The Cereal Coating That Will Take Your Onion Rings To New Heights

With just a few basic ingredients, onion rings are an easy dish to throw together when you want some home-made fast food. But getting that crispy texture right can make or break your snack. If you find you're not getting the crunch you want with your home-made ones, turn to your pantry for a box of cornflakes. This cereal will stand in for breadcrumbs in a traditional coating, but offer a more craggy, crunchy texture.

Cornflakes are less absorbent than breadcrumbs, so they won't turn soggy when coming into contact with the wet parts of the coating, and won't take on excess oil. They also have a light sweetness that will complement the taste of the onions – just be sure to opt for the plain version. You can experiment with other crispy cereals such as unsweetened Rice Krispies, Chex or Wheaties, but we like the nutty taste and jagged texture that cornflakes add.

This technique works best for breaded onion rings, rather than the battered style. Battered onion rings rely on ingredients that will aerate the wet batter, such as the carbonation in beer battered onion rings. However, you can also add crushed cornflakes to a wet batter for added texture.

The great thing using cornflakes is that they can be substituted 1:1 for breadcrumbs, so you can work with your favorite breaded onion ring recipe. The only step that varies is that you need to start by crushing up the cereal, as large pieces won't stick well to the onions. By using a food processor or just a rolling pin and a plastic bag, you want to reduce them to the texture of coarse breadcrumbs.

The absolute best type of onion to use would be Spanish, so once you have your slices, you just follow the regular steps for breading. A dredge in flour, followed by a dunk in a mix of egg and milk, then a roll around in the crushed cornflakes. For a thicker coating, you can repeat the flour and egg steps before adding the cereal. At this point, there are a few secret ingredients for the tastiest onion rings, starting with extra seasonings to the flour for a flavor hit. Just be careful not to overwhelm the taste of the onion.

For a richer flavor and better color, deep frying these onion rings is the best choice. However you can get an equally crispy result with less mess and less oil by cooking onion rings in the air fryer or even baking them in the oven.