How can I thicken French Onion chip dip?

Question

Many store-bought chip dips have a firm, thick texture that's hard to replicate at home. If I draw a Ruffles chip through a commercial French Onion Dip, I can still see the ridges in the dip the next day. I've experimented with several thickeners, including guar gum, tapioca starch and Ultra-Tex 8, but it's difficult to activate the thickener in a cold dip and my dip ends up pasty, not firm.

Is it possible to get that store-bought texture in a homemade dip?

My recipe includes sour cream, white vinegar, lemon juice, seasonings (onion powder, garlic powder, sugar, salt, parsley) and guar gum as a binder. And whatever thickener(s) I'm experimenting with.

Ingredients in the commercial dip I'm trying to replicate: Skim Milk, Whey (Milk), Palm Oil, Water, Contains Less Than 2% Of Onion*, Parsley*, Salt, Sugar, Hydrolyzed Soy And Corn Protein, Hydrolyzed Torula And Brewer’s Yeast Protein, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Acetic Acid, Monosodium Glutamate, Food Starch-Modified, Gelatin, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Locust Bean Gum, Soy Lecithin, Potassium Sorbate (To Preserve Freshness), Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Yellow 5 & 6. *dehydrated

Answer 1

These tips will alter the taste but are still reasonable equivalents:

Replace some of the acids for powder form. Instead of white vinegar AND lemon juice, you could add citric acid, sumak, or lemon pepper.

You could also add parmesan instead of salt.

You can also replace sour cream with something thicker such as creme fraiche or yogurt.