This French Onion Soup is way better than what I have had at most restaurants. The rich flavor of the broth paired with the gooey cheese is unbeatable!
French Onion Soup
I love a good French onion soup, especially in the Fall when you can get really good, sweet onions. This French Onion Soup is way better than what I have had at most restaurants. The rich flavor paired with the gooey cheese and soft bread is just so… mmmmm… there are no words that can describe how good it is. Just as a little added note, when making French onion soup you definitely want to use beef consomme. You will find it adds a good depth of flavor that beef broth alone just can’t provide. You can find beef consomme in the canned soup isle in your grocery store. It is usually right next to the beef broth.
What Kind of Cheese is on French Onion Soup?
The cheese layer on top is a combination of Provolone, Swiss and Parmesan cheeses. Putting it all under the broiler until the cheeses are bubbly creates the desired texture and effect.
In the Mood for More Soup?
If you’re in the middle of fall and winter, soups just seem like the perfect meal. You’ll have plenty of possibilities to try when you check out these soup recipes and more.
- Crock Pot Beef Vegetable Soup is one of the easiest bowls of comfort food you’ll ever throw together.
- Loaded Potato Soup is easy, cheesy and filled with all your favorite flavors.
- Ham and Bean Soup os the perfect way to warm your belly and delight your tastebuds.
- Best Clam Chowder really is the best clam chowder recipe ever. What more can we say?
- Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli Soup Copycat tastes so much like the restaurant version, but you’ll love having it at home.
How To Make French Onion Soup
Ingredients
- 1/2 c. butter 1 stick
- 4 medium-sized sweet onions sliced thin
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
- ground black pepper to taste
- 31.5 oz Beef Consomme 3, 10.5 oz cans (found with the canned soups at the store)
- 10.5 oz Beef Broth
- 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
- 4 slices French Bread OR 2 c. Parmesan croutons
- 4 slices provolone cheese
- 4 slices Swiss cheese chopped
- Parmesan cheese to taste
- paprika to taste
Instructions
- Melt butter in a stock pot. Add onions, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
- Cook, stirring often, until onions are soft and caramelized (about 30 minutes).
- Add consomme, beef broth, and vinegar and simmer another 30 minutes (at this point you can also transfer to a crock pot and cook on low heat for several hours).
- When ready to eat, toast French bread in broiler for about 2 minutes turning once, until lightly toasted on each side. Remove from broiler, but keep broiler on.
- Remove and discard bay leaf and thyme from soup. Ladle soup evenly into 4 oven-safe serving bowls. Place a slice of French bread into each bowl and top with provolone and Swiss cheese.
- Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and paprika over the top and broil for about 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and golden brown.
Anna says
It’s my very favorite soup ever! Pure comfort food! The cheesy bread always gets me.
Jessica Burgess says
My husband absolutely LOVES french onion soup but I had never made it. So I was on the hunt for a recipe and was hoping this was it. It WAS! He absolutely loved it, thank you!
Betsy says
My favorite! I absolutely adore soup of all kinds and I especially LOVE this soup! I never have it enough! So delicious! And deceptively easy! The caramelized onions, the rich broth… the perfectly broiled cheese on top? Yum!
Julie Blanner says
I love french onion soup! I made this last weekend when it was it was dreary, it was a perfect way to warm up. My family loved it too, which is always a plus!
Valentina says
This french onion soup is the perfect fall comfort food!
Krissy Allori says
Yummy! This looks great. My mother in law loves this soup.
Bettijo says
Oh my goodness! I absolutely LOVE French Onion soup and always order it. I had no idea it was so simple to make. Thanks for sharing.
Erica Walker says
Right?? It’s SO easy to make! Let us know how you like it!
Sara says
This is my favorite kind of soup! I agree that making it with the consomme makes all the difference. Thanks for such a great recipe!!
Shirley says
Can it just be made in the crock pot , or do you have a recipe for the crock pot ??
Erica says
Yes, this can easily be made in the crock pot 🙂
Corey says
Do you have any suggestions on how to make a vegetarian version of this soup?
Erica says
Hmm good question. You could try using vegetable broth but it probably won’t taste quite as good ;/ let us know if you try it and how it turns out!
Linda says
I made this but it was extremely salty. I don’t have any experience cooking with beef broth or consomme. Afterward I Googled “what is the best beef broth” and the answer is the best broth is when you make it from scratch! But second best option is Better Than Bouillon – a jar of concentrated bouillon paste to which you add boiling water to make beef, chicken, or vegetable broth. Google results said that all canned beef broth is too salty – I had used Campbell’s beef consomme and Swanson’s beef broth. Google also told me that French Onion Soup can be made with chicken broth or plain water, so I bought the low sodium Better Than Bouillon chicken broth jar. I spooned out and strained the onions from my existing soup and discarded the salty beef broth/consomme, then prepped the Better Than Bouillon chicken broth and added my existing cooked onions. The results were much better for me than using the canned beef broth/consomme.
katie says
How many people does this serve? I have a family of four (the men usually go in for seconds) and I’m trying to decide if I need to double up on this recipe.
Erica says
It makes 4 good-sized bowls… if it is your main course doubling-up might not be a bad idea.
Charlene Wiles-Perry says
My daughter made this and it was sooo good…..now I’m craving more….
kelly says
If you can get broth from cooking a roast it is extra fantastic. And as crazy as it may sound, adding a few dashes of balsalmic vinegar before dishing it out, the flavors are intensified!
Erica says
Great idea! Thank you for sharing! Will definitely try that next time I make a roast. YUM!
Ray says
This recipe looks amazing. I live in an apartment with a low end stove. A lot of recepies I have wanted to make lately say to use broiler but we haven’t had much luck with it and it usually ends with the smoke detector going off. Any ideas on getting around this and would this recipe suffer without that step?
Erica says
My advice would be just to watch it VERY closely. As soon as it starts to bubble, take it out. You could probably use a kitchen-torch if you have one!
Judi Van Swieten says
Would like the nutritional breakdown, as I think this might be quite high in sodium, with salt, canned soup and cheese. Sure hope it falls in the acceptable range as it sounds delish.
Erica says
I don’t have that information but you can plug this information into a source like livestrong.com if you needed to find out!
May bloom says
I love French onion soup and home made would be excellent. I have a question, what consommé do you use? Is it 3 cans of undiluted concentrate or do you dilute as per the directions on the cans?
Erica says
UNdiluted for sure– don’t follow the directions on the can. We use beef consomme. Hope this helps!
Brenda M says
I made this when I cooked in a restaurant but we used only about 2 tbsp of butter.. 1/2 cup it would swim in grease as there is also fat coming off of the cheeses. We also added about 2 cups of bar brand sherry for a large pot so I would think at least 1/4 cup for this size of recipe.
shaz says
Great recipe easy to follow, turned out perfect thanks
Bridget says
Can I double the recipe
Favorite Family Recipes says
Sure!
The Squishy Monster says
I typically just skim the broiled cheese off the top but this I know I would devour!! =)