Homemade French Onion Dip
Confession time: I’ve made shortcut French Onion Dip using a packet of French Onion Soup mix many, many times…. and in fact, here’s the recipe! BUT a REAL Homemade French Onion Dip, made from scratch by making your own caramelised onion trumps the shortcut soup mix version 10 times over. Thank you Ina Garten! I will never give up the packet soup mix French Onion Dip. It’s an 80’s thing, it’s an Aussie thing, and it’s a nostalgic thing. But if you want a French Onion Dip that’s elevated to incredible status, make this Homemade French Onion Dip from scratch! The BEST chips to serve with French Onion Dip are plain crinkle cut potato chips. It’s the classic way it’s served in the US – try it once and you’ll be converted for life!
French Onion Dip gets its name from French Onion Soup, with the flavour base of both being caramelised onion.
What French Onion Dip is made of
Here’s what you need for this recipe. Just a note on a few of the items:
The dip base is cream cheese (tang + richness), mayonnaise (flavour + fat) and sour cream (tang + reduces richness a bit); Less butter – as much as I love Ina Garten, I often find myself cutting down the fat she uses in her recipes quite substantially. This is one such example. The original recipe called for 4 tablespoons of butter AND 1/4 cup of oil. I swear, this does NOT need that much – way too rich! I made it with 3 tablespoons of butter, no oil, which is plenty; and Hint of spice – adds a touch of extra flavour and warmth to the dip!
How to make it
And here’s how to make it. The key flavour base is the caramelised onions. It will take a good 20 to 25 minutes and it can’t be hurried otherwise the onions just burn instead of turning golden and sweet!
What homemade French Onion Dip tastes like
It’s a creamy dip, a gorgeous soft creamy texture rather than the rock-hard dips you get from the grocery store where your chips break every time you try to scoop some up. The caramelised onion infuses it with beautiful flavour that’s savoury with natural sweetness – there’s no sugar in this recipe, it’s all from the natural caramelisation of the onion! It’s great on the day it’s made, but it’s even better the next day once the flavours have had time to meld together even more!
How long can you keep homemade French Onion Dip?
I’ve kept it for 4 to 5 days and it was 100% perfect, no flavour loss at all.
How to serve French Onion Dip
Hands down, the BEST thing to dip in Onion Dip is plain crinkle cut potato crisps. This is an American thing that hasn’t yet made it across the waters. And it might sound strange to some people, dunking potato crisps in dip. But trust me. For French Onion Dip, plain potato crisps are the BEST. Better than corn chips, better than crackers, better than bread. It beats ’em all! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Note: typo in video! Says “paprika” instead of “cayenne pepper”. Though actually, you could totally use paprika instead!
More dip recipes
This Snack Monster has shared plenty of dip recipes!!!
Guacamole (done right!) or Avocado Hummus Dip Hummus Retro Soup Mix 2 Minute French Onion Dip Hot Corn Dip – you’ll love the flavour in this creamy, bubbly dip! Cheese and Bacon Dip Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip Spinach Artichoke Dip Mexican Queso Dip Smoked Salmon Dip (flavour you can’t buy in tubs!) See all Dip Recipes
Originally published July 2015. Updated with new photos, brand new video, process step photos and of course the most important thing – new Life of Dozer section added!
Life of Dozer
No onion dip for Dozer – onion is bad for dogs! How about some carrot instead?? 😂 (He looks so keen, he hasn’t gotten a sniff of what it is yet!!)
And from the first time I published this recipe: Dozer assuming his usual position while I shot the dip. Patiently waiting for a big dollop to land on the ground. Didn’t happen. Never will – onion is bad for dogs!!
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