Red Onion Rings — The Last Fire of Summer

Labor Day. The farewell. Made the cookout — everything on the grill, the whole family. Earl Thomas, three years old, helped me tend the fire, which means he stood three feet back (per Craig safety regulations) and pointed at the flames and said hot and I said yes, hot, good, that's the word, remember that word. He remembers. He has a vocabulary of kitchen and fire words now — hot, stir, cook, eat, more, PawPaw — and the vocabulary is the beginning of the language, and the language is food, and food is how we talk in this family.

Pulled the garden the next day. Said thank you. Composted. Covered the beds. Another season. The tomato count for 2025: forty-seven quarts of sauce, twelve pints of salsa, six pints of pickled jalapenos, two dozen tomato sandwiches, one tomato pie, and enough cherry tomatoes to feed every neighbor on the block. The garden gave. I received. The exchange is the point.

When you’ve grilled everything — and I mean everything — for a farewell cookout, you need a side that keeps pace with the fire and doesn’t ask too much of you. Red onion rings were the right call: the garden gave me onions all season, and this was a fitting way to honor the last of them alongside the heat Earl Thomas stood three respectful feet back from. Simple, crispy, honest food for the end of something good.

Red Onion Rings

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 large red onions, sliced into 1/2-inch rings and separated
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• Vegetable oil, for frying (about 2 cups)

Instructions

1. Soak the onions. Separate the sliced red onions into individual rings and place them in a shallow bowl. Pour the buttermilk over the top and let them soak for at least 10 minutes. This softens their bite and helps the batter adhere.
2. Set up your dredging station. In one shallow bowl, whisk together the flour, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and black pepper. In a second bowl, whisk the egg into the buttermilk after removing the onions. Pour the panko into a third shallow bowl.
3. Dredge the rings. Working one at a time, lift a ring from the buttermilk, dredge it in the seasoned flour, dip it back into the egg-buttermilk mixture, then press it firmly into the panko until fully coated. Set coated rings on a wire rack.
4. Heat the oil. In a heavy skillet or Dutch oven, heat about 1 inch of vegetable oil over medium-high heat until it reaches 350°F. A pinch of panko dropped in should sizzle immediately.
5. Fry in batches. Add rings in small batches — do not crowd the pan. Fry 2–3 minutes per side until deep golden brown and crispy. Drain on a wire rack set over a baking sheet.
6. Season and serve. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt immediately out of the oil. Serve hot alongside your preferred dipping sauce — a smoky aioli or plain ketchup both do fine.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 210 | Protein: 6g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 29g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 280mg