When I was a kid, our culinary adventures were not particularly, well, adventurous. We ate a lot of pot roasts and broccoli cheese soup and spaghetti. Don’t get me wrong–it was good, and seriously, now that I’m a mom, I have nothing but crazy admiration for the fact that my mom had tasty, well-balanced meals on the table every night and still managed to juggle her 5 kids’ (the oldest of whom was 16 years older than the youngest) extracurricular and social activities without causing us (or herself) physical or emotional harm. That said, I remember the first time I had an artichoke with lemon butter so clearly I can still taste it. It was so out of the norm for me, so totally off my radar and so incredibly delicious. Same thing with French onion soup. It was, I guess, one of those foods that made me fall in love with food.
So, you know, I totally don’t have a recipe for French onion soup. I think that subconsciously, it’s special occasion food, and I’m afraid if I make it myself, it won’t be special anymore. Or something. I totally took Psychology 101 my first semester of college, so I’m qualified to make these kinds of assessments about myself.
That said, I do love to make dips. And I love melty cheese. And caramelized onions. And it’s a rainy, blustery day outside, perfect for comfort food. So even if I haven’t ventured down the dark path of making French onion soup, a dip inspired by it is a totally different beast, right?
You’re going to need a batch of these caramelized onions (with a few cloves of garlic thrown in for good measure), 2 8-ounce packages of softened cream cheese, 1 cup of sour cream (or mayonnaise, if you prefer, or half sour cream and half mayo), freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and freshly grated Gruyere (or Swiss, if Gruyere isn’t happening. Keep in mind that Gruyere is milder and usually melts more smoothly).
Preheat oven to 425.
Place the cream cheese, sour cream, Parmesan, Gruyere, and caramelized onions in a pie plate or an 8×8″ pan.
Gently stir to combine.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden on top and hot in the middle. Serve immediately with sliced baguette, pieces of sourdough bread, tortilla chips, or potato chips.
Hot & Cheesy French Onion Dip
Ingredients
Caramelized Onions and Garlic
- ½ tablespoon butter
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 2 medium-large sweet onions thinly sliced
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 6-8 cloves garlic minced or pressed
Dip
- 2 8- ounce packages cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream or mayonnaise, or half sour cream and half mayonnaise
- salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup freshly grated Gruyere or mild Swiss cheese
Instructions
Caramelized Onions
- Heat a large sauté pan (large enough for your onions to spread out and have contact with the bottom) over medium heat. Add the butter and olive oil, and then the onions. Do not add the garlic yet!
- Add your sliced onions and toss them in the butter and oil until they are all coated. Turn your heat down, and add a sprinkle of kosher salt. Cook and stir occasionally.
- You want to caramelize your onions low and slow. After about 10-20 minutes they should be nice and soft with a few brown pieces. After 20-30 minutes, the brown color will increase. Continue until the onions are a deep, golden brown.
- In the last 5 minutes or so, add the garlic, stirring frequently to prevent the garlic from scorching.
Dip
- Preheat oven to 425℉.
- In a pie plate or an 8×8″ pan, combine the cream cheese, Parmesan, Gruyere, and the caramelized onions.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden on top and hot in the middle. Serve immediately with sliced baguette, pieces of sourdough bread, tortilla chips, or potato chips.
Notes
- Caramelizing onions takes time. You can caramelize your onions for this recipe ahead of time if you’d like. Just store them in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to assemble your dip. See this post on How to Caramelize Onions for more thorough instructions and reference pictures for each step.
- You can also caramelize onions in the oven for a more hands-off approach:
- Preheat oven to 400℉. Place onion in a heavy Dutch oven and toss with melted butter and olive oil. Cover pot and cook for 1-1 ½ hours, stirring every 20 minutes, until a caramel brown color. Tip: You might want to decrease oven temperature after about 45-60 minutes to 350℉, and start stirring every 15 minutes to avoid burnt edge bits. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Questions & Reviews
You don’t get French Onion dip in the UK but I used to LOVE it back home in Ohio. I’m totally going to have to try this!
☾ Lassies Who Lunch ☽
You don’t mention if the garlic is chopped up or left whole. I am guessing chopped…..but unsure. Can not wait to make.
Thanks.
Now I’m drooling…and I thought my shirt only had kid drool on it.
Reminds me of one of my favorite dips I make. Love!
French onion dip with caramelized onions–total genius! Now, as for the actual French onion soup, I have the best (truly) recipe posted–it’s an ATK Cook’s Illustrated recipe, and you know that you can’t go wrong with an America’s Test Kitchen recipe. My husband and I make it for very special dinners–trust me, it’s special every time.
http://www.fransfavs.com/2012/09/the-best-french-onion-soup/
Thank you!! Can’t wait to try it out!
ATK also has an amazing crock pot French onion soup recipe. Amazing. Let me know if you can’t find it and ill find it for you. It’s that good.
Oh, Carly, it could be so much creepier. 🙂
Looks amazing!!!
And I so remember my first tastes of artichoke with lemon butter too. I was just a kid. Probably 6. But it was a special occasion food my mom would make. The other nights it was roasts or ham or the like, of course served with a potato and a canned vegetable. No pasta, since my dad didn’t think it was a meal without a meat and potato! 🙂
OH MY GOODNESS!! We are SOOOOOOOOO going to be making this!! 😀
Oh my word! This looks amazing!! All my favourite things in one dip! Definitely need to try this (maybe at Christmas time, when I don’t care as much about calories haha, since I’ll probably end up eating the whole bowlful!!). Pinning and sharing!
Oh my goodness, we love that terrible for you French Onion chip dip in the refrigerator section at the store. This is going to be even better than that. I love you. (Is it too creepy that I love your for dip recipes?)