Classic French Onion Soup Recipe
This french onion soup recipe takes 3 pounds of onions slowly caramelized in butter, a beef broth base, and toasted baguette under bubbling Gruyère.
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This french onion soup recipe is mostly one ingredient and a lot of patience: three pounds of yellow onions cooked down in butter until they’re deep brown and sweet, then simmered in beef broth and finished with toasted baguette under a lid of melted Gruyère.
There’s no shortcut on the onions. Fifty minutes over medium heat is what it takes to get from raw and sharp to jammy and almost sweet. What you have at the 15-minute mark is softened onions, and a soup built on those tastes thin and hollow no matter what else goes in the pot.
Buy a beef broth you’d actually drink. There is very little else in this pot, so a watery store brand tastes like watery store brand at the end. A roasted beef base stirred into water is the cheap fix and it’s what most home cooks reach for.
Why You’ll Love This French Onion Soup Recipe
- Deeply sweet onions. Fifty minutes over medium heat turns 3 pounds of raw onions into about 2 cups of jammy brown sweetness that nothing else reproduces.
- A real cheese lid. Gruyère broiled over toasted baguette melts into a stretchy, browned cap instead of sliding off the bowl in one sheet.
- Cheap ingredients, restaurant results. Onions, butter, broth, and day-old bread. Almost everything in the pot costs a few dollars.
- Better the next day. The soup base keeps 4 days in the fridge and tastes rounder after a night, so most of the work can happen ahead.
French Onion Soup Ingredients
Gruyère is the one expensive thing on this list, and it’s worth it. It melts smoothly, browns under the broiler, and has the nutty edge the whole soup is built around. Swiss or Comté are the closest substitutes if the price stings.
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 lbs yellow onions (about 5 large), halved and thinly sliced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup dry white wine
- 6 cups beef broth
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp dry sherry (optional)
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 tsp dried)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 8 slices baguette, 1/2 inch thick
- 8 oz Gruyère cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
Recipe Variations
- Make it vegetarian with 6 cups of vegetable broth and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce in place of the Worcestershire, which contains anchovy. The soup is lighter but still savory.
- Swap the white wine for an extra 3/4 cup of dry sherry or 1/4 cup of brandy. Both are traditional in different French kitchens, and brandy gives the broth a rounder, sweeter finish.
- No oven-safe bowls? Pile the cheese onto the toasted baguette slices, broil them on a sheet pan until melted, and float the finished cheese toast on each bowl at the table.
How to Make French Onion Soup
- Slice the onions: Halve the onions through the root end and slice them thinly, about 1/8 inch. Three pounds looks absurd going into the pot and cooks down to roughly 2 cups, so use the biggest Dutch oven you own.
- Caramelize, slowly: Melt the butter with the olive oil in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, salt, and sugar and cook 45-55 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until they’re deep golden brown and jammy. Scrape the brown film off the bottom as it builds. That layer is where most of the flavor lives.
- Add the garlic and flour: Stir in the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir constantly for 1 minute to cook off the raw taste.
- Deglaze with wine: Pour in the white wine and scrape the bottom of the pot clean. Simmer 4-5 minutes, until the wine has mostly cooked away and the onions look glossy.
- Simmer the soup: Add the beef broth, Worcestershire, sherry if using, thyme, bay leaves, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered 30 minutes so the flavors settle. Fish out the bay leaves and taste for salt.
- Toast the bread: While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices on a sheet pan and bake at 400°F for 8-10 minutes, flipping once, until dry and lightly golden. Dry bread is what keeps the top from sinking into the bowl.
- Broil the cheese and serve: Set oven-safe bowls on a sheet pan and ladle in the hot soup. Float 1-2 baguette slices on each, cover them edge to edge with the Gruyère, and scatter the parmesan on top. Broil 3-5 minutes, until the cheese is melted, bubbling, and browned in spots. Serve right away, and warn everyone the bowls are extremely hot.
Recipe FAQs
How Long Does It Really Take to Caramelize Onions for French Onion Soup?
45 to 55 minutes over medium heat, stirring every few minutes. There’s no version of this that takes 15. What you get at the 15-minute mark is softened onions, and the soup ends up thin and sharp.
What Cheese Is Used in French Onion Soup?
Gruyère. It melts smoothly, browns well under the broiler, and carries the nutty flavor the soup is built around. Swiss and Comté are the closest substitutes, and a little parmesan on top helps the crust brown.
Can I Make This French Onion Soup Recipe Ahead?
Yes, and it’s better for it. Make the soup through the simmer step, cool it, and refrigerate up to 4 days. Reheat to a full simmer, then toast the bread and broil the cheese fresh.
What Kind of Onions Should I Use?
Yellow onions are the standard and give the most balanced sweetness. Sweet onions like Vidalia work and caramelize a little faster. Skip red onions, which turn the broth a murky gray.
Do I Have to Use Wine?
No. Use 3/4 cup of extra beef broth plus 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or balsamic to bring back some acidity. The soup is a shade less complex and still very good.
Cooking Tips
- Use a heavy pot, not a thin one. Onions cooking for close to an hour scorch in a thin-bottomed pan, and a scorched batch tastes bitter all the way through with nothing you can do about it.
- If the bottom of the pot goes from brown to nearly black, add 2 tablespoons of water and scrape immediately. That deglaze pulls the color up into the onions and buys you another ten minutes of browning.
- Shred the Gruyère off the block yourself. Pre-shredded cheese is coated in starch so it won’t clump, and under a broiler that coating browns before the cheese underneath has melted.
Storage and Freezing
To store: Refrigerate the soup base in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Keep the bread and cheese separate and build each bowl fresh.
To freeze: The base freezes well for up to 3 months. Freeze it without the bread or cheese, thaw overnight in the fridge, and reheat on the stove.
To reheat: Warm the soup on the stove over medium until it reaches a full simmer at 165°F, then ladle it into bowls and broil the bread and cheese fresh. Reheated cheese toast is never as good as new cheese toast.
How to Serve French Onion Soup
This french onion soup recipe makes six bowls, and it’s filling enough to be dinner with a green salad next to it, so butter lettuce with a sharp vinaigrette is the classic pairing. It also works as a first course before roast chicken or steak. Set the bowls on plates before they go to the table, because they come out from under the broiler hot enough to scorch a tablecloth.
Loved This Recipe?
French Onion Soup takes two hours and almost no skill, and most of those two hours are onions doing their own thing on the stove.
Leave a star rating in the comments below, it helps other people find this recipe. Made it? Tag @allwellfed on Instagram, I love seeing this one in other people’s kitchens.
Classic French Onion Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 lbs yellow onions about 5 large, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup dry white wine
- 6 cups beef broth
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp dry sherry optional
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp dried
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 8 slices baguette 1/2 inch thick
- 8 oz Gruyère cheese shredded, about 2 cups
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
Instructions
- Slice the onions: Halve the onions through the root end and slice them thinly, about 1/8 inch. Three pounds looks absurd going into the pot and cooks down to roughly 2 cups, so use the biggest Dutch oven you own.
- Caramelize, slowly: Melt the butter with the olive oil in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, salt, and sugar and cook 45-55 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until they’re deep golden brown and jammy. Scrape the brown film off the bottom as it builds. That layer is where most of the flavor lives.
- Add the garlic and flour: Stir in the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir constantly for 1 minute to cook off the raw taste.
- Deglaze with wine: Pour in the white wine and scrape the bottom of the pot clean. Simmer 4-5 minutes, until the wine has mostly cooked away and the onions look glossy.
- Simmer the soup: Add the beef broth, Worcestershire, sherry if using, thyme, bay leaves, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered 30 minutes so the flavors settle. Fish out the bay leaves and taste for salt.
- Toast the bread: While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices on a sheet pan and bake at 400°F for 8-10 minutes, flipping once, until dry and lightly golden. Dry bread is what keeps the top from sinking into the bowl.
- Broil the cheese and serve: Set oven-safe bowls on a sheet pan and ladle in the hot soup. Float 1-2 baguette slices on each, cover them edge to edge with the Gruyère, and scatter the parmesan on top. Broil 3-5 minutes, until the cheese is melted, bubbling, and browned in spots. Serve right away, and warn everyone the bowls are extremely hot.
Notes
If you made this, leave a star rating down in the comments. It takes about ten seconds, and it’s how other cooks decide whether a recipe is worth trying.
