Onion Dips

One envelope of onion soup mix, three completely different dips. This recipe gives you a spinach version, a cheddar-pimento version with hot sauce, and an Indian-inspired curry version with yogurt and chopped peanuts. All three start the same way: blend the soup mix into sour cream, fold in the extras, and chill for two hours.

That two-hour rest is doing real work. The dry soup mix needs time to rehydrate in the sour cream, and during that process the dehydrated onion pieces soften and release their flavor throughout the dip. Serve it fresh-mixed and it tastes gritty and one-dimensional.

The Indian variation is the standout of the three. Swapping half the sour cream for plain yogurt gives it a tangier base, and the curry powder with chopped peanuts takes it somewhere completely different from the usual chip dip territory.

Kitchen Tips

• Squeeze every drop of water from the frozen spinach for the spinach version. Wrap it in a clean kitchen towel and wring hard. Wet spinach turns the dip thin and watery.
• Shred the cheddar yourself rather than using pre-shredded. The anti-caking powder on bagged cheese prevents it from blending smoothly.
• Start with ½ teaspoon curry powder and taste after chilling. Curry intensifies as it sits, and you can always add more but can’t take it back.
• All three versions keep well in the fridge for up to three days, covered tightly.

Variations

• Turn the cheddar version into a warm dip by microwaving until the cheese melts, then serve with crusty bread.
• Add a tablespoon of mango chutney to the Indian version for a sweet-savory twist.
• Mix crumbled cooked bacon into the spinach version for a loaded spinach-bacon onion dip.