These homemade onion rings have a rich tequila batter and are sure to be a hit! Add the honey lime yogurt dipping sauce and you've got a perfect pair.
A few weeks ago, we had a super brilliant idea. And it was this: TEQUILA WEEK.
After the super success of Mac and Cheese Week (exhibit A: This Spicy Mac and Cheese), I'd been wanting to attack another recipe theme for a few months but went back and forth a billion times trying to decide on what the theme should be.
But seriously. WELCOME TO TEQUILA WEEK, FRIENDS!
It's going to be amazing. I went through a whole bottle of tequila while I was working out the recipes. Just for you. Because I care that much about you. And tequila.
PS - I like to think that I'm a really good speller, but does anyone else have those days when they say or type a word so many times that it starts to look totally foreign to them? Because I love tequila and drink it often (not TOO often, Mom and Dad, don't worry) but I definitely just had to Google it to make sure I was spelling the thing right.
Because suddenly, I was looking at the word tequila and was all, "WAIT. This looks wrong. SO WRONG."
But Google backed me up. And here we are now. Victorious spellers who are on the brink of the greatest week ever. Maybe I'll make a cheer. About tequila. That I can cheer. By myself in my kitchen. While I drink tequila. But more likely he will just laugh at me and walk away.
Whatever.
I guess maybe I should tell you about these onion rings.
They're kind of awesome.
And there is a whooooole lot of tequila in the batter.
Yes, they're fried, but the greek yogurt honey lime sauce is light and bright, which helps balance out the fried-ness. The sauce is tangy (as greek yogurt sauces are prone to be), so if you aren't a fan of greek yogurt I'd recommend switching it out with regular plain yogurt. You could also use mayonnaise, if you'd prefer, but I have a truckload of Chobani in my fridge that just keeps calling my name.
But for real: these onion rings are pretty bomb. And I think they are a most excellent start to Tequila Week. Stay tuned for another boozy recipe comin' atcha tomorrow!
Missed a day of Tequila week? Not to worry – catch up here:
Tuesday – Tequila Lime Shrimp Tacos
Wednesday – Raspberry Margaritas
Friday – Strawberry Thyme Margaritas
Other appetizer ideas for a crowd
- Smoked gouda loaded tater tots recipe
- Twice baked potatoes with greek yogurt
- Chicken, pepperjack, and BBQ stuffed mushrooms
- Easy bbq chicken nachos
- Cheese and herb stuffed mushrooms
- Pesto and goat cheese smashed potatoes
📖 Recipe
Tequila Battered Onion Rings with Honey Lime Yogurt Sauce
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Makes 20-25 rings 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Tequila Battered Onion Rings are sure to be a hit - add the honey lime yogurt dipping sauce and you've got a perfect pair!
Ingredients
For the Onion Rings:
- 1 onion, sliced and separated into rings about ⅓ inch thick
- 3 cups milk
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tablespoon Tequila
For the Tequila Batter:
- ½ cup tequila
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups flour (divided into 1 cup each)
For the Honey Lime Yogurt Sauce:
- ½ cup plain greek yogurt (substitute regular plain yogurt if you’re not into the tangy-ness of the greek stuff)
- 1 Tablespoon lime juice
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- salt and pepper to taste
For Frying:
- 6 cups vegetable or canola oil
Instructions
For the Onion Rings:
- Stir together the milk, apple cider vinegar, and tequila in a large bowl to form a buttermilk-like mixture.
- Submerge the sliced and separated onion rings in the buttermilk mixture and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (I like to pop them in the fridge while I get the rest of the stuff ready and heat the oil, but you could leave them in for several hours if you’re making them in advance).
For the Tequila Batter:
- Whisk tequila, milk, salt, and 1 cup of the flour together to form a batter. Set aside.
- Place the remaining 1 cup flour on a large plate or platter and set aside.
For the Honey Lime Yogurt Sauce:
- Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Store in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it.
To Assemble and Fry:
- Heat the 6 cups of vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large, sturdy pot. (I used my Le Creuset) It will take 20-30 minutes to heat up, depending on the size of your pot. Test the oil after 25 minutes by flicking some flour into the oil. If it sizzles, it’s ready to go. If not, wait five minutes and test it again.
- When your oil is hot, line up your onion rings (still in the buttermilk), plate of flour, and tequila batter to make a little battering/frying station. I also like to have a plate ready with a few paper towels on top, to drain the onion rings once they’re fried.
- Pull onion rings a few at a time from the buttermilk, shake off the excess, and dredge them in flour. When the rings are covered in flour, transfer them to the tequila batter and turn to coat them completely. Shake off any excess batter and gently place the battered rings in the hot oil. Put rings in oil one at a time, to allow the oil to come back up to temperature for a few seconds in between each addition. I like to fry 4-5 large rings at a time (6 or 7 if they’re small).
- Fry onion rings for 3-4 minutes on each side until they’re a deep golden brown. Remove fully cooked onion rings to a paper-towel lined plate and repeat the battering & cooking process until you’ve fried all of your onion rings.
- Serve onion rings immediately with Honey Lime Yogurt Sauce (recipe above) on the side for dipping.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 onion rings
- Calories: 664
- Sugar: 7.3 g
- Sodium: 960.5 mg
- Fat: 45.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 47.1 g
- Protein: 8.9 g
- Cholesterol: 4.2 mg
Keywords: appetizer, entertaining, vegetarian
Note: Nutrition facts are approximate and were calculated with high estimate of 1 cup canola oil absorbed when frying the onion rings. Nutrition calculators (especially calorie calculators) are unreliable when it comes to calculating calorie increases due to deep frying.
Karen Carpenter
There isn't any ingredients (or amounts) listed for the batter.
Sandi
The ingredient list is missing from this post
Dhanya Samuel
love it!!
Tony
Jessie, I have been wanting to try these rings since the summer. They will definitely be on the Super Bowl Party menu. One question for someone like me who doesn't know anything about Tequila, whose Tequila should I use?
Thanks
Jessie
I am honestly not too discerning about tequila - it's one of my favorite things to drink, but I'm not super picky about brands (because it can get super expensive - yikes!) I do like to look for tequila that's been aged for a few months (sometimes labeled "reposado", although some silver varieties are also aged - it depends on the brand) when I'm cooking with it - the flavor is a bit more complex and comes through in the food more. For this recipe, I used Familia Camerena and actually liked it a lot- and it wasn't too pricey.
Ashley
Question: Does all the alcohol cook out? I have little kids in my home plus I don't drink alcohol (only cook), but I would still LOVE to try these.
Also, the person that commented about using rum, that sounds amazing!
Jessie
It's hard to say for certain how much of the alcohol in a recipe will cook out. The longer something cooks, the more alcohol will cook out. There will always be some residual alcohol left in a dish, particularly if (like these onion rings) it is cooked relatively quickly. It's not enough to have the same impact as an alcoholic drink, as it's a very low total percentage and an even smaller per-serving percentage, but it won't be totally gone. If you want to avoid using alcohol, you can substitute additional buttermilk in the batter and it will still taste great! You could also use nonalcoholic beer or beer with a very low alcohol content if you're worried about lingering alcohol traces. Hope that helps!
Ruby Dee
Looks grand. I must give these a try this weekend. Will be great with some wings and things while watching football.
Janelle
Omg!!! Need to try these!! They look amazing!!! Wonder how dark rum would taste???
Jessie
I bet it would be awesome! Let me know how it tastes if you give it a try!
Stormdrane
Must remember to wear a bib while surfing tasty looking recipe posts, to keep drool off the keyboard... 😛
Christoph
These look fantastic. Can't wait to try them. Amazing photos too!
Diane
Awesome, made these the other night. Will definitely make again!
Jessie
I'm glad you liked them! Thanks for letting me know!
Amber
Someone who loves tequila as much as I do! I'm definitely gonna have to make these! 🙂
David
For the tequila batter, it says 2/4. Do you mean 1/2, or is the "2" a typeo and it should be a 1 or a 3?
Jessie
It should be 1/2 cup - I just transferred allll my recipes over to ZipList and I'm still catching the typos. Sorry about that! Thanks for catching it 🙂
Katrina @ In Katrina's Kitchen
Gosh how have we not connected before?! Your blog is all kinds of amazing. And I'm head over heels with these onion rings!!!!!!
Jessie
Thank you so much! I just took a peek at your blog and I can't wait to start reading!
Samantha Samonte
I love this! Onion rings and tequila are my fave =) and i think you got a little tipsy there! 😀
Des @ Life's Ambrosia
HOLY YUM. I am a sucker for onion rings and these look like they would be amazing. Pinning!
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious
You had me at "tequila-battered"! Now, please pass the stack of onion rings 🙂