These Caramelized Onion Fritters are a great appetizer or meal. Serve with sweet chili dipping sauce for an indulgent meal.
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Caramelized onions take everything to the next level, so using them to make fritters is a no-brainer!
These Caramelized Onion Fritters are sweet and savory. They make an easy appetizer or meal.
Aside from caramelizing the onions, these come together pretty quickly. You could always caramelize the onions the day before.
My Vegetable Chickpea Flour Fritters have been such a huge hit that I thought I'd add more vegan fritter recipes to the blog. Recently I also made some Broccoli Fritters.
Other recipes with caramelized onions to try are my Portobello Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Sandwiches and my Vegan Mashed Cauliflower with Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms.
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❤️ Why You'll Love It
- They are sweet and savory.
- They make a great appetizer, side dish, or meal.
- They are rich and comforting.
🧾 Ingredients
- Onions: Yellow, sweet, or white onions will work.
- Olive oil: For cooking the onions.
- Balsamic vinegar: Adds a sweet flavor to the onions.
- Chickpea flour: Binds the ingredients together. I haven't tried this recipe with other kinds of flour, so I cannot comment on the outcome.
- Garlic powder: Adds a concentrated garlic flavor.
- Tamari: Adds a savory umami flavor to the batter. I used low-sodium gluten-free tamari. You could also use soy sauce.
- Salt and pepper: Enhances flavors and adds flavor. I like to use sea salt.
- Vegetable oil: For cooking the fritters.
- Sweet red chili sauce: Is sweet and spicy. For dipping the fritters in. (optional)
To see the full list of ingredients with measurements and instructions, see the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
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🔪 Instructions
Step 1: Cook onions in olive oil over medium heat. Stir them every few minutes.
Step 2: Add balsamic vinegar near the end of cooking time to add flavor.
Step 3: Mix chickpea flour with seasonings.
Step 4: Add caramelized onions to the batter.
Step 5: Form into fritters and fry until golden brown.
Step 6: Flip and fry the other side. Serve with sweet chili sauce or your favorite dipping sauce.
💭 Tips
- Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to making caramelized onions. Mine took a good 40 minutes or so. Add a small amount of water as needed. Water especially helps if your onions are sticking to the pan.
- Don't skip the balsamic vinegar. It adds a sweet note to the already sweet onions.
- Heat your pan with just enough oil to cover the pan. This is a shallow fry, not a deep fry.
- To test your oil, sprinkle a few drops of water in the pan. If they sizzle, your pan is ready. You can also test the oil with a wooden spoon. The oil will start bubbling around the spoon.
- Cook the fritters until golden brown on both sides.
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauce, keeping in mind that these fritters are sweet and savory. The dip you choose will make a big difference in the end result. I chose sweet chili sauce with lime juice spritzed on top. The chili sauce is slightly spicy so it went well with the fritters.
Can These Be Made Ahead of Time?
While you can fry these ahead of time, they taste better straight off the frying pan.
Can These Be Baked?
Caramelized Onion Fritters can be baked at 400° for 20-25 minutes. I prefer the taste and texture of fried, but baked is a healthy alternative.
👩🏻🍳 Recipe FAQs
These vegan onion fritters are held together with chickpea flour and water.
Other Caramelized Onion Recipes
🎥 Video
If you tried this Caramelized Onion Fritters Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and let me know how you like it in the 💬 comments below. I love hearing from you!
📋 Recipe
Caramelized Onion Fritters
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, sliced (4 cups)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Splash or 2 balsamic vinegar
- 2 pinches salt
- ¾ cups chickpea flour (garbanzo bean)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Pepper
- ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon low sodium gluten free tamari
- Vegetable oil
- Sweet chili sauce (optional)
- Limes (optional)
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a hot pan. Add onions and salt. Cook on medium low heat until caramelized, about 35-40 minutes. Add a splash or two of balsamic vinegar. Cook a few more minutes.
- Mix chickpea flour, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Add water and tamari to the chickpea mixture. Whisk until all the clumps are out. Add caramelized onions.
- Add enough vegetable oil to a hot pan to coat it. (This is a shallow fry.) You can tell the pan is hot enough when you drizzle a few drops of water and the water sizzles. Add caramelized onion fritter batter, a tablespoonful at a time, and fry on both sides until browned.
- Serve with sweet chili sauce and limes or your favorite dipping sauce.
Notes
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Nutrition
*Note: Nutrition information should be considered an estimate only. Different nutrition calculators give you different results.
Blair says
These look amazing...but I can't have legumes. Is there another flour I couuld sub it with? I am GF so I have a few different kinds of flours. Thanks!
Willow Moon says
Sure you could use another gf flour in place of chickpea, just keep in mind the taste of the flour. Chickpea has a nutty flavor.
Becky says
Hello,
I am wanting to bake these. Do you have a suggestion for temperature and time?
Thanks
Willow Moon says
Hi Becky, I have never baked them, but whenever I want to bake something, I always go off of similar recipes. My homemade tater tots are probably the most similar for my site. For those I baked them at 400° for 30-35 minutes. I would check them after 15-20 minutes. Hope that helps!