Dippin'

As the weather gets warmer (finally!) we naturally start to transition our eating habits from a few larger meals to more frequent, smaller snacks. A good dip is perfect for this "snacky" eating style and perfect for Spring entertaining. A complaint that we have when purchasing pre-made dips is the lack of decent vegan options. For this we had to go with homemade, and worked to perfect a recipe for a vegan alternative to the traditional caramelized onion dip. We hope you love this one as much as we do!

Vegan Caramelized Onion Dip 
PREP TIME: 1 hour
TOTAL TIME: 5 hours (includes chill time) 
Servings:  2 cups dip

Ingredients
32 oz plain unsweetened soy milk, without additives*
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 
1/4 tsp sea salt 
1 large sweet onion, chopped  
1 Tbsp olive oil 

In a large saute pan set to medium heat add 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1/4 tsp salt. Add chopped onion a saute until edges are golden brown and onion is slightly translucent, ~5-7 minutes. Lower heat to simmer and continue cooking onion until fully caramelized, ~45 minutes, stirring often so that the onion does not burn to the pan. Be patient, low, slow heating until the onion is fully browned and caramelized is important.

While the onions are cooking, add 32 oz soy milk to a deep pot over medium heat and use a thermometer to bring the milk up to 100 degrees, stirring constantly. This step is important to ensure the milk properly curdles. Do not heat milk over 100 degrees and be careful not to burn the milk. Remove heated soy milk from the stove and add lemon juice to the pot. Allow mixture to sit for 15-20 minutes or until defined curdles have formed. Gently pour contents into a large nut milk bag and allow the liquid to drain from the solid. We secured the drawstring of the nut milk bag around the faucet of our sink and allowed gravity to take over. This step will take at least 30 minutes or longer. You know your soy milk solids are ready when no additional liquid is draining from the bag. 

Remove soy milk solids from the bag and place into a food processor or blender. Add 1/2 of the caramelized onions to the blender with the soy milk solids and 1/4 tsp onion powder. Mix until contents are smooth. Stir in the remainder of the caramelized onions and store in a glass container with a lid in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Dip will continue to develop flavor and thicken up as it sits in the fridge, so it is best to make this dip one day in advance for the tastiest results.

*Use a soy milk with no additives. Look for only soy beans and water in the ingredient list for best results with curdling.

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Well, are you dippin' yet? Caramelized onion dip is traditionally crave worthy and this vegan version doesn't make it any less so. A guest or two may even be fooled if you don't mention that this dip wasn't made with dairy. Pair this with your favorite chip or veggie (we made crinkle cut carrots on a mandolin) and dip away!

Enjoy,
Jess and Cecelia

Yum

In Our Pantry
*We mentioned using a quality soy milk without preservatives for best results, here is the product we found/used with the simplest ingredient list:

Eden Soymilk Unsweetened Organic 32.0 OZ(Pack of 3)