Spare Spoons Kitchen
Lipton's
Famous California Dip
The dip that built an empire — a packet of onion soup mix stirred into sour cream and chilled until the onion blooms. The 1950s "California Dip," exactly as it was printed on the box.
Ingredients
Method
Cook's notes
The original "California Dip." In the 1950s someone stirred a packet of onion soup into sour cream; Lipton printed it on the box, and a soup mix quietly became a dip empire.
Make your own mix if you like: 2 tbsp dried minced onion, 1 tsp onion powder, ½ tsp each garlic powder and salt, and a pinch each of sugar and pepper (1/16 tsp each), stirred into the sour cream.
Variations Betty noted: fold in crumbled blue cheese, or chopped cooked shrimp or crab, for a fancier dip.
Serve with ridged potato chips (the classic) or a platter of raw vegetables.
Double it for a crowd — it keeps several days covered in the fridge.
Easier, if you like
- This is already the shortcut — two ingredients and a stir. The only "rule" is to make it ahead so the onion has time to soften.
Make it gluten-free or vegan (it's already vegetarian)
Gluten-free: use a gluten-free onion soup/dip mix, or make your own (see the note) — the standard Lipton packet isn't certified gluten-free.
Vegan: a vegan sour cream works well; check that your soup mix is dairy- and meat-free (many onion mixes are).
See Betty’s original page
