Tequila Battered Onion Rings with Honey Lime Yogurt Sauce

For the onion rings:

1. Stir together the milk, apple cider vinegar and tequila in a large bowl to form a buttermilk-like mixture.

2. Submerge the sliced and separated onion rings into the buttermilk mixture and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (I like to pop them in the fridge while I get the rest of the stuff ready and heat the oil, but you could leave them in for several hours if you’re making them in advance).

For the tequila batter:

1. In a medium sized shallow bowl whisk tequila, milk, salt and 1 cup of the flour together to form a batter. Set aside.

2. Place the remaining 1 cup flour on a large plate or platter and set aside.

For the honey lime yogurt sauce:

1. Whisk Greek yogurt, lime juice, honey, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Store in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it.

Frying the onion rings:

1. Heat the 6 cups of vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large, sturdy pot. (I used my Le Creuset.) It will take 20-30 minutes to heat up, depending on the size of your pot. Test the oil after 25 minutes by flicking some flour into the oil. If it sizzles, it’s ready to go. If not, wait five minutes and test it again.

2. When your oil is hot, line up your onion rings (still in the buttermilk), the plate of flour, and the tequila batter to make a little battering/frying station. I also like to have a plate ready with a few paper towels on top, to drain the onion rings once they’re fried.

3. Pull onion rings a few at a time from the buttermilk, shake off the excess, and dredge them in flour. When the rings are covered in flour, transfer them to the tequila batter and turn to coat them completely. Shake off any excess batter and gently place the battered rings in the hot oil. Put rings in oil one at a time, to allow the oil to come back up to temperature for a few seconds in between each addition. I like to fry 4-5 large rings at a time (6 or 7 if they’re small).

4. Fry onion rings for 3-4 minutes on each side until they’re a deep golden brown. Remove fully cooked onion rings to a paper-towel lined plate and repeat the battering and cooking process until you’ve fried all of your onion rings.

5. Serve onion rings immediately with Honey Lime Yogurt Sauce (recipe above) on the side for dipping.