Onion ring

Basket of onion rings
Type	Entree, side dish, snack dish
Course	Hors d'oeuvre
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Main ingredients	Onions, batter or bread crumbs
Media: Onion ring

Onion rings (also called a French fried onion ring)^[1] is a form of appetizer or side dish in British and American cuisine. They generally consist of a cross-sectional "ring" of onion dipped in batter or bread crumbs and then deep fried; a variant is made with onion paste. While typically served as a side dish, onion rings are often eaten by themselves.

Onion strings are a variant where the onion is cut vertically first, resulting in strips rather than circles.^[2]

History

A British recipe from 1802 calls for cutting onions into slices, dipping them into a batter including Parmesan cheese, and deep frying them in lard. It suggests serving them with a sauce of melted butter and mustard.^[3]

Many recipes for deep-fried onion slices or rings are found starting in the early 20th century. There are various processes:

• no coating: 1902,^[4] 1907;^[5]
• dipped in milk or egg and coated in flour: 1902,^[6] 1908,^[7] 1909,^[8] 1910,^[9] 1916;^[10]
• battered: 1919,^[11] 1922;^[12]
• breaded: 1914.^[13]

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  Onion ringlets

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  Onion rings with dip sauce (Philippines)

Food chemistry

The cooking process decomposes propanethial oxide in the onion into the sweet-smelling and tasting bispropenyl disulfide, responsible for the slightly sweet taste of onion rings.^[14]