Classic French Onion Soup is one of the most delicious soups in the world! Top with cheesy garlic bread for an incredible flavour experience!
Deep golden, caramelized onions create a stock filled with an intense depth of flavour for a classic French Onion Soup. Simmered with fresh herbs, optional white wine and finished off with garlic bread slices topped with two types of melted cheese.
The end result is worth every minute: DELICIOUS!
FRENCH ONION SOUP
French onion soup is loved by so many, however, it can also can be quite intimidating for some readers to try. Don’t be scared to caramelize onions! I’m going to take you step by step in this post to help you get a perfect soup.
Onions cook slow for about 45 minutes to bring out their natural sweetness and create incredible flavours in every bowl. Is there anything better on a cold day than a bowl of soup? YES! THIS French Onion soup wins hands down. Made slightly thicker than most watered down soups because every mouthful NEEDS a slightly thickened texture to compliment the caramelized onions.
If you dont have oven-proof bowls, don’t panic! This French Onion Soup recipe will become your favourite as we’re using a batch of our popular cheesy garlic breads with each serve.
HOW DO YOU MAKE FRENCH ONION SOUP FROM SCRATCH?
With so much flavour in French Onion Soup, you’d certainly be forgiven in thinking the soup itself is made up of complex ingredients. However, you only need a few core ingredients:
- Butter: use a good quality unsalted butter.
- Onions: so much flavour!
- Flour: thickens your soup.
- Dry white wine: deglazes the pot and scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pot, while also adding flavour. You can skip the wine and use extra beef broth if you wish!
- Beef stock/broth — or chicken.
- FRESH herbs (thyme and bay leaves).
WHAT KIND OF ONIONS DO YOU USE FOR FRENCH ONION SOUP?
Caramelized onions can develop different flavour profiles depending on the type of onion you use:
- White onion: sweet and mild.
- Red onion: stronger onion flavour, slightly bitter and not as sweet.
- Yellow onion: our favourite foe this type of soup. Nice and mild with a naturally occurring sweetness you want for caramelised onions.
Cut onions in half from top to bottom and slice just a little bit of the root section off — but not all of it. Place onion cut-side down and slice from the side of the onion.
As a result, the onion rings stay together while slicing and cooking, instead of falling apart.
THE BEST FRENCH ONION SOUP
Firstly, onions are cooked until browned and caramelized. You may be tempted to cut corners and sauté them until softened without cooking them to a golden brown, but please keep going! It makes all the difference in flavour.
The trick to caramelizing onions is to let them fry for a good 5-8 minutes in between stirring to get those key browned bits on the base of your pot. Then, with each stir, you’re going to scrape the bottom of the pan to get those browned bits mixed through.
Secondly, the pot is deglazed with a touch of wine OR extra broth, then flour is added to thicken the soup. Once the broth and herbs are added, your soup just needs boil, then simmer, until done.
Lastly, while the soup is cooking, make your cheesy garlic breads for an easier way to get French onion soup served without oven-proof bowls.
WHAT CAN I USE INSTEAD OF GRUYERE IN FRENCH ONION SOUP?
You can follow our recipe and use a blend of mozzarella and parmesan cheese, however you can also use Swiss, Gouda or Provolone. You can also try it with a slice of rindless Brie.
BEST WINE IN SOUP
I recommend a dry white or red wine, such as a good quality Pinot Grigio/Gris, Sauv Blanc, Sémillon, Chardonnay, Merlot or Pinot Noir. Generally, if you can’t drink it, don’t cook with it.
WHAT CAN I USE INSTEAD OF WINE IN FRENCH ONION SOUP?
Replace wine with extra beef stock.
MORE SOUP RECIPES
Vegetable Soup
Cauliflower Soup
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Creamy Roasted Tomato Basil Soup (No Cream)
Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup
Creamy Ham Potato Soup
French Onion Soup
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 large yellow onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced (about 2 1/2 pounds | 1.25 kg)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic, (or 4 cloves garlic, minced)
- 1/4 cup flour, (plain or all purpose)
- 1/2 cup dry white wine or red wine*
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, roughly chopped
- 6 cups beef stock or broth
- 1 teaspoon beef bouillon powder
- 2 whole bay leaves, (dried or fresh)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 batch cheesy garlic bread
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium-low heat, heat olive oil and melt butter. Add the onions and stir well to evenly coat with oil and butter. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring every five minutes or so, until the onions have softened.
- Increase heat to medium-high and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir and continue cooking for a further 15 minutes or until onions are golden browned, soft and caramelized. (The bottom of the pan will also brown during the cooking process. This is where all of the flavour is).
- Stir in garlic and cook for one minute, then add in flour and cook for about 4 minutes to brown slightly. Add wine to deglaze the pan, and scrape up the browned bits stuck on the bottom of the pan. Add in the thyme and simmer wine for 2 minutes until reduced by half.
- Add beef stock, bouillon and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and gently simmer, partially covered with a lid, for 30-40 minutes.
- While the soup is simmering, prepare 1 loaf of cheesy garlic bread, or individually portioned garlic breads.
- To serve, taste test and season with a little extra salt and pepper, to taste. Ladle into bowls and top with 1 or 2 slices of cheesy toast.
J says
Does the flavour improve oover time? Im making for a party dor Thursday and wanyed to make it on Tuesday?
Janet says
Carmelizing those onions is the whole deal–takes 30-45 min, and pretty much constant attention, but is really worth it!
Ludwig Wilczak says
Great recipe. I’ve been using your recipe for about year. I have not been disappointing in any one recipe.
Thank You.
Lou