When I was a kid, our culinary adventures were not particularly, well, adventurous. We ate a lot of pot roasts and broccoli cheese soup and spaghetti. Don’t get me wrong–it was good, and seriously, now that I’m a mom, I have nothing but crazy admiration for the fact that my mom had tasty, well-balanced meals on the table every night and still managed to juggle her 5 kids’ (the oldest of whom was 16 years older than the youngest) extracurricular and social activities without causing us (or herself) physical or emotional harm. That said, I remember the first time I had an artichoke with lemon butter so clearly I can still taste it. It was so out of the norm for me, so totally off my radar and so incredibly delicious. Same thing with French onion soup. It was, I guess, one of those foods that made me fall in love with food.
So, you know, I totally don’t have a recipe for French onion soup. I think that subconsciously, it’s special occasion food, and I’m afraid if I make it myself, it won’t be special anymore. Or something. I totally took Psychology 101 my first semester of college, so I’m qualified to make these kinds of assessments about myself.
That said, I do love to make dips. And I love melty cheese. And caramelized onions. And it’s a rainy, blustery day outside, perfect for comfort food. So even if I haven’t ventured down the dark path of making French onion soup, a dip inspired by it is a totally different beast, right?
You’re going to need a batch of these caramelized onions (with a few cloves of garlic thrown in for good measure), 2 8-ounce packages of softened cream cheese, 1 cup of sour cream (or mayonnaise, if you prefer, or half sour cream and half mayo), freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and freshly grated Gruyere (or Swiss, if Gruyere isn’t happening. Keep in mind that Gruyere is milder and usually melts more smoothly).
Preheat oven to 425.
Place the cream cheese, sour cream, Parmesan, Gruyere, and caramelized onions in a pie plate or an 8×8″ pan.
Gently stir to combine.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden on top and hot in the middle. Serve immediately with sliced baguette, pieces of sourdough bread, tortilla chips, or potato chips.
Hot & Cheesy French Onion Dip
Recipe by Our Best Bites
Ingredients:
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup sour cream (or mayonnaise, or half sour cream and half mayonnaise)
2 medium-large sweet onions
6-8 cloves garlic
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
heaping 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
heaping 1/2 cup grated Gruyere or mild swiss cheese
Instructions:
Caramelize the onions according to these directions. In the last 5 minutes or so, add the garlic, stirring frequently to prevent the garlic from scorching.
Preheat oven to 425.
In a pie plate or an 8×8″ pan, combine the cream cheese, Parmesan, Gruyere, and the caramelized onions. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden on top and hot in the middle. Serve immediately with sliced baguette, pieces of sourdough bread, tortilla chips, or potato chips.
Questions & Reviews
Made this over the weekend. I found the onion browning part to be a bit labor intensive, mostly in that it took so long, not that it was difficult to stir some onions! LOL! But the resulting dip was DELISH!! I browned the onions and then assembled the rest of the ingredients in the crockpot to melt together and stay warm during our Thanksgiving all day eat fest. It did get quite thick by the end of the day so I stirred in some milk to loosen it back up and that worked nicely. Thanks for another great one!
Ok, made this last night for an appetizer for my husband’s special birthday dinner and my daughter who I had flown in from NYC as a surprise. And he was as I told him we had to pick up a friend at the airport. Great surprise.
Anyway, we all thought it was, as my daughter said,”scarey good”. And yet there is more….!!!
This morning I realized to my horror that I had left out the basic ingredient- the sour cream. And I knew there was something missing but wasn’t sure what. And I had made a special trip to the store the day before because I had forgotten to buy it. Weird.
Today I took it it out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature and added the sour cream. Tomorrow will reheat and love it all over again but it will be “way scary good” and better.
Of course the sour cream put it over the edge. I wonder though if we could use less cream cheese. It is devilishly delicious, though very rich. I might next time I make it.
Can this be done in a crockpot?
I haven’t ventured over to y’alls blog in a while, and per usual, you do not disappoint! This looks amazing and perfect for those events where I need to bring an appetizer to impress! This blog literally supplies my family with all of our weekly faves. Keep ’em coming!
I normally just make the onion dip with the soup packet, cream cheese and sour cream. Time to step it up to a real grown up snack! I’m hosting my family this year in our home for Thanksgiving, this will be SO good! Thank you!
I’m like you and it sounds like my mom cooked like your mom – from scratch, healthy food for 5 kids, but nothing adventurous or fancy. I didn’t have French onion soup until after I got married and I fell in love with it. I do have a recipe for it that I make about once every winter. It is still special. =) I am looking forward to trying this delicious sounding dip!
You don’t get French Onion dip in the UK but I used to LOVE it back home in Ohio. I’m totally going to have to try this!
☾ Lassies Who Lunch ☽
You don’t mention if the garlic is chopped up or left whole. I am guessing chopped…..but unsure. Can not wait to make.
Thanks.
Now I’m drooling…and I thought my shirt only had kid drool on it.
Reminds me of one of my favorite dips I make. Love!
French onion dip with caramelized onions–total genius! Now, as for the actual French onion soup, I have the best (truly) recipe posted–it’s an ATK Cook’s Illustrated recipe, and you know that you can’t go wrong with an America’s Test Kitchen recipe. My husband and I make it for very special dinners–trust me, it’s special every time.
http://www.fransfavs.com/2012/09/the-best-french-onion-soup/
Thank you!! Can’t wait to try it out!
ATK also has an amazing crock pot French onion soup recipe. Amazing. Let me know if you can’t find it and ill find it for you. It’s that good.
Oh, Carly, it could be so much creepier. 🙂
Looks amazing!!!
And I so remember my first tastes of artichoke with lemon butter too. I was just a kid. Probably 6. But it was a special occasion food my mom would make. The other nights it was roasts or ham or the like, of course served with a potato and a canned vegetable. No pasta, since my dad didn’t think it was a meal without a meat and potato! 🙂
OH MY GOODNESS!! We are SOOOOOOOOO going to be making this!! 😀
Oh my word! This looks amazing!! All my favourite things in one dip! Definitely need to try this (maybe at Christmas time, when I don’t care as much about calories haha, since I’ll probably end up eating the whole bowlful!!). Pinning and sharing!
Oh my goodness, we love that terrible for you French Onion chip dip in the refrigerator section at the store. This is going to be even better than that. I love you. (Is it too creepy that I love your for dip recipes?)