French Onion Soup is an amazing blend of caramelized onions that are simmered in a rich broth of red wine and beef broth, and finished with bubbly Gruyère cheese. This simple and flavorful soup will make you think that you're sitting in a quaint French bistro.
I had about 3 ½ pounds of onions that needed to be used. Initially, I thought about making an onion tart, but 3 ½ pounds is really too much for one tart. The Master Taste Tester suggested French Onion Soup. What a good idea, I thought! It had been some time since I made French Onion Soup. Rather than use my recipe, I decided to adapt Tyler Florence's French Onion Soup recipe on the Foodnetwork.com site to the ingredients that I had on hand.
I originally posted this amazing recipe on April 29, 2012, but decided to update the post with improved photos, text descriptions and a slightly modified recipe. Enjoy!
Making the French Onion Soup
I started by melting ½ stick of unsalted butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Then, I added 3 ½ pounds of sliced onions, 4 cloves of minced garlic, ½ teaspoon of dried thyme, ½ teaspoon of Kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.
I cooked the onions over medium heat, stirring often until they were soft and caramelized. This took around 30 minutes.
Then, I added a cup of red wine (I used a Merlot), and brought the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. When it was boiling, I reduced the heat back to medium and cooked the mixture until most of the wine had evaporated. This took around 5 minutes.
Next I stirred in 3 Tablespoons of flour to the onion mixture, and cooked this on medium low for about 5 minutes.
Finally, I added 2 quarts of beef broth. This cooked for around 10 minutes more.
For the finishing touches, I ladled the soup into oven-proof bowls, I topped each bowl with grated Gruyère cheese. I decided to serve the traditional French bread sprinkled with Gruyère cheese on the side rather than add it to the top of the soup. I put both the soup and the French bread under the broiler for several minutes until the cheese was bubbly and golden brown. Yum!
If you like this recipe, you should check out some of my other amazing soups:
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup: Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup is amazing in its simplicity and taste. As the cooler weather has finally started arriving, a healthy and delicious soup such as Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup will likely become one of your family’s favorites.
- Hearty Minestrone: Hearty Minestrone is a healthy soup that chocked full of delicious vegetables. It’s comfort food at its best in the cold winter months, but equally satisfying when things warm up. Hearty Minestrone is easy to make, freezes well, and makes terrific leftovers.
- Red Lentil and Roasted Tomato Soup: What better way to warm yourself on these cold winter days than with a hearty soup. Red Lentil and Roasted Tomato Soup totally fits the bill. It’s full of healthy ingredients, easy to make, and amazingly delicious!
- Split Pea Soup with Ham: Split Pea Soup with Ham cooked in an Instant Pot is a snap to make, and awesome to serve. In addition, the leftovers are just as good the next day, or frozen for an anytime lunch or dinner.
- Lentil and Sausage Soup: Lentil and Sausage Soup is both hearty and delicious. This one pot meal is a snap to make, freezes beautifully, and is packed full of vegetables and protein. It’s definitely comfort in a bowl!
- Easy Creamy Tomato Soup: Easy Creamy Tomato Soup is a perfect starter to an elegant meal. It is equally perfect for a light dinner when paired with Caesar salad and crusty french bread.
- Split Pea Soup with Smoked Sausage: Split Pea Soup with Smoked Sausage, cooked in a pressure cooker takes no time to make and is amazingly delicious.
Recipe
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French Onion Soup
Ingredients
- ½ stick ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 3 ½ pounds onions sliced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup red wine (See Tip 1)
- 3 heaping Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 quarts 8 cups beef broth (See Tip 2)
- 1 baguette sliced
- 8 ounces grated Gruyère cheese (See Tip 3)
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 30 minutes. Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir. Turn the heat down to medium low so the flour doesn't burn and cook for 5 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Now add the beef broth and chicken broth. Bring the soup to a boil; reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- When you're ready to eat, preheat the broiler. Ladle the soup in bowls and top with shredded Gruyère cheese. Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle the slices with the cheese. Place soup and baguette slices under the broiler until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. (See Tip 4).
- Yield: 6 servings.
Tips/Notes
- I used Merlot, but any good red wine would work. Just make sure that you would drink whatever wine you use.
- To make this vegetarian, substitute vegetable broth for the beef broth.
- May use Swiss Cheese in place of the Gruyère cheese.
- For a more traditional serving, ladle the soup into bowls, top each with 1 to 2 slices of bread and top with cheese. Place soup under broiler until cheese is melted and golden brown.
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