Caramelized French onion dip
Real slow-cooked onions folded into sour cream, deep, sweet and savory, and nothing like the packet kind.
- 135 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 10
- About $0.94 a serving
- 320 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. Whatever’s left keeps for tomorrow.
Ingredients
For 10 servings.
- 3 yellow onions, large
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1½ cups sour cream
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp chives, finely chopped (optional)
- 8 oz potato chips, ridged
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- 2 tbsp water
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 320 calories, 3 g protein, 19 g carbs and 27 g fat, and costs about $0.94 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No sour cream? Plain Greek yogurt works.
- No chives? Green onions work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onions through the root, them, and each half into half-moons.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
Thinly slice. Thinly slicing means cutting slices about an eighth of an inch thick, roughly two coins stacked. Thin slices cook in seconds and soften fast, which quick dishes need.
How you’ll know: A slice bends a little when you hold it by one edge, and slow, steady cuts beat fast ones.
Dolly’s tip: It looks like a mountain. It cooks down to about a cup.the butter with the oil in a large over medium heat, then add the onions and ½ teaspoon salt and to coat.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heat
Cook 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onions are soft and have shrunk by half.
Medium heatTimer: 10 min
Keep cooking 25 to 35 minutes more, stirring every few minutes, until the onions are , deep and jammy.
Caramelize. Caramelizing means cooking slowly until the natural sugars turn deep golden brown. It turns sharp onions soft, jammy and sweet, and it often takes 30 minutes or more.
How you’ll know: They’re soft, sticky and amber brown, and they taste sweet rather than sharp.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 30 min
Dolly’s tip: If they start to scorch, turn the heat down a little and add a spoonful of water. Brown bits on the pan are flavor, not burning.Add the water and , then take the pan off the heat.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Medium heat
Spread the onions on a plate to cool for 15 minutes, then them.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Timer: 15 min
the onions into the sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic powder, pepper and the remaining ½ teaspoon salt.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Cover and chill at least 1 hour so the flavors come together.
Timer: 60 min
Dolly’s tip: It’s even better the next day and keeps 4 days in the fridge.Scatter the chives on top and serve with the chips.
Dolly’s tip: Keep it out no more than 2 hours, then back in the fridge.Food safety: Put leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours and eat them within 3 to 4 days. Reheat until steaming hot, 165°F.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
When you host a dinner, Dollop builds the menu around your guests’ allergies, works out a cooking timeline back from when everyone sits down, and puts it all on one grocery list.
