Shea Simmons
Let’s be honest: some of our favorite restaurant foods aren’t exactly the healthiest. Thankfully, there are some dupes that can make them just a bit better for you. One of the most recent is an air-fried Bloomin’ Onion.
If you’re familiar with this famous Outback Steakhouse appetizer, you know it’s basically a battered, deep-fried onion that’s seasoned with spices. By leaving the core intact, the onion “blooms” like a flower, allowing you to pull off “petals.” It’s delicious, but it is, after all, deep-fried.
Thankfully, there’s a way to hack this into a slightly healthier alternative using an air fryer, and it’s actually not all that difficult.
Recently, on Good Morning America, Cat Cora, professional chef and Iron Chef America alum, demonstrated how to make an air-fried onion. In the video below, you’ll see that she first makes the sauce out of some Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, ketchup, Worchester sauce, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and tabasco.
Next, it’s on to the batter, with which she’ll coat the onion. She combines two eggs with equal parts water and milk. Then, she combines flour, paprika, salt, garlic powder, cumin, and black pepper.
Now, it’s time for the onion itself. Cora slices the bottom so it sits flat. She then cuts the top off, but leaves the core intact. Next, she slices the onion into quarters, but avoids going all the way through the core. A few petals fall, but Cora says this is normal.
When she’s done cutting, she flips the onion upside down, so it “blooms” and places it in the flour mixture.
To ensure the onion is thoroughly coated, she covers the bowl containing the flour with a plate and shakes it around the onion. Then, she transfers the onion to the egg mixture before moving it back to the flour, so it’s fully battered.
She lets the onion sit for about 20-30 minutes in the fridge so the batter can set, and then, places it in the air fryer for 20-25 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. The result is a crispy Outback dupe that’s a bit healthier.
After bringing a taste of the Outback into your own kitchen, be sure to check out some of the other restaurant faves you can make!
[Via The Kitchn]
