Skip to content
FriendsPantry

American

French onion dip

Non-vegetarian

Slowly caramelised onions folded into sour cream with a little mayonnaise, Worcestershire and chives. A homemade take on the American party dip.

French onion dip is an American dip from United States, ready in about 1 hour 55 minutes and made with onion and sour cream. It serves 10 and is rated easy to cook.

Start cooking

No licensed photograph of this dish yet.

Prep
10 min
Cook
45 min
Rest
1 h
Total
1 h 55 min
Serves
10
Level
Easy
Calories
146

Ingredients

10 servings (about 50 g)

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Halve the onions (opens in a new tab) and slice them thinly and evenly from root to tip.

    An onion being chopped on a board
    How it looks · Photo: Christina & Peter on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    Melt the butter (opens in a new tab) with the oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat, add the onions (opens in a new tab) and 2 g salt and stir to coat. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until wilted and soft.

  3. Step 3

    Lower the heat and keep cooking, stirring every few minutes and scraping up the browned film with a splash of water whenever it darkens, for 30–35 minutes more until the onions (opens in a new tab) are jammy and a deep mahogany brown.

  4. Step 4

    Cool the onions (opens in a new tab) completely, then chop them finely.

  5. Step 5

    Mix the sour cream (opens in a new tab), mayonnaise (opens in a new tab), Worcestershire, garlic powder (opens in a new tab), remaining salt and pepper (opens in a new tab). Fold in the onions (opens in a new tab) and most of the chives (opens in a new tab). Chill for at least 1 hour, then scatter with the remaining chives.

About this dish

Origin
California, United States · Well documentedThe 'California dip' of 1954 was dried onion soup mix stirred into sour cream, and was popularised by Lipton. Making it with real caramelised onions is a modern home-cook version, labelled as such here.Also popular in CanadaMore food from United States
Dish
Snack · Dips & spreads
Cooking method
Sautéed, No-cook
Taste
sweet & savoury, creamy, umami
Diet
Pescatarian · No nut ingredients · Keto-style · Low-carb
All labelsPescatarian · Non-vegetarian · Flexitarian-friendly · No nut ingredients · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · Keto-style · Low-carb
With the listed swaps: Egg-freeWorked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Make-ahead
Cook more with
Onion · Sour cream · Butter · Mayonnaise · Worcestershire sauce · Garlic powder
Techniques
Sautéing

Allergens

  • Contains: Milkfrom butter, sour cream
  • Contains, can be adapted: Eggsfrom mayonnaise
  • Contains: Fishfrom worcestershire sauce
  • Contains: Glutenfrom worcestershire sauce
  • May contain: Mustardfrom mayonnaise
  • May contain: Celeryfrom worcestershire sauce
  • May contain: Sulphitesfrom worcestershire sauce

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

146 kcal per serving

Calculated

1 serving ≈ 52 g · recipe makes 10

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 3%
  • Carbohydrate 16%
  • Fat 81%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g
Energy146 kcal281 kcal
Protein1.3 g2.6 g
Carbohydrate5.9 g11.3 g
Net carbohydrate5.1 g9.8 g
Sugars3 g5.8 g
Added sugars——
Fibre0.8 g1.6 g
Fat13.4 g25.7 g
Saturated fat4.9 g9.4 g
Trans fat0.3 g0.6 g
Cholesterol25 mg47 mg
Sodium224 mg432 mg
Salt equivalent0.6 g1.1 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
113 mg
Calcium
44 mg
Iron
0.2 mg
Magnesium
8 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
53 µg
Vitamin C
4 mg
Vitamin D
0 µg
Vitamin B12
0.1 µg
Folate (DFE)
11 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Caramelise a double batch of onions and freeze half; they also make onion soup and burgers.

Common mistakes

  • Rushing the onions on high heat; they burn at the edges before they turn sweet.
  • Folding warm onions into sour cream, which thins it.

Serve with

  • Ridged potato crisps and kettle chips.
  • Crudités, pretzels and jacket potatoes.

Food safety

  • Keep chilled; do not leave dairy dips out for more than 2 hours.

Storage

  • Refrigerate in a covered container for up to 4 days.

Variations

  • Original California dip (United States): One packet of dried onion soup mix stirred into 450 g sour cream.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Customise in Sauce & Drizzle

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Used in steps 1, 2, 4, 5

Make it milder, swap ingredients for your diet, change the batch size or thickness — the original stays as it is.

Customise in Sauce & Drizzle

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

You might also like