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Beer Battered Onion Rings are the perfect complement to any burger, game day BBQ, or just settling that craving for your favorite fair food. It only takes two onions to serve up a crowd, but be warned, they’ll be hungry for more!

white bowl of beer battered onion rings — Beer battered onion rings are an easy homemade fair food and burger pairing.

What is the best beer for beer batter?

Whether you’re making beer battered onion rings, chicken, fish, or any other number of recipes – having the right beer makes all the difference. In theory, you can use any beer that tastes good to you, much like cooking with wine. A typical ‘good’ beer for beer batter is one with a lot of carbonation and a hint of flavor. Stouts, IPAs, Lagers, and of course Brown Ale are all among the top contenders for creating a beer batter with loads of puff and great flavor.

picture of beer battered onion ring burger — Onion rings on or off? There are no wrong answers here.

Learn more about the science of using beer in batter here.

Do beer battered onion rings have alcohol?

No, alcohol burns off in a matter of seconds at 172F making these deep fried onion rings alcohol free.

Ingredients for beer batter

What I’ll call ‘traditional’ beer batter, like the one used for this recipe, you’ll need:

Onions – I used Vidalia due to their size and sweetness.
Beer – An English Brown Ale is perfect with its nutty flavor and carbonation.
Flour – All-Purpose but you could use gluten-free.
Seasonings – salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika.

Keep in mind you can change up the seasonings for a slightly different taste, but this batter gives you a good baseline to start playing with.

ingredients needed to make homemade onion rings — Just 8 ingredients to make onion rings for a crowd!

How to make beer battered onion rings

Preheat peanut oil in a 5 or 6-quart dutch oven over the stovetop, using an infrared thermometer to 425F.
While the oil heats, slice your onions into 1/4-1/2 inch slices.
In a large bowl make your batter.
Work in batches to dredge your onion rings in the batter, reserved flour, and then fry until golden brown.
Remove using a spider strainer to a paper towel-lined plate. Sprinkle with additional salt if desired. Serve with dipping sauce.

Chef’s Tip

Check your oil temperature before dropping each batch for frying. Oil temperature changes quickly and drastically during the frying process.

How to make beer battered onion rings without beer

Obviously we love using beer in this recipe for the flavor and carbonation. However, if you don’t have beer or just don’t want to use it, you can use milk or soda. Soda has the carbonation that we’re looking for (think Sprite, Ginger Ale, or Coke) and milk is used more traditionally in a batter.

What to serve with onion rings

I’m not sure there is a dish you can’t serve onion rings with, but here are some of our favorites!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with onion rings sound like a winner in my book!

You’ve got the oil already heated, let’s add some Fried Chicken to the mix!