ring option for years. These onion rings aren't  without controversy, though, and are actually  

missing a major component. Here's what you  should know about Burger King's onion rings.

Burger King understands the moment of panic at  the drive-thru window when you're frantically  

trying to decide between fries and onion  rings, wishing desperately that you could  

have both without paying double the  price or consuming double the oil.  

As it turns out, you can. Burger King's  secret hackable menu includes Frings - an  

order made up of both fries and onion  rings so you don't have to choose.

An order of Frings gets you a container  half full fries and the other half full  

of Burger King's infamous onion rings. Though  Frings aren't on Burger King's regular menu,  

they are popular among those in  the know - and for good reason.

While Burger King's onion rings are among the  best in the fast food world, their fries can  

hold their own against many of their deep fried  competitors, and it would be something akin  

to heresy to order fast food without fries  on the side. The king is a benevolent one.

Like many items on Burger King's menu,  

onion rings are not the healthiest  food you could put in your body.  

While the onion rings lack the excess fat and  calories that larger Burger King meals contain,  

their vegetarian status does not exempt them  from other health hazards, particularly sodium.

While some sodium is necessary for the body  to perform certain important functions,  

most Americans consistently take in far more  sodium than needed. The average recommended amount  

of sodium is less than 2,300 milligrams per day -  and most Americans consume more than 3,400 daily.

Each small serving of Burger King onion rings  contains 840 milligrams of salt, which accounts  

for about 37 percent of the daily recommended  sodium intake - in a side dish. Add a burger  

to the order, and one meal quickly goes above and  beyond the recommended sodium intake for the day.

While many fast food joints have different menu  items depending on where you are in the world,  

Burger King onion rings remain a constant no  matter what corner of the planet you're in.  

Burger King serves Spicy Shrimp Whoppers  in its Japan locations and TaroPie,  

a turnover-style dessert stuffed with taro, a  root vegetable similar to a potato, in Malaysia.

Burger King classics, however, are  consistent among the franchise's nearly  

19,000 restaurants scattered across the world. So  

no matter where you are in the world,  Burger King onion rings won't be far.

Although Burger King onion rings may taste  like onion, these deep-fried treats do not  

actually contain full slices of onion  inside. Burger King has managed to get  

away with it by using a kind of powdered  onion flavor instead of the real thing.

The result of BK's dehydrated onions is, according  to some, a paste-like texture whose flavor is  

onion-adjacent but not nearly intense enough to  be mistaken for an actual onion. Others claim the  

onion flavor makes for an unnatural taste,  as though some onion powder sprinkled into  

the batter was the extent of the effort made  to legitimize the onion of the onion rings.

Though Burger King was not the first  fast food joint to create a dollar menu,  

it jumped on the bandwagon in 1998 with a  menu that featured seven items for $0.99 each.  

On that original menu, which was deemed  the Great Tastes menu, were onion rings.

While the Burger King value  menu has changed over the years,  

providing diners with new and improved options  that have remained at or around $1 per item,  

onion rings have remained a permanent fixture  among a rotating cast of ingredients and combos.

Though Burger King was in competition with several  other fast food locations that boasted value menus  

with a variety of dishes, very few of those  chains included onion rings. To this day,  

Burger King still stands out from the crowd  by simply giving the people what they want:  

deep-fried onion flavor that won't break the bank.

"We getting the onion rings? Hell  yes we're doing the onion rings.""Cool wife."

Burger King offers six sauces with their meals,  

all of which can be put to good use with an  order of onion rings: buffalo, BBQ, ranch,  

sweet and sour, honey mustard, or BK's famous  zesty sauce, a creamy, horseradish-based dip.  

While everyone has their personal sauce  allegiances, Burger King's zesty sauce is a  

company specialty whose tangy, oniony taste pairs  perfectly with the onion rings it was made for.

Still, if you're looking for a more traditional  dip, Burger King's ranch is a top-rate option,  

according to Thrillist, who ranked  condiments from across a variety  

of different fast food stops and found  BK's ranch earned a spot in the top 20.

Melissa starts slurping down ranch and says,  

"I'm getting strawberry. I'm getting kiwi… I'm  getting … , man I'm getting a big hit of kiwi."

In November 2019, many people were forced to eat  their onion rings naked due to a shortage of zesty  

sauce across stores. Due to an early snowfall,  it became impossible to harvest much of the  

horseradish crop. Eric Rygg, president of Silver  Springs Food, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,

"We think these are new weather  patterns that will not go away."

Climate change has made it necessary for many  farmers - from huge factory farms to smaller,  

locally owned and operated ones - to  adjust how and when they plant, harvest,  

and distribute the food they produce. But just  because climate change demands these adaptations  

does not mean consumers will be happy about  it. Zesty sauce fans complained on Twitter,  

decrying Burger King's neglect. However,  plenty of onion rings continued to be consumed.

Burger King's Rodeo products have gone through  various transformations over the years.  

What started as a limited-time  Rodeo Cheeseburger became,  

after a few years, the Rodeo Crispy  Chicken and the Rodeo Burger,  

the latter of which made a comeback  in June of 2019. But through it all,  

these specialty options have stayed true to the  ingredient that makes them unique: onion rings.

We're assuming the smoky BBQ sauce  is what gives this special its name,  

and when paired with the onion rings,  the burger certainly has a Western flair.

Guy from City Slickers says, "Yaaaah-hoo!"  Cowboy replies, "It's a good yah-hoo, son."

The crispiness of the rings give this burger  great texture, and the BBQ sauce's sweetness adds  

a new dimension to Burger King's classic patty.  Though we wouldn't necessarily recommend ordering  

onion rings alongside the Rodeo Burger due to  all the extra sodium you're sure to consume,  

we certainly wouldn't dissuade you from it.  It's important to follow your onion-happy heart.

June 22nd is National Onion Ring Day.  So, in solidarity with all onion ring  

eaters dismayed to discover their  local fast food joint does not serve  

their favorite deep fried side, in 2018,  Burger King offered free onion rings to  

their customers in exchange for a carton of  french fries from their fast food competitors.

Whether Burger King employees kept the  fries for themselves or threw them out  

in support of the superior side was not  determined. Burger King's promotional  

move made clear the company's dedication to  their onion rings, and to the people who love  

them. Though this offer was valid in only  select locations in Chicago; Los Angeles;  

New York, and Lynn, Massachusetts, the  message was clear: onion rings for the people!

There are few joys as simple and  pure as the phenomenon of the ringer.  

Urban Dictionary defines a  ringer in the following manner:

"At Burger King when you order  a side of fries sometimes you  

accidentally get an onion ring in  there. This is called a ringer."

Imagine driving away from Burger King, a  burger and fries in the bag beside you.  

You wonder briefly if you should have ordered  onion rings instead, but it's too late now.  

As you snack on fries and drive with one hand,  you come across something unexpected in the bag  

of fries: a small onion ring, separated from  the others to find its way into your bag.

It's a tiny miracle, as well as a  necessary reprieve from the monotony  

of one fry after another. It is truly an  experience not to be taken for granted.  

So the next time you come across a stray  onion ring in your fries, say a prayer,  

do a dance, and thank that big-headed King of  burgers while you savor this moment of ecstasy.

In 2017, Lorde admitted to being the mastermind  behind the now-defunct Instagram account,  

OnionRingsWorldwide, which rated onion rings from  different locations on a scale of one to five.  

Burger King scored on the low  side - very low. Lorde wrote,  

quote, "They are not good." She then said  that she was glad she hadn't known Burger  

King served onion rings because of  how disappointing they ended up.

Lorde gave them a whopping one point. The pop  star will not be fooled by Burger King's fake  

onion filling, and she's not afraid to say it.  To voice her dismay, the pop star wrote on an  

Instagram caption of the King's rings, quote,  "Characteristics were a mulched onion filling."

Apparently a big fan of onion rings, Lorde was not  impressed by Burger King. While other restaurants  

received high praise, the overall flavor of  BK's onion rings was described as having, quote,  

"a distinct bitterness." Harsh criticism,  but if Lorde says it, it must be true.

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