This is the French Onion Soup you need if you’re in the mood for a savory, delicious meal that’s equal parts fancy and comforting.
Try your hand at making this French Onion Soup for a special date night or a quick meal.
This soup is ridiculous simple to make, but the result will have you, and anyone else who tastes it, convinced you graduated from Le Cordon Bleu.
Below are some tips and tricks to make the French Onion Soup of your dreams.
French Onion Soup Background
Healthy soup comes from the King’s table, from France. Just as you would expect, this delicious savory soup originated in France.
It is original name is Soupe a l’Oignon Gratinée. It is very popular soup in France especially during the winter days and nights.
The soup started to gain popularity in late 18th century due to bad economic situation. Onion was reachable vegetable for poor people, and it affected popularity of the dish.
Soupe a l’Oignon Gratinée can be served as main dish as well as can be served as starter.
While there are contrasting beliefs about its exact origins, we do know someone in King Louis XV’s family created the recipe.
For that reason, we are forever indebted to King Louis XV, as this is an excellent legacy to have stapled to your name.
We love French Onion Soup for many reasons. It’s got the world’s most superior vegetable, so with a few ingredients you’d hardly believe it would taste this fantastic.
On a cold winter’s night, who wouldn’t want to curl up with a bowl of this stuff? Then again, who wouldn’t want it on a summer’s night? Truthfully, we could eat this year-round. And after you make it once, you’ll want to make it over and over.
French Onion Soup is bold in flavor. It’s salty from the stock, sweet from the caramelized onions, and cheesy from, well, the cheese. But adding cheese is completely entirely up to you. What’s not to love?
Ingredients
The star of the show, of course, is onions. Onions, our multifaceted friend with a stunning flavor profile, are often cast in supporting roles, but here, they’re the lead.
We suggest using both red and white onions, as the two types will blend so beautifully and create a flavor you didn’t realize was possible for a humble soup.
While they start pungent, the onions will become sweet after caramelizing for nearly an hour.
To complement your onions, use a delicious unsalted butter to cook them. Using an unsalted butter will allow you more control over the saltiness when you add salt later.
Choose your favorite sherry vinegar, as its tartness will bring out the best in the onions, too. Because all the ingredients used are so bold in flavor, you won’t have to use much seasoning, so light-handed seasoners rejoice!
We talk so much about the onions, but we can’t forget the cheese, if you want to add cheese to the soup. The cheese has a great impact on the soup. It will only further enhance the flavor. It truly is to the finished product of this dish.
If you do decide to use cheese, we strongly recommend choosing a strong cheese, like Gruyere or swiss, and make sure you grate it yourself. Trust us, you’ll be glad you did.
Bouquet Garni
Bouquet Garni is one of foundation of Classic French Cuisine. It has aromatic ingredients in it and it generally adding into soups, stocks, and meat dishes.
Bouquet Garni generally includes leek, fresh thyme, bay leaf, parsley. It can be different than the ingredients for adapting them to different recipes.
Ingredient Variations & Substitution
The Soup can be Vegan or Vegetarian. Instead of beef stock, vegetable stock can be used for making it Vegan or Vegetarian. You may also use water but be mindful you’ll have to alter the ingredients slightly to enhance the flavor in the soup.
You may also add cheese to help enhance the flavor of the soup. Instead of Gruyere, any kind of savory Vegan Cheese can be used.
Low Sodium French Onion Soup
You’ll noticed in this recipe, we are using low sodium vegetable broth, along with controlling the amount of salt that’s added in the soup with Kosher salt, making this low sodium French onion soup even more enjoyable.
How To Make French Onion Soup?
To begin making your French onion soup, first slice two onions minced the garlic.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and add onions to sauté.
Sauté the onions then add the garlic.
Add the flour to make the soup thicker and brown the flour.
After browning the flour, deglaze it with Sherry Vinegar.
Add the vegetable Stock then add one piece of Bouquet Garni.
Bring to boil for 10-15 minutes.
Before serving, slice the baguette and grate cheese on top. Toast in the oven until lightly brown. Serve the toasted bread with the soup.
Preparation Tips
The first step when making French Onion Soup is to thinly slice your onion. We’re sure your eyes are already watering just at the sound of that, and we want to help. A couple tips – use a sharp knife, chill or freeze your onion ahead of time, or, if you’re feeling a little silly, slip on a pair of goggles.
Although French Onion Soup is simple to make, it is a bit labor-intensive and requires your attention, so be sure you are in the position to monitor your soup. This is not a slow cooker recipe.
While your onions are caramelizing, you’ll need to stir frequently. Continuously check your onions to ensure they’re not sticking to the pan, and that they’re caramelizing evenly. The onions, when cooked down, can easily stick to one another, so you must make a conscious effort to separate them.
Once your onions are caramelized, the rest goes quickly. You’ll add your wine and delicious sherry vinegar, a bit of flour and your stock, and salt and pepper to taste.
Go light on the salt, though, as the stock will be salty, and all the ingredients have bold flavors as is.
Pop your entire mixture into ramekins and broil, and voila! You’re finished. Although, if you want to be extra fancy, a fun way to broil the cheese is to use a cooking torch in lieu of the oven.
This will elevate your soup just a touch, as it’ll give you more control over the browning of the cheese. And you’re a “Le Cordon Bleu” graduate, remember?
Serving Tips
You’ll want to serve your soup immediately after preparation. French Onion Soup is best hot, and you don’t want the cheese to solidify. There’s nothing more satisfying than a good cheese pull, right?
If you cannot serve your soup immediately, wait to add the cheese until you can serve it, and make sure you’ve warmed the onion and broth mixture, too.
French Onion Soup is not meant to be eaten cold. Serving it after the fact would make it easier to use traditional soup bowls instead of ramekins, too.
One of the best ways to eat French Onion Soup is with a side of bread. A toasted baguette would be delightful, but a slice of French bread would be tasty, too. If you prefer, you can add your cheese to the top of your bread instead of the soup itself.
This would be a good alternative if you have to prepare your soup ahead of time. No matter what, try to incorporate bread of some kind.
Storage Tips
After you’ve finished serving your French Onion Soup, you’ll want to store it. If you have any left, that is. If you do – hooray! It’ll taste just as good leftover as it did fresh, as the flavors will have time to meld, and the onions will absorb the broth.
Store your leftover French Onion Soup in the refrigerator to keep it as fresh as possible for as long as possible.
It’ll keep well for a few days after (if it lasts that long), but you won’t want to keep it past a week, as it won’t taste as good.
You can keep it in the pot you cooked it in, or you can put it in glass or plastic containers, though we suggest glass to keep any rogue odors or flavors whirling in your fridge out of your soup.
More Soup Recipes You’ll Enjoy
We can’t wait for you to make this soup, because we know you’ll love it just as much as we do. It’s so tasty and can cure any blues. Whether you’re having a party, cooking for your family, or just yourself, this French Onion Soup is the perfect dish. Once you are done trying this soup, we recommend trying of these soups next.
Vegan Soup Joumou (Haitian Pumpkin Soup)
French Pumpkin Carrot Soup
Soup Joumou (Haitian Squash Soup)
Panera Bread Broccoli Cheddar Soup
It warms our hearts to see the recipes you make from this site, and we’d especially would love to know if you tried this recipe.
Tag us on Instagram or Facebook so we can see your beautiful dish.
Also, we would appreciate if could give it a star rating below!
Best Classic French Onion Soup
Equipment
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 Large Red Onion
- 1 Large White Onion
- 1 Stick Unsalted Butter
- 1 Garlic Clove; Minced
- 4 Tsp. Sherry Vinegar
- 4 Tbsp. Flour
- 4 Cups Brown Stock; Or Vegetable Stock
- 1 Bouquet Garni
- 1 Tsp. Kosher Salt
- ½ Tsp. Black Pepper
Instructions
- First slice two onions minced the garlic.In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and add onions to sauté.Sauté the onions then add the garlic.Add the flour to make the soup thicker and brown the flour.
- After browning the flour, deglaze it with Sherry Vinegar.Add the vegetable Stock then add one piece of Bouquet Garni.Bring to boil for 10-15 minutes.
- Before serving, slice the baguette and grate cheese on top. Toast in the oven until lightly brown. Serve the toasted bread with the soup.
Tavo says
The soup was so good! I am definitely making it again!
Natalie says
Yum. This is true winter soup. My husband will love this. Thanks for sharing your recipe. I’m going to make this soup soon.
Gina says
This is my favorite comfort food soup hands down! Delicious recipe!
Mirlene says
Thank you, Gina.
Pam says
Now that is without a doubt the prettiest French Onion Soup ever! I can’t wait to try your recipe and really appreciate all of the tips.
Mirlene says
Aww thank you so much, Pam.
Toni says
This is seriously comforting!! A hearty meal perfect for cold nights!
Mirlene says
Thank you very much, Toni.