French Onion Dip made from scratch will knock your socks off. It’s worth making because you will never, ever get this flavour in store bought dip! Not from the most expensive gourmet store in town, and certainly not in those tubs at the grocery store. It’s seriously incredible!
Homemade French Onion Dip
Confession time: I’ve made shortcut French Onion Dip using a packet of French Onion Soup mix many, many times…. and in fact, here’s the recipe!
BUT a REAL Homemade French Onion Dip, made from scratch by making your own caramelised onion trumps the shortcut soup mix version 10 times over.
Thank you Ina Garten!
I will never give up the packet soup mix French Onion Dip. It’s an 80’s thing, it’s an Aussie thing, and it’s a nostalgic thing.
But if you want a French Onion Dip that’s elevated to incredible status, make this Homemade French Onion Dip from scratch!
The BEST chips to serve with French Onion Dip are plain crinkle cut potato chips. It’s the classic way it’s served in the US – try it once and you’ll be converted for life!
French Onion Dip gets its name from French Onion Soup, with the flavour base of both being caramelised onion.
What French Onion Dip is made of
Here’s what you need for this recipe. Just a note on a few of the items:
The dip base is cream cheese (tang + richness), mayonnaise (flavour + fat) and sour cream (tang + reduces richness a bit);
Less butter – as much as I love Ina Garten, I often find myself cutting down the fat she uses in her recipes quite substantially. This is one such example. The original recipe called for 4 tablespoons of butter AND 1/4 cup of oil. I swear, this does NOT need that much – way too rich! I made it with 3 tablespoons of butter, no oil, which is plenty; and
Hint of spice – adds a touch of extra flavour and warmth to the dip!
How to make it
And here’s how to make it. The key flavour base is the caramelised onions. It will take a good 20 to 25 minutes and it can’t be hurried otherwise the onions just burn instead of turning golden and sweet!
What homemade French Onion Dip tastes like
It’s a creamy dip, a gorgeous soft creamy texture rather than the rock-hard dips you get from the grocery store where your chips break every time you try to scoop some up.
The caramelised onion infuses it with beautiful flavour that’s savoury with natural sweetness – there’s no sugar in this recipe, it’s all from the natural caramelisation of the onion!
It’s great on the day it’s made, but it’s even better the next day once the flavours have had time to meld together even more!
How long can you keep homemade French Onion Dip?
I’ve kept it for 4 to 5 days and it was 100% perfect, no flavour loss at all.
How to serve French Onion Dip
Hands down, the BEST thing to dip in Onion Dip is plain crinkle cut potato crisps. This is an American thing that hasn’t yet made it across the waters.
And it might sound strange to some people, dunking potato crisps in dip.
But trust me. For French Onion Dip, plain potato crisps are the BEST. Better than corn chips, better than crackers, better than bread. It beats ’em all! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Note: typo in video! Says “paprika” instead of “cayenne pepper”. Though actually, you could totally use paprika instead!
More dip recipes
This Snack Monster has shared plenty of dip recipes!!!
Guacamole (done right!) or Avocado Hummus Dip
Retro Soup Mix 2 Minute French Onion Dip
Hot Corn Dip – you’ll love the flavour in this creamy, bubbly dip!
Smoked Salmon Dip (flavour you can’t buy in tubs!)
See all Dip Recipes
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Homemade French Onion Dip
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 1/2 cups diced onions (2 to 3 onions) (brown, yellow or white)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 4 oz / 120 g cream cheese (cold), cut into cubes
- 1/4 cup whole egg mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream (full fat is best, but you can use low fat or even yoghurt)
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a fry pan over medium heat.
- Add the onions, salt, pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring. Then reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onions should be sweet and golden. Remove from stove and allow to cool.
- Place the cream cheese, sour cream and mayo in a bowl, mix until smooth (use microwave in 10 sec bursts if needed to assist)
- Add the caramelised onions. Mix until just combined. Refrigerate at least 2 hours to allow flavours to develope, overnight is better!
- Serve at room temperature, garnished with chopped chives if desired. Best served with crinkle cut plain potato chips!
Recipe Notes:
a) Original recipe called for 4 tbsp butter + 1/4 cup oil. I reduced it to just 3 tbsp of butter. This is very rich as it is – you don’t need any more!
b) Original recipe also called for 1/2 cup of mayonnaise. I found this too rich so I reduced it to 1/4 cup.
c) Original recipe said to beat the cream cheese (at room temperature) with the mayonnaise and sour cream using a stand mixer. I tried this once and it is a bit fluffy at first but then it becomes denser after refrigerating it. So I make this by softening the cream cheese or even heating the cream cheese very gently in the microwave if necessary then simply stirring it with the other ingredients. Works perfectly, it’s creamy and lump free (other than the onions of course!)
d) I added onion powder as an optional extra because I like the extra kick of onion flavour.
e) Original recipe called for 1 tsp of salt. I find this slightly too salty so I reduced it to 3/4 tsp. 3. Nutrition per serving assuming 8 servings.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published July 2015. Updated with new photos, brand new video, process step photos and of course the most important thing – new Life of Dozer section added!
Life of Dozer
No onion dip for Dozer – onion is bad for dogs! How about some carrot instead?? 😂 (He looks so keen, he hasn’t gotten a sniff of what it is yet!!)
And from the first time I published this recipe:
Dozer assuming his usual position while I shot the dip. Patiently waiting for a big dollop to land on the ground. Didn’t happen. Never will – onion is bad for dogs!!
Made this today for our work Xmas party……so so good…loads of compliments….quoted your site of course AGAIN…..thanks Nagi for another winner
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Kym!
Better than store bought French onion dip, I love the spices in the dip, it is really creamy. Nagi I I would have given 10 stars if I could. Yummy recipe.
WOOOT!!! And you know exactly what’s in it too!
Greetings from Indonesia, Nagi. I have been following your posts for a long time and very thankful for your awesome recipes! 😁
This dip is deliciousss. Out of curiosity, how long can this dip last in the fridge?
Hi Arini, I usually keep it up to 3 days (if it lasts that long) 😂
I can not wait to try this!! We do French onion dip all the time but usually with the soup mix. This may be a very bad thing for my waist line.
I hope you love this one Cathy!!
This looks delish!
Out of curiosity, what do you dip in your dips on that side of the water if not potato chips?
Anything dipped in this would be delicious – potato chips, corn chips, carrot or celery sticks, crackers… the list is endless!
Fingers!!😜
I had been craving French Onion Dip when I got the email with this recipe. We all thought the dip was delicious, but I think the butter and salt quantities are too high when scaled up. I made 8 servings which called for 12 tbs of butter and 3 tsp of salt, so I definitely didn’t use all the butter, but still ended up tossing out a fair amount of the melted butter after the onions cooked. Next time I will use about half the amount of salt since the chips I used were pretty salty to begin with. Thanks for the recipe – it’s a keeper!
Hi Sher, were you using salted butter by any chance?
This is truly the BEST onion dip ever. Made it for a party tonight and my husband’s comment was, “this is perfect.” Truth! Thanks so much!
I’m so glad it was a hit Rebecca! So much better than store bought!
You read my mind again. Had an unexpected mob arrive with 2 days notice. Nagi’s dip I decided. While they discussed this and that AND your dip. It and the chips disappeared, it was so moorish. I’ll be making it again. Thank you Nagi.
You’re so welcome Gae!
Hi, I was just wondering, if there’s butter in this, and you refrigerate it, wouldn’t there be little hard chunks in it?
Hi Elizabeth, no there’s not as you are cooking the onions in the butter – N x
Can’t wait to try your recipe! If I want to double the recipe will it will it change the ingredient measurements?
Hi Estelle, you can scale the recipe up using the servings slide bar – N x
This dip I’ll have to try sometime N bc it looks sooo yummy!
It’s so much easier to just make an onion dip with the mix though! Lol. Sometimes I’ll dip with the tostitos instead of the ruffle potato chips!
I’m making a spinach dip this weekend to munch on! Yum!
Have a fantastic weekend with Dozer! My dog chews wood and everything else near him too! If a bug flies by him, he will eat it! Yuck! 😂
I’d dip anything into this dip it’s just that good 😂
Hi Nagi,
Thank you for another great recipe. A quick question for you here, the recipe says to use cayenne pepper but in the youtube video, it says to use paprika. Which one is correct? Thank you!
Thanks for picking that up Michelle, it should be cayenne pepper!
This looks sooo yummy! Definitely making this!
You’ll love it Theresa!
Okay, short and sweet
Oh, yum, yum, yum.
N’uff said.
🙌 thanks Christine!
Kind of surprised about your “too salty” comment. Maybe because Ina’s recipe calls for kosher salt and yours uses table salt?
Just wondering…
Greetings Nagi,
Your recipe seemingly does not include any beef flavoring which I associate with French Onion Soup/Dip. This (to me) reads more like a caramelized onion dip and good just the same but not what I’d call French Onion. I think I’ll omit the salt and add 1/2 beef bullion cube. Thanks for all your great recipes, I’m really enjoying your site. Hugs to you and belly rubs to Dozer!!
This recipe was not Ina’s at all. Been making this over 20 years ago. This TV ppl take our recipes and make hundreds of thosands of dollars.
Growing up in Canada, we ate tubs of French Onion or Dill Pickle Dip with plain ripple chips. Puzzled this hasn’t caught on in Oz. They also used to poke fun at me for eating chips with my sandwich rather than after but I digress. This sounds amazing and I’m going to try it. I might even have a go st homemade dill pickle dip using the creamy mixture you used. The bought stuff just doesn’t taste the same as it used to.
Alright Nagi. Made this today while making yr falafels. Unbelievable dip. My kid won’t get out of the pot. Ty so much. Another winner
Awesome! Thanks so much for letting me know what you think Tania! ❤️
Sounds good.
If these dips are too stiff when cold stirring in a little milk helps.
To save calories/fat try using blended low-fat cottage cheese in place of sour cream/mayo/cream cheese. (Blend until smooth, adding milk if too thick.)
Flavor profile is a bit different, but not very noticeable if the add-ins have a lot of flavor.
I grew up on cottage cheese and Lipton onion soup dip.(Added milk needed.) Do not blend mix – stir into blended cheese and milk.
Another good one: Blend cottage cheese and canned green chilies. Season with salt, garlic powder and a little ground cumin. (1 part chilies to 2 or 3 parts cottage cheese. (No milk. there is enough moisture in the chilies.)
Great tips Chris! Thanks for sharing!
Hey! This looks great! How long do you think it would keep in the fridge?
Hi Ceccato! This keeps for days in the fridge – 4 maybe 5 days? 🙂