When entertaining over the holidays it is a good idea to have some tasty appetizers on hand. Although the holiday cookies are always welcome it is also nice to have something savoury and it is hard to go wrong with a melted cheesy dip! A while ago I made a hot sweet onion dip that was so good! The sweet onion went surprisingly well with the melted cheese! While I was enjoying the hot sweet onion dip I thought, why not caramelize the onions first? I had to try the caramelized onion version of the dip so I filed the idea away for later and now was the time to finally try it. Properly caramelizing onions can take a bit of patience as it takes several hours to slowly cook them down until they have turned a nice golden brown colour but the final result is so worth the effort. After cooking for all of that time the onions that started out pretty pungent mellow out and in fact become quite sweet. These sweet caramelized onions worked amazingly well in the savoury, creamy dip covered in melted cheesy goodness! I enjoyed the hot caramelized onion dip on a sliced fresh whole grain baguette but chips or even vegetables would also make for some great dipping pleasure.
Hot Caramelized Onion Dip
Sweet caramelized onions in a hot cheese dip!
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 4 large sweet onions, sliced
- 1/2 cup water
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan cheese), grated
- pepper to taste
directions
- Heat the oil in a pan over medium-low heat, add the onions and water and cook until completely tender and caramelized and golden, about 40-50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so, adding more water as needed.
- Mix everything and place it in a baking dish.
- Bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until the sides are bubbling and the top is nice and golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.
Hot Sweet Onion Dip
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Hot Cheesy Spinach and Crab Dip
Reuben Dip
Onion Chutney
Artichoke Bread
French Onion Soup
Chipotle Caramelized Onions
Apple French Onion Soup
Roasted Cauliflower and Aged White Cheddar Dip
French Onion Soup Dip
Slow Cooker Chipotle Maple Onion Jam
Slow Cooker French Onion Soup
Well this just ended my appetizer dilemma. Thanks!
Oh my this sounds soooo good! I'm totally going to bookmark it and use it the next time I need an appetizer! Merry Christmas Kevin!!! Thank you for all you share with the rest of us!
hmmmm….I needed one more appetizer for my family Christmas get-together AND I have all the ingredients on hand! I am sure this will be a winner!
A fabulous recipe! That dish looks really tasty!
Happy Holidays and all the best for the New Year!
Cheers,
Rosa
Nice. I love onions dips. These are perfect appetizers indeed.
Merry Christmas! Cami
I'm pretty sure you can never go wrong with caramelized onions. This looks delicious. A total crowd pleaser!
This looks like the perfect thing to take to the in-laws tomorrow!
Caramelized onion goes great with just about everything…especially cheese!
This looks like the perfect thing to take to the in-laws tomorrow!
This looks a delicious appetizer for a winter party! Thanks for sharing!
this and that rueben dip is a meal for me. with a large glass of Coke. Yeah!
Ooh, this sounds delicious! And the picture is mouth watering!
Happy Holidays & Happy New Year! 🙂
Om, nom, nom….that's all I have to say 🙂
Someone once told me that all you have to do is change one little detail about a recipe to make it yours- job well done.
Hello! This recipe looks amazing, however I don't like the taste of mayonnaise. What would you recommend as a substitute?
This looks so good! I think I'm going to try it for the New Year's festivities:)
Its looks amazing. will soon try it..
Dear Kevin – Happy Holidays & Happy New year to you and your loved ones.
I had this at a pot luck recently. It was amazing! Yours looks great.
Nina: Sour cream or yogurt would probably work nicely as a substitute for the mayo.
Hubba hubba, this sounds incredible Kevin!
I wish my husband would eat onions then I'd make this dip right now! It looks so great and comforting.
this recipe was perfect for the holidays….i made it for an event christmas eve. my family loved it so much I was forced to make it for christmas day and a family party today. thanks!
That would be a great dip for a super bowl party!!
I wish I had some right now, it looks so good!
Oh Kevin – your hot dips are the best! Thie is another winner – drool!
It's a very close race between onion and spinach dips for me, but this caramelized idea just might win it for onion. Yummy.
This looks awesome! I want to try it very soon. One suggestion…there is no way it should take 1-3 hours to caramelize onions. It takes me 25-35 minutes tops. Try this method http://makinglifedelicious.com/2010/09/01/caramelized-onions-demystified/#more-1147.
Ohh that's what I'm going to make tonight! Looks and sounds so great. Are there any suggestion for the main dish after this appetizer?
This is the second recipe I've tried from your site and it is so delicious I could eat it with a spoon.
I didn't have all the ingredients, but I muddled along anyways with my fingers crossed that my dip would turn out as tasty as the one you pictured.
Here's the changes I made, regular white onions with a sprinkling of sugar to aid in carmelizing and hopefully mimic the flavor of sweet onions. I sliced them on a mandoline and next time I'll use a thicker slice because it was hard to carmelize the paper thin, transluscent strands of onion. Also, I didn't have any parmesan (no asiago or romano either) I used white cheddar and replaced half the mayo with sour cream (I have mayo issues, I think it's the yellowing around the edges and it's generally greasy appearance). Anyways, even with these subs, the dip is sooo tasty, not nearly as pretty as yours though. Thanks again, Kevin! Jennifer
Maybe the onions can be pre-cooked/caramelized in a slow cooker first?
Made this tonight, it was amazing!! Thanks so much …
1-3 HOURS for the onions?
This is an excellent recipe. I made it to bring to a party today, and everyone agreed that it was delicious. Someone commented that she doesn't even like onions and she loved this. I pretty much followed the recipe as written, with the only changes being that I skipped the water in the onions and instead covered the dutch oven with a lid for the first 15 or 20 minutes to let the natural moisture of the onions soften them. I then cooked them very slowly for about 2 1/2 hrs., stirring every 10 minutes at first and then every 7 or so as they got stickier. They were beautifully caramelized and sweet. Thanks so much for posting this, Kevin! It's a keeper.
Anonymous: Glad you enjoyed it! I use the water with the onions as it allows you to cook them at a higher temperature and they only take about 50 minutes rather than the 2-3 hours. You can also use wine or beer instead of water if you want to add flavour.
Glad I read the comments, I was wondering why you added water. I will try this technique with other recipes. Thanks!
I am so looking forward to making this for the Super Bowl tomorrow! That said, I have two questions. First I can't really tell for certain (looking at the font) if you are calling for four or fourteen ounces of cream cheese. I am assuming four, but wanted to check. Second, since you mentioned using beer in the comments for extra flavor, do you think a stout would do nicely? I love stout with onions, but not sure if you have any opinions on the issue considering the other ingredients. Thank you for posting this!
ljelgass: That is 4 ounces of cream cheese and a stout would certainly be good! Enjoy!
Thank you Kevin for sharing your wonderful recipes. I can't wait to try this dip.