The moment I hear a Lipton onion dip packet being ripped open, my response is Pavlovian. Even just writing about it, I can anticipate the result of savory dried seasonings hitting cold sour cream and feel my salivary glands working overtime. Such is my love for French onion dip, and all of its variations.
As a new convert to cottage cheese (well, really just Good Culture, but I’m trying!) and a general enthusiast of fun food trends, I was curious to see how the It girl of protein would fare in one of my beloved chip dips. I borrowed the hands-off technique employed by Andy Baraghani in his hit Slow-Roasted Onion Dip, roasting the sliced onions with a bit of water to help them steam into tenderness before browning. Let them cool (at least 15 minutes to prevent the dairy from curdling when combined) while you get the cottage cheese mixture going, then reach for a sturdy rubber spatula to scrape down the cottage cheese, crème fraîche (sour cream can sub in a pinch, but try it with the crème fraîche first), olive oil, water, and lemon juice as it all comes together in a blender (preferably high-speed). The whipped mixture should be almost airy with a hummus-like consistency.
The cottage cheese mixture joins the cooled-down onions and garlic (a.k.a. the secret sauce) in a big ol’ bowl before getting mixed together. Top the final dip with plenty of cracked black pepper for something that’s equal parts nostalgic, tangy, rich, and bright. Pair it with your favorite ridged potato chips (Ruffles, full stop) and give that dried packet mix a well-deserved day off.
Recipe information
Total Time
1 hour 30 minutes
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 400°. Place 1 head of garlic, ¼" cut off top to expose cloves, cut side up, in a corner of a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet; drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil.
Step 2
Place 1½ lb. mixed onions (such as sweet, yellow, and/or red), halved, thinly sliced, on baking sheet. Drizzle ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil and 2 Tbsp. water over and toss until evenly coated. Season with kosher salt and toss again to combine. Mound onions in center of baking sheet (not spreading them out will allow them to steam and soften without browning too quickly). Roast, tossing and stirring onions every 20 minutes, until golden brown and softened, 40–50 minutes (some onions will brown more than others, which is okay). Let cool on baking sheet at least 15 minutes.
Step 3
Transfer onions and garlic to a cutting board and squeeze cloves out of their skins. Using a flat side of a chef’s knife, smash garlic to a paste and transfer to a medium bowl. Finely chop onions and transfer to bowl with garlic. Finely grate zest from 1 lemon over onions and garlic.
Step 4
Cut lemon in half and squeeze juice from 1 half into a blender; cover and chill remaining lemon half for another use. Add 1½ cups whole-milk cottage cheese (about 12 oz.), 2 Tbsp. crème fraîche, remaining 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, and 2 Tbsp. water to blender. Cover and blend, stopping motor and scraping down sides of jar if needed, until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, scrape cottage cheese mixture into bowl with reserved onion mixture. Add ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt and ¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper and mix well.
Step 5
Transfer dip to a small bowl and sprinkle with cracked pepper. Serve with potato chips for dipping.
