Today’s French Onion Soup is simple with only a few ingredients, but we’re transforming them into an exquisite, crave-worthy cozy soup and I’m talking you through all the steps to make sure yours turns out better than anything you can get in a restaurant.
RECIPE:
Ingredients
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
3.5 lbs onions I use a blend of sweet and yellow, cut into ⅛” slices (see post for detailed instructions on how to cut onions) (1.6kg)
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ Tablespoons all-purpose flour
⅔ cup dry white wine I used Pinot Grigio (157ml)
8 cups good quality beef broth
3 sprigs fresh thyme plus additional for topping if desired
2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For Topping
8 oz gruyere cheese* shredded
1 loaf French bread sliced into 3/4” thick slices
1 large garlic clove
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Large soup pot or Dutch oven (Affiliate Link):
Instructions
1. 00:00 Introduction
2. 00:22 Cut onions and place in large bowl.
3. 01:39 Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.
4. 01:51 Add onions, sugar, and salt and stir until all onions have been coated with butter. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
5. 02:24 Uncover and continue to cook, stirring as needed, until onions are caramelized, this will take 30-50 minutes. Near the end you will need to stir the onions frequently to keep them from burning and may need to reduce your heat. If the onions begin to stick to the bottom, simply deglaze the pan with a small splash of beef broth.
6. 03:37 Add wine and cook until the wine has been absorbed/cooked out and the alcohol smell is gone.
7. 04:06 Sprinkle flour over the onions and stir, cooking on medium/low heat for 2 minutes.
8. 04:25 Add beef broth (add the first half of this slowly, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan), thyme, bay leaves, and black pepper. Stir well and increase heat to bring to a boil.
9. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-30 minutes. Meanwhile, arrange your oven rack to the upper third of your oven and preheat oven to 425F (220C).
10. 05:34 Place your bread slices in an even layer on a baking sheet and cook until lightly toasted, about 5-10 minutes.
11. 06:03 Remove from oven (don’t turn the oven off!) and slice the garlic clove in half. Rub the cut half of the garlic against one surface of each slice of bread (the bread will be hot! I usually hold the bread with tongs while I rub the garlic against the surface).
12. Once soup has simmered, taste it and add more salt as needed (whether or not you need more and how much will vary greatly depending on the brand and type of broth you used). If it’s too salty you can always add a bit of water, ½ cup at a time. Remove thyme and bay leaves as you come across them.
Assembly
13. 07:00 Portion soup into crocks and sprinkle a bit of Gruyere over the surface. Top with bread slices (as many as fit nicely into the crock) and then top with additional cheese.
14. 07:27 Arrange crocks on a baking sheet and place in the top rack of your oven and bake until cheese is bubbly and beginning to turn golden brown.
15. 07:32 Remove and serve, topped with additional fresh thyme if desired.
Notes
Wine. You cook much of the alcohol out of this recipe, but if you want to make it wine-free you can simply substitute it with additional beef broth or chicken broth mixed with a a splash of vinegar. Some sources also recommend using grape juice instead, which I have never tried personally.
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