I love party food. I love snacks, appetizers, and hors d’oeuvres. Give me a dip and I’m so happy! This scratch-made French onion dip doesn’t disappoint my snack-loving taste buds.
When I was a kid, onion dip came from a tub of sour cream and a paper pouch of Lipton onion soup mix. And, listen, that was delicious and I didn’t complain. BUT, homemade French onion dip made with deeply caramelized onions is double chef’s kiss good.
♥ Related: Restaurant-Style Salsa in Just 10 Minutes
Patience and time are the secret ingredients for this recipe. It will take about 30 minutes to properly caramelize these onions. Do not believe recipes that proclaim you can caramelize onions in 10 minutes. Fake news. You need low heat and time to slowly draw out the water in the onions without burning them first. The onions will get soft and start to caramelize once most of the water is evaporated from the onions. The onions will turn a deep mahogany color when they are ready.
You will also want to plan for plenty of time to rest this dip after you mix it. Chill it overnight for best results. The time in the fridge will allow all of the flavors to merge into one perfect tasting dip.
♥ Related: Poblano Crab Dip
Other than time, this recipe is extremely easy. Plus, you’ll learn how to properly caramelize onions which you can use in so many other ways: top burgers with them, add some to grilled cheese, toss them with crispy roasted potatoes!
The finished onion dip is versatile, too. Obviously, it’s right at home on a sea-salted chip, but also slip a little into your next sandwich, try it as a dip for tater tots, or make these easy and delicious crostini!
Video: Watch Me Make This Recipe
French Onion Dip
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 large onion cut into small slices
- 1 clove garlic grated or finely minced
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 5 sprigs thyme
- ½ tsp kosher salt plus more if needed
- ½ tsp black pepper plus more if needed
Instructions
- Set a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Place butter in the pan and let it melt. Once the butter has half melted, add the onions to the pan and stir to coat with butter. Add a big pinch of salt. Cook over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes. Towards the beginning of cooking, stir every 2-3 minutes. As the onions start taking on more color around the 20-minute mark, stir every 30 seconds to a minute. In the first 15 minutes, the onions will just give up water and not take on any browning. If your onions start browning before this time, reduce the temperature under your pan a bit. At about 15 minutes a few onions will start showing signs of light browning. By 20 minutes, most of the onions will take on more color around the edges. Keep stirring more frequently at this point as the caramelization will go faster. By 25 minutes the onions will take on a deep caramelized color around the edges and by 27-30 minutes, most of the onions will be a deep brown. At this point, take the onions off the heat.
- Add the grated or finely minced garlic clove to the pan and stir to mix with the onions. The heat remaining in the pan will cook the garlic without burning it. Then set the onions and garlic aside to cool.
- In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and salt & pepper. Strip the leaves off of the thyme sprigs and add them to the mixture. Stir well to combine.Then add your cooled onions to the mixture and stir well.
- Store the dip in an air tight container in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, but overnight is best. Then serve with your favorite chips! Or on a sandwich. Or as a dip for French fries!
Notes
- I like to slice the onions into 1/6 semi-spheres. To do this, cut the onion in half, root to top. Peel. Then each half into thirds lengthwise keeping the root in tact. Then cut into about 1/4-inch slices.
- To grate the garlic, I like to use my trusty microplane grater.
- Use full-fat mayonnaise and sour cream for the best texture and flavor.
- Check out the video to visualize how to cut the onions and how to caramelize the onions.
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