French Onion Soup Recipe

4 from 13 votes
A bowl of French onion soup topped with melted cheese-covered bread slices. The soup is served in a white ceramic dish, placed on a wooden surface with sliced baguette pieces and whole onions in the background.

This authentic French onion soup will keep you warm in cold winter days. This recipe is rich, flavorful and comforting. Rich-sweet caramelized onions, beef stock, toasted baguette and melted cheese! What can be better than that?

A bowl of French onion soup topped with melted cheese-covered bread slices. The soup is served in a white ceramic dish, placed on a wooden surface with sliced baguette pieces and whole onions in the background.

French Onion Soup Recipe

4 from 13 votes
Prep Time 1 hour
WORK TIME 1 hour
DIFFICULTY Medium
Cuisine French
Servings 6 yields

Ingredients
 

  • 5-6 Onions 1.5kg, sliced
  • 3 tablespoons 45g Butter
  • 3 tablespoons Olive oil
  • 8 cups 2L Beef stock or chicken stock
  • Salt
  • 2 tablespoons Flour
  • ½ cup 120ml White wine
  • 1 tablespoon Thyme
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • Black pepper to taste
  • Gruyere cheese grated, to your taste
  • Baguette bread sliced

Instructions
 

  • DIRECTIONS
    1. Caramelize the onions: in a large heavy bottom pot, heat olive oil and 3 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat.
    2. Add sliced onions, sprinkle with salt and sauté, for about 30 minutes, stirring often, until caramelized and dark golden. Add garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add flout, stir, and cook for 1 minute. Pour in in the wine to deglaze the pot, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
    3. Make the soup: add the stock, thyme, bay leaves and seasoning. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover with a lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
    4. Remove the bay leaves, check to seasoning and fix as needed. Turn the heat off.
    5. Toast the bread: preheat the oven to 450F (230C). Line a baking pan with parchment paper or foil. Brush both sides of the French baguette slices lightly with olive oil. Arrange them in a single layer. Bake for 6-8 minutes, until the bread is toasted and golden around the edges. Brush each toast with garlic clove.
    6. Reduce oven heat to 400F (200C).
    7. Broil: Switch the oven to the broiler. Pour the soup into oven-safe bowls. Then top with a baguette slice and sprinkle some cheese. Broil for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
    8. Serve!
    Notes:
    What is the best onion for French onion soup?
    You can use white or yellow onions for this soup, but I wouldn’t recommend using red onion, otherwise it will be too sweet, but it depends on your taste.
    Which white wine to use?
    Use only dry white wine for this recipe, don’t use sweet wine, because the caramelized onions are already sweet, adding sweet will make the soup too sweet.
    What can we use instead of white wine to make French onion soup?
    White wine is important to give the soup a deeper flavour, you will not fill the alcohol (and won’t be drunk J), but if you prefer skip the wine, you can use 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar instead.
    Can we make French onion soup vegetarian?
    Yes, to make a vegetarian version, replace beef stock with vegetable stock.
    Can we make French onion soup vegan?
    Yes, to make a vegan French onion soup, replace the butter with olive oil, replace the beef stock with vegetarian stock and omit the cheese.
    Which cheese is the best for French onion soup:
    In this recipe I used gruyere cheese. You also can use: Emmental, Gouda, Comte, Provolone, Mozzarella and more.
    What if I don’t have an oven safe bowl?
    If you don’t have oven-safe bowl you can’t toast the bread with the cheese, and then top the soup and serve.
    More recipes you may like:

Video

YouTube video
Nutrition information is automatically generated and thus we can not guarantee it is 100% accurate.

One Comment

  1. I have watched a lot of ONION SOUP COOKING VIDEOS, YOURS is the most informative as far as technique and what to look for in the preparation
    Thank you

    September 29, 2021
4 from 13 votes (13 ratings without comment)

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