Awesome Blossom

Discouraged that Chili’s Awesome Blossom was discontinued? Don’t be, because now you can recreate this deep-fried onion copycat recipe right in your own kitchen!

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Chilis Awesome Blossom Copycat Recipe

Our easy Awesome Blossom recipe features a big sweet onion that’s been battered and fried until crispy golden brown. Once plated, pick apart the “flower petals” and have fun dipping each slice in a homemade spicy sauce.

If Outback Steakhouse started it and Chili’s couldn’t continue it, then this Texas Roadhouse copycat will rival any Bloomin Onion, Blooming Onion, or Onion Blossom recipe! I dare you to disagree! (And don’t forget the blossom dipping sauce to serve on the side.)

This appetizer is probably not the prettiest plate of petals that’s ever been bloomed. Still, it’s the tastiest, double-coated, dipped, and deep-fried onion flower finger food that’s perfect for game day gatherings or serving with the main meal. 

Awesome Blossom Ingredients

• Mayonnaise
• Sour cream
• Ketchup
• Horseradish 
• Sweet paprika
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Cayenne pepper
• Vegetable oil
• Vidalia onion
• All-purpose flour
• Cornstarch
• Garlic powder
• Buttermilk

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How to Make Awesome Blossom

1. Make The Dipping Sauce: Stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream, ketchup, horseradish, paprika, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Cover with plastic wrap until ready to serve.
2. Heat The Oil: Heat the oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
   Pro Tip: The oil should be deep enough so that the onion is fully submerged while frying.
3. Create The Cuts: Cut the onion according to the steps below. Then use your fingers to open the sections so that it resembles a flower that has “blossomed” or opened up all its petals. (Image 1 and 2)
4. Make The Seasoning Mixture: Mix together the flour, cornstarch, sweet paprika, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper.
5. Sprinkle And Submerge: Sprinkle the seasoned flour over the entire surface of the onion (Image 3 and 4). Dip the entire onion into a bowl of buttermilk, root side up. (Image 5)
   Pro Tip: Make sure to separate the slices so that both the flour mixture and buttermilk get in between the individual “petals”. 
6. Batter The Blossom: Lift the onion out of the buttermilk, and allow any excess liquid to drip back into the bowl. Sprinkle as much of the remaining flour mixture over the top, sides, and between each of the onion “petals”.
   Pro Tip: You want to get as much of the flour mixture as possible into all the openings so that as the onion fries, the “petals” will all be coated in the batter.
7. Fry: Fry the battered onion in the hot oil for 4-6 minutes or until golden and crispy (Image 6). Once fried, place it onto a paper towel-lined plate to absorb any excess oil.
8. Serve: Serve warm with dipping sauce on the side. Enjoy!

How To Cut The Onion

1. Trim about ½ inch from the top of the onion straight across so that you have a flat, even top. Flip the onion over to the root side and just barely trim off the roots from the onion. Be sure that you leave the root intact. Peel the outer skin from the onion and discard.
2. Place the onion cut side down (root side up) on a stable cutting surface. Starting about ½ from the root, make a downward cut all the way through the onion until you hit the cutting board. Repeat to create 4 equally spaced cuts around the onion. The onion will be quartered but still held together at the root.
3. Next, make the same type of cuts in each of the quarter sections to divide the quarter section into halves or thirds. Remember that you do not want to get too close to the root. Repeat until you have made all the additional cuts in the remaining 3 quarters of the onion.

How To Air Fry Awesome Blossom

Simply preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and follow the same instructions as written, but instead of deep frying, spray the battered onion with cooking spray and place it root side down in the air fryer basket. Cook it in the air fryer for about 10 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.

Cooking times vary according to different models, so watch closely after about 5 minutes.

How to Store Awesome Blossom

• To Store: I do not recommend refrigerating or freezing this appetizer.

More Easy Copycat Recipes

Medicine Ball Tea – Starbucks Copycat Recipe

Taco Bell Pizza Recipe

Copycat Dairy Queen Cakes Recipe

Copycat KFC Famous Bowl

Other Easy Appetizers

• Baked Salami Appetizer
• Crack Chicken Sliders
• Blooming Quesadilla Ring
• Chicken Teriyaki Meatballs

5 from 2 votes

Awesome Blossom

Author — Jennifer Fishkind

Serves — 1

This copycat Awesome Blossom recipe is even better than the restaurant version! It's easy to recreate the famous deep fried onion at home, dipping sauce included.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 4 minutes mins

Total Time 14 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Dipping Sauce

• ▢ 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• ▢ 2 tablespoons sour cream
• ▢ 1½ tablespoons ketchup
• ▢ 1½ teaspoons prepared horseradish
• ▢ ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Fried Onion

• ▢ Vegetable oil for frying amount will vary depending on the size of your pot or electric fryer
• ▢ 1 large Vidalia onion approximately 1 pound in weight
• ▢ 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ▢ 1½ teaspoons sweet paprika
• ▢ 1½ teaspoons garlic powder
• ▢ 1½ teaspoons salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ 1½-2 cups buttermilk

Instructions

 

• To make the dipping sauce, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, ketchup, prepared horseradish, sweet paprika, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to a small mixing bowl. Stir to fully combine all ingredients. Transfer the dipping sauce to a small serving bowl and cover with plastic wrap until ready to serve.
  2 tablespoons mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons sour cream, 1½ tablespoons ketchup, 1½ teaspoons prepared horseradish, ½ teaspoon sweet paprika, ¼ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Add the vegetable oil to an electric fryer or large 6 to 8-quart pot, and heat the oil to 375°F. The oil should be deep enough in your electric fryer or large pot that the onion is fully submerged while frying. While the oil is heating, you will prepare the onion for frying.
  Vegetable oil for frying
• Trim about ½ inch from the top of the onion straight across so that you have a flat, even top. Flip the onion over to the root side and just barely trim off the roots from the onion. Be sure that you leave the root intact. Peel the outer skin from the onion and discard.
  1 large Vidalia onion
• Place the onion cut side down (root side up) on a stable cutting surface. Starting about ½ from the root, make a downward cut all the way through the onion until you hit the cutting board. Repeat to create 4 equally spaced cuts around the onion. The onion will be quartered but still held together at the root.
• Next, make the same type of cuts in each of the quarter sections to divide the quarter section into halves or thirds. Remember that you do not want to get too close to the root. Repeat until you have made all the additional cuts in the remaining 3 quarters of the onion.
• Very carefully flip the onion over, place it onto a large plate, and use your fingers to gently open the sections, creating the “bloomed” onion. The onion should resemble a flower that has “blossomed” or opened up all its petals.
• In a medium mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, sweet paprika, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Be sure that all the spices are evenly distributed into the flour.
  1½ cups all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1½ teaspoons sweet paprika, 1½ teaspoons garlic powder, 1½ teaspoons salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper
• In a separate bowl (big enough that your onion will fit but not too big), add the buttermilk. The amount of buttermilk you will need will depend on the size of the bowl, as the cut onion will need to be dipped or submerged into the buttermilk.
  1½-2 cups buttermilk
• Using your hands, sprinkle up to ¼ cup of the flour over the entire surface of the onion, being sure to separate the onion slices so that the flour gets in between the individual “petals” of the onion.
• Carefully pick up the sliced onion, being sure to keep it intact, and dip it into the bowl of buttermilk root side up. You want your onion to be fully submerged in the buttermilk so that the buttermilk can get in between all the individual slices of onion “petals”.
• Using a large slotted spoon, lift the onion out of the buttermilk and allow any excess buttermilk to drip back into the bowl. Place the buttermilk-coated onion back onto the plate that you used to add the first batch of flour to the onion. Using your hands, separate the pieces of onion and sprinkle as much of the remaining flour mixture all over the top, sides, and between each of the onion “petals”. You want to get as much of the flour mixture as possible into all the openings so that as the onion fries, the “petals” will all be coated in the batter.
• Very carefully, place the battered onion into the basket of an electric fryer or onto a spider. Gently lower the onion into the hot oil and fry for 4-6 minutes or until golden and crispy.
• Once the awesome blossom is fully fried, carefully remove it from the hot oil, allowing as much of the excess oil to drip back into the hot pot or electric fryer, then place it onto a paper towel-lined plate to absorb the remaining excess oil.
• Place the oil drained fried awesome blossom onto a serving plate along with the small bowl of dipping sauce for serving.

Jenn’s Notes

Storage:

• To Store: I do not recommend refrigerating or freezing this appetizer.

Tips:

• If using an electric fryer, you may need to use a large metal spoon to gently lift and slide the fried onion out of the fryer basket so that you do not have to flip it upside down to remove it. 
• If using a large pot to fry, a spider works great to both lower and lift out the fried onion from the pot of hot oil. 
• If using a large pot to heat the oil, the best way to ensure your oil is at the correct temperature is to use a candy thermometer placed into the pot (according to directions for your brand thermometer). This way, you can make sure that you can adjust the heat to your burner, as needed, to keep the heat of the oil at 375°F during the entire time the onion is frying. 
• Peanut or canola oil can both be used as a good substitute for vegetable oil when frying. 
• If you prefer a little spicier dipping sauce, you can increase the amount of cayenne pepper according to your taste.
• Vidalia onions are sweet onions and work really well for this recipe. If you can not find a large one (approximately 1 pound or the size of a softball), then 2 smaller onions can be used, but you will need to fry them in batches and watch the fry time (checking them at 3-4 minutes) as they may not take as long as the larger onion to fry to a golden brown.
• You can use a small sharp knife to cut the petals around the base of the fried onion just before serving to make them easier to pull off and dip into the dipping sauce. Do not do this until after your fried onion has been plated onto the serving platter you intend to use.

Nutrition Info

Calories: 1367kcal | Carbohydrates: 215g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 15g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 66mg | Sodium: 4906mg | Potassium: 1366mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 42g | Vitamin A: 2965IU | Vitamin C: 19mg | Calcium: 564mg | Iron: 11mg

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