Common Mistakes People Make When Preparing These 12 Dips

There’s no greater item to bring to a potluck than a dip paired with a spread of crispy or crunchy offerings. Dips make fantastic dishes for family events and social gatherings due to their grazeable nature. You don’t have to pile it on a plate and sit down to devour a dip — its consumption requires no knives, forks, or spoons. You can eat some while standing and chatting with friends, or without your eyes ever leaving the game. It’s the perfect nosh for nibbling or occasional snacking, allowing plenty of conversation between each flavorful bite. Yet, these tasty hubs for mingling and munching only work if your dip is as sensational as it is sharable.

There are many ways a dip can go wrong, from being too runny to too bland. Be they hot dips or cold dips, cheesy dips or fishy dips, each has its own pitfalls and problems one must evade. Some missteps are made during ingredient selection, while others occur amidst preparation. No matter the blunder, it’s important to be aware of these potential snags beforehand to prevent ruining a spectacular dip. Avoid these common fumbles for these popular dips and ensure your game day fare will be the talk of the party.

Hummus is an extraordinary dip for plunging many items into, from crisp and crunchy pita chips to raw vegetables. Yet there are still many ways one can bungle this vegetarian spread. This Middle Eastern dip is ordinarily crafted from blended chickpeas, tahini, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice. The number one misstep people tend to take with this dip? Opting for canned chickpeas over dried chickpeas, as canned chickpeas can lead to a hummus that’s soggy. Most agree, you should select the highest quality dried chickpeas you can find and soak them overnight in water for about eight hours. This step will speed up the cooking process later when you boil the beans until they achieve a soft texture. Reaching for dried chickpeas over canned will lead to a hummus with more flavor and a better texture. 

Another frequent hummus mistake is skipping the baking soda. Some hummus can take on a grainy consistency due to the thick skin on the chickpeas. Taking the skin off each one by hand is an option, but you may also add a teaspoon of baking soda to the water you soak the beans in. Baking soda softens chickpea skins so you don’t have to peel each and every one before blending. Another teaspoon can be added while you boil the chickpeas to craft an ultra-smooth hummus. Other possible errors to avoid include getting the ratio of garlic wrong or using low-quality tahini.

French onion dip and crispy ruffled potato chips are a match made in heaven. How ever can one possibly ruin this savory, creamy concoction? Quite easily, actually. The greatest gaff one can make with French onion dip is enduring a basic mix of a dehydrated onion soup mix and sour cream. While this quick mix might work when you’re rushed for time, if you have any foresight at all you should take the extra step to prepare a dip with fresher ingredients. For a stunning French onion dip, caramelize your own onions, using a mix of yellow and red onions for the best flavor.

The red onions will bring earthier notes to the dip, while the yellow ones will add sweetness. If you’re feeling truly fancy, you can even pop in a few shallots and scallions to add additional depth to the mix. Make sure to cook them to the perfect caramelized texture, waiting until they acquire a shade of deep brown. Letting those alliums caramelize properly is what gives the dip its flavor. Don’t want to hover over the stove that long? Use a crockpot to caramelize onions. Once they reach their signature golden state, you might also consider adding some sherry vinegar to ground the dip with an aged flavor.

Elote dip, also known as Mexican street corn dip, is fantastic paired with tortilla chips. The foremost mistake you must avoid, however, is being too timid with the spice level. Doing so may leave you with a concoction that is too bland. If you want your elote dip to reflect the flavors of Mexican street corn, you have to use the same fundamental ingredients: mayo, cotija, and lime. One of the biggest goofs one can make with elote dip is being too fearful of the fire, as elote is classically embellished with a blend of spices like chili powder, paprika, or Tajin (a seasoning that blends the flavors of lime, salt, and chili peppers in one). Other recipes might use sriracha and diced jalapeños to dial up the temperature.

Those who fear the flames, worry not — the dairy will cool the fire of the spices, and the acidity of the lime will counteract the heat. To enrich the flavors of your dip, you can also add other elements like fresh cilantro, diced garden peppers, green chilis, and cheese. For a truly authentic experience, wash down this spicy dip with a nice, cool glass of homemade horchata.

A scintillating sauce for gyros, veggies, or dunking pita bread and olives into, tzatziki is a dip that is truly versatile. Still, this cool, creamy dip can be ruined with a watery or runny texture, rendering it more akin to a salad dressing than a dip. The biggest mistake when making this classic Greek cucumber dip is not salting the cucumbers first to pull out excess water. This prevents the dip from being too runny and ensures a strong cucumber flavor. To salt cucumbers, first peel and grate them, then collect the shredded cucumber in a strainer and place it over a bowl.

Sprinkle it with salt and wait a quarter hour to extract the water. For the thickest dips, you’ll also want to strain the Greek yogurt a few hours ahead of time, as well. This can be done in the refrigerator by lining your strainer with cheesecloth. Tzatziki still end up a little runny? All is not lost. Use that same yogurt straining technique for the whole dip, letting the sauce strain a few hours in the fridge and discarding the excess liquid.

A classic dip that seems here to stay, spinach-artichoke dip can be prone to many mistakes. Be you using thawed frozen spinach or freshly cooked, make sure you squeeze all the moisture out of it so your dip doesn’t become watery. Spinach and other greens harbor a good deal of water which they expel as they cook. When using fresh spinach, wilt it, allow it to cool, and squeeze it to remove as much moisture as you can. This may be done incrementally by hand or by swathing the greens in a towel and wringing both ends in opposite directions over the sink basin. Do the same with frozen spinach after thawing it. Removing all this liquid now assures a dip that will be thick, creamy, and devoid of any awkward watery spots later.

Some other tips for yielding a fabulous spinach-artichoke dip include using a stand mixer to evenly blend your ingredients into a silky-soft medley. Last of all, don’t forget the crispy, cheesy top. You can attain this by popping the dip in the broiler for the remaining five minutes of the cook time. This will craft a perfect, crusty contrast to the creamy dip below that is incredibly satisfying to break with your chosen cracker or chip.

Be it a barbecue or a game day party, no spread is complete without a bowl of guacamole at its center. Yet, all dips are not equal when it comes to guacamole. One of the worst flubs one can make with this chunky delight of a dip is in the ingredients. Great guacamole starts with great avocados, but which to choose? Although there are actually about 500 varieties of avocados out there, there is a clear standout for guacamole: the Hass variety. Hass avocados are smaller with a bumpier texture, and their flavor is much richer than larger, lighter green avocados, which hold more water.

But choosing the right variety isn’t the only aspect to keep in mind. You need to make sure those avocados are at the correct stage of ripeness, as well. Hard avocados are underripe, while mushy ones are overripe. To furnish a phenomenal guacamole, you want to select something right in the middle. A ripe avocado should have a slight give when squeezed in your hand. Hass avocados will also deepen in color, appearing more black as they become ripe. If you’re not whipping up that dip right away, be sure to store these delicate fruits in the fridge to prevent them becoming too ripe in the meantime. This will prolong their peak ripeness for a few days more. When it does come time to make that dip, don’t forget the lime juice. Lime helps keep the dip nice and vibrant, preventing browning in avocados due to oxidation.

Wonderful for coating lovely, soft pretzels, beer cheese is a delightfully creamy concoction for dipping. Still, one wrong beer can wreck the recipe. Much of the flavor of beer cheese comes from the brew, so it serves you well to give your beer choice some thought. While unusual-tasting craft beers may be great for sipping alongside beer cheese, they are best left out of the sauce itself. Intensely hoppy IPAs can overwhelm your beer cheese and turn it bitter, while sour beers can ruin beer cheese with their sharp taste.

What beers should you use for concocting a mouthwatering beer cheese? When beer cheese was invented in the 1930s, it was created using lighter beers, like American pilsners and malty blondes. These lighter brewskis allow the cheese to stand out, never stealing the show with too strong a flavor. Some other excellent bevs for beer cheese include mild but well-flavored brews such as Vienna or Mexican lagers.

Perhaps the most delectable of all the dips, crab dip is a fan favorite at many-a-table. Melding the creamy texture with lusciously soft crab is a delightful combination, but one that can be quickly botched if the dip is baked too long. When making hot seafood dips like crab dip, a common mistake is overheating, since the meat is precooked before entering the oven.

Heat that dip a little too long and that prolonged cooking time can quickly render the dip rubbery. To prevent this devastating event, keep a watchful eye on the kitchen timer, heating the dip long enough that it becomes hot and bubbly, but no further than this. For the richest taste and texture, be sure to use larger lump crab meat for the sweetest, most flavorful dip. Make sure to remove all those pesky shells and pieces of cartilage — you don’t want your savory seafood dip spoiled by this unpleasant texture.

Blue cheese dip is a splendid companion for buffalo wings and celery sticks, but just because it’s a dipping sauce doesn’t mean it is undeserving of attention. It’s time this exceptional dip got the care it demands. As one can imagine, the most important step when making blue cheese dip is selecting the right type of fungal-infused cheese. Make it too intense and you’ll have guests wrinkling their noses. Wield a dip that’s too weak and they’ll find it flavorless. Although individual preferences vary when it comes to blue cheese, most will lean towards a cheese that isn’t too pungent or too mellow, but something in the middle, such as gorgonzola.

For those in search of stronger flavors, you may favor stilton or a more potent roquefort. Just be wary of choosing a bleu cheese which is too mild, since the other ingredients will dilute the flavor of your cheese somewhat. Be sure to also use a little vinegar, like sherry or white wine, to round out the rich flavor of your dip.

Many find the distinct smoky flavor to be the most alluring aspect of baba ganoush. To achieve this, the eggplant must be properly prepared with an intense cooking process. Sadly, undercooking your eggplant is the number one fumble everyone tends to make when attempting baba ganoush. Eggplant is best prepared by charring or grilling on a barbecue to give it the smokiest flavor, although it can be oven-roasted, as well. Many recipes will recommend you cook eggplant until it turns black, not removing the squash until it is charred on all sides and sunken in.

No grill? You can actually fire-roast eggplant on the stove top over a gas flame, turning the eggplant every few minutes with tongs to evenly grill it. This should take 15 to 20 minutes, until the eggplant is completely soft. After cooking, be sure to squeeze out the liquid to prevent a soggy dip. Additionally, be cautious when adding lemon, as too much juice will sour the mix and detract from the smokiness. You want your baba ganoush thick, creamy, and imbued with strong, smoky flavors.

Many smoked salmon dip recipes simply call for smoked salmon, never specifying the type. This can leave quite a bit of room for error when selecting your most fundamental ingredient. When it comes to this chilled, fish-forward dip, you want to seek out hot-smoked salmon. Usually located in the shelf-stable section, this salmon resembles cooked salmon in color and texture. It is flakier and breaks apart easier, making it ideal for dip texture. By contrast, cold-smoked salmon has an appearance more similar to raw fish, possessing a darker color.

It’s salt-cured with a slippery texture that lends itself more to lox-style bagels than use in a dip. Cold-smoked salmon is chewier, doesn’t shred well, and holds a slimier texture that many find unappealing for dips. For this reason, you want to opt for hot-smoked salmon that can be easily shredded and blended into the dish. Have a meat smoker on hand? For a deeply-flavored salmon dip, consider smoking your own salmon for three to four hours at 225 F.

Did you think all dips had to be savory? Think again! Fruit dip, made from yogurt or cream cheese, requires a careful balancing of flavors. If pairing a dip with fruits that are already very sweet like bananas or peaches, you may wish to opt for a slightly more tangy yogurt dip that uses more sour cream to balance that sweetness out. For more puckery fruits like green apples, kiwi, pineapple, and berries, a sweeter dip may be preferred. Looking for a fruit dip that suits all the above produce? Consider skipping overly sweet ingredients like marshmallow fluff and using brown sugar to sweeten the dip, bestowing the mixture a warmer, fuller flavor wonderful for plating with strawberries.

Many recipes will also call for vanilla extract. When it comes to this flavoring, always seek those that use real vanilla extract as opposed to faux vanilla. You can also flavor fruit dips with hot cocoa mix to give them a chocolatey spin. Once you’ve whipped up the perfect mix, consider putting the dip bowl on ice to keep it cool. Fruit dip is most refreshing when it is chilled.