Toasted Onion Fried Green Beans
Toasted Onion Fried Green Beans are like a healthier French fry! Whether you’re a fan of green beans or not, you will love these crispy veggies that are served with a creamy lemon dill sauce that helps cut through the richness of the onion breading.
Green beans sometimes can be considered bland and somewhat lacking in flavor, adding toasted onion (more details on this below) adds an amazing savory onion flavor to the breading.
What is toasted onion?
Toasted onion are large granules of onion that have been dried then roasted to give them a crunchy toasted taste (picture below). They taste like sweet, fried onions and take on an entirely new flavor. You can also similarly buy toasted onion seasoning which is a blend and this is also delicious.
I buy my toasted onion from Amazon or spice stores. There are so many uses for them to add a lovely, savory and toasted onion flavor to so many dishes, including the breading as in this recipe.
These particular toasted onions are larger, crunchier pieces and are not in powder form (which you can also find). I’ve added them to meatloaf, stews, noodle dishes, mixed them with vegetables or stirred them into dips.
The toasted onions I like have and prefer contain no other ingredients. You can buy toasted onion blends but they have a lot of unnecessary ingredients and who needs all that extra stuff that only serves to dilute the natural onion flavor?
I have also seen them called Toasted Minced Onion. In addition, I’ve also seen fire roasted onions which I would assume are similar if not the same.
Making the breading for Toasted Onion Fried Green Beans
I specify plain, toasted onion. If a toasted onion blend is used, the recipe will taste different, but still delicious. Because they are pieces of dried onion, I grind them in my spice grinder to make a finer powder, then mix that powder with plain breadcrumbs.
Toasted Onion is different than granulated or onion powder or granulated onion. Why? Because this is dried and toasted onion crumbs. Granulated onion or onion powder is raw onion that has been dehydrated and finely ground. Toasting intensifies the flavor of the onion and makes it sweeter and more flavorful.
Breading without flour
Usual breading is done in 3 stages, flour, egg then breadcrumbs. The flour is used first to help the egg stick. In this recipe, there is no flour step because when it is dipped in the egg the coating gets clumps. Skipping the flour gives a nice, even breadcrumb coating.
How to serve Toasted Onion Fried Green Beans
I like to enjoy them as an appetizer or snack or on their own. For an extra little zip, try dipping them in the lemon dill sauce.
Toasted Onion Fried Green Beans
Fresh green beans are breaded with toasted onion then fried. Served with a lemon dill dipping sauce.
Ingredients
- For the lemon dill sauce:
- ½ cup (65 grams) good mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon fresh dill, finely chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
- For the green beans:
- 4 tablespoons toasted onion
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 8 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 pound (454 grams) green beans, ends trimmed
- Frying oil * see note
Instructions
For the sauce:
- Add all the ingredients to a bowl and whisk until well combined. If you like the sauce thinner for drizzling you can thin it out with al little milk. Set aside.
For the green beans:
- To a high speed blender or spice grinder, add the toasted onion. Blend until it is the same coarseness as the breadcrumbs.To a shallow bowl add the eggs.
- To a another bowl add the breadcrumbs, toasted onion and salt, mix well.
- To a large, high-sided heavy pan, fill ½ way with oil. Heat the oil to 350°F/180°C.
- Preheat the oven to 200°F/95°C (or use warm setting). Place a cooling rack inside a baking sheet and place in the oven. Have a paper towel close by to place the fried beans on to drain.
- While the oil heats, coat the green beans into the egg allowing excess to drip off, then coat evenly in the breadcrumbs, repeat with all the green beans. Fry until golden brown, about 1 to 1 ½ minutes. You will need to work in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan. They may sizzle on and off, this is just the moisture coming out of the green beans.
- After they are browned, transfer to the paper towel to drain off any excess oil, then place in the oven on the rack to keep warm while you finish frying the rest of the green beans. Serve immediately with the dipping sauce.
Notes
The amount of oil will depend on how large your pan is.
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 523Total Fat 47gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 39gCholesterol 58mgSodium 764mgCarbohydrates 22gFiber 5gSugar 7gProtein 6g
This nutrition calculation is provided by Nutronix that is only a guideline and not intended for any particular diet.