What's Really In Burger King's Onion Rings?

There's nothing like tucking into a combo meal at Burger King. A flame-broiled burger, a fizzy drink, and some deliciously crunchy onion rings — it's the fast food meal of your dreams. However, have you ever considered the ingredients that make up those tasty but strange onion rings?

Burger King's onion rings are not like the ones you usually get at a restaurant. In fact, you may wonder if there are any onions at all in those rings. There's no onion threatening to slip out of its greasy casing on first bite; it's just a crunchy shell with a faint onion taste. The official Burger King website says they're "bursting with refreshing onion goodness," but Burger King also doesn't claim that they are made with fresh onions. 

Allegedly, Burger King uses an onion paste for their onion rings instead of actual rings of onions. This gives an onion flavor without using fresh onions. Could this be why Burger King's onion rings made our list of the worst items you can get at Burger King? Nevertheless, taste is subjective and they remain a popular menu item.

There are many things you may not know about Burger King, and what the fast food giant's onion rings are really made of still remains a mystery. Their 2022 allergen menu states that the only allergen is wheat, making them off-limits for anyone who cannot consume gluten, but they do not contain any of the other listed allergens, such as dairy, nuts, or eggs. There are plenty of fast food items that contain questionable ingredients, and while the contents of the onion rings aren't questionable necessarily, they're not great if you want to make healthier choices. 

The may be tight-lipped on the actual ingredients, but the nutrition facts on the company's website do give us some information about what the onion rings contain: 510 milligrams of sodium. That's 30% of the ideal daily intake recommended by the American Heart Association. To be honest, no one eats at Burger King and expects healthy food, but that's a lot of sodium! 

We may never know the proprietary recipe for Burger King's iconic onion rings, but we do know customers have strong feelings about them. Love them or hate them, the crispy menu item with mysterious ingredients continues to delight — especially when you happen upon a surprise one in your fries!