Create your favorite appetizer at home with this Air Fryer Blooming Onion. It is sliced and battered and fries up to golden brown perfection. Dip it in your favorite sauce!
This is an appetizer that you can serve up to go with dinner, serve up guests as you cheer on your favorite team, or for a fun snack during movie night.
If you love the blooming onion blossoms at Outback Steakhouse you will love this homemade version!
🍽️ Why You Will Love This Recipe
Quick and Easy to Prep | Meal prepping this is an option for sure but it isn’t necessary as it can be pulled together in under 10 minutes.
Takes Nine Minutes to Air Fry | In under 10 minutes cooking time, you’ll have appetizers for friends coming over, the game coming on tv or family movie night on the couch.
Crispy Batter with a Soft Center | The best part of this is the crispy outside with the tender inside. You can argue with enjoying the best of both worlds.
A Fun Party Appetizer | Make up a couple of these for a party. Everyone loves to pick a petal or three and enjoy.
Affordable to Make | Pulling ingredients from your pantry, this is an app that you can make on the fly and without spending hardly any money.
🥘 Equipment
Air Fryer | We used our Ninja 4 qt Basket but this recipe works in Phillips, Cosori, Pampered Chef, Instant Vortex 7 in 1 as well. All of the machines come with different wattages and will cook slightly different. Start cooking with the lowest time until you know the recipe for your individual machine.
Spoon | Just a regular spoon that can make sure to get the coating in between all the crevices of the onion petals.
Air Fryer Liner or Aluminum Foil Sling | I explain how to make a foil sling below so lifting the fragile onion out of the basket without it breaking into pieces.
All your burning questions: Can You Put Parchment Paper in Air Fryer? Can You Put Foil in the Air Fryer?
🧅 Ingredients
Onion | The ideal onion for this recipe is a large sweet variety, like a Vidalia. White ones work well, but stick to the sweets.
Blooming Onion Batter | The wet ingredients for the include milk and eggs. The dry ingredients are made with flour, salt & pepper, paprika, garlic powder and a bit of Ton’y Chachere.
🍳 How to Make a Blooming Onion
How to Cut a Blooming Onion
Step One: Peel off the outer skin of the and cut the stem off on a cutting board.
Step Two: Flip to the cut side down, and then make four cuts through the center of the onion, stopping about ½ inch from the root. You do not want to cut all the way through.
Step Three: Then make more cuts to segment into eighths as showing in the photos to make the petals.
PRO TIP: If you have time, soak the onion in cold water for 2 hours to allow the petals to gently fall.
Blooming Onion in Air Fryer
Step Four: Add the egg and milk to a clean bowl and whisk together. In another bowl add the all purpose flour and spices.
Step Five: Dredge the cut onion in the milk and egg mixture and allow excess dry to fall off followed by the flour mixture. Shake off excess flour. Repeat the process to create a breaded coating.
Step Six: Place your onion in the air fryer basket, and spritz with oil with the stem end on the bottom of the basket. Cook at 350 degrees for nine minutes or until it is golden brown.
Full directions and measurements for the recipe are in the printable recipe card below.
Make sure to snag your {FREEBIE} Air Fryer Cooking Times Printable, Deep Fryer to Air Fryer Conversion Printable and Oven to Air Fryer Conversion Printable.
🍴 Storing Leftovers
Store leftovers in an air tight container. Wrap the leftovers in paper towels on all sides to capture the excess oil and help it not get mushy while in the refrigerator.
✨ How to Reheat
Air Fryer | Heat up the fryer to 400 degrees. Lightly spray the leftover blossom with olive oil and place in the fryer for 4-5 minutes to heat and crisp back up.
Oven | Heat up the oven to 350 degrees. Place the leftovers on a wire rack pan on a sheet pan. Cook for 8-10 minutes and broil for 1-3 minutes to make extra crispy at the end.
We don’t recommend using the microwave as the exterior coating will be soft and not crispy like you would like.
🥄 Meal Prep
Fortunately, meal prepping this for game days and parties will save so much time for these.
Cut the onion and prep the dipping bowls the morning or night before. Choose the option of soaking the onion in cold water or buttermilk to have the petals splay open more and allow the coating to stick even better.
📌 Expert Tips
- Play around with the seasoning and spices to create the flavor combinations you like.
- If you own an Ninja Foodi or Instant Pot Duo Crisp I share how to use them to make this in the recipe card below.
- Make more than one, just cook them one at a time, or leave room between each so it doesn’t touch. You need good air flow for this to cook evenly.
- Make sure to not cut all the way through, you want to keep the bottom of onion cut side intact so it holds together as it air fries.
- If you are struggling stopping the cuts at the ½” mark, place two wooden spoons on the counter and cut through the onion until you hit the spoons. This allows you to make even cuts without accidentally slicing all the way through!
- Double dipping the batter will allow for a crispier coating.
- If you are worried about the onion falling apart, make an aluminum foil sling to put UNDERNEATH of the onion before cooking. To make a sling, cut a piece of foil long enough to go from ONE SIDE of the air fryer basket DOWN TO COVER the bottom of the basket and then UP THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE BASKET. The two opposite sides will be the handles to pull it out of the basket when it is finished cooking.
- Use a spoon to get the coating in between all the petals if they are not all the way coated.
🍴 Substitutions
Buttermilk | Soak the onion petals in buttermilk for a couple hours instead of water suggested above as it will help the egg and flour stick better.
Panko | Use Panko Breadcrumbs in place of the flour for a crunchier and crispier petal.
Breadcrumbs | Replacing a breadcrumb mixture for the flour will also create a crunchier exterior.
🍠 Serving Suggestions
We like to serve these with Sweet Baby Ray’s Secret Dipping Sauce or you can make your own copycat version.
Pair this with Pizza Rolls in the Air Fryer (homemade version) or Air Fryer Cheez It Crackers for the perfect party nibbles. Make your own Outback night starting with the onion app and making Air Fryer Steak Tips and Sweet Potato.
🍽️ Favorite Air Fryer Foods
Air Fryer Bang Bang Chicken Meatballs
Recipe FAQs
Making a blooming onion is pretty simple. Peel and slice the onion so it can peel apart easily. Dip it in the wet mixture and then dry batter. Air fry until it is golden brown.
Blooming onions are generally served with a dipping sauce that carries a little spice: Boom boom sauce, Sriracha, mayo, etc. Serve this as a side dish with your burger, or even as an appetizer to cheer on your favorite teams.
Tim Gannon from the Outback Steakhouse created this incredible savory invention.
Cook in the air fryer for 9-15 minutes. The time will vary slightly depending on the size of the onion. For larger onions you will need to extend the air fry time.
No. You should use an oil mister and not cooking spray. Cooking spray may damage the enamel on the Air Fryery tray.
Related Recipes
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with me through social media by following me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!
Air Fryer Blooming Onions
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large Onion large, sweet
- 1 cup Milk
- 2 large Eggs
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Pepper
- ½ tbsp Garlic Powder
- 2 cups Flour
- ½ tbsp Tony's Chachere optional, for spiciness
Instructions
- Remove first layer of onion peel. Cut the top stem off.
- Flip with root pointed up and make four cuts down along the side of the onion, stopping ½ inch from the root. Then cut the onion into eighths.
- In a mixing bowl, combine eggs and milk and mix.
- In another mixing bowl, combine flour and spices.
- Dredge the onion in the milk/egg mixture coating the onion slices completely.
- Toss it in the flour mixture coating the slices completely. Repeat for crispier results.
- Place the onion in the air fryer basket and spray lightly with oil. Cook on 350 for nine minutes or until it is golden brown
Notes
Nutrition
Hi!
Ginny Collins is a passionate foodie and recipe creator of Savor and Savvy and Kitchenlaughter. Indoors she focuses on easy, quick recipes for busy families and kitchen basics. Outdoors, she focuses on backyard grilling and smoking to bring family and friends together. She is a lifelong learner who is always taking cooking classes on her travels overseas and stateside. Her work has been featured on MSN, Parade, Fox News, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and many local news outlets. She lives in Florida where you will find her outside on the water in her kayak, riding her bike on trails, and planning her next overseas adventure.
I had been on the lookout for a healthier way to make blooming onion and this was perfect!