First up, the seasoned flour. You want to mix the flour, paprika, garlic powder, pepper and cayenne pepper. Mix it well.

For the dipping sauce, it’s pretty simple. You are going to blend everything together listed above. Make sure it’s blended together well before putting in the refrigerator. You will need to let it sit for about 2 hours or overnight.

Now for the batter! You will mix all of the seasonings, flour and cornstarch together until it’s blended. Add beer and mix well.

Cut about ¾ inch off the top of the onion and peel completely. Next you want to cut the onion into 12-16 vertical wedges. Do not cut all the way through the bottom to the roots end though. You will lose the effect of your “bloom.”

This sounds tricky but I promise it’s not. Remove about 1 inch of the petals from the center of the onion. If you want to help open them up, you can place the cut onions in cold water for a few hours. You don’t have to do this but if you do, make sure you drain them very well.

Dip your onion into the seasoned flour you mixed in step 1. Very gently you will want to shake to remove any excess seasoned flour.

You need to separate the petals before flying them so they can coat thoroughly with batter.

Once the petals are thoroughly coated, gently place your Cactus Bloomin’ Onion in the deep fryer. You will need to deep fry at 375-400 degrees for 1 ½ minutes. Then you want to turn it over and fry 1 ½ minutes more or until they are that perfect golden brown color, just like Outback Steakhouse.

As you lift them out of the air fryer, I would suggest draining them on paper towels.