Heat up onion rings in the air fryer – it’s a common dilemma for those who have forgotten to take their food out of the freezer.
In this article, I will share with you several ways how to heat up onion rings in the air fryer as quickly as possible without sacrificing their taste or texture.
Now, let’s take a look, shall we?
Heat up onion rings from frozen at 70% power setting
Did you know that using an air fryer with a lower power setting heats up food faster than one which has a higher setting?
It is because pushing more buttons opens a greater number of valves, thus increasing airflow and not allowing your food to be cooked properly.
Thus, if you want your onions to stay crispy after heating them up for 5 minutes, press the “70%” button.
And if you want a sure-fire way to guarantee the crispness of your dish, I highly recommend you take a look at these best frozen onion rings for air fryer.
Heat up onion rings from frozen at 80% power setting
For those of you who are more concerned about cooking their food thoroughly, pressing the “80%” button should be more than enough.
Depending on your model of air fryer, it may take more or less time to heat up the onion rings completely.
Using this power setting heats up onions in 4-5 minutes.
Heat up onion rings from frozen at 90% power setting
Using this option allows for thorough heating while saving some energy.
When using this option, your onion rings will be ready in 6-7 minutes which is twice longer than when using the lower settings.
That’s why most people use the 70/80% options because they’re sufficient for quick heating.
However, if you want to save even more energy and time, put the onion rings into a preheated air fryer which will only take 1-2 minutes for them to get thawed and heated through.
How to heat up onion rings from frozen without turning on the air fryer?
For those who forgot their food in the freezer and don’t have access to an air fryer or simply don’t want to use it, there’s another way of how to heat up your onion rings – by putting them into a microwave oven.
The cooking time can vary depending on how fast your microwave heats up items placed inside it.
Generally speaking, you’ll need about 3-5 minutes for onions or other vegetables.
However, if you have no time to cook the onion rings in a microwave oven, put them into a pot and add some water.
The cooking time will be similar to when using a microwave oven – 3-4 minutes.
After that, your onions will be ready to enjoy with their crispy texture and savory taste.
Are onion rings good reheated?
Yes, they are.
They are traditionally deep-fried, but if you’re reheating them they can also be heated in the air fryer.
They are made using breadcrumbs and onion slices that are then bound together with egg or milk before they’re deep-fried until golden brown.
The breadcrumbs help the rings to absorb less grease while cooking, which is then drained away from the onions after frying.
The oil forms a crispy coating for the onions to form a classic onion ring texture.
With this being said, it’s easy to understand why heating up your leftover rings in an air fryer should yield good results.
In fact, the best way to heat up your next batch is by popping them into an air fryer.
The air fryer gets hot enough to quickly reheat these crispy treats without overcooking them or damaging their texture.
In some cases, you may find that the temperature of your air fryer isn’t as high as a conventional oven would be which can lead to some significant differences in cooking times.
In some cases, it might take around 15 minutes total for onion rings to heat up and become crispy again often less time than an oven would need.
However, this will depend on the strength of your own air fryer so heating times need to be checked and tested before serving the dish again.
To ensure that yours remain crisp and crunchy once they’ve been heated up, it’s worth brushing over them with a little bit of oil or butter before they go into the air fryer.
This can help to keep your onion rings from sticking, and it also helps to add some flavor during reheating.
In addition, you might find that adding a few drops of water or milk can help with future cooking.
If you notice that some parts of your onion rings haven’t quite heated up all the way through then this is a quick fix solution.
Just drop a splash of water on top, and pop them back into the air fryer for another five minutes until they’re done cooking properly.
Adding these ingredients after heating will work to add some moisture back on top of your dish which may have been lost while the onion ring was reheated.
However, if the effect is negligible then it might not be worth adding too much liquid which can make the rings soggy.
Conclusion
The tips I’ve shared above should help you to heat up leftover onion rings in an air fryer while keeping their crunchy outer texture and allowing them to heat through evenly.
They make a good side dish for burgers or other fried foods but they’re also great to eat on their own like any other snack food.
Keep these points in mind when reheating your next batch of onion rings in an air fryer so that they always end up crispy, golden brown, and delicious.
Further reading:
10 of the best air fryer tips and tricks to follow, according to chefs