This homemade French Onion Dip recipe is perfect for your next family gathering, backyard cookout, or holiday celebration! A chip dip made with real, simple ingredients and packed with so much flavor!
The Best French Onion Dip
Our whole family loves a good dip recipe and this one is over the top, good! We absolutely love the added smokey flavor that smoked onions bring to this recipe before caramelizing them on the stovetop. You do not have to smoke the onions for this creamy dip, but the added flavor is so worth it! This homemade dip is a real crowd-pleaser that is so much better than any of those store-bought dips. No contest!
Looking for another party appetizer dip? You have to try our smoked salmon dip or this greek layer dip – both are so good!
What You Will Need
- butter – added to the hot pan to help caramelize the onion slices.
- yellow onions – sweet onions (Vidalia onions) are perfect for caramelizing and this easy recipe!
- garlic – everything is always better with a little garlic.
- sour cream, mayo, & cream cheese – the creamy base for this amazing dip recipe.
- fresh chives & fresh parsley – some fresh herbs to bring so much flavor.
- smoked onion powder, worcestershire sauce, & liquid smoke – these are all about adding some great flavor to the dish. Option to adjust any of these to your preferred taste.
- white vinegar – just a little bit for a tiny bit of tang or acidity.
- lemon zest – this bit of acidity also helps to amplify all the great flavors!
- kosher salt & ground black pepper – simple seasonings that are always a must.
How To Make French Onion Dip
The first steps to making this homemade onion dip is to gather all of the ingredients in the recipe card.
The onions will need to be peeled and sliced into large circles that are about 1/4-1/2″ thick.
OPTIONAL Step: after cutting the onions into slices and before caramelizing them, we recommend cooking smoked onions at 225 degrees F for about 45-60 minutes.
Now bring a large skillet to a medium heat, add the butter to melt, and then the onion slices (whether they were smoked or not). Season the onions with some salt and pepper.
Continue moving the onions around in the pan until they are deep golden brown. Then add the garlic to cook until fragrant and turn the heat off.
Place the rest of the creamy french onion dip ingredients in a large bowl.
Stir to fully combine and then add the cooled caramelized onions and garlic to the bowl. Mix again.
Serve with your favorite crinkle cut potato chips or crackers as a delicious appetizer!
For best results: we highly recommend that you make this dip ahead of time and store in the fridge overnight for the flavors to fully combine. Set out the dip several minutes before serving for it to return to room temperature and become scoopable!
Best Ways To Serve French Onion Dip
This is one of our all-time favorite dip recipes and we love to scoop it up with some plain potato chips, bagel chips, crackers, pita chips, or crudités. It is a nice, cool dip that will really hit the spot on those hot summer days or on a Sunday game day. Perfect for enjoying at your next backyard barbecue, picnic, or family reunion!
Made this salmon cream cheese dip and loved it?! We would love it if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and review – it is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that as well. THANK YOU!
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Other Dip Recipes You Might Like
French Onion Dip Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Description
French Onion Dip Recipe – a delicious, flavorful smokey french onion dip recipe is perfect for your next get-together, cookout, or holiday gathering!
Ingredients
- 2–3 tablespoons butter
- 2 yellow onions, thinly sliced*
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 1 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
- 1–2 tablespoons fresh chives, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
- 1 teaspoon smoked onion powder (reg. onion powder works)
- 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon lemon zest
- pinch of kosher salt and ground black pepper
Instructions
- OPTIONAL Step: use our Smoked Onions recipe to smoke the onions before caramelizing them – not required, but a fun extra step if you really want to amp up the flavor!
- Caramelize Onions: Bring large cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Add butter and move it around so that the entire pan is thinly coated. Add onions and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Move onions around the pan and bring heat down to medium once onions start to cook down. Continue cooking onions 15-30 minutes, turning heat down as necessary, until they start to turn golden brown. Once onions are golden brown add in the garlic, stir to combine and let the garlic become fragrant. Then turn off the heat and let them cool a bit.
- Combine Dip Ingredients: In a medium-sized bowl combine the sour cream, mayo, cream cheese, chives, parsley, onion powder, worcestershire, liquid smoke, white vinegar, lemon zest, pinch of salt and pinch of pepper. Stir to combine. Add caramelized onions and stir again.
- Taste: Taste and feel free to add a tiny bit more liquid smoke or salt, as needed (taste again after it sits overnight and adjust the flavor again).
- Let Sit: this is one of those recipes that just tastes better after it gets a chance to sit in the refrigerator overnight! But, it will thicken quite a bit so let it return to room temperature on the counter before serving, so it is soft and scoopable!
Notes
- *Onions: we HIGHLY recommend making our Smoked Onions for this recipe and then caramelizing them! Really adds a smokey punch!
- Overnight Flavor Develops: after testing we discovered this is one of those recipes that just tastes better the next day, after it gets a chance to sit in the refrigerator overnight! But, it will thicken quite a bit so let it warm back up a bit on the counter before serving, so it is soft and scoopable!
- Storage: store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Serving: serve with your favorite crackers (regular or gluten-free) or chips!
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