A blooming onion, onion bloom, onion blossom is a large fried onion which is cut to resemble a flower and served as an appetizer at some restaurants or typically sold at fairs, festivals, large entertainment venues and events. The Outback Steakhouse restaurant chain claims to be the inventor of the deep fried onion flower (known as "Bloomin' Onion") .

How to make an onion blossom with equipment sold at concessionstands.com: Try and find the largest colossal yellow or white onion you can possibly find. They should be ball shaped so they can be cut more effectively. Sweet onions or ones with a flat top shape will not flower as well. For best results, store at room temperature.

Cut about 3/4"-1" off the top of the onion and peel off the dry layers of skin. The root must be kept intact. REMEMBER the blades are extremely sharp - keep one hand on the handle at all times do it doesn't inadvertently lower. Place the onion into our Blossom Cutter (item #4190) and the root side down with the onion centered under the blades. With a smooth push on the cutter handle, bring the blade assembly down until it stops. Next eject the onion by bringing the handle back to the start position. If the onion does not completely eject by itself, carefully push the onion through from the TOP ONLY and NEVER pull from the bottom.

Carefully separate the petals by hand or dropping the cut onion root down (4"-6" onto a flat hard surface). It is important to get good petal separation. Now it is time to submerge the cut onion, root side down, in a thin batter wash (we recommend using our item #4191 mixed at a rate of 40 oz water per pound of mix). The batter wash should be the consistency of buttermilk or think pancake batter. Make sure the batter gets in between all of the petals. Squeeze off any excess batter.

Next place the onion root down into a bowl and cover with #4191 dry mix. Fan the petals to make sure that the mix covers as many of the batter washed petals as possible. Lightly pat to remove excess breading from the interior of the onion. Hint: although our mix contains spices for flavoring you may want to your own to the mix for more flavor. Many customers add our Cajun Mix (#2360) for richer flavor!

Place the breaded onion root side up into a deep fryer with the oil at 375 degrees F (our King 9 fryer #8073 is ideal). This will take a bit of practice, but is easiest by placing the onion onto a skimmer (item #8077) and holding it in place with long tongs while carefully lowering it into the oil. Cook for about 1-1/2 minutes, then flip the onion over and allow it to fry for an additional 2 minutes (or until golden brown). Cooking times may vary depending on the size of the onion blossom and recovery time for the deep fryer. Finally, remove the finished flowering onion from the fryer with tongs and skimmer. Allow to drain, place on serving plate and use correr to remove the core.