Onion rings are a traditional American favorite!! These vegan baked onion rings have everything you want in a tasty onion ring with an ultra crunchy outside and yummy onion flavor inside.
Slice the onions horizontally into ½ inch thick slices. Separate the rings. Use the large and medium outside rings. Set aside the small onion rings and odd shaped rings to use in another recipe. Place the onions in water while you get everything else ready.
Mix together the milk, flax, mustard and mayonnaise and let sit for five minutes.
Mix together the breadcrumbs, cornmeal and italian seasoning and place in a shallow bowl or plate.
Mix together the flour, salt and pepper and place in a shallow bowl.
Get your baking sheet pan ready by coating with cooking spray or lightly brush with oil.
Set up your dredging area in this order: onions in water, flour, milk-flax mixture, breadcrumbs.
Remove the rings from the water individually, shaking off the excess water. Place in the flour mixture, turning to coat completely. Then transfer to the milk flax mixture doing the same. Last it goes in the breadcrumb mixture. When you are done breading each ring, place it on the sheet pan.
When the pan is full, spray the tops of the onions with the olive oil spray and place into the hot oven to cook for 20 minutes. Flip the rings over halfway through the cooking time.
Notes
Cut the onion rings into even slices. This ensures they cook evenly in the oven. Thinner onion rings create a crispier end product. If you prefer ultra crispy then definitely shoot for the ¼ inch thickness.Soaking the rings removes any bitterness in the onion, but it also helps the flour stick so don’t skip it. Be sure to shake off excess ingredients while breading the rings. This keeps the breading or liquid from getting clumpy while creating a more even texture of breading on the onion rings.Use separate hands to dip the onion rings into the liquid ingredients and the other hand to bread it in the dry mixture. This method is less messy and keeps the batter from sticking to your fingers, making it difficult to work.Don’t skip spraying the onion rings with oil before cooking in the oven. The purpose of the oil is to help the onion rings brown up a bit more and create a crispier crust.Preheat the oven. I skipped this step on my first try and my onion rings didn’t turn out as crispy as I wanted and it extended the cook time.