Baked Blooming Onion with Spicy Dipping Sauce

Depending on the restaurant and the region you’re in, the name can vary – Awesome Blossom, Bloomin’ Onion – but they’re all the same thing. It’s one of my favorite things to order on date night, but I have to admit it’s better when I make this Baked Blooming Onion recipe at home. 

You might be wondering, is this an Instant Pot blooming onion recipe? If you have the air fryer lid for the pot, you can use your Instant Pot to make this healthy awesome blossom! 

I love that this blooming onion isn’t deep fried, it doesn’t even have any cooking oil or olive oil added. This healthy blooming onion recipe is gluten free and baked or air fried. You get all the crunch and flavor without sacrificing your healthy lifestyle. I’ve even whipped up a spicy dipping sauce that you’re going to love!

Where’s the recipe?

Here at My Crazy Good Life I like to make my recipes easy for any level cook to follow. In this article I’ll provide recipe tips, ingredient information, and nutrition and diet calculations. If you’d like to skip past all of that you can scroll down to the bottom of the page where you’ll find the printable copycat Outback Steakhouse Bloomin’ Onion recipe.

Ingredients in this Blooming Onion

For the onion:

• Yellow onion: High in vitamin C, low in sodium, and containing no fat, onions are a great way to get antioxidants. I typically use yellow for this recipe, but you can also choose vidalia onion if you prefer a sweeter onion.
• Eggs: The use of an egg wash in this recipe helps the flour mixture stick and form a better moisture seal.
• Almond flour: In place of bread crumbs, I like using almond flour to give a healthy fried texture without actually frying.
• Paprika: A ground spice made from dried sweet peppers, paprika adds notes of heat and sweetness to your dish.
• Garlic salt: I prefer to use garlic salt, but you can use garlic powder so this recipe has less sodium.
• Pepper: to taste

For the sauce:

• Greek yogurt: I like to use Greek yogurt because it has less fat and more protein than other ingredients like sour cream or cream cheese. You won’t even be able to tell the difference!
• Hot sauce
• Chili powder: You can use cayenne pepper too, if you like a bit more heat.
• Garlic salt: Use garlic powder if you’d like to cut down on sodium.

Oven directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400º F
2. Cut off the top of your onion (not the root), remove and discard the outer layer of the onion.
3. Place the recently cut, flat part of the onion on the cutting board, root side up.
4. Starting about ½ inch from the root, cut the onion straight down. Go all the way around the onion with evenly spaced cuts.
5. Turn the onion back over and allow the onion petals to fan out, then remove the center of the onion.
6. Place the onion on a cookie sheet.
7. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and water.
8. In a second bowl, mix together the almond flour, garlic salt, paprika, and pepper.
9. Lightly sprinkle the onion with a little bit of the flour mixture. Then spoon some of the egg mixture and, using a silicone basting brush, coat the onion with the egg mixture. (You may not need to use all of the egg mixture)
10. Cover the onion with the rest of the almond flour mixture. Using a spoon to get into all of the layers of the onion.
11. Bake your onion for 20-25 minutes until browned and onion petals are soft.
12. While the onion is baking, mix the Greek yogurt, hot sauce, chili powder, and garlic salt together in a bowl. Set aside in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.

Air fryer blooming onion directions

1. Preheat your air fryer to 400ºF
2. Cut off the top of your onion (not the root), remove and discard the outer layer of the onion.
3. Place the recently cut, flat part of the onion on the cutting board, root side up.
4. Starting about ½ inch from the root, cut the onion straight down. Go all the way around the onion with evenly spaced cuts.
5. Turn the onion back over and allow the onion petals to fan out, then remove the center of the onion.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and water.
7. In a second bowl, mix together the almond flour, garlic salt, paprika, and pepper.
8. Lightly sprinkle the onion with a little bit of the flour mixture. Then spoon some of the egg mixture and, using a silicone basting brush, coat the onion with the egg mixture. (You may not need to use all of the egg mixture)
9. Cover the onion with the rest of the almond flour mixture. Using a spoon to get into all of the layers of the onion.
10. Place the onion in your air fryer basket and cook for 8-10 minutes. Or until browned and onion petals are soft.
11. While the onion is air frying, mix the Greek yogurt, hot sauce, chili powder, and garlic salt together in a bowl. Set aside in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.

Recipe tips

• For easy clean-up, line your baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
• If you want to make this Blooming Onion without egg, you can use any egg replacement that you like.
• This recipe is perfect to serve as an appetizer as part of my healthy thanksgiving menu.

Healthy Eating Plans

Weight Watchers Blooming Onion:

• ¼ of the onion and ¼ of the sauce (using fat free yogurt) is: 1 2025 Point | 1 2023 Point | 1 Blue Plan Point | 3 Green Plan Points | 1 Purple Plan Point

21 Day Fix/ Ultimate Portion Fix

• For the entire recipe: 2 Green Containers, 2 Blue Containers, 1 Red Container. The sauce is 1 Red Container.
• Per serving (¼ of the onion, ¼ of the sauce): ½ Green Container, ½ Blue Container, ¼ Red Container. The sauce is ¼ Red Container.

Looking for more healthy copycat recipes?

While I love eating delicious food, I love it even more when it’s healthy. I’ve taken many of your favorite recipes from restaurants and grocery stores and given them a healthy makeover. Here are the most popular:

• Starbucks Bacon Egg bites
• Chipotle Chicken
• Turkey Chorizo
• Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup
• Healthy Tuscan Chicken Pasta
• Starbucks Espresso Brownies
• Copycat Brown Rice and Quinoa
• Homemade Rotisserie Chicken

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Baked Blooming Onion with Spicy Dipping Sauce

Created by: Becca Ludlum

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Approximate Serving Size: 1/4 th of the onion and dipping sauce

Servings 4 servings

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This Baked Blooming Onion is an easy recipe that's good for you. This Gluten Free Healthy Blooming Onion uses almond flour and the spicy dipping sauce includes Greek yogurt, hot sauce and chili powder for a kick!

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Equipment

• Kitchen Knife
• Baking Sheet
• Air Fryer Lid

Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

For the onion:

• ▢ 1 onion large, white or sweet
• ▢ 2 eggs
• ▢ 1 tbsp water
• ▢ ¼ cup almond flour
• ▢ 1 tsp garlic salt
• ▢ 1 tsp paprika
• ▢ ½ tsp black pepper

For the sauce: (makes enough to fill the dip cup and refill a few times)

• ▢ ¾ cup Greek yogurt
• ▢ 1 tbsp hot sauce
• ▢ 1 tsp chili powder or cayenne pepper to make it spicy
• ▢ ½ tsp garlic salt

Instructions

Oven Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 400º F
• Cut off the top of your onion (not the root), remove the outer layer of the onion and discard.1 onion
• Place the recently cut, flat part of the onion on the cutting board, root side up.
• Starting about ½ inch from the root, cut the onion straight down. Go all the way around the onion with evenly spaced cuts.
• Turn the onion back over and allow the onion petals to fan out, then remove the center of the onion.
• Place the onion on a cookie sheet.
• In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and water. 2 eggs, 1 tbsp water
• In a second bowl, mix together the almond flour, garlic salt, paprika, and pepper. ¼ cup almond flour, 1 tsp garlic salt, 1 tsp paprika, ½ tsp black pepper
• Lightly sprinkle the onion with the flour mixture. Then spoon some of the egg mixture and, using a silicone basting brush, coat the onion with the egg mixture. (You may not need to use all of the egg mixture)
• Cover the onion with the almond flour mixture. Using a spoon to get into all of the layers of the onion.
• Bake your onion for 20-25 minutes until browned and onion petals are soft.
• While the onion is baking, mix the Greek yogurt, hot sauce, chili powder, and garlic salt together in a bowl. Set aside in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. ¾ cup Greek yogurt, 1 tbsp hot sauce, 1 tsp chili powder, ½ tsp garlic salt

Air Fryer Directions:

• Preheat your air fryer to 400ºF
• Cut off the top of your onion (not the root), remove the outer layer of the onion and discard. 1 onion
• Place the recently cut, flat part of the onion on the cutting board, root side up.
• Starting about ½ inch from the root, cut the onion straight down. Go all the way around the onion with evenly spaced cuts.
• Turn the onion back over and allow the onion petals to fan out, then remove the center of the onion.
• In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and water. 2 eggs, 1 tbsp water
• In a second bowl, mix together the almond flour, garlic salt, paprika, and pepper. ¼ cup almond flour, 1 tsp garlic salt, 1 tsp paprika, ½ tsp black pepper
• Lightly sprinkle the onion with the flour mixture. Then spoon some of the egg mixture and, using a silicone basting brush, coat the onion with the egg mixture. (You may not need to use all of the egg mixture)
• Cover the onion with the almond flour mixture. Using a spoon to get into all of the layers of the onion.
• Place the onion in your air fryer basket and cook for 8-10 minutes. Or until browned and onion petals are soft.
• While the onion is air frying, mix the Greek yogurt, hot sauce, chili powder, and garlic salt together in a bowl. Set aside in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. ¾ cup Greek yogurt, 1 tbsp hot sauce, 1 tsp chili powder, ½ tsp garlic salt

Video

Notes

Healthy Eating Plans 

• Weight Watchers: ¼ of the onion and ¼ of the sauce is (using fat free yogurt) is: 1 2025 Point | 1 2023 Point | 1 Blue Plan Point | 3 Green Plan Points | 1 Purple Plan Point
• 21 Day Fix/Ultimate Portion Fix: For the entire recipe: 2 Green Containers, 2 Blue Containers, 1 Red Container. The sauce is 1 Red container. 
  • 1 serving is ¼ of the onion. Container counts per serving: ½ Green Container, ½ Blue Container, ¼ Red container.  ¼ Red Container for the sauce.  

Recipe tips:

• For easy clean-up, line your baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
• If you want to make this Blooming Onion without egg, you can use any egg replacement that you like.

Nutrition

Calories: 112kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 84mg | Sodium: 1047mg | Potassium: 159mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 602IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 82mg | Iron: 1mg

Make This Recipe?

Make sure to follow on Pinterest @bludlum and on Instagram @beccaludlum