These caramelized air fryer onions are the bomb! I love their beautiful sweet flavor and crunch. Have them as a delish vegetable side or use in your burger, wraps, pulaos or biryanis.
These air fried onions can are a great way to make sautéed onions. So good if you love making curries like I do.
You can make them lightly sautéed or dark caramelized or just have them with crispy edges.
It depends upon how you like the onions and for what purpose you are planning on using them.
You can also do onions and potatoes together in the air fryer. They take similar time to get browned.
You may also like: air fryer breakfast potatoes, air fryer onion petals, air fryer roasted vegetables, air fryer carrots, air fryer zucchini, air fryer broccoli.
Variations:
This recipe is vegan, gluten-free and low carb.
This recipe needs a little oil as without oil, the onions tend to burn very quickly and don’t cook evenly.
Tips for Making the Perfect Air fryer Onions
1. I have use red onion here as I love the zing. White onion is even sweeter and perfect for this recipe.
2. Adding just a bit of salt and oil caramelizes and crisps up the onion well. Make sure to add the salt just before you put the onion in for air frying or it will release water and get mushy.
3. Preheating the air fryer helps in quickly crisping up the onions.
4. I have used one large onion of 230 gm. or 8 oz. here. The onion was peeled cut into half and then sliced finely.
5. I have used only 1 tsp. of peanut oil in this recipe. Avocado oil or coconut oil works well too.
6. You can season your onions with any seasoning of choice but it would be better to toss them later with seasoning after air frying. As the seasoning may burn.
7. These onions lose their crunch once refrigerated. It’s best to consume them fresh.
Stepwise Pictures:
Take one large red or white onion. Slice off the end and the stem part. Then peel off the outer skin.
Cut it into half vertically. Then slice each half into fine slices. Ensure that all the slices are of similar size.
Preheat air fryer at 160C or 320F for 4 minutes. Wait for the preheating time to be almost over before assembling your onion.
This is because you don’t want the onion to sit around in salt and get soggy.
Toss the onion slices quickly with the salt and oil.
Then add to the preheated air fryer. Set your air fryer for 12 minutes at 160C or 320F.
After 6 minutes, you can see that the onions look cooked and have lovely crispy edges.
If this is how you wanted your onion (sautéed) then take out and serve.
If like me, you wanted them browner and caramelized, then put them back in, shake them a bit and air fry for about 3 minutes more at 160C or 320F.
Keep an eye on the onions as you don’t want them to get burnt.
Do remember that the onions will cook very fast so watch after every minute of air frying time till you get your desired caramelization.
Now take them out and serve as a side or in your burger or wrap. I often use these when preparing biryani.
They are so crispy and delicious. Enjoy.
FAQ
Unfortunately not. The onions get burnt easily if you don’t use a little oil.
It will take very long to make dehydrated onions and that too in such a small quantity. I would rather not attempt it.
Yes you easily can. Just keep shaking the basket once every 5 minutes. Also lowering the temperature to 120C or 260F and cooking for longer like 25-30 minutes works better with about 4-5 onions sliced together
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Air fryer Onion
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 oz. onion or about 230 gm.
- 1 tsp. peanut oil or avocado oil
- ¼ tsp. salt
Instructions
- Take one large red or white onion. Remove the end and the stem part. Then peel off the outer skin. Cut it into half vertically. Then slice each half into fine slices. Ensure that all the slices are of similar size.
- Preheat air fryer at 160C or 320F for 4 minutes. Wait for the preheating time to be almost over before assembling your onion.
- This is because you don’t want the onion to sit around in salt and get soggy.
- Toss the onion slices quickly with the salt and oil. Then add to the preheated air fryer. Set your air fryer for 12 minutes at 160C or 320F.
- After 6 minutes, you can see that the onions look cooked and have lovely crispy edges. If this is how you wanted your onion (sautéed) then take out and serve.
- If like me, you wanted them browner and caramelized, then put them back in, shake them a bit and air fry for about 3 minutes more at 160C or 320F.
- Keep an eye on the onions as you don’t want them to get burnt. Do remember that the onions will cook very fast so watch after every minute of air frying time till you get your desired caramelization.
- Now take them out and serve as a side or in your burger or wrap. I often use these when preparing biryani.
- They are so crispy and delicious. Enjoy.
Video
Notes
2. Adding just a bit of salt and oil caramelizes and crisps up the onion well. Make sure to add the salt just before you put the onion in for air frying or it will release water and get mushy.
3. Preheating the air fryer helps in quickly crisping up the onions.
4. I have used one large onion of 230 gm. or 8 oz. here. The onion was peeled cut into half and then sliced finely.
5. I have used only 1 tsp. of peanut oil in this recipe. Avocado oil or coconut oil works well too.
6. You can season your onions with any seasoning of choice but it would be better to toss them later with seasoning after air frying. As the seasoning may burn.
7. These onions lose their crunch once refrigerated. It’s best to consume them fresh.
Nutrition
If you liked the recipe, please leave a star * rating for it. Thanks.
Shashi at SavorySpin says
I've been buying crispy onions from the store - but thanks to you, now I don't need to anymore. Saving this to try soon!
Rachna says
Thanks so much
Denise says
I cannot wait to make this. I love fried onions but never thought to make them in the air fryer but I can see how easy that would be. Thanks for sharing this!
Rachna says
That's wonderful!
Gwynn says
The air fryer is my new favorite appliance and I'm always looking for new recipes and this recipe is a keeper for sure!
Rachna says
Thanks.
Natalie says
I will definitely give this a try. I love crispy onions. Yum! What a great idea!
Rachna says
Happy to help!
Nic says
I love my air fryer and I LOVE caramelized onions. Such a genius idea, thanks for the recipe!
Savita says
Air fryer onion sounds so so good. Need to try it out.
Rachna says
Thank you