Best French Onion Soup We've Made
- PREP 15min
- COOK 1hrs 15min
- TOTAL 1hrs 30min
This recipe makes the best French onion soup we’ve ever made at home, and to be honest, it knocks the socks off most that we’ve had at restaurants, too. Take care to caramelize your onions, as that’s where the rich onion flavor comes from.
You Will Need
3 ½ pounds (1590g) yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced (6 to 7 medium)
4 tablespoons (57g) European-style salted butter, like Kerrygold, plus more for bread
1/4 cup (2 ounces) sweet vermouth, sherry, or brandy
1/4 cup (2 ounces) dry white wine or Lillet Blanc; see notes
4 to 5 cups (950ml to 1180ml) chicken broth or beef stock, see tips
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1 French baguette or rustic loaf, sliced into 1/2-inch slices, 12 slices
2 cloves garlic
1 cup (114g) grated Gruyere cheese, 4 ounces
Directions
Make Soup
Melt the butter in a wide pot over medium heat — use a heavy-bottomed or stainless steel pot like a Dutch oven or rondeau.
Stir in the onions, and then cover with a lid. Cook, over medium heat, until the onions look translucent, 12 to 15 minutes.
Uncover the pot, and continue to cook the onions, stirring occasionally and scraping up any stuck browned bits from the bottom and sides. The onions take 45 to 60 minutes to caramelize. Keep a close eye on them. When you notice they begin to brown, stir them more often to keep them from burning.
When the onions are golden and smell caramelized, stir in the vermouth and white wine. Cook, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl, for about 2 minutes. Continue to the next step when you no longer smell strong alcohol and instead smell sweet onions with the aromas of the vermouth and wine.
Stir in the broth, thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Cover the pot with its lid and bring the soup to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and then season with additional salt if needed. While Chef Richard suggests 4 cups of broth, we enjoy a bit more liquid and use 5 cups of broth, instead.
Turn off the heat, and allow the soup to steep (covered) while you prepare the bread.
To Serve
Set aside four oven-safe soup bowls (we use cocottes from Le Creuset).
Heat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Butter the bread slices, and then line them up on a baking sheet. Bake until golden, 5 to 6 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes.
Rub the toasted bread with the garlic cloves, and then quickly dunk the bread into the soup. Dunking the bread first helps to prevent the bread from soaking up all the broth in your bowl when serving.
Place oven-safe bowls onto a large baking sheet (to help move them in and out of the oven). Place one slice into the bottom of each oven-safe soup bowl and sprinkle a little Gruyere cheese on top. Ladle soup into the bowls and top with two more slices of bread. Top with remaining cheese. Broil until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Onions: I use yellow onions, but if you try sweet onions (like Vidalia or Walla Walla), we have noticed that they brown more quickly than yellow onions, so be careful to keep close when the onions are caramelizing so that they do not burn.
- Broth: Use homemade chicken broth or homemade beef stock, or substitute it with store-bought chicken broth. Unfortunately, we do not recommend store-bought beef broth since we’ve yet to find one we enjoy (I find them more salty than flavorful).
- Alcohol: We use sweet vermouth (Dolin) and Lillet Blanc. You can substitute sweet vermouth with sherry (not sherry cooking wine) or brandy. Lillet Blanc is similar to dry white wine but more aromatic. Your favorite dry white wine is fine.
- Can you make French onion soup without wine? Yes, leave the alcohol out altogether and season to taste with a splash of sherry vinegar and possibly a dash of fish sauce (odd, but it adds a lot of flavor). When deglazing the pan, use broth. You will lose some complexity in the flavor, but the soup will still be tasty.
- French onion soup bowls: Any oven-safe soup bowl (sometimes called crocks) will work for this recipe. Handles do help when transferring them in and out of the oven. We used mini round cocotte’s from Le Creuset (8 ounces).
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.