Creamy Onion Pasta
We make a really tasty Caramelized Onion Dip every once in awhile. We first had a version of it at Bravehorse Tavern (now closed, womp womp) and asked our server if we could have the recipe (why not, right!). He came back with the recipe handwritten on a little slip of paper. Well, as you can imagine it was to make a HUGE batch for a restaurant. We scaled it down as much as we could and made our own modifications. However, it still makes quite a bit of dip. Derek made it recently and I got to thinking about other ways we could use the dip. The first idea that came to mind was as a creamy sauce for pasta. It turned out brilliantly!
Let’s get to it!
I should tell you that I also tested this recipe with store-bought onion dip and was still delicious, so if you don’t have time (or just don’t want) to make your own dip, a jar of Lay’s Fresh onion dip or something similar will also work here!
You’ll start by getting the water for your pasta boiling. Make sure to add lots of salt to the water.
Now heat a large pan over medium-high. This pan needs to deep enough to hold the sauce and the pasta. Then add the ground pork, onion, mushrooms, and salt to the pan.
You may be wondering why we’re using ground pork and not sausage. I wanted to use plain ground pork because the dip is already very seasoned and can vary depending on which onion dip you use. Cooking with just plain ground pork gives us more control over how we season the dish. Cook all of this, stirring occasionally, until most of the pink is gone from the pork and the mushrooms are tender.
Your water for the pasta should now be boiling. Add your spaghetti and follow the package instructions for an al dente doneness.
Now back to the sauce! Pour in the wine and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. If you don’t want to use wine, you can use chicken stock.
Let that cook until some of the liquid has cooked off. Turn the heat down to medium and add the basil and oregano.
Stir that together and turn the heat down to low. Now add the onion dip and mix it all together.
Yum! Taste the sauce and add salt to your liking.
Once the spaghetti is done add it to the sauce using tongs or a pasta spoon. You’re not going to drain it in a colander in the sink because we want to keep the pasta water.
Turn the heat off, add the shredded parmesan, and mix everything together.
If it feel like the sauce needs thinning out, add a ladle of the pasta water. When I store the leftovers, I also like to add a little pasta water, so it doesn’t get too dry.
Serve and enjoy!
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Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 3/4 pound Cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup white wine (or chicken stock)
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 cups onion dip
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
Instructions
- Start water boiling for pasta. Add lots of salt to the water.
- Heat another large pan over medium-high. This pan needs to deep enough to hold the sauce and the pasta.
- Add ground pork, onion, mushrooms, and salt.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the pink is gone from the pork and the mushrooms are tender.
- Add spaghetti to pot of boiling water and follow package instructions for an al dente doneness.
- Pour wine in pan with ground pork (or chicken stock) and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan.
- Cook until some of the liquid has evaporated.
- Reduce heat to medium and stir in basil and oregano.
- Reduce heat to low and mix in onion dip. Taste for seasoning.
- Once spaghetti is done add it to the sauce using tongs or a pasta spoon.
- Turn heat off, add shredded parmesan, and mix everything together.
- Add a ladle of pasta water, if necessary, to think sauce.
- Save some pasta water to add to leftovers.