Onion rings have always been my favorite side dish since childhood. These crispy sides go well with sandwiches, fried seafood, and hamburgers. I also love to munch them on their own because they taste good like all fried foods.
When you’re in a pinch, can you cook frozen onion rings in an air fryer?
You sure can. The beauty of air fryers is that you can enjoy the exact crispiness without the extra fat and oil that you get from a deep fryer. Below, is a simple recipe for air fryer frozen onion rings that I have mastered over the years.
How To Make Air Fryer Frozen Onion Rings?
What You’ll Need
Air Fryer
I use the Ninja AF101 Air Fryer with a 4-quart basket that can hold up to 2 lbs of onion rings. The temperature ranges from 105 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit to quickly cook your food with convection heat.
Frozen Onion Rings
There are many brands of frozen rings available out there. However, some of them cook a little dry. The best frozen onion rings for air fryer are those that crisp up nicely inside the air fryer.
My favorite brand is the Alexia Crispy Onion Rings With Panko Breading And Sea Salt because it’s breaded with natural ingredients and the flavor is downright delicious. For Ketchup lovers, the Funyuns Onion Flavored Rings might be your best choice as they’re made to match well with the tomato ketchup.
If you like the onion rings to come out crispy and tender, I recommend the beer-battered onion rings. They look more appetizing than the standard breaded ones and even tastes better.
Cooking Oil Sprayer
The cooking spray is the secret of how to make frozen onion rings crispy. Although you don’t need that much oil with an air fryer, you need a little bit of oil to boost the crispiness. Use vegetable or olive oil, like the non-aerosol Evo Oil Sprayer.
Silicone-Tipped Tongs (optional)
You’ll need a good pair of silicone-tipped tongs to toss the onion rings halfway. The silicone tips will protect the nonstick coating of the air fryer basket. Don’t worry if you don’t have a pair of tongs in the kitchen because you can directly shake the basket to make the onion rings extra browner and crispy.
Instructions
Preheat The Air Fryer
Preheat the air fryer by selecting AIR FRY. Set the temperature to 390 degrees Fahrenheit and set the time to three minutes. Press the START/PAUSE button to begin.
It’s important that you preheat your air fryer before adding the ingredients because it makes the food comes out crispier and tastier than usual. The crispiness of the food tends to last longer if you preheated the air fryer.
Prepare The Ingredients And Kitchen Utensil
Gather your frozen onion rings and cooking oil sprayer. For the 4-quart size of the Ninja air fryer basket, you can make two bags of Alexia Crispy Onion Rings. To yield 1-2 serving, you can consume half the bag of frozen onion rings.
For tossing the onion rings halfway through the cooking process, prepare your tongs.
Stack The Onion Rings
After the preheating time has elapsed, place the onion rings in the air fryer basket. You can stack the onion rings but don’t fill the basket more than halfway full otherwise the onion rings won’t cook evenly.
Set The Time And Temperature
Now, it’s time to cook. Press the up and down arrows to set the time and temperature in the control panel. Set the temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
How long does it take to cook frozen onion rings in an air fryer?
It takes about 8-10 minutes to cook them thoroughly. For this unit, set the time to eight minutes in the control panel.
Shake Or Toss
On the 4-minute mark, select START/PAUSE to halt the cooking process. Remove the air fryer basket and shake the onion rings or toss them with your silicone-tipped tongs. Lightly coat the onion rings with the oil sprayer to make them extra crispy.
Once done, reinsert the basket and press the START/PAUSE button to continue cooking.
Check The Onion Rings
Check the onion rings after six minutes. Continue cooking for up to eight minutes for crispier onion rings.
Serve And Enjoy
Remove the onion rings immediately when the cooking time is complete or until golden brow. Serve your onion rings with your favorite dipping sauce. Ketchup normally goes well with onion rings, but you can try ranch dressing, tartar sauce, and honey mustard.
Additional Pro Tips
If your onion rings start to get a bit dry while reheating, lightly spry them with the oil sprayer. This will help return the moisture back.
Use the crisper plate when you like the onion rings to come out crispy. The crisper plate lifts the onion rings in the basket, allowing air to go below the plate and crisp the ingredients more evenly.
Don’t overcrowd the air fryer basket with frozen onion rings. Give space to make sure that all of them are cooked evenly.
Final Thought
How do you cook frozen onion rings? It’s easy! Simply open a bag of frozen onion rings, stack them in the air fryer basket, and cook until golden brown. Your guests would never notice that you haven’t made them from scratch.
Frozen rings normally take 10 minutes to cook in the air fryer. But for me, I consider eight minutes as the sweet spot in air frying onion rings. Refer to the manufacturer’s directions in air frying onion rings for better results.
Have you tried to make air fryer frozen onion rings? Let us know in the comments section below and please share this article if you like it.
Recommended Read: How To Make Air Fryer Hot Dogs The Easy Way (Fresh Or Frozen)