Reverse Engineering The Box (And A Homemade French Onion Chip Dip Recipe)
Oct 13, 2018
This homemade dip is a delicious replacement for the instant packages of junk. Trust in this dip, it’s the real thing!
Which of these ingredients from this box of processed “food” do you have in your kitchen?
onions, salt, cornstarch, sugar, caramel (color), corn syrup solids, yeast extract, natural flavor.
If you have an average home kitchen, you probably have the first four on hand and wonder what exactly the last four mean (and are they really food?).
When cooking “unprocessed,” many of your favorite recipes may have to go by the wayside because they use a processed food (Kraft Foods and Campbell’s cream of soups are famous for their delicious and easy recipes, right?).
My goal today is to help you “unprocess” those recipes that use ingredients that are already found in a box or a can.
Onion Soup Mix: Keeping it Simple
I find that when I’m trying to reverse engineer something, it’s an exercise in common sense most of the time.
The ingredients I listed at the top are from a box of “onion soup mix.” When I first tried to replace the mix with real food in my husband’s favorite pepper steak recipe, my thought process was something like this:
- What’s the flavor I really need? (onion)
- What else does “onion soup mix” provide? (basically just a little salt, a little thickener, and a little sweetness)
- Do the unknown ingredients make a big difference? (they seem to add more sweet and maybe enhance the flavor)
Working from those Q&As, I kept it simple. Using real onions almost exclusively really does do a pretty good job of replacing onion soup mix when used in beef recipes.
I use lots of onions and cook them well, and the caramelizing adds the flavor that is perhaps lost with the chemically enhanced ingredients.
Other than that, a generous dash of salt and a bit of molasses (which I like in savory dishes in small amounts) completed the meal without any additional seasoning.
When I’m feeling more creative, I might try adding other spices such as fresh garlic, parsley, and other herbs I know we like. It might not be exactly the same as the old favorite, but sometimes it even gets better.
How to Reverse Engineer ANY Box
Got a recipe with undesirable packaged food? You can probably make it even better yourself. Grab the recipe and ingredients and get to work:
- Read the ingredients on the packaged food you’re trying to avoid.
- Ignore all the words you don’t understand. For real. They’re not in your kitchen anyway.
- Figure out the main body – is it a liquid oil, a creamy base, dried vegetables, or what? Use olive oil or melted butter or coconut oil for liquids, homemade “cream of” soup or yogurt/sour cream for creamy stuff, and the real thing for dried veggies (as a general rule).
- What spices are going on? Take your best guess at what would taste good in the dish if you’re not sure.
- Corn syrup, High fructose corn syrup, or any other ingredient that ends in “-ose” are just sweeteners. Generally they’re included to enhance flavor, mask the lack of taste, replace some deleted fats, or as a preservative. The only time you need to bother adding sweetener back in is in the first instance. Many say tomatoes are enhanced by a teaspoon of sugar (try molasses!), for example.
- Keep the overall recipe you’re making in mind. This especially comes into play with things like bouillon cubes. They work together with something else in your recipe (usually water), so to substitute, you need to take into account the finished product and adjust accordingly. (For example, in my pepper steak recipe, I don’t worry about the cornstarch in the onion soup mix because I already add a thickener when making the pepper steak.)
- Don’t be afraid to fail. Most of the time, you get to taste what you’re making before you serve it. That’s the beauty of cooking over baking – you can add ingredients right up until the end and no one will know. It’s definitely an art, not a science.
A New Example: French Onion Chip Dip
When I told Andrew I wanted to share a reverse engineered onion soup mix, he immediately rejoiced in the fact that he might be able to have a real food version of that chip dip made with sour cream and a packet of onion soup mix.
I could practically hear him jumping up and down through the computer screen text.
How could I tell him that I had no idea how to do that and had only used onions to make pot roast and pepper steak that tasted pretty good?
I couldn’t break his unprocessed heart, so I gave it the old college try with three different versions.
And the verdict from my college sweetheart (aka the Husband)?
He says if he had this dip and “the real thing” (meaning from the store) to choose from, or even the second best attempt, he’d choose the homemade version.
And he’ll tell you without batting an eye that there are plenty of packaged things he’d choose over my “real food” versions, so don’t think he’s just being romantic.
Homemade French Onion Chip Dip
Ingredients
- 1 c. diced onion
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 1 cup sour cream*
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon celery seed, or celery salt
- optional: dash to ¼ tsp. cayenne
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a heavy pan, then saute the onions over medium for a few minutes, stirring constantly.
- Turn the heat to medium-low for about 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally and cook until browned and smelling amazing. The onions will have reduced to about 1/3 cup.
- Allow to cool, but not in the refrigerator (the butter will harden too much).
- Mix with the sour cream and all the spices. Allow at least an hour for the flavors to blend, and serve at room temperature if possible.
- Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
SKIM MILK, WHEY (MILK), PALM OIL, WATER, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF ONION*, PARSLEY*, SALT, SUGAR, HYDROLYZED SOY AND CORN PROTEIN, HYDROLYZED TORULA AND BREWER’S YEAST PROTEIN, CITRIC ACID, LACTIC ACID, ACETIC ACID, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, FOOD STARCH-MODIFIED, GELATIN, SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE, LOCUST BEAN GUM, SOY LECITHIN, POTASSIUM SORBATE (TO PRESERVE FRESHNESS), GUAR GUM, CARRAGEENAN, YELLOW 5 & 6. *DEHYDRATED.
If you ask me, that’s 7 actual foods plus 18 chemicals, non-foods, and food-like products.
Phew.
I’ll take my 9 whole foods ingredients any day.
Processed chips.
Probably the first bag I’ve purchased in a year (hmmm, maybe that’s why the husband was so agreeable to the dip!).
If you make this chip dip during October #unprocessed, you’re going to need to make homemade potato chips, too.
But (crunch)…it will be worth it.
Thanks for sharing, as this looks great. FYI I have heard that Kettle brand baked potato chips are “unprocessed” as they only have 3 ingredients and no preservatives, but I have not tried them yet myself.
Noel,
A lot of chips actually have few ingredients (if they’re not the seasoned kind), but it comes down to how you rate fats and oils for #unprocessed – for me, I couldn’t squeeze oil out of corn or soybeans in my kitchen, so they don’t really count. 🙂 Katie
I just search for a recipe.. LOL Maybe being a mom blogger and following a few mom blogs I find that many moms do that! I know I take the easy way out…. I have found recipes for dressings, pop tarts and more.
I love homemade dips! I’m not a huge french onion dip fan, but it’s a good option to have for parties and guests. My one stop real foods dip secret is that homemade plain yogurt (possibly strained if yours is on the runny side) can be substituted one for one in every dip recipe I’ve ever encountered with little to no taste difference. I’ll admit that when it comes to the fruit and granola yogurt bowl breakfast idea, I have not been able to wean myself off the sweetened “yogurt” I grew up on, so I just gave up on eating yogurt at all. But mix it up as a veggie or chip dip, and it’s such an easy way to take in probiotics!
Try using a homemade ranch seasoning mix in a dip sometime as well 🙂
Sarai,
I never liked chip dip of any kind, but this one, homemade – seriously addicting. I bet I would like it better with Greek/strained yogurt since I’m not a huge fan of sour cream to begin with.
Great ideas! 🙂 Ktie
Thanks so much for sharing this strategy. I have several beloved family recipes that use this packet of onion soup mix and other “convenience foods.” You have given me inspiration to adapt some family recipes– I think I’ll work on the brisket first.
So, I’m thinking this must actually be good for you, seeing as how you burn off excess calories standing at the stove caramelizing onions, and even more if you are standing there making potato chips. And deflecting taste testers would add a cardio workout, wouldn’t it? I’m only half kidding, because aside from tasting so much better, this recipe (with homemade chips) really does have a lot of healthy ingredients without any of the garbage in commercial versions. Awesome!
Karen,
Oh, my goodness, I know – real food can be a workout! It’s the slicing of the potato chips that can really give you good pipes, though. 😉 I caramelized the onions by ignoring them for 20 minutes. 🙂 Katie
I will HAVE to try this! My boyfriend’s family is obsessed with French Onion dip and it’s there every single time I go over to his parents. I’m excited to try this out and hopefully convert them!
Sarah,
It doesn’t work every time, but about 90% of the foods I’ve tried it in, it works out great. 🙂 Katie
Thank you, Katie!! I had given up on dips in general because of my allergy to MSG. I can’t wait to try this and will look forward to you new ebook.
Cheryl,
There are so many good dip recipes out there – I do another one with yogurt cheese (or sour cream), fresh garlic, some spices, and lemon juice. Super simple, so yummy on veggies!
You do dips unprocessed! 🙂 Katie
I cannot wait to try this!
Fantastic. Thanks for the advice to just ignore all the ingredients that you don’t recognise – they are not foods anyway!