Air Fryer Blooming Onion Recipe
This Air Fryer Blooming Onion is a copycat recipe of the popular restaurant appetizer, but because it's cooked in the air fryer, it's healthier and quicker! It's the perfect appetizer for game days and parties!
Servings: 6 Servings
Ingredients
For the Blooming Onion
- 1 large (about 1 pound) yellow onion*, Vidalia, sweet yellow, or white
- 16 ounces buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons Frank's RedHot Original, or another hot sauce of choice
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Spray avocado oil
For the Dipping Sauce
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon dried drill
- ½ teaspoon granulated garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Using a small, sharp pairing knife, cut the very center of the onion out (about ½-inch in diameter).
- Turn the onion upside down, trim and long roots (but don't remove the root ball, this will hold the onion together), and then make about 8 slices down the length of the onion.
- Flip over, and gently separate the "petals" with your fingers. Place in a small bowl and pour the buttermilk over the top. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to overnight.
- Remove the onion and let it drain while you prepare the wet and dry batters. In the buttermilk, add the eg and hot sauce, and whisk to combine.
- Place the flour, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and cayenne pepper in another bowl, and whisk to combine.
- Dip the onion in the wet batter, making sure it coats as many of the "petals" as possible. Then place it in the bowl of the dry batter and do your best to coat every petal surface with the dry batter.
- Place in the air fryer and spray with the avocado oil. Cook at 350°F for 20 minutes, spray again and rotate if necessary, then cook for the remaining 15 minutes.
- While the onion cooks, add the dipping sauce ingredients to a bowl and mix together until smooth.
- Serve the blooming onion with the dipping sauce and enjoy!
Notes
*We used a 1 pound onion for this recipe and it fit perfectly in our Ninja air fryer. If you have a larger air fryer (or smaller onions) feel free to make more than one blooming onion at a time - just be sure there is about an inch of space around each onion.
Recipe Variations:
- Make it gluten free - simply opt for a gluten free all purpose flour blend in place of regular all purpose flour to make this recipe gluten free (that's what we did!).
- Omit the spice - this recipe really isn't spicy, but if you are someone who likes to stay on the safe side when it comes to spice, feel free to omit the cayenne pepper in this recipe.
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- Don't skip the spray oil - spraying the blooming onion before its first spell in the air fryer and again after 20 minutes really helps to nail down the crisp that we all know and love.
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- Coat every petal - when battering your onion, be sure to really get in there (gently) and coat each onion petal with both the wet and dry batter.
Nutrition
Calories: 175kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 47mg | Sodium: 464mg | Potassium: 110mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 336IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 1mg