This caramelized onion dip gets its deep flavor while the oven does most of the work: mandoline-thin onions in a baking dish with chopped sun-dried tomatoes and a drizzle of their jar oil, paprika and Italian herbs, plus a whole head of garlic with the top sliced off buried in the middle. Covered with foil, it roasts an hour at 200 °C with convection, stirred every 20 minutes, then the soft garlic is squeezed back in and heavy cream and parsley bring it together, silky and sweet-savory. Toast is the natural serve; the video’s encore stirs it through farfalle. Serves 4.
Instructions
- 1
Slice the onions thin — a mandoline makes it quick and even — and spread them in a baking dish.
- 2
Chop the sun-dried tomatoes and mix them in, with a drizzle of oil straight from their jar for extra depth.
- 3
Add the paprika and Italian herbs and mix thoroughly with your hands so the flavors distribute evenly.
- 4
Nestle the garlic head, top sliced off, into the middle; drizzle its cut face with olive oil and cover the dish with foil.
- 5
Roast at 200 °C with convection for 1 hour, stirring the onions every 20 minutes so they cook evenly.
60:00 - 6
Out of the oven, squeeze the soft roasted garlic cloves into the dish.
- 7
Stir in the heavy cream and parsley (and a squeeze of lemon, if using) until silky. Serve on toast — or stir through cooked short pasta.
Watch the video
Notes from our kitchen
The foil is what makes the hands-off hour work — it traps steam so the onions soften and caramelize instead of drying at the edges; the three quick stirs redistribute the sugars. The jar-opening trick from the video is worth keeping: press firmly on both sides of the lid until it clicks and the seal releases without a fight. And don’t skip the jar oil — it carries more tomato flavor than the tomatoes themselves.
Variations
- The pasta encore. The video’s second serve stirs the dip through farfalle for a creamy caramelized-onion pasta (the written list says fusilli — any short shape works). Loosen with a ladle of pasta water and it coats like a sauce that took all day.
- Brighter finish. The chef’s list carries lemon juice the narration skips. A small squeeze at the end cuts the cream and the onion sweetness — try half the dip with and half without, and you’ll know which side of the table you sit on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really not need to caramelize the onions on the stove?
No — that is the whole trick. An hour at 200 °C under foil, stirred every 20 minutes, gets the onions soft, sweet and deeply colored while you do something else. The oven’s even heat means no stirring vigil and no scorched patches.
What does the whole garlic head do?
Roasted whole, garlic never turns sharp — the heat mellows it into a sweet paste that squeezes straight out of the skins into the dip. A whole head sounds like a lot; roasted, it reads as background sweetness rather than garlic heat.
How do I store it, and can I serve it cold?
Airtight in the fridge it keeps 3–4 days, and the flavor deepens overnight. It is good cold on toast, but a brief warm-up loosens the cream back to a scoopable texture — 20–30 seconds of gentle heat, not a boil.