Skinny Baked Onion Rings {with a Basil Cream Sauce}

Bad treats gone good.

There is something about greasy fried food that every so often I crave even though I know how insanely bad it can be for you and your body. Sometime though, you have to indulge... just make it yourself at home with all fresh and healthy ingredients.

I have been making these onion rings for a while now, with a couple of different variations in ingredients and each and every time they come out crispy and delicious.

You would never know these onion rings were healthy for you either other than the different crunch when you bite into them. When you roll onions in all natural whole wheat ingredients and then bake instead of fry them, you seriously take more than double the amount of fat and calories out of the rings.

Healthier, crunchier and all the flavor you need to indulge with this modified version of our favorite greasy snack. Add in this refreshing dipping sauce and we are totally in business.

Skinny Baked Onion Rings
6 servings, 6-7 onion rings each
Time: 1 hour

Ingredients
2 medium yellow onions
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups fine dry breadcrumbs, preferably whole-wheat (see Note)
1 tbsp italian seasoning blend
Olive oil or canola oil cooking spray 

Basil Cream Sauce Recipe, below

Position racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 450°F. Coat 2 large rimmed baking sheets with cooking spray. 

Cut off both ends of each onion and peel. Slice into 1/2-inch-thick slices; separate into rings. (Discard the smallest rings or reserve for another use.) Place the rings in a medium bowl; cover with cold water.

Combine flour and baking powder in a shallow dish. Lightly beat eggs in another shallow dish. Combine breadcrumbs and seasoning in a third shallow dish. Working with one ring at time, remove from the water, letting any excess drip off. Coat in flour, shaking off any excess. Dip in egg and let any excess drip off. Then coat in the breadcrumb mixture, shaking off any excess. Place on the prepared baking sheets. Generously coat the onion rings with cooking spray. 

Bake for 10 minutes. Turn each onion ring over and return to the oven, switching the positions of the baking sheets. Continue baking until brown and very crispy, 8 to 10 minutes more.
 

Breadcrumb tips: Look for fine dry whole-wheat breadcrumbs in the natural-foods section of large supermarkets or natural-foods stores. To make your own, trim crusts from firm sandwich bread. Tear the bread into pieces and process in a food processor until very fine. Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 250°F until dry, about 10 to 15 minutes. One slice of bread makes about 1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs.

Nutrition: 

calories 175

fat 3g

potassium 136 mg

  sodium 557m

 carbohydrate 29g 

fiber 2g

 protein 7g

Photos by A Healthy Jalapeño 

Recipe adopted by Eating Well

For the Basil Cream Sauce:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon cold water
salt/pepper, to taste

Preparing the Basil Cream Sauce: While those are cooking, make your super easy sauce. Just throw all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until the basil has broken down and turned the sauce into a light green color. Serve with the onion rings.

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Enjoy!