Sourdough “Discard” Onion Rings

These Sourdough “Discard” Onion Rings are salty, crispy, and flavorful. A fun way to use sourdough starter or “discard”. Great for a side dish, or snack.

A look at what you will need.

Vadalia Onion- Vadalia onions are sweet and they make the best onion rings. You want to pick out the biggest onion you can find for those big, beautiful onion rings. After slicing them, there is a very thin film that is between each ring. I remove those if possible to help the batter stick to the onion ring better.

Sourdough Starter- I feed my starter and make up a big batch of sourdough starter. After it has peaked and starts to fall, I store it in my refrigerator ready to use for recipes like this. The cold temperatures slow down the fermentation and almost goes dormant. This helps save on time when you are ready to use, you can pull it cold right out of the refrigerator, and there is no need to let it come to room temperature or feed it. Use it just like you would discard. Discard is essentially unfed starter. The longer it sits in the refrigerator it will slowly become more and more asidic and will start to form hooch on the top. I try to use it up in a couple of weeks.

You could also use a fed starter, you will need to adjust the consistency. Either add milk to thin the batter out or more flour to thicken the batter if it’s too thick.

Oil- I use peanut oil for frying, it’s a personal preference. You can use whatever frying oil you like. For my 6.5 quart Dutch Oven, one quart of peanut oil was the perfect amount for frying up one batch of these onion rings.

I recommend doing a test run and frying one onion ring to see if you need to adjust the temperature before frying up a batch. If the onion rings cook too fast, they can burn on the outside and still taste raw on the inside. Letting them brown a little slower helps cook the onion on the inside without overcooking the outside.

After placing the onion rings in the oil, the temperature could drop too low, so I like to have it a little hotter to begin with. I found 350 degrees fried them too fast for me, so I aimed for 325 degrees, and it would drop to 300 after placing the onion rings in. You may need to find through trial and error what temps work best for you, depending on the pan you choose to use and how quickly the oil temperatures will change in it.

Candy Thermometer- A digital deep fryer has a way to set the temperature, but if you are frying them in a pan you can use a candy thermometer to manuely measure the heat.

It is best to have no distractions, while frying, and keep an eye on the rising temperature. Keep pets and small children away from the cooking area to avoid an incident.

Spider Spoon/ Strainer- A metal strainer is a great tool when working with hot oil. It’s a quick way to remove a lot of onion rings at once, allowing the hot oil to fall back down into the pan instead of down the handle on to you.

A Heavy Bottom Pan or Deep Fryer- A Dutch oven is a good pan for frying foods with its heavy base and tall sides. The oil can take a little longer to heat up but the thick bottom will help retain temperature better. A deep fryer would take away a lot of the constant monitoring of the oil temperatures, since you can set your temperature and it adjusts it for you. Some deep fryers come with overheating alarms.

A look at the ingredients:

1-2 quarts cooking oil depending on the size of your pan.

1 c unfed sourdough starter or discard. ( I used mine cold right out of the refrigerator.)

1 large Vadalia onion peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick, film removed from each layer.

1 egg

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp oregano

1/8 tsp smoked paprika

Pinch of black pepper

1. Place oil in a heavy bottom frying pan, Dutch Oven or to the recommended fill line of a deep fryer, and begin to slowly bring the temperature up to 325-350 degrees. ( You may need to adjust this depending on the pan that you use.)
2. Mix the sourdough starter, and the egg together and then add in the salt, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and oregano. You want a thin pancake batter consistency that will stick to the spoon yet run off of it at the same time. You can adjust the thickness to your preference by adding flour to thicken it or milk to thin it out.
3. Peel and slice your onion to about 1/4 inch thick. Remove any film that is between the onion rings.

4. Once the oil has reached the needed temperature, dip one onion ring into the batter and do a test run to see if you need to either turn up your heat or turn it down. Too hot of heat will result in the outside being burnt and the inside onion raw. Frying them in oil that is not hot enough can result in a greasy ring that will become soggy quickly.

5. Fry them in small batches, flipping them over to make sure both sides brown evenly. Aim to fry them f

or 2-5 minuets. Remove them to a cooling rack or paper towel lined plate.

6. Serve immediately and enjoy.

7. To store leftover onion rings place them in an air tight container and store them in the refrigerator for up to a week. They will need to be reheated in the oven to bring back their crispness.

Freezing Onion Rings:

You can freeze leftover onion rings or make up multiple batches and freeze them for a later time to save time. Once the onion rings have cooled off completely, store them in an air tight container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months.

Reheat them in the oven right out of the freezer until they are warm and crispy.