Welcome to Food Boy, Street’s weekly cooking column! Easy, simple recipes. Common, inexpensive ingredients. More homemade food porn for your Instagram. Served with a side of sauciness. Rihanna once said, “Come here, Food Boy, Boy! Can you cook it up?” Yep, and here’s how!


Beer-Battered Onion Rings


Leftover beer from rush? There’s always next year, gents. Until then, here’s a recipe to help you drown your sorrows in some homemade comfort food. Crispy, cheesy and beer-y, these onion rings are the frat daddies of snack food. They’re baked, not fried and coated in smashed Goldfish crackers instead of breadcrumbs. These simple switches cut down on the fat and carbs, so these onion rings won’t completely derail your New Year’s resolutions. Make these for your next party to impress your friends and (c)rushes.


Ingredients (4 servings; $1.27/serving):


2 medium yellow onions (~$1.24 each/$0.99/lb from Fresh Grocer)

1 cup all-purpose flour ($1.59 for 32oz bag from Fresh Grocer)

¾ cup of your favorite beer (Varies, but if you find yourself needing to buy beer for this recipe, you’re doing it wrong. And by “it,” I mean LIFE.)

1 cup Goldfish crackers, smashed ($2.49/bag from Fresh Grocer or CVS)


Procedure:


  1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
  2. Peel the onions and cut into one-half inch thick rounds.
  3. In a bowl, mix the flour and beer. The consistency of the mixture should be pretty thick, like pancake batter.
  4. In a plastic bag, smash the Goldfish crackers with a rolling pin, your calc textbook or your ex’s face, whichever is readily available. Smash enough Goldfish to have around 1 cup of crumbs. Put the crumbs in a bowl or on a plate.
  5. Dip the onion rings in the flour/beer mixture, shake off any excess and coat with the Goldfish crumbs.
  6. Spread the onion rings in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes, flip all the onion rings and finish baking for another 7-10 minutes. When baking, keep an eye out during the second 7-10 minutes. They’ll be done once the edges of the onion itself start browning.
  7. Serve immediately. Practice safe snacking by using condiments such as ketchup, ranch dressing, honey mustard or anything you like!

Tips and Tricks:


No proper oven? No problem! You can also use a toaster oven; they often come with their own roasting pans. No need to preheat a toaster oven, so just set the dials to “Bake” and 450 degrees. Also, you can add a tablespoon of Dijon mustard or a few dashes of hot sauce to the flour/beer mixture, if you have it. Oh, you fancy, huh?