How To Make A Greek Yogurt Dip With No Dirty Dishes

If there's one thing you learn after years of cooking, it's how to do things the easy way whenever possible. I'm all about skipping superfluous steps, and I love a good one-pot meal as opposed to a multi-step operation that dirties every dish in the kitchen (the latter is my son's specialty, and I'm always the one cleaning up). One thing I often do that saves dirtying an extra dish is to mix sour cream dips right in the container. Instagrammer Joy Bauer does the same thing, only with yogurt.

All you need to do to make yogurt dip right in the container is to stir in your chosen dip flavoring. Okay, so, you do wind up with a spoon that needs washing (unless you're stirring with your finger — eww), so this tip isn't entirely dish-free. Still, it's less wasteful than dumping the dip into a different container and then tossing the yogurt tub. Even if your pantry is full of actual Tupperware instead of repurposed plastic tubs, like the ones I use, that yogurt container can serve the purpose of dip holder for as long as it lasts. When you've eaten all the dip, you don't even have to wash up. Just rinse the container and toss it in the recycle bin.

One classic dip that can be made with a tub of Greek yogurt involves stirring in some dried French onion soup mix. This popular party dip, which took the fifth place spot in The Takeout's fantasy food draft, is best served with ridged potato chips. One thing to note, though, is that French onion dip recipes typically call for adding one packet of soup mix to a pint of sour cream, whereas plain yogurt typically comes in either 8-ounce or quart-sized tubs. In the former instance, half a packet of soup mix should do; in the latter, two packets are required.

You can also make plain yogurt into a dipping sauce fit for french fries, chips, and crudites by adding flavorings, such as lime juice, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce, as well as dried ingredients, such as taco seasoning mix, everything bagel seasoning, curry powder, or togarashi. One super-simple two-ingredient dip recipe involves nothing more than pouring bottled marinade into Greek yogurt. The amount of marinade you use is determined by what consistency you want the dip to be, as well as how much room you have in the yogurt container.

Sweet dips, too, can be made from a base of Greek yogurt. In this case, start with the vanilla-flavored kind, although you could also sweeten plain yogurt with sugar or honey. For additional flavoring, stir in some dessert-compatible spices, such as cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, or flavoring extracts, such as almond and vanilla. Such a dip could be used with fresh fruit (frudites?), pretzels, or cookies.

What if you want to make a dip, but you're afraid the added ingredients might overflow the yogurt container? Here's a money-saving tip straight from the Queen of Cheap (me): Don't buy Greek yogurt, go for the much cheaper regular plain yogurt. Dump it out of the container into a mesh sieve (oh no, another dish dirtied!), then wait for the whey to drain. Once it does, return the yogurt to the container. Since strained yogurt takes up less room, rub-a-dub-dub, there's more room in the tub!

Oh, and that yogurt is now "Greek," too. The term, as applied by American supermarkets, doesn't refer to its country of origin, but rather the style in which it's made. Greek and regular yogurt start out identical, but the former is strained to make it more concentrated. This is why it's higher in protein, because you're getting more milk solids in every bite. It's also why it's so much more expensive, because it takes more milk to make. Since you lose some of the volume when you strain yogurt, it may not be all that much of a money saver in the long run. But, for dip-making purposes, it lets you spend less upfront and saves some space in the yogurt container.