Paleo (Whole30) Blooming Onion (Edit recipe)

At long last our PALEO BLOOMING ONION is here! We thought about naming this a “blossoming” onion so it wasn’t exactly the same name as the restaurant variety. After testing and trying it a few times though, we decided going with the original name was most appropriate. So a PALEO BLOOMING ONION it is!

20 minutes

12 minutes

Difficulty:

Intermediate

Show nutritional information

This is our estimate based on online research.
Calories:	362
Fat:	16 g
Carbohydrates:	43 g
Protein:	4 g
Cholesterol:	13 g
Sodium:	609 mg
Fiber:	1 g
Sugars:	7 g
Calculated per serving.

by Back Porch Paleo

View original recipe

Serves: 3

Ingredients

onion

1 whole Vidalia Onion, or Walla Walla
3 Tbsp Cassava Flour
.25 tsp Sea Salt
.5 cup Potato Flakes
1 tsp Garlic Powder, or Balanced Bites Trifecta Blend
1 tsp Chives, fresh, finely chopped (or .25 tsp dried)
1 tsp Paprika
2 whole Eggs, large, room temperature
1 Tbsp Almond Milk
1 tsp Lemon Juice

fry sauce

.25 cup Mayonnaise
.25 cup Ketchup

Shop

Process

Note, these instructions are written assuming the standard serving size, since you have modified the number of servings, these steps may need to be modified for best results

Remove the papery skin from the onion. Slice off the top of the onion, to create a flat surface, approximately ¼“ down from the stem base. Leave the root base intact, only trimming off any of the dry roots. Then turn the onion over onto a cutting board.
Using a sharp knife, cutting straight down, carefully cut the onion into quarters without piercing the root. The root base will become the core to hold the “bloom” intact. Next, carefully cut each of those sections in half, giving you 8 sections. Finally, carefully cut those 8 sections in half creating 16 sections. Gently turn the onion over and place it on a flat dinner plate, letting the petals open. You can use your fingers to fan them out if gravity doesn’t take care of that for you.
In a small bowl, mix up the flour and salt until combined. Using your fingers, sprinkle the flour and salt mixture over the onion fanning out the petals to ensure an even coating. Carefully shake off any excess flour and place the onion in a deep bowl, root side down. Discard any remaining flour on the plate and in the small bowl. Add the panko, garlic powder (or trifecta blend), chives and paprika to this small bowl and toss to coat, then set aside.
Whisk the eggs, almond milk and lemon juice in a mug/cup till well incorporated. Pour the egg mixture over the onion into the deep bowl. Using a large spoon (and your fingers) coat the onion with the egg mixture opening up the petals to ensure even coating. Do this until you feel like you’ve got the petals evenly coated. Using a large spatula, carefully remove the onion from the deep bowl, allowing any excess egg to drip off and then place the onion on the plate.
Sprinkle the panko coating over the onion, fanning out the petals again to make sure you get a good coating. Using up extra that has fallen onto the plate, repeating the coating process until petals are lightly coated.
Spray the air fryer basket with avocado oil (or if your basket is non-stick you may not need to) and using the same large spatula, carefully move the coated onion to the basket. Spray the onion generously with more avocado oil. Air Fry at 385°F for 10-12 minutes or until tips are golden brown. Alternatively you can bake in a 400°F oven on a parchment lined baking sheet for around 20-22 minutes.
While the onion bakes, mix together the mayonnaise and ketchup in a small bowl, stirring well to combine. Once the onion is done (pierce with a sharp knife point to check) and those tips have a nice golden color, carefully remove the onion to a serving platter, and sprinkle with additional paprika if desired and serve with fry sauce. Best enjoyed immediately!

Notes

The trickiest part of this recipe is really the cutting of the onion. You need to segment it while leaving the root base intact so the petals don’t unattach from the bottom of the onion. Go slow and be patient with your knife skills. You basically need to carefully cut it into sixteenths without getting so close to the base that the outer petals fall off. It may take some practice and here is the good news. If your first try doesn’t work out, dice up that onion and freeze it for your next soup or casserole and try again. Once you cut the onion, it does become a little delicate, so move it around carefully. Our method for coating it is not traditional since you can’t really shake it around too much or it will fall apart. However, our method also creates that light coating we mentioned previously.