One of the most versatile and delicious toppings I can think of are these crispy shallots. Perfect over mac and cheese, on top of burgers, over a big bowl of soup, a crisp salad, creamy pasta or virtually any casserole.
Plus, if you have a mandolin, you can have them bubbling away in about 5 minutes and they are perfectly crisp in less than 10. So, the next time you want to grab a bag of those pre-made crispy onions, grab some shallots instead and make these. You’ll be so glad that you did…
Let’s get started…
Begin by very thinly slicing your shallots.
This is easiest done using a mandolin, but feel free to show off your best knife skills here if you’re feeling confident.
Add some all purpose flour into a shallow bowl and add about 2 inches of a neutral oil into a large skillet placed over medium to medium heat.
The optimal oil temp for frying is between 350-375 degrees, but this is not a fussy recipe, so I usually just drop one in and if it bubbles, I add the rest.
While the oil is warming, toss the shallots in flour and flip them around a little to get rid of the excess flour. Carefully place the lightly coated shallots into the oil and feel free to add a bunch in there. Unlike other fried items, its ok to fry a bunch of shallots at a time.
As they fry, I like to use a fork to shift things around to make sure that they don’t clump together. The more surface area that gets to touch the oil, the better results you’ll have.
For the first few minutes, it will seem like nothing is happening. The shallots stay super soft and pale for a while, but then all of a sudden you will notice the ones sitting on the outer edges start to brown a little bit. At this point, you are going to want to stick around because once the browning actually starts, it can progress fast.
The level of browning that you pull the shallots out at is totally up to you. As you can see in my pics, I love my shallots the absolute crispiest, but you can totally pull them out earlier than this when they are not quite so crunchy. Its totally up to you!
The only real “rule” here is that you have to add salt to them as soon as you pull them out. You want them to be nice and salty and salt won’t stick to them once they start to cool down, so salt them as soon as you pull them out of the oil!
These crispy shallots are so good! They are incredibly addictive, so if you are making them for a specific purpose, don’t make the exact amount you need. I highly recommend making more than you think you’ll need, because you will need to do a quick taste test (obviously), but then as you are walking past them working on other things in the kitchen, your hand will end up grabbing more. It will happen.
Whether you are making a batch of crispy shallots to add to a burger, to top a steaming bowl of stew or to layer over a casserole, you are going to absolutely love them and start making them to add to more and more things.
They are great over pasta or a salad, mac and cheese or roasted vegetables and honestly, they are great straight out of the bowl.
If you are considering making these crispy shallots… do it… you will be so glad that you did…
Crispy Shallots
Ingredients
- shallots, very thinly sliced
- all purpose flour
- a neutral oil
- sea salt
Instructions
- Use a mandolin or sharp knife to very thinly slice shallots
- Add some all purpose flour into a shallow bowl and toss the thinly sliced shallots in the flour until they are lightly coated
- Add about 2 inches of a neutral oil into a large skillet and place over medium to medium high heat
- When the oil reaches between 350-375 degrees or when a small piece of shallot starts to bubble as soon as it is dropped into the oil, gently drop the shallots into the oil
- Let the shallots fry until they are golden brown occasionally stirring them to break them apart from each other
- When they are nicely golden brown, transfer the shallots into a paper towel lined bowl and season generously with salt
- Enjoy!
Reader Interactions