Creamy, incredibly delicious French onion dip! It’s way tastier than anything store-bought, and I always get rave reviews. Trust me, it’s the only onion dip recipe you’ll ever need.
Skip the prepackaged French onion soup mix and make this homemade caramelized onion dip instead. I promise our recipe tastes much better than anything you can buy at the store.
This sour cream and onion dip gets better over time, so save this recipe for when you need to prepare an appetizer ahead of time. I also love this black bean onion dip.
Key Ingredients
- Onion: I use a sweet onion when making this dip. Look for Vidalia or Walla Walla onions. Yellow onions will work in the recipe but are less sweet.
- Butter: We cook the onion with melted butter in the oven so it browns and becomes soft. I use salted butter, but unsalted is fine, you might need more salt at the end.
- Sour cream: The base of our dip! Use a high-quality, full-fat sour cream for the best flavor. Some readers have asked about substituting yogurt. While I do prefer the flavor of this onion dip with sour cream, plain, thick Greek or Icelandic style yogurt work.
How to Make Onion Dip
I caramelize my onions in the oven, it keeps things easy and hassle-free. You can caramelize the onions on the stove, like when making French onion soup. If you’d prefer to use the stovetop, we’ve included how to caramelize onions in the recipe below. I use the oven because it requires less hands-on time.
To roast the onions, mix them with melted butter and then bake until they smell sweet and softened. Roasting takes 50 to 60 minutes, but most of this time is hands-off. You’ll want to stir them every 10 to 15 minutes to ensure they roast evenly.
When your onions finish roasting, stir them into sour cream and season with salt and pepper. We don’t add mayonnaise or other ingredients. Honestly, the dip doesn’t need it. Trust me. This dip is perfect the way it is.
I prefer making onion dip a day before I plan to serve it. It gets so much better after a night in the fridge, and all the caramelized onion flavor leaks out into the sour cream.
How to Serve French Onion Dip
I love serving homemade onion dip with potato chips (I especially love kettle chips), but tortilla chips, pita chips, flatbread, and pretzels are all excellent. It’s also delicious with raw vegetables like carrots, celery, cucumbers, and bell peppers. You can even serve it next to some roasted vegetables. These crispy potatoes and roasted broccoli are our family’s favorites.
The Best Onion Dip
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- COOK
- TOTAL
Skip the prepackaged French onion soup mix and make this easy homemade onion dip instead. It’s easy to make, only requires five simple ingredients (two of which are salt and pepper), and tastes much better than anything you can buy at the store. This dip gets better over time, making this the perfect make-ahead appetizer!
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 medium-to-large sweet onion like Walla Walla or Vidalia, chopped small (2 ½ cups)
3 tablespoons salted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 pint (16oz or 2 cups) sour cream
Directions
1Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper or use a large baking dish.
2Toss the chopped onions with the melted butter and spread them into a thin layer on the baking sheet.
3Roast, stirring every 10 minutes, until the onions are soft, smell sweet, and turn a light golden color, 50 to 60 minutes. Keep a closer eye towards the end of the cooking time to ensure the onions do not overbrown.
4Transfer the onions while they are still hot to a mixing bowl and scrape all the butter left in the pan into the bowl with the onions.
5Stir in the salt, pepper, and sour cream.
6Cover and refrigerate overnight, and then serve. The dip will last up to 4 days in the fridge. Stir well before serving.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: You can store onion dip in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. In fact, it tastes better the longer it sits since the sour cream has more opportunity to absorb the flavor of the roasted onions. When you are ready to serve the dip, give it a good stir. You might notice some liquid pooled at the top from the onions. That liquid tastes amazing, so we want to stir it back into the dip.
- Freezing: Unfortunately, we do not recommend freezing sour cream and onion dip. Sour cream does not freeze and thaw well. While it’s okay to eat thawed frozen sour cream, the texture changes, making it less than ideal for a dip.
- Caramelize onions on the stove instead of in the oven: Slice the onions into thin half-moons. Melt the butter in a wide pot over medium heat, add the onions, cover with a lid, and cook, over medium heat, until the onions look translucent, 12 to 15 minutes. Uncover the pot, and continue to cook the onions, stirring occasionally and scraping up any stuck browned bits from the bottom and sides. The onions take 45 to 60 minutes to caramelize. Keep a close eye on them. When you notice they begin to brown, stir them more often to keep them from burning. When they are golden and smell caramelized, mix into the sour cream mixture. Watch us caramelize onions in our French onion soup video.
- Vegan alternatives: Swap the sour cream for vegan sour cream or use cashew cream. Use a plant-based butter when cooking the onions.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
I’ve made this 2 times, The 1st time, I gave a portion to my friend who is a French onion dip aficionado, and she’s now hounding me to keep making it. Says it’s the best she’s ever had. I have to agree!
I “test drove” this recipe for Super Bowl and made a half batch. It was AMAZING, seriously AMAZING! I accidentally used a whole onion but then I later read a comment where you said it’s ok to adjust the amount of onions used. It is mind blowing how those simple 5 ingredients came together. I had to stop myself from adding more ingredients (ie garlic) and I’m so glad I did – your recipe is golden as written! Needless to say, this WILL be appearing at our Super Bowl party and I will be 3x ‘ing the recipe!!! Now I can’t wait to try making the roasted whole onion recipe on your site! Many thanks!
This dip was easy, but my family and I found it to be too sweet. When I make it again I will use yellow onion instead of sweet onion.
Thanks for the feedback! It’s great that you’re already planning to tweak the sweetness level to suit your preferences.
Oh my word, how good is this dip?! I admit, I was sceptical when I saw how simple the recipe was, but I had some sweet onions that needed to be utilised, so I thought I’d give it a go. I am so glad I did. I used to be a fan of the packet mix, but there is no going back now. This recipe is too easy and too good. I can’t wait to bring it to our next shared morning tea at work. Thanks for the excellent recipe.
I have made this dip twice now. Both times have turned out excellent and everyone loves it! It’s been added to my recipe box of favorites!!
This French Onion dip is amazing! My husband loves onions and this by far has been his favorite onion dip. I can’t get over at how simple it was to make and with little ingredients. Thank you for the recipe we will never ever go back to packaged French onion dips.
My only regret is that I didn’t double this recipe! I made it for card club and everyone LOVED it! There was only about a quarter cup leftover for me to bring home. I liked it best the first day but the second day it was also amazing. My house smelled yummy from the baked buttered onions!!!
We love the smell of the baked buttered onions. Almost as good as the dip 🙂 So glad you loved it!
Wow!!!! This was amazing. I made it on a Wednesday evening and my party was Friday evening. The flavors married to perfection. Follow the recipe exactly as stated. As simple as it sounds the flavors are big. Everyone wanted the recipe. I loved it immensely. No more packets for me. Thanks so much for sharing this fabulous recipe.
That’s amazing! So happy to hear you and your guests loved it. Thanks for letting us know how well it went!
I’m excited to make this. Would it still be same amount of onion if I double the sour cream? Also would adding chives be good or overpowering?
I’d double the entire recipe. Chives are lovely. I don’t think they would be overpowering at all.
Would this recipe work in the air fryer? It’s very hot here and hate to turn on my oven. I’m excited to try this recipe. Thanks a bunch, Lynda
Hello Lynda! Absolutely, you can roast the onions in an air fryer. Generally, they should take around 10 to 12 minutes at a temperature of 350F. Remember to check on them halfway through cooking and consider giving them a stir to ensure even cooking.
Wow, so nice to finally see a great recipe that uses fresh Walla Walla Sweet onions. Can’t wait till summer when I can pick the new crop of them in my garden. But for now, I had to buy some onions at the store. Such a great recipe. Thanks so much.
Hello Harper! We can’t wait for summer when Walla Walla onions are back in season! We’re delighted to hear that you know about them too because they truly are the best!