This traditional french onion soup recipe is super easy to make and the perfect comfort food. You only need seven ingredients to make this classic soup!
Why you will LOVE this recipe
- It is super easy to make
- Because of the sweet flavor and the cheese, kids love this soup
- It is packed with vegetables
- Gratinated bread with cheese...Need I say more??
Ingredients
Onions - regular onions are perfect for this classic soup. They are inexpensive and perfect for caramelizing.
If you already have other onions like sweet onions or even red onions, by all means, use those.
Cheese - if you want to make this soup as authentic as possible, I recommend using gruyere cheese, but I often use a mixture of gruyere and gouda cheese.
Bread - French baguette
Stock - traditionally, you use beef stock for this rustic soup. You can replace this with vegetable stock if you want to make a vegetarian onion soup.
Butter - butter helps to caramelize the onions and give them a fantastic flavor. You can use plant-based butter or oil instead, but it will affect the end result.
Instructions
While this soup is super easy to make, there are a few things you will need to pay attention to for the best results.
The most important thing is to take your time to caramelize the onions. You can't rush this.
There is no need to add sugar while caramelizing the onions.
Letting the onions cook slowly gives the natural sugars the chance to caramelize to perfection and fully develop their flavor.
Ensure you cook the onions in a heavy-bottomed pot, preferably in a dutch oven. This prevents the onions from burning.
If the brown bits at the bottom of the pan start to become a little too dark, you can add a few tablespoons of water or stock to make it easier to scrape them off. It is important not to let it burn as it will affect the overall flavor of the soup.
Equipment
- A large heavy bottomed pan. I recommend using a Dutch oven for this recipe.
- Soup bowls.
Storage
Homemade French onion soup will keep for about a week in the fridge. If you want to store it longer, I recommend freezing the soup.
In the freezer, it will last up to three months.
More easy soup recipes
French onion soup without wine
Ingredients
- 6 large onions peeled and thinly sliced
- 8 cups beef stock
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup Gruyere cheese grated
- 1 baguette cut into slices
Instructions
- Melt the butter and add the onions and a pinch of salt.
- Cook the onions until they are softened and caramelized. This takes about 40 minutes.
- Add the stock, and be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan!
- Let the onion soup simmer for half an hour.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Meanwhile, sprinkle some cheese over the bread slices and put them under the grill until the cheese is melted.
- Ladle the soup into a bowl and add two slices of bread to each bowl.
I just Loooooove me some french onion soup. It has such a rich deep flavor. Can't wait to try this!