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There are so many cooking techniques that exist to be hacked: deconstructed, simplified, expedited, and improved upon.<\/p>\n
And then, there is the caramelization of onions. Add enough baking soda to make a difference, and you will turn the contents of your saut\u00e9 pan to mush. Increasing the heat will only give you burnt pieces interspersed with nearly raw ones unless you\u2019re hovering over the skillet with a kettle of water in full stage-mom mode, ready to splash every few moments. Cheating with balsamic vinegar or cane sugar produces overly sweet caramelized onions that lack the characteristic depth and richness. You could add water at the beginning to speed up the softening, though you\u2019ll only save a few minutes. But really take your time with the process\u2014sink into it, become one with it\u2014and you\u2019ll be sumptuously rewarded as the alliums release their moisture until their cells break down, spilling out sugars that later caramelize into rich, heavily-flavored coats for your softened onion bits.<\/p>\n
Onion dip, then\u2014the home cook\u2019s riff on the Americana classic, Lipton\u2019s dehydrated soup mix stirred into sour cream\u2014is inherently a luxury. Consider me fully luxuriated; after two weeks of testing across several heats of the homemade onion dip process (first, base combinations, then allium additions, then seasoning), I both smell like I have been coated in onion dip and left to marinate, and I am fluent in many of its permutations.<\/p>\n
For these recipes, only yellow onions were used, and I only seasoned with garlic powder and kosher salt.<\/em><\/p>\n Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and saut\u00e9 for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and golden brown. Add a few pinches of salt, and continue to saut\u00e9 another 5 minutes or so, until they\u2019re sweet and extremely fragrant, and darker around the edges. Add a big splash of water to deglaze, and scrape up the browned bits stuck to the skillet. Remove pan from heat and let cool a few minutes.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, cream cheese, and mayonnaise until well combined. Once onions are cool enough to handle, add to the base mixture. (Note: if you prefer a very homogenous texture, chop them finely first.) Add garlic powder. Mix well to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve, up to 1 week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream and cream cheese until well combined. Once onions are cool enough to handle, add to the base mixture. (Note: if you prefer a very homogenous texture, chop them finely first.) Add garlic powder. Mix well to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve, up to 1 week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream and Greek yogurt until well combined. Once onions are cool enough to handle, add to the base mixture. (Note: if you prefer a very homogenous texture, chop them finely first.) Add garlic powder. Mix well to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve, up to 1 week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Add sour cream to a large bowl. Once onions are cool enough to handle, add to the base mixture. (Note: if you prefer a very homogenous texture, chop them finely first.) Add garlic powder. Mix well to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve, up to 1 week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Add labne to a large bowl. Once onions are cool enough to handle, add to the base mixture. (Note: if you prefer a very homogenous texture, chop them finely first.) Add garlic powder. Mix well to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve, up to 1 week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n The base that most accurately mimicked the classic \u201cFrench Onion Dip\u201d (the one made with Lipton\u2019s mix) was, surprisingly, the mixture of sour cream, cream cheese, and mayo<\/strong>. Even though the Lipton\u2019s version is traditionally made with just sour cream, the roundness of the cream cheese and the fatty richness of the mayonnaise added flavors that evoked the dried mix without any extra seasonings. In one trial, I had an issue where the cream cheese was a few degrees too cold to blend seamlessly with the other ingredients, but I just threw everything into the microwave and heated in blasts of 10 seconds, whisking in between, until the base became velvety.<\/p>\n My favorite base was labne<\/strong>; it was pert and extremely thick (labne has been strained to reduce its liquid content), which complemented the savory alliums in texture and flavor more comprehensively than the sour cream<\/strong> base, which began to weep liquid at the top after a few hours in the fridge. The sour cream<\/strong> base was certainly delicious, but as compared in a side-by-side tasting to the more sumptuous labne<\/strong>, it seemed to taste of a sharpness that outpaced its creaminess.<\/p>\n The combination of sour cream and Greek yogurt<\/strong> was an overall crowd pleaser for the rest of my tasters; it was less rich than the sour cream, cream cheese, and mayo<\/strong>, so tasters did not tire of it quite as quickly, and the Greek yogurt added a lightness that appealed broadly (but which, on its own, tasted lacking).<\/p>\n The sour cream and cream cheese<\/strong> was perfectly fine, though on the heavier side; even though the base with those two plus mayonnaise was technically richer, the lighter texture of the emulsified mayo kept it from feeling overly dense. If you\u2019re a big fan of baked spinach-artichoke dip, though, you might enjoy a trial with the sour cream and cream cheese<\/strong> base, which really did allow the cream cheese to shine through.<\/p>\n For these recipes, I used a base of sour cream & Greek yogurt, and seasoned only with garlic powder and kosher salt.<\/em><\/p>\n In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream and Greek yogurt until well combined. Once alliums<\/strong> are cool enough to handle, add to the base mixture. (Note: if you prefer a very homogenous texture, chop them finely first.) Add garlic powder. Mix well to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve, up to 1 week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and saut\u00e9 for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and golden brown. Add a few pinches of salt, and continue to saut\u00e9 another 5 minutes or so, until they\u2019re sweet and extremely fragrant, and darker around the edges. Add a splash of water to deglaze, and scrape up the browned bits stuck to the skillet. Remove pan from heat and let cool a few minutes.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and saut\u00e9 for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and golden brown. Add a few pinches of salt, and continue to saut\u00e9 another 5 minutes or so, until they\u2019re sweet and extremely fragrant, and darker around the edges. Add a splash of water to deglaze, and scrape up the browned bits stuck to the skillet. Remove pan from heat and let cool a few minutes.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and saut\u00e9 for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and golden brown. Add a few pinches of salt, and continue to saut\u00e9 another 5 minutes or so, until they\u2019re sweet and extremely fragrant, and darker around the edges. Add a splash of water to deglaze, and scrape up the browned bits stuck to the skillet. Remove pan from heat and let cool a few minutes.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced alliums and saut\u00e9 for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and golden brown. Add a few pinches of salt, and continue to saut\u00e9 another 5 minutes or so, until they\u2019re sweet and extremely fragrant, and darker around the edges. Add a splash of water to deglaze, and scrape up the browned bits stuck to the skillet. Remove pan from heat and let cool a few minutes.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n A riff on this recipe from Bon App\u00e9tit<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Heat oven to 400\u00b0F. On a parchment-lined sheet pan, toss onions with olive oil and a splash of water, plus a few pinches of salt. Arrange in a mound in the center of the pan and roast 45 to 60 minutes, until deeply golden and fragrant. Let cool a few minutes.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n The TL;DR of the many, many, many (many) hours I spent mandolin-ing and saut\u00e9ing onions for this round of tests was that more is more, when it comes to onion dip anyway. The trial with a mixture of yellow onion, red onion, shallot, and scallion<\/strong> had far and away the most nuanced flavor profile; each brought a slightly different edge to the dip. The shallot (as observed in the shallot<\/strong> trial) was sweeter and milder with almost no bitterness at the beginning of the bite, but a hair of bitterness in the aftertaste. The yellow onion<\/strong> brought a ton of sweetness and a deep savory flavor that reminded me of a Ruffles chip. The red onion<\/strong> was intensely earthy. The scallion<\/strong> was fresh and vegetal.<\/p>\n That said, if you\u2019ve only got one type of allium, use that; the dip will still dip.<\/p>\n The biggest surprise in this series of tests was that the oven-roasted onions<\/strong> produced specimens that were just as delicious as their meticulously caramelized stovetop counterparts. The method comes from an Andy Baraghani recipe<\/a>, in which sliced onions are tossed with oil and mounded on a sheet pan and roasted at 400\u00b0F. While the technique was no more efficient than the saut\u00e9 (yes, it was a bit hands off, but it required monitoring and intermittent tossing and two rounds of chopping), it did render bottomless flavor; in addition to the concentrated sweetness of the onions, there was a slight (favorable) char coming from the onions around the edges of the pan.<\/p>\n These miscellaneous variables can be added to any base recipe<\/em>, unless otherwise noted.<\/p>\n Based on this recipe<\/a> from Fountain Avenue Kitchen<\/em><\/p>\n Inspired by this recipe<\/a> from The New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and sliced onions and saut\u00e9 for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and golden brown. Add a few pinches of salt, and continue to saut\u00e9 another 5 minutes or so, until they\u2019re sweet and extremely fragrant, and darker around the edges. Add a splash of water to deglaze, and scrape up the browned bits stuck to the skillet. Remove pan from heat and let cool a few minutes. Remove the garlic and smash into a paste with the blade of a chef\u2019s knife or a fork.\n<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream and Greek yogurt until well combined. Once onions are cool enough to handle, add onions and garlic to the base mixture. (Note: if you prefer a very homogenous texture, chop them finely first.) Add garlic powder. Mix well to combine. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve, up to 1 week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Riff on this recipe<\/a> from Martha Stewart<\/em> and this recipe<\/a> from Food & Wine<\/em><\/p>\n While the copy cat mix<\/strong> did taste closest to the soup mix, I\u2019m not sure I can in good faith recommend spending that much money in the spice aisle; if you already have most of the ingredients and are a classicist, then god speed.<\/p>\n Otherwise, the salt and garlic powder<\/strong> certainly did the trick, and a hit of fresh lemon juice<\/strong> brightened and elevated. The raw garlic clove<\/strong> batch was also delicious, like adding the vaguest, most distant hint of toum. The roasted garlic<\/strong> of course added sweetness and complexity, so, if you\u2019re a garlic girl, why not add some. The balsamic<\/strong> was not my bag; it tasted out of place. But Worcestershire<\/strong> added some umami flavor that I did enjoy.<\/p>\n Control Onion Recipe:<\/h4>\n
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\n1. Sour Cream, Cream Cheese & Mayonnaise<\/h4>\n
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2. Sour Cream & Cream Cheese<\/h4>\n
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3. Sour Cream & Greek Yogurt<\/h4>\n
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4. Sour Cream<\/h4>\n
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5. Labne<\/h4>\n
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\nFindings:<\/h4>\n
\nROUND TWO: Allium Changes<\/h3>\n
Controls:<\/h3>\n
Control Base Recipe:<\/h4>\n
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\n1. Yellow Onions<\/h4>\n
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2. Red Onions<\/h4>\n
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3. Shallots<\/h4>\n
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4. Onion Mix & Shallots<\/h4>\n
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5. Oven-Roasted Onions<\/h4>\n
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\nFindings:<\/h4>\n
\nROUND THREE: Seasoning Changes<\/h3>\n
Notes:<\/h3>\n
\n1. Soup Mix Copy Cat<\/h4>\n
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2. Lemon Juice<\/h4>\n
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3. Raw Garlic Clove<\/h4>\n
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4. Roasted Garlic (No Powder)<\/h4>\n
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5. Worcestershire & Balsamic Vinegar<\/h4>\n
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\nFindings:<\/h4>\n
BASE<\/h5>\n
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ALLIUMS<\/h5>\n
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SEASONING<\/h5>\n
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\nWhich iteration of onion drip will you be bringing to your next party? Let us know in the comments.<\/em>
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