Keto Air Fryer Blooming Onion; THM S

Healthy appetizers just got a whole lot better! This Keto air fried blooming onion with a zesty dipping sauce is so addictive!

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I first tried a blooming onion years ago at an Outback restaurant and thought it was one of the best things I had ever eaten!

Back home I found a recipe for one which I have made several times since then. It contains white flour though, so it wasn’t something I have made since making the switch to eating healthy.

It finally dawned on me recently that this would be fairly easy to make Trim Healthy Mama friendly!

And since I’m obsessed with my air fryer, I knew that was the way to go.

Why I love my air fryer

Last year I bought a small air fryer during Black Friday sales. It is one of the best kitchen purchases I have ever made! Sometimes you buy something expecting to love it but then it just spends most of its life sitting in a drawer or cupboard.

Not my air fryer!

It heats up quickly and cooks food to perfection in a fraction of the time it would take in an oven. My only regret is that mine isn’t bigger!

I quite often will cook things like fish fillets, okra and brussel sprouts straight from the freezer. They are done in 10-15 minutes!

I have even cooked a chicken breast from frozen. They end up with a beautifully crispy skin.

Other foods I like to cook in it are mushrooms, chickpeas, Joseph’s lavash for crispy crackers and my Ham and Cheese Rolls.

What makes a air fryer great for THM?

One of the best things about an air fryer is that you can cook foods to a beautiful crispiness with little or even no oil.

This is AWESOME for Trim Healthy Mama E meals since they are low fat! You can eat foods that taste like they have been fried and are full of flavor but are almost completely fat free.

How cool is that?

Can this blooming onion be made ahead?

For best results, I would cook this blooming onion just before you want to eat it, especially if you are serving it to guests.

Leftovers are still great but not as crispy as the first cook. You could always reheat leftovers in an air fryer rather than a microwave for more crunch.

You may think I am strange but I actually love leftover blooming onion eaten cold, straight from the fridge lol.

Onion petals are a great alternative that is a bit less time consuming

If the process of cutting the onion to look like it is ‘blooming’ sounds too hard, you can also turn this recipe into air fried onion petals.

Simply cut an onion into wedges and separate the layers into petals. Then coat them in egg and the same crumb mixture as the blooming onion recipe. One coating should be sufficient rather than the two coatings I do for the blooming onion.

This way you can still have the same great taste but with a little less effort. The onion petals will cook much faster than a whole onion so be sure to keep a close eye on them.

What’s a blooming onion without dipping sauce?

Part of the whole fun of eating a blooming onion is dipping it into a delicious sauce! The one I’ve included in this recipe gets some zip from hot sauce and horseradish.

The horseradish can be left out if you want and it is still delicious. I use Franks Original Hot Sauce. It’s not overly hot but still adds a kick.

How to cut a blooming onion

1. First you want to peel the onion and cut off the pointy end so the top is flat. Leave the root end on.
2. Place the cut end down on your cutting board. Starting about 1/2 an inch down from the root, make a downward cut all the way to the bottom. You will want your knife to go almost to the center of the onion as you are cutting down.
3. Continue making cuts all around the onion, about a 1/4 inch apart.
4. Gently open up all the layers of each cut to resemble a ‘flower’.

You can also read how to do this in this blog post which was what I referenced when I was cutting my onion since I hadn’t done one in a long time!

This is how it will look when you are finished.

Keto Air Fryer Blooming Onion Recipe

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Ingredients:

For the onion:

1 medium sized onion

1/3 cup THM Baking Blend

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese [green can]

1/4 cup shredded aged cheddar

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon each paprika, onion powder and garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup finely ground pork rinds [grind them first in a blender and then measure out 1/4 cup]

2 eggs

For the sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon Franks Original hot sauce, or hot sauce of choice

1 tablespoon prepared horseradish, optional

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Cut your onion following the instructions in this blog post.
3. Mix all the ingredients for the breading together in a bowl just big enough for your onion to fit in upside down. In another bowl of the same size, whisk 1 of the eggs.
4. Place the onion cut side down into the bowl with the egg. Tip the bowl upside down onto a large plate, letting the egg run through the onion. Take a basting brush and brush excess egg that runs onto the plate back onto the onion. Now take your onion and turn it upside down into the bowl of crumbs. Twist the onion around gently and then tip the bowl upside down onto another plate, just like you did with the egg. Put any extra crumbs that fall on the plate back into the bowl. Repeat the process with the remaining egg and crumbs. Try to scoop any remaining crumbs when you have done this the second time back into the onion. This might sound a bit complicated lol, but it is the best way I have come up with to get the crumbs to stick to the onion and coat it well. If you have a better way, go for it!
5. Take your coated onion and place it in the air fryer. Cook for 12 – 15 minutes or until the onion is golden and tender.
6. While it is cooking, mix together the ingredients for the sauce. Serve the sauce on the side for dipping.

This is how your onion will look after you finish coating it.

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