The 2-Ingredient Sour Cream Dip I’ll Never Stop Making

I’m a fussy snacker. Unlike those with simple snacking tastes, I am unsatisfied by eating an apple or munching a handful of nuts. I crave something more substantial. The problem with this is that I also want a snack-size portion of my “substantial” snack, which is a tall order (if anyone has a line on three-bite burritos, hit me up). Sometimes I’ll find myself eating two bites of leftovers as a snack, which is both strange and not really what I wanted in the first place. 

One of my all-time favorite MVP snacks is classic French onion dip with plain potato chips. The problem is, to have a snackable amount of dip, you have to make the whole batch, which requires a full pound of sour cream for one packet of French onion soup seasoning. That’s simply too much dip outside of a party setting. Recently however, in the throes of a real craving, I stumbled upon a life-changing snack time hack that has upped my game forever: leftover ramen packets.

I regularly buy dried instant ramen noodles at the supermarket to use in recipes that don’t require the seasoning packet. I feel wasteful just throwing the little packet away, however, which has led to me housing an increasingly overflowing container full of them on a high shelf in my kitchen. I never quite knew what to do with them, so they just sat there. That is, until I found myself really craving French onion dip and super frustrated that I had the sour cream and the chips, but no Lipton packets. 

Years ago I spent a lot of time developing a recipe for homemade French onion dip, so I have a deep knowledge of what it takes to re-create it, and the truth is I couldn’t get that round MSG umami from anything other than beef bouillon. Do you know what’s close to bouillon and comes in a convenient, single-serving packet? Ramen seasoning, and I had a ton.