Air Fryer Blooming Onion

First we delivered a Baked Blooming Onion. Now we’re serving up an Air Fryer Blooming Onion that’s even easier. And it’s cheaper than ordering it out. It’ll be the hit on your party table.

If you’ve ever been to Outback Steakhouse, chances are good that you’ve tried a blooming onion. And while they may seem a little complex to make, it’s easier than you think. Here’s a link to our baked blooming onion, if you prefer that method.

If you haven’t been to Outback, let us explain! A sweet onion (it’s gotta be sweet) is sliced so the onion layers peel back and form petals. These petals are then breaded and fried until crispy. Yes, it’s as good as it sounds.

Tips For Air Fryer Blooming Onion:

• Don’t cut too close to the root end. You want to be sure to leave about 1/2 inch so you can pull the petals out from the center to give them all space. If you cut them too closely to the root, the petals will fall off.
• Shake off any excess flour. In an effort to really coat each piece, we added a lot of flour to the onion. More breading is a good thing, right? Wrong. This resulted in a pasty raw flour coating, which isn’t what we’re looking for. Make sure you get any extra flour off of the onion petals.

Then all that’s left is to air fry and enjoy.

Air Fryer Blooming Onion

Contributor: Emily Dingmann

First we delivered a Baked Blooming Onion. Now we’re serving up an Air Fryer Blooming Onion that’s even easier. And it’s cheaper than ordering it out. It’ll be the hit on your party table.

• Author: Emily Dingmann
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 2 servings 1x
• Category: Appetizer
• Method: Air Fryer
• Cuisine: American

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Ingredients

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• 1 large sweet onion
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. seasoning salt
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup milk
• Cooking spray

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Instructions

1. Cut onion into sections so that it forms the blooming onion petal effect. (Click here for full instructions.) Separate onion petals apart a bit.
2. Whisk together flour and spices in a medium size bowl. Whisk together egg and milk in a medium size bowl. Dip onion into egg mixture, cut side up and spoon liquid over the onion so that all of the onion pieces are coated. Dip onion into flour mixture, cut side up and sprinkle flour mixture over the onion to coat each petal. Turn onion over and shake out any excess flour back into bowl. You don’t want too much flour, or it will turn gummy. Spray onion and petals with cooking spray, coating each piece and section of onion.
3. Preheat air fryer to 370°F for a few minutes. Cook for 10 minutes. If it’s not golden brown, cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Notes

Here’s a video straight from Outback Headquarters to show you how they cut the onions. 

This post originally appeared in December 2018 and was revised and republished in June 2020.