Food Files: Baked Onion Rings

The cooking bug bit me again yesterday so I stopped over at Fairway Market to pick up a few ingredients for two recipes I've been eyeing from Skinnytaste. The first one I made as a snack/appetizer for my sister and I: Onion rings! I know it sounds fattening, but look - only two points!

Low Fat Baked Onion Rings
Adapted from Life as a Lofthouse
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 2 • Serving Size: 1/2 of recipe • Old Points: 1 pt • Points+: 2 pt*
Calories: 74.7 • Fat: 0.6 g • Carb: 14.7 g • Fiber: 1.6 g • Sugar: 1.7 g • Protein: 2.9 g 

• 1 medium onion, sliced into 1/4 inch rings
• 2 1/4 cups low fat buttermilk - *(substitute 3 eggwhites for the buttermilk, no need to soak. -Ariana)
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup Italian seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup crushed corn flake crumbs
• salt and pepper to taste 
• olive oil baking spray (I used my Misto)

Place slices of onion in a shallow dish. Pour the buttermilk over the top and let them soak for about 1 - 2 hours, refrigerated.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.

Combine panko, bread crumbs and corn flakes and place half of the crumbs in a large dish, season with salt. Reserve the rest for when the first batch is used up. This should help avoid clumping and they should stick better to the onions.

Dip each soaked onion ring into the crumb mixture; coat well. Place rings onto two cookie sheets. Lightly spray with oil. Bake about 12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately. 

After reading through the comments it seem that some people had trouble getting the bread crumbs to stick to the onions using buttermilk, so I decided to substitute eggwhites for the buttermilk (I used 3 - eggwhites are less points than the buttermilk anyway, and you don't have to let them soak) and I also made sure to crush up the breading mixture so it was finer and would stick easier - I did this simply by pouring it into a ziplock and rolling over it with a glass.

When dipping your onion rings I recommend using one utensil to dip in the eggwhites, and then another to dip in the breading. I used a fork in the eggwhites and tongs once I was working in the breading. Keeping them separate will prevent a lot of the breading from clumping in the bowl and on your utensil.

Bottom line, these were delicious! Crispy, crunchy, full of flavor, and that plateful you see right there is only 2 points! My sister ate the other serving and she declared them better than normal onion rings. They're light and not at all greasy like restaurant onion rings. I highly recommend them, they make a great snack or appetizer!

*A note for all you point calculating WW ladies - If you put all these ingredients in your point calculator, it will come out to about 9 points. Don't forget that you are not eating all the leftover breading and buttermilk/eggwhites. Excess has been calculated by Gina and points adjusted accordingly :)