Whole Onion in Air Fryer: Easy and Flavorful

Do you want a creative and delicious dish?

Try this whole onion in air-fryer! With just a few simple steps, cleverly process the onion into a lotus shape and pair it with a crispy coating. It's beautiful and delicious. Come and try it!

Ingredients Needed

Onion: As the core of the dish, it has a unique sweet and spicy taste and contains a variety of nutrients. It is the cornerstone of flavor.

Flour: Can form a crispy outer skin during frying, greatly enhancing the texture levels and upgrading the deliciousness of onions.
Salt: Effectively enhances the umami of onions and makes their taste more delicious.
Pepper: Gives onions a faint spiciness, enriches the taste experience and makes the taste more mellow.
Chili powder: Injects a hot element into the dish and adds a unique flavor.
Egg: Has an adhesive effect to ensure that the seasonings adhere evenly. At the same time, it supplements nutrition and maintains moisture.
Milk: Can adjust the concentration of the egg liquid to facilitate the even coating of onions and also add a milky fragrance.
Oil: Brushed on the surface of onions, through frying, a caramelization reaction occurs to create a crispy taste. 

How to choose onions?

Purple onion: Suitable for diners who like spicy flavor and rich nutrition. It has a strong spicy flavor and high nutritional value.
Yellow onion: Suitable for diners who like sweet and light flavors. It has a sweet taste and more moisture.
White onion: Suitable for diners who like a crisp texture and sweet taste. 
When choosing, you can judge its quality through the following aspects:
Appearance: Choose onions with dry and smooth skin, no scars, black spots, or mildew, and regular shape and moderate size.
Texture: Press with your hand and it should be firm and elastic. If it is too soft, it may be deteriorated. If it is too hard, it is relatively old and has poor taste.
Root and top: The root should be complete without dry rot. The top should be tight and not sprouted. Otherwise, the nutritional value and flavor will decrease. 

Essential Tools

Air fryer: The core tool. It can achieve the taste of frying without adding oil or with less oil, making the outer skin of onions crispy and the inside soft and glutinous. At the same time, it is healthier.
Mixing bowl: Used to mix dry seasonings such as flour and wet ingredients such as eggs and milk separately to ensure that onions can be evenly coated with seasonings and improve the overall flavor and texture.
Chopsticks: Used to fix the bottom of onions to prevent cutting off the root during cutting. Ensure that the cutting process is smooth and the onion remains intact.
Brush: Used to evenly apply a little oil on the surface of onions to promote caramelization of the outer skin and make onions more crispy and delicious.
Knife: Used to cut onions into lotus shapes. It is one of the key steps in making this dish. Ensure that onions can form a beautiful lotus shape and improve the visual effect of the dish. 

Cooking Tips

Precise cutting: Cut the onion from the connected part at the bottom, keep each petal intact and form a lotus shape.
Even coating: Mix dry and wet ingredients separately first and then evenly coat the onion to ensure a layered taste.
Preheat the air fryer: When using an air fryer, preheat it according to the recipe first to make the heating even and cooked thoroughly.
Moderate oil amount: Brush an appropriate amount of oil. Too much will be greasy and too little will make the outer skin not crispy.
Flip halfway: Flip it once during frying to make both sides heated equally and be crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.