One of my favorite things about fall and winter is that it’s also soup season and a soup I always make all the time is French Onion Soup. I love everything about this soup. I love that it takes so few ingredients to make, yet the amount of flavor that develops is unreal. I also love the melty, cheesy, carb-y shell that you need to get through to get to the soup. For such a simple and classic soup, it can make such a great meal in itself. Enjoy! xx, Jenny
This recipe was originally posted on February 27th, 2017.
I really, really love soup. Usually my preference leans towards spicy soups, packed with different, complex and intense flavors like a pozole or a kimchi-tofu jigae, but every now and then I crave nothing but a simple French Onion Soup with bold yet clean flavors. I realized the other day that we didn’t have a recipe for this awesome soup, so I set out to change that. :)
This French Onion Soup recipe is really simple, but I use a very high quality, all natural beef broth (if I don’t make my own), and I think that that, along with properly caramelized onions (low and slow) make all the difference in the world! This soup holds extremely well and I often make a large batch that we can slurp our way through over the course of a few days, lol. Enjoy! xx, Jenny
Ingredients
- ½ stick (1/4 cup) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 5 cups thinly sliced yellow onion 2 large onions
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 32 ounces high quality beef broth
- 1 ½ tablespoons dry sherry
- 6 (½”) slices sourdough bread, lightly toasted
- 3 slices gruyere cheese
- 3 slices Swiss cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place a large pot over medium heat and melt butter and oil together. Add onions, lower heat to low and cook down and caramelize for 20 minutes.
- Add the thyme sprigs and bay leaf and sprinkle onions with sugar, some salt and black pepper and continue to cook down for an additional 10 to 12 minutes.
- Add broth and sherry and bring the soup to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Adjust seasonings.
- Discard the thyme stems and bay leaf and ladle soup into 3 oven safe bowls.
- Top each soup with 2 slices of bread and followed by 1 slice each Swiss and gruyere.
- Turn broiler on high. Place bowls of soup onto a baking sheet and broil for about 1 minute, or until the cheese begins to bubble and brown. Serve immediately.
Notes
- *Makes 1 quart Soup
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What a beautiful blog this is! I love french onion soup and keep meaning to make a batch. Hopefully this recipe gets me motivated!
WE I mean the boys and I love this soup with a side salad yummers
This looks and sounds awesome along with the ham and cheese slab pie, I’m planning on trying both.
French Onion is one of my faves. So much so that I made the ill-advised (ok, pretty much disastrous) decision to order it during a lunchtime interview. What on EARTH was I thinking?!? (But yes, I did get the job! ;-) What do you consider “high quality” broth? Do you have any brand reccos to share? Thanks!
Hi Jill! lol, I’m a big fan of onions and have also eaten it at maybe not the best times…like the day of my wedding…about an hour before I walked down the aisle. Whoops! :) With the broth, I don’t have a specific go to brand, but I do always try to find a broth or stock without preservatives and additives and preferably unsalted, so I can season it myself!