Oh, we already know that you make all your meals from scratch, or you wouldn’t be here at Scratchin’ It. But, what about condiments? You know, ketchup, mustard, or dips? Yes, you can make them too. They really are pretty easy, so you should try them at least once in your life. After all, that’s what being a scratcher is all about. Today, we’ll tackle a simple onion dip. After all, who doesn’t love sour cream and onion? We’re sorry about the lack of final photos; we just got excited by how well this was turning out.
This is a simplified version of a recipe we found at Bon Appétit. To make the one they list would have required us to go on a special trip to the store, which sort of defeats the purpose of making stuff at home. Plus, we don’t make you wade through popups asking for your e-mail or some such nonsense — we hate that. So, we went with what we had in the house, and you know what? We bet you can’t tell the difference in taste (although in all honestly, we’ll be trying the original recipe one day, even though our basic version turned out pretty darn tasty).
Onion Dip from Scratch
Ingredients
- 2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup minced onion
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- Kosher salt
- 16 ounces sour cream see note
- 1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tbs minced flat-leaved parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a small saucepan over low heat. Add onions, garlic, and thyme, sprinkle with salt and turn heat very low. Let onions caramelize and cook, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned, 45-75 minutes.
- Let onions cool completely. Stir together onions, sour cream, parsley (if using), and lemon juice.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Refrigerate overnight for best flavor.
Notes
Ingredient discussion:
Yes, you can get by with another type of oil for this recipe. It’s not there to add flavor, just to cook the onions and garlic. For the sour cream, if you don’t make it yourself, try to buy organic sour cream, as it’s just cultured cream. What more do you need? Fresh lemon juice is about a million times better than the stuff in a bottle, so choose wisely for your dip.
Procedure in detail:
Caramelize onions. Take no shortcuts here. If you don’t cook low and slow, your onions will not turn out as well as they could. In the worst case, you can burn the onions, which is a disaster. So, heat the oil in a small saucepan over low heat. Add minced onions, garlic, and thyme. Sprinkle everything with salt to start the onions on their way in terms of both flavoring and releasing liquid, and reduce the heat to very low. Very low. If your burner doesn’t go very low, you can try a couple of things. One, move the pan so it’s slightly offset on the burner and only gets a portion of the heat, or use a flame tamer. Don’t have a flame tamer? That’s fine; you can make one. We’ve placed a cast-iron pan between the burner and saucepan, and we’ve read that a wad of crumpled aluminum foil will work, too. Whatever you use, you want the onions to caramelize very slowly. Ideally, they should take about an hour to become a nice toasty brown.
Make dip. Once the onions are done, your dip is pretty much finished. Let the onions cool completely so they don’t melt the sour cream. Now, simply stir together onions, sour cream, parsley, and lemon juice.
Season. Taste the dip — ideally, use the same thing you’ll be dipping: potato chips, crackers, vegetables, whatever — and then season to taste with salt and pepper.
Meld. You might not think this is required, but we do. Cover your dip and refrigerate it for a few hours, preferably overnight, so the onion flavor can seep through the sour cream. Right before serving, stir and taste the dip again, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, if needed.
This stuff taste just like those commercial sour cream and onion dips. Wait, it tastes better than those commercial dips, because it’s made from wholesome, tasty ingredients, and, most importantly, you took the time to do it right. No shortcuts. And, as we’ve found over the years, there’s no substitute for doing it right. Five stars.
