You would think from the amazing smell throughout my home that I was cooking a gourmet meal. But, nope, it was just fragrant diced onions that were browning, caramelizing and exploding with an incredible aroma. Who would have thought that it was being made for a dip?
I have grown up on Lipton French Onion dip, my husband has grown up on it, and everyone else I know has and it gets devoured every time it’s served. It’s simply perfection, or least I thought it was until I made a homemade version. It’s been on my “must-make” list for a long time, but it just seemed easier to buy the package, mix it with sour cream and be done. Then I received my latest delivery of produce from local farms, and in the box was a 4 ¾ by 3 inch onion (yes, I measured), and I wanted to do something special with it.
We were going to a birthday celebration/pool party and I was in charge of bringing an appetizer. I thought and thought and could not come up with anything exciting to enjoy by the pool until I noticed the onion on my counter. “Oh yes” I thought, “now I know what to bring.”
I had an idea of what should be in the recipe but wasn’t sure of the proportions to make it from scratch. So, I searched around and found an Alton Brown recipe that included all the ingredients I was looking for. Usually, I try to modify a recipe to make it healthier, but this time I made it almost exactly as is. It’s a good thing. This is a fantastic recipe. In the future, I’m definitely going to try to modify it some more. I’ll probably reduce the mayonnaise, add Greek yogurt and use fresh garlic.
This is how I made it this time and my modifications were that I almost doubled the amount of onions (an absolute must), used light sour cream, added more garlic powder and used black pepper instead of white. Oh, and I doubled the entire recipe because I knew it would be gone in a flash.
Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
2 ½ c diced onions
½ t kosher salt, divided
1 ½ c light sour cream
¾ c mayonnaise
½ t garlic powder
¼ t ground black pepper
Heat a pan over medium heat and add the olive oil once the pan gets hot. Let the olive oil heat up and add onions and half of the salt. Cook the onions until they are caramelized, which takes about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and let cool. Mix the other ingredients and add the onions once they’ve cooled.
Be sure to make the dip a day or more in advance and put a label on it that says “do not eat.” You want all the flavors to marry, for the dip to thicken up and be the best it can be. It is completely worth the wait, even if some of your family members insist they eat it right away.
Serve with potato chips and/or vegetables.
Enjoy!
