Tomato dip is a savory dipping sauce made essentially with tomatoes, which are combined with several other ingredients consisting of onions, sour cream, mayonnaise, tomato sauce, and several seasonings and spices. Lemon juice or vinegar is often used to impart a slight acidic flavor to the dip. The dip is often served chilled with chips, bread and veggies. Tomato based dip is popular in several cuisines; however, the Italian and Turkish variants of the dip are greatly admired, with the former being a little chunky in texture and seasoned with Italian seasoning, and the latter being quite spicy. Though most of the tomato dips are of vegan type, however a non-vegan tomato dip also exists which suggests the use of crumbled bacon as one of the ingredients.
Commonly Used Ingredients and Preparation Overview of Tomato Dips
The simplest and popular tomato dip recipe suggests the use of chopped tomatoes, lemon juice, salt, pepper, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, chopped green onions, and sour cream as the vital ingredients.
The dipping sauce is prepared by combining together tomatoes, seasonings, and lemon juice, and allowing the mix to stand for around an hour before stirring in green onions, sour cream, and Worcestershire sauce. This dip is popularly served chilled with chips or veggie dippers.
Tomato Dip Recipe Variations
Among several recipe variations of tomato based dip, a few most popular ones have been discussed hereunder:
- Sun dried tomato dip- This is a popular tomato based dip prepared by pureeing sun dried tomatoes with sour cream, cream cheese, red pepper sauce, mayonnaise, scallions, and seasonings. Lemon juice is also added for a slight acidic flavor which complements the dip perfectly. A variant of this dip suggests the addition of roasted red bell peppers for enhanced flavor.
- Turkish variant- This dip is slightly spicy in taste, and is prepared with tomatoes, onions, tomato paste, sweet red pepper, hot green pepper, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and parsley. The dip is seasoned with pepper and salt, and served chilled.
- Creamy tomato dip- It is a creamy dip prepared by combining tomatoes with sour cream and cream cheese. Roughly chopped tomatoes are processed along with sour cream, mayonnaise, shallots, and cream cheese in a blender and served with vegetables arranged around the dip.
- Bacon based dip- The recipe for this dip suggests adding cooked and crumbled bacon to a mix of mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese, chopped onions, cheddar cheese, garlic powder, black pepper, and green pepper. Thereafter, chopped tomatoes are stirred in, and the dip is served with bread cubes after garnishing it with shredded lettuce.
- Chunky Italian tomato dip- This dip is seasoned with Italian seasoning and is a little chunky in texture. It pairs well with Italian bread. It is a blend of fresh tomatoes, chopped onions, garlic cloves, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and Italian seasoning. The Italian seasoning used in this dipping sauce is an amalgamation of basil, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, and thyme.
Serving Tomato Dips
- Tomato dips pair well with breads.
- They are perfect accompaniments to nachos.
- Chips are also served with tomato dips.
- Tomato dips are also accompanied with vegetable sticks like carrots, celery, and cucumber.
Trivia
It is suggested to consume the tomato dip after allowing it to stand for a few hours, so that all the flavors are infused properly.
