How To Make French Onion Dip

September 2, 2020 (Last Updated: November 16, 2020)
Tori dipping a ruffles trip into a homemade french onion dip surrounded by two decorative leaf stencils

Okay friends. Grab your favorite bag of potato chips and get ready for the best French Onion Dip of your life. That sounds dramatic, but it’s true.

You might be wondering why I’m giving you a snacking recipe when I’m all about brunch. The truth is, I’m a snacker. Through my snacking, I’ve discovered that this French Onion Dip is more than a dip for plain chips.

Tori dipping a ruffles chip into homemade savory, sweet french onion dip.

It’s delicious as a spread on sandwiches with some added hot sauce, you can add it to your omelettes to give them some creamy texture and flavor, you can add it to a fresh batch of home fries… there are endless possibilities. Just take a look at all of innovative ways you can eat French Onion Dip if you need more inspiration.

Alton Brown’s Pantry Raid is the inspiration for how incredible this dip turned out. I followed him and made a few tweaks.

Hot Tip 1: You can use any vinegar but I found that using a Vanilla Fig Balsamic Vinegar made it more sweet and absolutely divine!

Hot Tip 2: You can reserve half of the caramelized onion spread for other recipes. My personal favorite is adding it to quiche

French Onion Dip Ingredients

  • 4 Large Onions (If you get the larger than life ones at Costco just use two.)
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tbls salt
  • 1 tbls brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1-2 tbls vanilla fig balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 1/2 cup sour cream (Full fat!)
  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper

French Onion Dip Instructions

  1. Start with the onions. Remove the outer layer then thinly slice the onions. If you have a mandolin use the 3 mm to slice all of the onions. 
  2. Next, toss the onion slices in a large pot and add baking soda, salt, and brown sugar. Stir until the onions are fully coated in the mixture. Then rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. (This pulls the juices out so that the onions soften quite a bit.)
  3. On high heat, add the olive oil to the onions and stir. Cook and stir often until onions have reduced 75% and are golden. (This will start to look almost like a yellow curry paste.)
  4. Once the onions have reduced by 75%, lower the heat to medium. Continue to stir until it looks burnt 
  5. Deglaze the pan with Vanilla Fig Balsamic vinegar and just enough water to cover the bottom (I estimated a 1/2 cup in the ingredients). Stir the mixture. Reduce heat more until the onions are about the size of 1 cup 
  6. Now that you have your caramelized onion jam ready, it’s time to make this dip! In a large bowl, add a 1/2 cup of your caramelized onion spread, sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic powder, and white pepper
  7. Enjoy right away, or cool it in the fridge overnight to appreciate the full flavor of the onion the next day!

How Long Does the French Onion Dip Last

If you have a strong will power, the dip will last in the fridge for 4-7 days. I wouldn’t recommend trying to make it last in the freezer; thawing the dip may change the texture too much.

Creative Ways to Use French Onion Dip

I ate most of the dip with plain chips! You can add it to sandwiches in place of mayo.

For a family-style brunch, I’d recommend adding the dip to a veggie omelette with homefries.

I’d love to hear what kinds of toppings/recipes you like to make with your biscuits! Comment below and share other recipes that I can try!

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Homemade French Onion Dip

Appetizer American
By Tori Mason Serves: 10-12
Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 1 hour Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Homemade french onion dip may be time intensive, but the delectable caramelized flavor in this onion dip can't be beat.

Ingredients

  • 4 large onions (If you get the larger than life ones from Costco, use two.)
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1-2 tablespoons vanilla fig balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 1/2 cup sour cream (Full fat!)
  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper

Instructions

1

Thinly slice the onions. If you have a mandolin, use the 3 mm.

2

Add the onions to a large pot with the baking soda, salt, and brown sugar. Stir until the onions are fully coated in the mixture. Rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. (This will pull the juices out of the onions and tenderize them.)

3

Add olive oil to the onions and move them to the burner. On high heat, stir intermittently until onions are golden and have reduced 75%. It will begin to look almost like a yellow curry paste. Lower the heat to medium. Continue to stir until it looks burnt.

4

Deglaze the pan with Vanilla Fig Balsamic vinegar and just enough water to cover the bottom (more or less than a 1/2 cup.) Stir the mixture. Reduce heat more and continue to cook until the onions are reduced to 1 cup. Let it cook for five minutes.

5

In a large bowl, add a 1/2 cup of the caramelized onion spread, sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic powder, and white pepper.

6

Enjoy right away, or cool it in the fridge overnight to appreciate the full flavor of the onion the next day!

Notes

This recipe makes a full cup of the onion jam spread. You can save the leftover spread for a few days in the fridge, or you can freeze it for longer. It's delicious in soups and quiches.

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2 Comments

  • Reply
    clarecinnamonauthor
    September 2, 2020 at 1:03 pm

    The yummiest!

  • Reply
    Endless Brunch - The Best Crustless Quiche Recipe: French Onion Quiche
    November 15, 2020 at 8:15 pm

    […] I made the French Onion Dip, I was so excited to try all kinds of recipes with the leftover french onion spread. Because I had […]

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