How do you make Onion Dip?

I have not bought Lipton Onion Soup Mix in 10 to 20 years.

Maybe once or twice a year I might buy French Onion Dip at the store.

I bought a Knorr Vegetable Soup packet and the dip on the packet looked so good I bought sour cream and made the dip.  It was good.

I decided to find a recipe to make onion dip from scratch and made one from Pioneer Woman.  I feel sorry for her family as what that produced was tasteless.

How do you made Onion Dip from scratch?

Here is the recipe:

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a83200/how-to-make-french-onion-dip/

I left out the parsley.

I added a dissolved bouillon cube and the dip now taste much better.

That dip looks so easy - just add dried onions (and a few other things) to sour cream....I like that you can personalise the dip to suit your family's tastes and still keep it healthy.

I would carmelize onions, salt to taste, and mix with sour cream ( or labneh) while still warm. Then let sit some time before serving so the flavor permeates.

Mk Neal wrote:I would carmelize onions, salt to taste, and mix with sour cream ( or labneh) while still warm. Then let sit some time before serving so the flavor permeates.

I'm not big on dips, however, what would it be like to put the onions in a food processor and finely chopped, then use real mayonnaise as the mix, or maybe Ranch dressing? Lip smacking good or just totally YUK??

Mk’s idea is pretty much what I thought.  I have run onions in a food processor, and they have been pretty liquid.  I would caramelize the onions after the food processor to evaporate the liquid and concentrate the flavor.  I like mayonnaise but it isn’t what I like in onion dip or dressing!

I think it is quite telling that the bouillon cube rescued the flavorless dip.  An umami something or other might be what’s needed.  Soy sauce?  MSG?  (Interesting note, when I was a child MSG became a bad guy.  Recently I read that it had been exonerated, is really only a problem to people with a specific allergy.  Kind of reminds me about the vilification of butter and eggs which has not yet been officially renounced.

As always, do your own research.

An umami element is brewers yeast.  The caramelized onions with salt in sourcream might have more flavor with small amounts of soy sauce and or brewers yeast.

I'm not a fan ofonion dip, but used to love party dip 😋. I'm mostly plant based now, and dairy, except goat, doesn't agree with me much. But this post got me thinking. I cream soaked cashews in my vitamix and make cream for various uses and nacho cheez, but I'm sure a tasty party dip could be made from this base with a little acv and lemon or lime juice, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and some finely grated carrot and red pepper, then patted dry before addingto the cream. A bit of cayenne could be a nice twist too. Creaming the cashews in the vitamix warms them up if you run it for a bit. That warmth would help the flavors meld quicker and should be ready in a couple hours once it cools down in the fridge. I'm going to try this with some veggies for the football game this weekend!

The lady who submitted the recipe said she wanted to make her Dads favorite dip.  Her Dad said that it had to be made with the Lipton soup mix though she figure it out without that and her Dad like it.

She tried using caramelized onions and said that made a good dip just not what her Dad liked.

I suggest adding a bit of Worcester shire sauce or muso for the unami.  It's a lot more work, but my first thought is brown the onions in a hot over then finish drying on a lower heat. Second thought was, needs more salt.  Soy sauce might do both, but not enough unami.

This is a good recipe: https://midwestfoodieblog.com/french-onion-dip/

For me, the garlic and onion powder add just the right touch.

If I'm making it from shelf components, then I use cashew-based yogurt blended with either expeller pressed canola oil or melted coconut oil which bumps the mix closer to sour cream.  For a bit more tanginess, I add either lemon juice or food grade lactic acid, the latter very sparingly.  Then onion powder and Worchestershire sauce (vegan preparation) and a bit more salt if need be.

If making from scratch, I use a cashew/almond-based cream in Vitamix as noted above, mixed with a bit of calcium chloride (from canning shelf...'pickle crisp') to promote thickening, then microwave on high stirring every 60 sec. as it naturally thickens.  Onions are carmelized in oil on stovetop (can quick-blend afterward if pieces to large), added to the warm cream mixture along with salt and Worchestershire sauce to taste, then allowed to chill before use.  Chilling improves thickening as well and initial warming helps blend flavors.  (Edited to add:  The tart acid additions are the same with the second approach as in the first paragraph.)