America's Test Kitchen LogoCook's Country LogoCook's Illustrated LogoAmerica's Test Kitchen LogoCook's Country LogoCook's Illustrated Logo

Roasted Onion and Bacon Dip

By America's Test Kitchen

Published on August 22, 2007

Time

1 hour

Yield

Serves 12 (Makes 3 cups)

Roasted Onion and Bacon Dip

Ingredients

Roasted Onions

6 medium yellow onions halved crosswise, root and stem ends X'd twice (see illustration below)1 tablespoon olive oil

Dip

6 - 8 slices bacon, cooked crisp and drained, crumbled2 cups sour cream 2 ¼ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard ½ teaspoon celery seed 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives ½ teaspoon table salt

Before You Begin

With its fresh ingredients, this dip tastes like an uptown version of the old standby made with powdered onion soup mix. Serve with chips or crudités.

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet or jelly roll pan with aluminum foil; rub foil with oil. Place onions cut side down on baking sheet. Roast until dark brown around bottom edge and tender when pierced with thin skewer or knife tip, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to rack; let onions rest for 5 minutes before lifting off pan with metal spatula. Let onions cool then peel and chop fine.
  2. Mix all ingredients (including onions) in medium bowl. Serve immediately or chill.
Roasted Onion and Bacon Dip

Roasted Onion and Bacon Dip

Headshot of America's Test Kitchen
By America's Test Kitchen
Save

Time

1 hour

Yield

Serves 12 (Makes 3 cups)

Ingredients

Roasted Onions

6 medium yellow onions halved crosswise, root and stem ends X'd twice (see illustration below)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Dip

6 - 8 slices bacon, cooked crisp and drained, crumbled
2 cups sour cream
2 ¼ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon celery seed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
½ teaspoon table salt

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

Roasted Onions

6 medium yellow onions halved crosswise, root and stem ends X'd twice (see illustration below)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Dip

6 - 8 slices bacon, cooked crisp and drained, crumbled
2 cups sour cream
2 ¼ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon celery seed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
½ teaspoon table salt

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

Roasted Onions

6 medium yellow onions halved crosswise, root and stem ends X'd twice (see illustration below)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Dip

6 - 8 slices bacon, cooked crisp and drained, crumbled
2 cups sour cream
2 ¼ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon celery seed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
½ teaspoon table salt

Test Kitchen Techniques

Why This Recipe Works

A good roasted onion and bacon dip recipe starts with a good technique for roasting the onions. We developed a roasted onions recipe that met three criteria. To get a tender and moist interior, we roasted them cut side down on a pan rubbed with a small amount of oil. Halving the onions also gave us a pleasing presentation, with the onions reasonably intact. Finally, we wanted a good amount of surface caramelization in our roasted onions recipe. We noticed that during cooking the outer rings of the onions rose off the pan and so caramelized less than the inner rings. The remedy was to cut two small X's at the top of each onion half; these slits allow steam to escape during cooking and helped to limit the tendency of the outer rings to lift up and off the pan.

Before You Begin

With its fresh ingredients, this dip tastes like an uptown version of the old standby made with powdered onion soup mix. Serve with chips or crudités.

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet or jelly roll pan with aluminum foil; rub foil with oil. Place onions cut side down on baking sheet. Roast until dark brown around bottom edge and tender when pierced with thin skewer or knife tip, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to rack; let onions rest for 5 minutes before lifting off pan with metal spatula. Let onions cool then peel and chop fine.
  2. Mix all ingredients (including onions) in medium bowl. Serve immediately or chill.

Gift This Recipe

Enjoyed this dish? Let others know by sharing it as a gift recipe.

This is a members' feature.