The History of the Irresistible Onion Ring

America has a slight obsession with all things fried, but how can you blame us when it tastes so doggone good? Fryers create some of the best bar food in Des Moines, like our Famous Onion Rings. With our onion rings, we created a side dish so incredible that it earned its own spot on the appetizer menu too. Wobbly Boots Roadhouse's giant onion rings are practically a meal by themselves!

Our Famous Onion Rings
First, we start with great big, fresh, crispy yellow onions. These are cut into thick rings, then bathed in buttermilk. After that we hand-bread them in our specially seasoned flour. The final step is placing them in the fryer until they are the perfect golden brown. A side of chipotle ranch finishes the preparation, and your server brings them out to you hot, crisp, and irresistible! The only bad thing about our onion rings is the few moments you have to wait for them to cool off enough to bite into! 

The History of the Onion Ring
As with many popular foods, the official origin of the onion ring is unclear. Many different stories lay claim to creating this brilliant food. Here are a few of those stories.

• A Crisco advertisement in 1933 showed up in the New York Times featuring a recipe for deep-fried onion rings. It called for rings of onions to be dipped in milk and then dredged in flour. (That sounds about right to us!)  
• Kirby's Pig Stand, a restaurant chain founded in Oak Cliff, Texas with over 100 locations across the U.S.A in the 1940's, claims to have created the onion ring in the early 1920's. They also state that Texas Toast was all their idea too.
• Even before that, the Middleton New York Daily times published a recipe for French Fried Onions in 1910. They don't claim that this is the original onion ring, but it is dated earlier than the other claims and it sounds pretty familiar. 
• One more recipe discovered in John Mollard's cookbook "The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined" in 1802 was titled "Fried Onions with Parmesan Cheese." Calling for rings of onions dipped in a batter of flour, cream, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese all deep fried in "boiling" lard, this is definitely a predecessor to the onion ring we know and love today. 

How Do You Like Your Onion Rings?
Your favorite family restaurant in Des Moines prefers to serve our delicious onion rings with a side of chipotle ranch, but they are also incredible dipped in ketchup or our house-made BBQ sauce. During our research we found a few other dips that people enjoy with their onion rings. John Mollard's cookbook that we mentioned above calls for a sauce made of melted butter and mustard. Here are a few other variations we came across. How do they sound to you?

• Tangy ketchup
• Yogurt
• Sour Cream
• Cheese Dip
• (Personally, we'd stick with the chipotle ranch!)

Whether you choose to order our Famous Onion Rings as an upgraded side dish alongside the best BBQ in the Des Moines area or on a great big plate as an appetizer or to enjoy with an ice-cold beer, you know you're going to get the best onion ring in Iowa served to you very time. Come in to Wobbly Boots Roadhouse in Clive soon and give them a try. We've gotta warn you though, it's hard to eat just one! 

Don't forget you can take home 16 oz. bottles of Wobbly Boots House Recipe BBQ Sauce!!

Second Location - Same Incredible BBQ!

Open EVERY DAY at 11:00 AM!

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Wobbly Boots Roadhouse

1301 NW 114th St
Clive IA 50325

(515) 223-5700