Recipe This | Air Fryer Blooming Onion (2024)

Air Fryer Blooming Onion.How to make a delicious fail safeand easy blooming onion in an air fryer.

If you have everwanted to make a delicious air fryer blooming onion and are anxious that it isgoing to go wrong, then let me introduce to my fool proof version of an airfryer blooming onion.

Incredibly easy toprep and make and perfect for adding to your favourite air fryer appetizerslist.

Air Fryer BloomingOnion

Living in Portugal and having never heard of Outback Steakhouse, I was intrigued when my cousin first mentioned cooking blooming onion in the air fryer to me a few years ago.

She was sent a free air fryer onmy behalf and was in the middle of reviewing it. She had never owned an airfryer before this point and tried an air fryer blooming onion and air fryerfried chicken.

She reported back that both was absolutefailures and that she was giving the air fryer away.

Because I was on the other sideof the ocean to her, I couldn’t tell if the air fryer was faulty, if she didn’tget air fryer cooking or if she had just followed a bad recipe.

After all, I do see so manypeople complaining about poor air fryer recipes and thanking me for making airfryer cooking so easy.

But in the back of my mind evenafter a few years since my cousin got to try one out, I was intrigued by a bloomingonion. I wanted to know what it was and how good it was in the air fryer.

So that became my mission andwith the help of Dominic (its nice to have a chef by your side) we set to work,creating a simple recipe that our readers could follow for air fryer bloomingonion.

I love this blooming onion recipeand if you want to recreate a blooming onion like outback steakhouse at home,then this is it!

Can You Air Fry ABlooming Onion?

Absolutely! An air fryerblooming onion is the perfect use of an air fryer. Whether you refer to it asan air fryer blooming onion or an air fryer onion blossom it is quick and easyto cook in the air fryer.

Prep for an air fryer bloomingonion is FAST and its one of those air fryer recipes when the texture and tastereminds you of deep fried food and you can’t believe that this is a healthieroption.

Air Fryer BloomingOnion Healthy

I am sure there are some peoplereading our blooming onion air fryer recipe and being happy that it is lesscalories than deep fried. But I know others will be wanting to make it evenhealthier.

If that is YOU and you wantto turn it into something super healthy or you follow Paleo and want a Paleo bloomingonion then I recommend this EASY change:

Swapping our supermarket bought regular breadcrumbs for paleo breadcrumbs or making breadcrumbs from our bread maker gluten free bread rolls. That is all you need to do.

Of course, we recommend addingcheese to our air fryer blooming onion too and you can just ignore this step.

The recipe for your blooming onion already uses a healthy flour, so its relatively easy to make super healthy.

Air Fryer BloomingOnion Panko

Would you like a panko version of the air fryer blooming onion? If so, instead of the traditional breadcrumbs use panko breadcrumbs instead.

Here in the Milner house wenormally use our bread leftovers for breadcrumbs. We always have a bag of breadcrumbsin the freezer and then grab some as we need them.

But in todays air fryerblooming onion I was out of breadcrumbsand my blender had just broke, so I used some supermarket breadcrumbs, whichwould be very similar to making a blooming onion from panko.

Air Fryer BloomingOnion Batter

When making an air fryerblooming onion it is all about the batter. If your blooming onion batter isgood, then your air fryer blooming onion will be tasty and crispy too.

With a regular batter, like what we use in our air fryer onion rings, it is about egg that is beaten and has seasonings added to it.

But when you make a blooming onion it is the same as the filling of an air fryer quiche which is egg and milk mixed.

Add to this that the breadcrumbsare heavily seasoned, and you have the perfect batter.

What Ingredients& Gadgets Go Into Air Fryer Blooming Onion?

There are 6 main ingredients that go into air fryer bloomingonion:

• Whole Onion
• Bobs Red Mill Oat Flour
• Eggs
• Milk
• Breadcrumbs
• Seasoning

I would recommend before making your air fryer blooming onion that you have a good air fryer or an air fryer with a non-stick basket.

That is because there are so many cheap brands of air fryers, that are just not very good and air fryers that are not non-stick.

Though if you follow a gluten free diet you can use Paleobread and make it into breadcrumbs.

I also recommend some silver foil, as you will need to wrap up your onion blossom prior to cooking so that it can stiffen up with its batter prior to cooking.

More Blooming Onion Questions

• What is a Blooming Onion? It is a large whole onion that is cut to resemble the shape of a blooming flower. It is deep fried and a tasty batter and served as an appetizer.

• How Unhealthy is The Outback Steakhouse Blooming Onion? If you went to Outback and ordered a blooming onion, you would be looking at almost 2000 calories and over 150 grams of fat. I am sure you can understand now, why so many people air fry them!

• How Many Onions Are In A Blooming Onion? Just one large whole onion. Though you could chop up a whole onion and make lots of cute little air fryer blooming onions.

How Do You CutAn Onion Into A Blooming Onion?

Peel your whole white onion and with a sharp knife and cut the tip off one side of the onion. This is important as it will keep the onion balanced and easier to cut and prepare. Plus, it will stop it falling over when you are eating it.

Leave the root of the onion onand place the onion with the root side up and cut side down.

Then make 4 similar cuts a quarter apart around the onion, making sure you leave a space of approximately 2cms from the root.

You don’t want to go any closer to the root than this as it will cause the onion to fall apart and you won’t be able to make an onion blossom.

Then do the same again butmaking 3 cuts in between the 4 cuts, until you have several cuts around theonion.

Once you have done this you can pullout the onion layers to make onion petals like a flower.

Now it is like any other foodthat you want to batter, and you just need to add your batter to the onion.

The chopping of the onion into ablooming onion is the hard part, so once you have done this you can giveyourself a pat on the back!

How Long To AirFry Blooming Onion?

The cooking time for air fryer blooming onion is JUST 20 minutes. As well as this you need to consider the time that the blooming onion is in the freezer prior to cooking.

I recommend for the freezer between 30 minutes and an hour so that the batter can thoroughly stick to the whole onion.

Blooming Onion AirFryer Temp?

The best temperature for an airfryer blooming onion is starting it off on high and finishing it on medium.Start with a 10-minute-high heat blast which will help crisp the batter ontothe whole onion.

Then finish it off with the sametime again at a medium temperature. This will make sure the onion itself iscooked and will make it perfect for eating.

Reheating BloomingOnion In The Air Fryer

Place your already cooked blooming onion back in the air fryer. Lightly spray with extra virgin olive oil as this will help your blooming onion crisp up again.

Air fry your blooming onion in the air fryer basket for 5minutes at 180c/360f. You don’t have to cook it at a higher temperature thanthis because your blooming onion is already cooked, and you are simplyreheating it.

Making BloomingOnion In Air Fryer

1. Cut your onion into a blooming onion. See our instructions above for how to do this if you have not done it before.
2. Place your eggs and milk in one bowl and mix with a fork until the eggs are beaten. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a second bowl place your oat flour along with garlic powder and your first lot of paprika and mix.
4. In a third bowl add breadcrumbs with the rest of the seasonings. Mix well.
5. Submerge the whole onion into the oat flour bowl, into the egg mixture and finally into the breadcrumbs until it has received a good coating of each.
6. Place the onion inside silver foil and place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, but not longer than an hour.
7. After it has been in the freezer remove and discard the silver foil.
8. Place it in the air fryer and give it a spray with extra virgin olive oil. Especially on the areas that lack breadcrumbs where any has fallen off as it will help with the crisping process.
9. Cook in the air fryer for 10 minutes at 200c/400f followed by a further 10 minutes at 180c/360f.
10. Serve with your favourite dipping sauce.

What To Serve WithYour Air Fryer Blooming Onion?

Here at Recipe This we want to eat our blooming onion with otheramazing air fryer appetizers. Then we can make a night of it and enjoy somedelicious finger food while enjoying some family time.

Here are a few suggestions of what to serve with yourblooming onion:

• Air Fryer Onion Rings – Here at Recipe This we love to make homemade onion rings in the air fryer. Very similar to a blooming onion so easy to prep both at the same time.
• Air Fryer Cheesy Pull Apart Bread – A favourite in the Milner house, but something we always say we should eat more of. It makes a fantastic centre piece on your dining table and perfect for entertaining.
• Air Fryer Homemade Mozzarella Sticks – Even though we love quick frozen mozzarella sticks in the air fryer, it is a wonderful fun alternative making your own.
• Air Fryer Hamburgers – I love burgers when I am having a fast food night in the air fryer. These hamburgers are easy to prep, and you can cook them in any air fryer.

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