I tried the Instant Pot Dual Crisp and Air Fryer and couldn’t believe how good my air fryer onion bhajis were!
Many people have told me over the years that I should try air frying my recipes that are normally deep fried.
I even tried some air fried chicken and chips at exhibition a year or so back and wasn’t impressed. After trying the Instant Pot to test a few of my recipes, however I have changed my mind.
Delicious and crispy. This air fried method of cooking onion bhajis gets excellent results.
I have spent the last two weeks testing the Instant Pot Duo Crisp and Air Fryer. I didn’t just use the air fryer! I used it for almost everything, from perfectly cooked Basmati rice to tandoori chicken and lamb.
It cooked everything to perfection and also saved me a lot of time. No more mess when frying!
I think most people purchase air fryers for health reasons but another huge bonus is that you don’t have all that oil to clean up. Same for the tandoori chicken and lamb.
Using the grilling feature made making tandoori meat and vegetables half the job it usually is.
So what’s the recipe?
The recipe I used was simple. It was the recipe from my book ‘The Curry Guy Bible’ but with a few other ingredients thrown in just to make it a little different.
I also added Kashmiri chilli powder but that is optional. If you like your food spicy though, it is a nice touch.
You’ll find the complete written recipe at the bottom of this page.
Is there a trick to making the perfect air fryer onion bhajis?
I have tried so many onion bhaji recipes over the year but always return to the recipes from my books.
It is important to finely slice the onions and then sprinkle a bit of salt over them. Not everyone does this.
By sprinkling salt over your sliced onions, in helps release the water from them. This becomes the water you need to make the batter.
No additional water is used. Add water and your air fryer onion bhajis will be a bit stodgy.
How did you come up with this recipe for air fried onion bhajis?
Trial and error.
I found that air frying them for 15 minutes at 380f/176c was perfect.
I love my Instant pot so much, you will soon find many other ways to use it on my blog.
Are air fried onion bhajis as good as deep fried onion bhajis?
I wasn’t expecting to say yes when I started but yes!
In fact my family prefer them.
Air fried onion bhajis are deliciously crispy and cooked through to perfection.
I know I already mentioned that it is a lot less messy to air fry than deep fry but I’ll say it again now.
It’s so much nicer to take the onion bhajis out to serve and not have that deep frying mess to clean up.
Just in case you like to cook from photographs, I included a few photos below.
Get your prepared ingredients together and add flour until you can easily form the bhajis.
Form the bhajis into loose balls.
Place the onion bhajis in the Instant pot air fryer.
Air fry for 15 minutes at 176c/380f.
Dig in to your super crispy air fryer onion bhajis. These are so good.
Looking for a good curry house style curry to go with your air fryer onion bhajis? Try a few of these!
Tikka masala sauce
Korma sauce
Pasanda sauce
Chasni sauce
Chilli garlic sauce
Pathia sauce
Jalfrezi sauce
Keema sauce
Bhuna sauce
Methi sauce
Madras sauce
Vindaloo sauce
Phaal sauce
Air Fryer Onion Bhajis
Ingredients
Instructions
* equal measures of cumin seeds, onion seeds, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds and black mustard seeds or use shop bought
If you are interested in trying air frying or using the Instant Pot for easy stewing, steaming and/or grilling, you might like to know that Instant Pot UK has their Black Friday specials starting from the 20th of November.
Your recipe for the airfryer is very interesting snf \i intend to use mine this afternoon for these baghis although I do not have all of the ingredients and to be quite honest I should have heard of thenm at 80 years old!!!
Howevr I am sure that I cn put logic into this recipe and will try my best. Thankyou
Great – good luck.
Thanks
Dan
I’m going to try these this evening. Do I keep the rotator blade in or take it out for air frying?
Thank you
I don’t know what sort of air fryer you have so could not advise about that. Mine doesn’t have rotator blades.
Thanks
Dan
Hi, you’ve got an * after panch poran but I can’t see anywhere that explains why?
Thanks for noticing, I have just added an explanation to the recipe.
* equal measures of cumin seeds, onion seeds, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds and black mustard seeds or use shop bought
Dan
Hi Dan, is the Panch Poran crushed, or just left as whole seeds? Thanks, Keith
Use whole seeds.
Thanks
Dan
Well done Dan. I’ve been with you since the daily mail printed your success. And I have your books. Definately a nice curry. And your curry. Sauce. Fantastic. Keep up the good work. It is appreciated.
Thank you very much for your support, that Daily Mail article seems like a lifetime away!
Dan
I have no rice flour, leave it out? Thanks
I have never tried but I know others have successfully used coconut flour or corn flour – same measurements as rice flour.
Thanks
Dan
I really liked how you salted the onions to pull out moisture and then used that as a base for the batter. It really steps up the onion flavor, I can’t wait to make these again!
Yes – that really helps, I am glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Thanks
Dan
How did you cook perfectly cooked Basmati rice in the air fryer? This recipe looks great, I will try it very soon!
Thank you but I have never tried to cook rice on an air fryer.
Dan
Tried this and it turned out a bit stodgy (and I only had bog standard yellow onions). I think I will add a few TSP of water next time and see if it comes out better, but in principle a great recipe – thanks!
Hi
Good luck next time then, everyone seems to love the recipe so I am sure you will manage to perfect it.
Dan
Hi,
U mentioned using the onion liquid for batter, but then in the recipe u said to squeeze out liquids, and didn’t mention them again.
Slightly confused🙄
Thanx
You’re just releasing the liquid from the onions into the batter. Just mix the released liquid in with the other ingredients.
Thanks
Dan
I started squeezing out the onion water in the sink and then realised it was needed for the batter as the ingredients didn’t include adding any water. Fortunately had enough onion juice to keep the balls firm and am now waiting 15 minutes for the result. I only used standard size onions for this first attempt as I didn’t have any large ones in my veg box. Thanks.
Thank you for your comment, I will change the recipe to make it more apparent the onion water should be retained.
Dan