Caramelized Onion Dip
User Reviews
5
Caramelized Onion Dip
Description
Caramelized Onion Dip starts by layering chopped, sliced, and quartered yellow onions into melted butter and olive oil, cooking gently to soften and slowly release moisture. Salt and brown sugar coax out sweetness, while cooking over medium heat for about an hour allows the onions to deeply brown without burning, developing a complex caramelized flavor. Adding cognac toward the end layers in subtle richness. This technique avoids stringy textures by varying onion cuts.
The dip base blends mayonnaise and sour cream for creaminess, combined with shredded Gruyere and Parmesan cheeses that melt smoothly and add nutty, savory notes. Dried thyme crushed into the mix adds herbal aroma, balanced by garlic powder, salt, and cracked black pepper for seasoning. The overall result is creamy with a slight chew from onions and a well-rounded flavor profile that balances sweet, savory, and tart elements.
This dip works well with crackers, chips, or vegetable sticks. The slow caramelization is key to unlocking the onions’ sweetness and depth, making it more flavorful than a simple onion dip. Preparing the onions ahead and chilling the dip allows the flavors to meld fully.
Ingredients
- 3 large onion yellow
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp cognac or a touch more
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 cups gruyere cheese about 6 ounces, grated
- 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese grated
- 1/2 tsp thyme crush with your fingers as you add it, dried
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt coarse
- 1 tsp black pepper cracked
Instructions
- Peel the onions. I chop one of them. I halve the next, and thinly slice. I quarter the last one, and thinly slice. This gives me a nice variety of texture in the finished dip and avoids the 'stringly onion' syndrome that can happen with classic onion dip :)
- Melt the butter and oil over medium heat in a large Dutch oven and add the onions. Cook them until they start to soften, stirring often. About 5 minutes.
- Add the salt and brown sugar to the pan and stir well.
- Now you'll continue to cook the onions, uncovered, over medium heat, for as long as it takes to caramelize them: this will be about an hour. You'll want to stir every so often. The key here is that you don't want them to brown right away, you want them to soften and lose their moisture. The heat should be high enough to cook them, but not so high that they're browning on the bottom of the pan (this will happen at the very end of the caramelization process.) The onions will release moisture first, then SLOWLY turn from golden to brown. Your nose will tell you when it's close. (See tips in the post for more details.)
- When the onions have reduced way down and have turnd a nice deep golden brown, you can deglaze the pan with the cognac. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan at this point and remove from the heat to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 375F
- Put the mayo, sour cream, cheeses, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper into a bowl and blend. Fold in the cooled onions.
- Spread into a gratin dish, cast iron skillet, or other oven safe baking dish.
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until the dip is bubbling and golden on top. The baking time will vary depending on the size of your dish.
- Serve hot with thin slices of baquette that have been toasted. Reheat, if necessary, in a low oven, or reheat smaller portions briefly in the microwave.
Nutrition Information
Show DetailsNutrition Facts
Serving: 8servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 252 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Serving | 1serving | |
| Calories | 252kcal | 13% |
| Carbohydrates | 8g | 3% |
| Protein | 10g | 20% |
| Fat | 20g | 31% |
| Saturated Fat | 8g | 40% |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 4g | 24% |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 6g | 30% |
| Trans Fat | 0.1g | 5% |
| Cholesterol | 44mg | 15% |
| Sodium | 928mg | 39% |
| Potassium | 133mg | 3% |
| Fiber | 1g | 4% |
| Sugar | 4g | 8% |
| Vitamin A | 387IU | 8% |
| Vitamin C | 4mg | 4% |
| Calcium | 330mg | 33% |
| Iron | 0.3mg | 2% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
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