How To Reheat Bloomin Onion – The Complete Guide
No matter how many calories are in this dish, you can’t help but need one every once in a while. A bloomin onion is in a world of its own when it comes to deep-fried goodness.
If you do find yourself wrapped up in the bliss of this blossom, unless you’re sharing it with many friends, you’ll probably have some leftover. They’re big onions and there is a lot of fried batter involved, so you fill up pretty quickly.
So how do you reheat a bloomin onion? Using the oven is probably the most reliable way to reheat your bloomin onion. However, there are many ways to reheat a bloomin onion. Fried foods have a nasty habit of turning out soggy, burnt. or worse—both.
It would be a crime to let any of your bloom go to waste, however, so take it home, wrap it up and reheat it the next day. This article is going to teach you exactly how to reheat a bloomin onion.
Get ready, because I’m about to share with you some of the most valuable tips of the foodie trade.
The Complete Guide to Bloomin Onions
The original bloomin onion was made by Outback Steakhouse, and it is their trademarked recipe.
However, like Kleenex, it has become the casual name for any onion that is sliced open in such a way that it resembles a blooming flower. It then gets battered and deep-fried and served up with a special sauce for dipping.
Bloomin Onion vs Onion Rings
The taste and texture of a bloomin onion are very similar to onion rings but, obviously, the presentation is very different. Each onion ring stands on its own whereas each individual petal of a bloomin onion is one part of the larger flower.
You can share with a group and let each person picking off a petal, one at a time, or you can pull all the petals off and serve like onion chips or wedges.
A single onion petal is smaller than most full-sized onion rings and can be quite a bit easier to eat.
How To Cut an Onion for a Bloomin Onion
If you would like to try your hand at making your own bloomin onion, there are two ways to cut it like a pro: with a nice sharp knife or with a very handy onion blossom maker.
The latter is fairly self-explanatory, and if this is a dish you plan on making regularly, investing in something like the Cook’s Choice Onion Blossom Maker Set is a wise decision.
If you’re determined to practice your knife skills, here are the detailed directions:
- Start with the largest brown or white onion you can find
- Slice a very small piece off the top (flatter end) of your onion and peel of all the dry skin
- Turn the onion over, sliced part down
- Start your slices about ¼ inch away for the roots of your onion, making the cut all the way to the bottom
- Slice quarters first, and then in between each quarter slice another 3 – 4 times, depending on the size of your onion and your confidence with a knife
- Once you’ve made between 12- 16 slices, flip the onion back over
- Gently pull back each of the slices to make petals, but don’t pull so hard that you yank them off the onion entirely
- Your onion is ready to batter, deep fry and enjoy!
How To Store a Cooked Bloomin Onion
If you’ve ended up with some leftover bloomin onion, you want to make sure you store it well so that when you go to reheat it, it tastes just as good the second time around.
The first thing you want to do is take it out of the take-out container and place it into a glass Tupperware container that has been lined with paper towel. This will help soak up some of the moisture (aka grease) and keep it from getting soggy as it sits.
Fold the sides of the paper towel around your onion and put on the lid, making sure it’s nice and airtight.
It will keep in your fridge for 4 – 5 days, but the quality will steadily decrease each day, so you will want to reheat it as soon as possible.
How To Reheat a Bloomin Onion
When you’re ready for round two with your bloomin onion, there are a few different techniques you can try to reheat it, depending on how much of a hurry you’re in and how critical you are about the resulting texture.
Warm Up a Bloomin Onion in the Oven
First, preheat it to 425F. While your oven is warming up, place a wire rack inside a large baking tray and place your leftover onion on top.
The rack is crucial because it allows grease to drip off your onion, keeping it from sitting in a pool of moisture and getting soggy.
Also, the airflow helps to crisp up the bottom as well as the sides and top.
Let it warm up for about 10 minutes and then turn your oven to broil. This will superheat the outer layer, so keep a close eye on your onion to keep it from burning.
When it starts to sizzle and brown a little bit extra, it’s probably done. It will probably only take 3 – 4 minutes on broil, but this will vary depending on how long it takes your oven to make the switch to broil.
Reheat a Bloomin Onion in an Air Fryer
If you have an air fryer, you can try using it to warm up your onion blossom so that it’s crispy once more.
Different models will vary slightly on temperature and time needed to warm thoroughly, but on average you’re going to want to preheat it to at least 400F.
Once it’s warmed up, place your onion into the air fryer and let it cook for about 5 – 8 minutes, checking occasionally to assess optimal crispness.
Use a Microwave to Reheat a Bloomin Onion
Your microwave is going to get you quick results, but not crisp results. There is a trick to help you get slightly better results, however. Find yourself a piece of cardboard, preferably corrugated and without any stickers or labels on it.
Fold it like an accordion, making thin slices with a knife to make it easier to fold if necessary.
Try to get it very level because you’ll want to put your onion on top of the accordion, which should be placed inside of a microwave-safe dish to keep it folded up nicely and also to collect any grease that drips off the onion.
The reason for this type of tray is the airflow and to keep your onion raised so that it doesn’t get soggy. It isn’t a perfect solution, but it does make a significant difference.
Depending on how large your leftover onion is, it will take 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes in your microwave, but check it every 20 seconds or so to make sure it’s not getting too hot.
Pan Fry Your Bloomin Onion
The only way to accomplish this well is to depetal your onion first. When all the individual segments are on their own you can place them in a single layer in a large pan on medium to high heat.
Watch them carefully and turn when you start to hear a good sizzle and smell the signature scent of warmed up the fried batter. It will likely take about 1 – 2 minutes per side and they will crisp up nicely.
Deep Fry Previous Cooked Bloomin Onions
You can also deep-fry a previously fried bloomin onion, but you may want to save this as a last resort as we are talking about a lot of oil being consumed.
Simply warm up your oil to 350F and dip it in. Since it’s already cooked it will only take about 2 minutes to reheat. Don’t leave it in too long as it will start to burn pretty quickly.
Related Questions
How do you reheat cooked onions?
You can certainly reheat cooked onions, but how you do so will depend on how they were cooked originally.
If your onions were sautéed in a frying pan the first time around, you can reheat them by adding them back to a pan and warming them up in the exact same way. You can also put them in the microwave for 30 seconds or so.
If you are working with deep-fried onions or onion rings, your best course of action is to warm them in your oven.
Place a cooling tray inside a baking sheet to allow for airflow and warm up your fried onions for about 10 minutes at 450F. It’s a good idea to flip them halfway through.
Who had the bloomin onion first?
Outback’s Steakhouse was the first to serve a Bloomin’ Onion when the chain first opened in the USA in the late 1980s.
It was, as is still, served with a signature dipping sauce. The appetizer was such a hit that many other restaurant chains have added it to their menus as well, though with slight variations on the name: blossom, rose, and mum, for example.
Of course, you can also find a wide variety of copy-cat recipes online so you can bring this amazing dish right into your own kitchen…without ever leaving the house!
Why is a bloomin onion so bad for you?
Each individual bloom on the onion is battered and fried, providing an absolutely remarkable amount of surface area to soak up oil and calories.
Some nutritional data has the original Bloomin’ Onion from Outback’s Steakhouse registered at over 800 calories, nearly 60 grams of fat, and over 1500 mg of sodium.
These numbers don’t even include the dipping sauce. It’s certainly not a healthy choice, but it’s mouthwatering enough to make it a guilty pleasure at least annually.
