The Baking Ingredient That Will Take Your Homemade Onion Rings To The Next Level

Onion rings have been around a lot longer than I thought. And yet, despite the 19th-century origins of onion rings, they're still so damn hard to make at home. Getting the batter just right, finding the best onions, nailing that mix of salty and sweet ... it's honestly infuriating. I always end up with a pan of burnt batter and browned onions. But practice makes perfect. And the next time I try to make them I'll have to add confectioners' sugar to my onion ring batter.

Yep, that powdery sugar can really elevate your onion rings. Why? Because when you add confectioner's sugar to your onion rings, it enhances their sweetness, even giving some standard onions Vidalia-like flavor. You want some sweetness in your onion rings because it counterbalances the savory batter. As the sugar cooks during the frying process, all sorts of wonderful chemical reactions happen and it goes from simply sweet, to having a caramelized depth as well. Adding confectioners' sugar to your onion rings highlights those extra tasting notes, giving your fast food-style side some depth — even when compared to the best fast food onion rings.

Don't just stop at confectioners' sugar for leveling up your onion rings. The ideal breading is extra crispy and light, and you can get that with the right blend of batter ingredients — including cornstarch. To me, this might just be the best tip, because I love crunchy, crispy textures.

What you'll want to do is mix corn starch and flour together. The flour browns thanks to the Maillard reaction, which imparts color and flavor. The biggest issue with flour in your batter is that the gluten lends a terrible texture, making the rings claggy and chewy instead of crispy and light. That's where the cornstarch comes into play. Cornstarch has no protein or gluten, so when it fries, instead of becoming dense, it becomes light.

Finally, if you've ever wondered what "beer battered" onion rings are (as I did when I was very young), it's, well, batter made with beer. You'd want to do this because the beer adds sugar and carbonation. The sugar lends more flavor and the carbonation causes the batter to expand when it fries. This is why beer battered foods are so light and crispy — you can also use cornstarch and beer to prevent soggy fish and chips. Now, get to battering those sweet onion rings and frying them up!