I Make My Mom’s 3-Ingredient Dip for Every Holiday Party—and There Are Never Any Leftovers

My mother has an ancient Tupperware chip and dip plate that makes an appearance at almost every family gathering. It has a lid that firmly stays in place making it the perfect vessel to assemble an appetizer in it at home and transport it to a party.

She acquired it back in the ’80s at a neighborhood Tupperware party surrounded by friends and the libation of the moment, white Zinfandel. It’s a very unattractive shade of beige but is still one of the best portable appetizer platters I’ve ever come across. There is a generous center well for your dip of choice, with well-defined outer sections where you can neatly store vegetables, crackers, or sliced bread for dipping. 

While the platter may seem trivial and decidedly uncool, it’s at the forefront of almost all of my childhood holiday memories. Without fail my mom would fill it with classic Lipton’s French Onion Dip and a rainbow of crudités to keep hangry kids at bay until it was time for the main event. 

Now, as a mother myself, I’ve chosen to add my own spin to my mother’s classic: swapping the onion soup mix for fresh, melted leeks. 

The recipe couldn’t be more simple: You cook leeks in butter until they are slightly caramelized and almost falling apart. Then you mix them with one pint of full-fat sour cream and serve the deeply savory dip with crunchy crudités and potato chips. I may not own her special Tupperware platter (she’s still hanging on to hers and sadly, Tupperware just doesn’t make them like they used to!), but maybe if I’m lucky one day she’ll give me hers for Christmas! A daughter can always dream.

A tip on how to make my version of my mom’s onion dip: When cooking the leeks, it’s key to do so low and slow. The process will take a while, but your patience will be rewarded. Depending on the freshness and water content of your leeks, you may need to add a little water to the pan as the leeks cook just to prevent them from sticking to the pan. This will also help you to scrape up any fond (aka the tasty bits!) that have formed on the bottom of the pan. If you are feeling fancy and have wine on hand, you can use that instead. 

Melted Leek Dip

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 large leeks, white sections only, thoroughly cleaned, halved, and thinly sliced into half-moons
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pint full-fat sour cream
• crudités, crackers, chips, or toasted bread, for serving

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat; add leeks. Season leeks with salt and black pepper; cook and stir, adding water, 2 tablespoons at a time as needed, to prevent leeks from sticking to the bottom of the Dutch oven, until leeks are slightly caramelized and very tender, about 25 minutes. Off heat, cool completely. 
2. Combine sour cream and cooled leeks in a medium bowl. Serve immediately, or chill in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. 
3. Serve dip with crudités, crackers, chips, or toasted bread. 

Variations and Tips

You can enhance the dip’s flavor by adding 1 teaspoon of garlic powder to the sour cream mixture, if desired. Also, if I have fresh chives on hand, adding about 2 tablespoons of minced chives to the top of the finished dip adds a nice pop of color and flavor.

When prepping leeks, I like to halve them, then rinse them under cool water. Once sliced, I like to soak them again in cool water and agitate them with my hands to ensure all of the dirt and sand is loosened from the leeks.