t put too many in the pan at once or it cools down the oil and they won’t crisp up. Hope that helps!
I have always been afraid of making onion rings and I do love them. You might have convinced me to give them a try. These are super crispy looking.
Just make sure your oil is nice and hot – hope you like them!
Congrats on 2 million hits sweet!!!
Thanks Hon! :)
How much would a serving be?
3 rings? 4? These look delicious!
Actually you get quite a big pile of rings from a large onion. It would be hard to say how many exactly but it’s at least 1/2 cup per person.
I just was thinking, I’ll bet there is a low carb onion ring recipe out there… and then I found this! Thanks! But I have a question… coconut flour? I use almond flour as a low carb substiture but I have never heard of or seen coconut flour. Where would I find this?
You can get coconut flour from Whole Foods or other natural food markets but the cheapest is usually online from netrition.com, drugstore.com or wherever you can get the best deal. It’s versatile and works just like regular flour so it’s better than almond flour for some things, like frying. I love it!
Since this recipe only uses 2 tbsp. of coconut flour, check the bulk bins at your local Whole Foods or other health type grocery store. My local WF has it in the bulk bins, so it’s possible just to buy a small amount of coconut flour to try this recipe out. I always buy it in bulk, getting just how much I need, because I go such a long time between uses that I don’t want the coconut flour to go bad before I use it again.
The dangers of only half reading the recipe & trying to remember it as you go: I mixed all the ingredients together, then added the onion rings. It was too thick. I added another egg. It was too thick. I added water. It kind of thinned out, enough to stick to the rings. I heated the oil, added the rings, and the batter fell right off :( Now I have a pot of yucky oil, half cooked rings and sticky batter.
Next time- I’ll really read your directions!!!!
That stinks Anna! I did that once with a traditional recipe and I tried everything and I wasn’t able to come back from it either! Just a lumpy mess – such a bummer when that happens! Hope you get to try them again and they come out great! :)
Mmmmmmm. Yay!
Enjoy!
Oh my! I haven’t had onion rings in ages, well before I started low carbing, but I do love them. I’m going to try these soon! Thanks!
Hope you like them Jan!
I bet it taste great with the coconut flour! Great idea, btw!
Thanks, the coconut flour makes them nice and crispy!
These look great. I’ve recently shared your blog with my parents who are on a low-carb streak as well.
Do you think these things could be baked and not fried?
Hi Andrew, thanks for sharing the blog with your parents, I hope they are enjoying the recipes! I do think you could bake these but I would coat them lightly in mayo instead of the egg first. The mayo contains oil which will help you get that fried consistency and it will also help keep the coating from sliding off as it bakes. Let me know if you try it and how they come out!
Thanks for the low carb onion rings recipe.
I’ll create one for sure, my kids are gonna like it :)
If you don’t mind, can you submit your low carb onion rings photo in http://www.foodporn.net ?
It’s a food photography site full of all DIY food pictures from members around the world. submit by yourself and let me know when you did, so I can share it.
I’ll check it out, thanks Jenny!
Hey Jenny, I tried to submit and kept getting an error so I finally gave up. Sorry!
woah woah, these look amazing! What an awesome idea! I love onions and I have never thought of onion rings while on keto! Thank you so much <3
Your welcome Aline! I loved these and I hope you will too!
Hi Melissa,
Those look yummy. My only question would be, did you really only use 1/4 cup oil to fry those all those onion rings, because 1/4 cup really isn’t that much. Do you mean 1/4 pot of oil?
Hey Doris! For the sake of the recipe and calculating nutrition info I did only use the 1/4 cup and it worked fine. It depends on the size of your pan (I used a relatively small one) and you’ll have to flip them to get them golden on both sides. It will be easier to use more oil and I doubt it would add calories because the rings would only absorb so much. In fact I had oil left in the pan even after using 1/4 cup for mine. So use whatever works best for you!
Thanks, Melissa! I saw on another blog a different foodie use 1/4 cup to fry cauliflower florets and it just dumbfounded me as I remembered you also used a 1/4 cup. Okay, I’ll use a small pan. Though coconut oil is healthy, it’s still fat and way too much isn’t good.
If you do NUTRITIONAL KETOSIS, the more healthy fats, the better.
As for the folks believing coconuts have too much fat – and not being healthy – it is how very badly—quite a lot of people — have been brainwashed to believe fat is bad. Quite the contrary. Without going into the chemistry – it’s SUGAR which causes weight/fat gain, not fat. Sure, if you are counting calories-trying the low-carb diet, etc. steer in the direction of what’s best for you – to lose weight or maintain it – with your calorie amount, and steer AWAY from “low fat” anything. Stop the thinking that fat is bad. It’s precisely why so many people are overweight. There has always been terrific science to show this, but it was suppressed due to the outlandish marketing of chemical companies – selling artificial ingredients – to food processors. Therein lies the whole problem-processed foods. So no disrespect intended, but real foods, no sugar, low carbs – are how we need to eat. And if you are in ketosis, low – low carbs are quite doable. Coconut oil IS healthy, and it is a GOOD fat – use what is recommended and you’ll do fine. I have!
★★★★★
Are you kidding me? You, milady, are a national treasure. I’m am totally pulling out some killer mustard/sour cream/savory heavenly sauce recipe out of my butt for these rings. Dang. And thank you.
Sounds good Jude! I used sriracha, sour cream and mayo to dip mine in and it was sooo yummy! Hope you like these!
I tried to make these yesterday . They didn’t get crunchy at all. I was so looking forward this.)
Mine turned out horrible. Decent taste at best… maybe more detail and this recipe could work? New to cooking but this is basic stuff. Disappointed.
★★
I’ve spent the last 24 hours debating a Weight Watchers vs Atkins for my journey back to single digit clothes (okay- maybe not single digit, but at least get me out of the “teens”). After seeing this…Atkins wins.
They might both get you to where you want to be but I find a low carb diet much easier to follow because the food choices are so delicious! I hope you find yourself “out of the teens” soon! :)
coffee,
While Atkins has its merits, I’d encourage you and any one else interested in being healthier (and dropping a bit of weight) to check out marksdailyapple.com (I see a nice little link to the left on the blog list). Eating real food (including these onion rings which I absolutely have to try now!) is what it’s all about. I’d suggest looking into getting the book “It Starts With Food” by the Hartwigs too!
Look carb all the way……………no contest!!!!!