Caramelized Onion Dip

Firstly - I would like to meet the person that can finely diced 5# onion in 5 minutes - it took me much longer. This makes a TON of dip - half for 6 people is enough. It is definitely sweet - not savory so next time I will try another suggestion of the Worcheshire and Soy addition - I do prefer savory but the kids all liked the sweetness so to each their own I suppose.

How far ahead can this be made in advance?

Here is another technique you might try, that will produce onions with lots of flavor and
not much sweetness. My wife loves roasted veggies. This past weekend we did roasted
veggies and I cut 1 onion into "1/16's. Separated it into pieces and roasted them on a
cookie sheet, with parchment paper, at 400 degrees. They have a very different taste with lots of "onioniness," and not much sweetness! You have to watch them really carefully, they get brown/black quite quickly! (Lots of great onion flavor though.) I'm thinking of experimenting with using "some" onions from each technique?

& if you are into experimenting, just a thought, maybe you might try one or all three of
these for your onion dip?

INDONESIAN FRIED SHALLOTS CRISP / BAWANG GORENG (UPDATED)
https://whattocooktoday.com/how-to-make-fried-shallots-crisp.html

PAN-FRIED COD FISH WITH CRISPY GINGER
https://whattocooktoday.com/pan-fried-cod-fish-crispy-ginger.html

5 Tips for How to Make Crispy Fried Garlic Topping
http://www.thai-foodie.com/thaifood/5-tips-for-how-to-make-crispy-fried-garlic-topping/

(the shallots, ginger or garlic in the dip, that is as a granish or main ingredient???)
Chris

Sounds like a winner but I was so disappointed. I guess I thought this would be a savory dip, maybe a high end version of the super market kinds. Well, it was just too sweet, my mistake because it is carmelized onions. So it’s not a savory dip, but a weirdly sweet oddly unexpected dip. At least the store bought chips were ok.

I counteracted the sweetness by adding about 2 to 3 tsp of soy sauce and about 1 to 2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce to the caramelized onions and then letting them cook an additional 5 minutes. The saltiness and umami balanced the sweetness well.

SAVED! If yours ends up too sweet, here's how to save it.

Put back in blender. Add and blend:
a garlic clove, crushed
all the green onions that you already folded in (oops)
additional lemon juice, salt and pepper

Warning: if you use yellow onions as I just did, this dip will be really, really sweet. I should've used Spanish Onions as the author indicated.

Wow I wish I had read the Food 52 Review comments. Yes it makes enough for 16-20 and you really have to keep cooking down the onions to get the liquid off. I have just made onion dip soup and I only used half the cooked onions :-( Please please update the recipe itself to reflect the quantity and that you need to cook the onions down more, "golden brown" is too early, should be a darker brown.

I made this for a New Year's Eve cocktail party and was terribly disappointed. The dip was cloyingly sweet, otherwise not very tasty, and the consistency was thick, not creamy. I doctored it a bit by adding in more chives, some sour cream, salt & pepper to half of the dip. The rest I tossed. Echo everyone's comments that the original recipe makes enough for a huge crowd.

I made this dip for the first time today. It will more than suffice for two evenings' no she's with cocktails.

It's criminally delicious!!!

I used 5 lbs of onions and began caramelizing them by keeping them in one covered pot on a very low flame til they were utterly limp. I removed the cover and raised the flame to cook off the liquid the onions released. As they began to take on color, I raised the heat til the onions turned mahogany. All in all, the process took probably over a hour, but you'll get no complaints out of me!!!!!!

This was nice, if not outstanding. I halved the recipe and still had A LOT of it so watch out.

I am an onion dip addict from birth, so I was intrigued by the recipe creator's comment that I would never buy onion dip again. I loved making this dip—loved how the onions cooked down into a pudding-like substance, just like she said. And I found no problems with the measurements at all, though it did make an insane amount of dip. But it's not accurate to compare this to other pre-made dips because this is sweet and those are savory. My eyes see onion dip, but my mouth tastes sweetness and it doesn't work for me, no matter how many chipfuls I eat. Glad I tried it, though. It's got me thinking about ways to work caramelized onions into other presentations.

Great recipe! It makes a ton of dip though. I don't think that seven of us are going to get through all of this.

This recipe was great! It was an absolute hit, and so easy to make! A great app for football parties, pic nics, etc. Thank you for sharing.

Loved this recipe. I used the full five pounds of onions, and was glad I did. Since I had a lot of time to cook them but didn't want to be bothered to chop, I just sliced them thickly and caramelized them for about two hours. I blended about 2/3 of the onions with the other ingredients, and then stirred in the other third for a textural contrast.

I made this for the Super Bowl. The crowd went ((((wild))))! They loved it! I tinkered with it a bit, after reading the comments. I cut the onions. I added pink Himalayan salt and Red Rooster hot sauce. I blended it -- just enough to remove major lumps. Oh! I used a Meyers lemon. This dip was fabulous!

Will have to whip some up quick today before the Super Bowl...thank you for posting the recipes!

I made this for the cookbook party, total hit. By request I'll be making it again for an open house next weekend. I also did not use all of the onions 3-4 lbs. would be enough. Loved the lemon in there.

I loved it! I used two large onions and about two cloves of garlic. Very delish. Having it tomorrow for pre party for the Trueblood premiere! Thanks!

One tip that has worked well for me to caramelize onions faster is to place a piece of parchment paper directly on top of onions as they cook. Read this in the newer Gourmet cookbook by Ruth Reichl. Not sure why it works but it's something I will always do now when caramelizing onions.

Just made this for company and it's delish! I was planning on making the full amount but then used only as many onions as would fit in my largest pan, which I think was about three pounds. At that point I decided not to even measure the cream cheese (I used a whole 200 gram container) and sour cream, just added and tasted until it tasted right. It is definitely addictive! Next time I will take dymnyno's suggestion and not blend it, I like the pieces of onion too. Although I can't say I will make this often (nearly two hours for a dip is a little longer than I can usually spare for something that will be gobbled up so quickly) I will definitely make it again!

While this dip was given a positive response, I have to agree that the ratio of onions used could be tweaked. Were I to make this again, I would use half the onions originally called for: the dip was, IMO, far too sweet from all the onions using 5#, and they made the dip too thick.

While I realize that water content of onions can vary greatly, and the degree to which cooks utilizing this recipe fully extract this water in the caramelization process may likewise vary, I am reminded of a wonderful onion tart recipe I've used for years that calls for 3# of onions and an hour to cook them down (rather like risotto, adding liquid -- white wine -- just as the liquid is cooked off from the onions). The result of 3# of onions being more than enough for a tart should have given me pause, but I was multi-tasking and just went with it.

Another problem with 5# of onions is that it's simply too much for one large pot. The diced onions made a layer that was 5-6" deep initially, so the time for proper caramelization was actually closer to 2 hours. If you're caramelizing that many onions, you'd need two pots to more effectively caramelize the onions (or you would need to do them in batches).

A good idea, with caveats. Not sure this was worth my time, but it was fun to try out!

I originally halved the recipe, but it was too sweet, so I used the full amount of cream cheese and added a little salt and grated garlic as suggested. That balanced the sweetness perfectly. I also used a blender as my food processor is broken, but that was a mistake. It is way too perfectly smooth. It would have been better if I didn't process it at all and just mixed it. Still, my husband is eating it up.

Delicious! I bit sweeter than I expected, but the salt tip worked well. I love my wife's food processor...!

Just made this dip -- so delicious!! Thanks Adriene!

I used a lot less onions too. When they had cooked down and were really soft, I added them to the other ingredients, but I did not use a blender. That way the dip had lots of little pieces of onion throughout and intensified the flavor.of each bite a little more. You could just caramelize another cup of onions and add that to the dip.

Like Chez Nana, I used three pounds of onions with all the other ingredients the same as the recipe. They cooked down nicely and resulted in a great texture.
Any ideas for additional ingredients to add? I like it, but it seems as though it could have more depth of flavor.

I made this recipe the other evening and used 3 pounds onions ~ it worked perfectly for me! And it is wonderful!!

I am making this as I write. I am looking at my beautiful caramelized onions and thinking is this quantity correct? Plus the photo shows the dip looking very white, so adding this many onions, I don't think will yield the same coloring. I'm going to go for it and get back with the results!!! May the force be with me.

I have a recipe for French Onion Dip that is almost identical to yours. So I thought I would compare the few little differences. Are you sure that you use 5 pounds of onions? An average onion is about that 6 to 8 ounces so 5 pounds of onions is more than 10 cups of chopped onions(that is conservative) and they don't cook down all THAT much. Plus with 2 cups of sour cream and a cup of cream cheese, that is more than 10 people could eat. Are you sure your ingredient amounts are correct?

I made this dip for a potluck dinner party last night and it got rave reviews. I also added garlic since I do love garlic in most anything!! I will be making THIS onion dip often. Thank you!!

I did the onions last night and used 5 lbs. but it seems like too many onions? Am I missing something?

I cannot wait to make this- it looks delicious! Congratulations!

I've made Ina Garten's Caramelized Onion Dip for years and it is always a huge favorite. This is nearly identical, so should be outstanding!

While the onions were roasting and caramelizing, I tossed a few whole cloves of garlic into the mix. Their roasted sweetness was wonderful with that of the onions. And since potato chips are my gateway drug, it was just perfect to take it all off to an afternoon get-together.... somewhere else. We all loved it! Congratulations and thank you!

I've been making a carmelized onion dip out of one of the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks for the past few years. This recipe looks easier and I suspect is just as good (if not better). Yum! Can't wait to try it!

This just looks too good for words. It solves the problem of what to make to take to Maggie's this afternoon. Best of all, I don't even need to go to the store first!

This dip is amazing! I made it for a party, and everyone went nutballs over it. The onions are a bit of job to prep, but the end result was definitely worth it!!

Tried this recipe and it is wonderful. Will make it again and again. Congrats.

Thank you everyone! I am very excited about being a finalist :)

Five pounds of onions, amazing!!! Congrats on the finalist spot.

I think you should sell this stuff! It sounds like perfect Super Bowl party fare....Congratulations!

Congrats on being a finalist! This sounds dangerously good.

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Yum! Congrats on being a finalist.

Now this is an onion dip that I would like. Congrats on being a finalist. Love that a fellow Chicagoian got a mention.

Sounds delicious!! congratulations!!

Congrats! This looks yummy!