The last recipe I posted for French Onion soup was from Cook’s Illustrated and the soup came out great. So when I saw that they had an updated recipe, I had to give it a try. The big change between the recipes was that the updated version calls for caramelizing the onions in the oven rather than on the stove top. This change lets you get a lot more flavor out of the onions and means you don’t have to stir the onions every minute. They call this, “The Best French Onion Soup,” and after trying it, I can’t argue!
The Best French Onion Soup
From: Cook’s Illustrated
Serves 6
Notes:
For the best flavor, make the soup a day or 2 in advance. Alternatively, the onions can be prepared through step 1, cooled in the pot, and refrigerated for up to 3 days before proceeding with the recipe.
Ingredients:
Soup
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces
- 6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices (Make sure you get Yellow)
- Table salt
- 2 cups water, plus extra for deglazing
- 1/2 cup dry sherry
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (They recommend Swanson Certified Organic Free Range Chicken Broth )
- 2 cups beef broth (They recommend Pacific Beef Broth)
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine
- 1 bay leaf
- Ground black pepper
Cheese Croutons
- 1 small baguette , cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)
Directions:
For the soup:
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Generously spray the inside of a heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot and add the onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, for 1 hour (the onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.
- Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the pot bottom is coated with a dark crust, roughly 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.)
- Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot.
- Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.
For the croutons:
- While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
To serve:
- Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.
Equipment Used:
Try a non-alchoholic wine in place of the sherry. One kind is ARIEL. We use it at church for communicants who cannot have alcohol. It can be used for cooking, in fact their website has recipes.
the alcohol in the wine evaporates completely when cooked. You need not worry about alcohol being in the soup.
This is the best french onion recipe out there. I made this last year and people are still talking about it. Takes forever and stinks out your house for weeks, but well worth it!
By far the best…the onions were carmalized to perfection…used a bouquet garni rather than the thyme/bay leaf…the depth of flavor was beyond restaurant perfect…
any suggestions for thickening the soup ?
Has anyone ever tried making this soup using a vegetable stock in place of the chicken and beef?
Way down in the comments, someone had recommendations on making a vegetarian version. I think they recommended using a little bit of soy sauce to add complexity.
I use a soy stock and it is excellent. I am also able to make larger amounts without fear of spoilage.
Yes and you can’t tell the difference, infact it came out better. This was by the far the best recipe. The only other change I made was not to use all that much salt. One spoonfull was enough.
Forgot to mention… I used about 3/4 cup of brandy instead of the sherry which worked very well and gave a nice deep flavour to the soup.
Great soup! Made me feel like I was sitting in a cafe back in Paris :-)
Just returned from Paris…can’t wait to try this recipe.
I just made this soup!! It turned out very good! I used root beer instead of sherry. Next time I will try the sherry next time, just didn’t have any on hand.
Root Beer? You still taking Meth?
A good dry white wine is a good alternative.
If you make your own beef broth as perry said the entire process can take as long as 8 hours. Did it seem like a chore to make?
Just made it this afternoon, and yes, it was a bit of a chore even without making my own beef broth. I think it was good but am hoping that it will taste even better tomorrow or the next day.
If you dont have sherry then i suggest you use beer or extra
hard whiskey. If you cant dish out the money then put root
beer in it,make sure it’s not diet. if you dont wanna cry chopping onions put frosted flakes in there and if your cold,just drink a bottle of hhot sauce.. trust me its easy:)
Anybody ever try this with shallots or a mix of onions/shallots? I love shallots.
How many calories is this meal? Is it high, low, medium, 400 per serving? Does anybody know?
To Lainey,
You’ve never heard of Gruyère cheese??
Neither have any of the supermarkets in my area, apparently; I couldn’t find it even in the Raley’s specialty cheese bin.
Incidentally, I find this recipe perfectly satisfying topped with shredded mozzarella, for anyone who, like me, has trouble finding gruyere.
I don’t drink any alcohol or even purchase alcohol for cooking for religious reasons.
Does anyone think orange or pineapple juice would be a good substitution for the sherry in this recipe?
(And please don’t try to lecture me on how much will cook out, etc.)
The answer to your question is no. No.
So what would be a good substitution?
John, just try omitting the booze all together. I bet it will taste just fine.
But the thought of adding O.J. or P.J. just turns my stomach.
Apple juice.
what about using cooking whine it is made specifically just for cooking trust me it’s definitely not for drinking it isn’t even sold in the liquor section it is found by the vinegar
It’s hard to imagine what would be a good substitute for sherry. Sherry vinegar might be a viable option; otherwise you could just consider it a sacrifice for your faith.
Generally, you can just leave out the alcohol in a recipe if it calls for it. You could also just substitute beef broth or stock for it. The sherry just gives a distinctive flavor, but it will still be delish without it!
My mother has a chart for non-alcoholic cooking. You can substitute apple cider for sherry and get pretty good results. That is how I plan to make this recipe.
I just made this at my grandmother’s house where I had no access to any alcohol. I used red wine vinegar a generous dash of balsamic to make up the 1/2C of Sherry – had to add a bit of water but it was just fine. Normally I would have used white wine but this tastes just fine.
Hope this helps!
(please don’t use orange juice!)
is it really better with both kinds of broth or is one or the other the way to go
Hello all. I am going to attempt to make this soup because it’s my husbands favorite; however, I’ve never heard of Gruyère cheese. Can you buy this cheese at a regular supermarket (Super Wal-mart, Giant Eagle, Vons) or is it specialty cheese? And can other cheeses be substituted? Thanks in advance to anyone who replies. =)
The Cheese is a very common cheese and can be found at most any food store…….Monty
gruyre cheese is a very strong swiss that melts nicely!!!! very very good and can be found at gigger super markets in the taste place section or at a specialty cheese out let or store. if you can’t find it regular swiss is ok just not as flavorful in this soup
John, if you purchase cough syrup at your local store you are probably getting more alcohol than you would get out of the best cooking cherry…
Use Jarlsberg or regular swiss cheese as a substitute to Gruyère :-)
This is a great recipe. Thanks a lot. It came out perfect.
If U want U can add a little bit of Worcestershire sauce and some type of browning sauce to help darken the broth. I cooked my onions in a fry pan with butter then I added the worcestershire along with just a little browning sauce to darken the onions a bit.
This is a good idea to shorten cook time and still retain the dark color. But, I don’t think that’s the point of the excercise listed in this recipe. The point is to carmelize the onions (making them brown) for the flavor. You can’t get as good a carmelized flavor by using browning sauce. The carmelization of the onions is what makes French Onion Soup good!
Can I use fiesta-ware cups instead of the crocks?
As long as they are safe under the broiler, they should definitely work!
I just harvested a bunch of white onions. Can they be substituted for yellow onions?
Definitely! The cooking times might be a little different, especially since they are so fresh, so I would keep an eye on them and adjust accordingly.
I love French onion soup and this is definately the best recipe I’ve found, thanks for sharing!
what is the difference between cooking sherry and alcoholic sherry?
Cooking sherry IS alcoholic, but the amount of alcohol is lower, and the sodium is higher. The alcohol content is low enough that the sherry can be purchased in supermarkets even in states where, like mine (Pennsylvania) alcohol cannot usually be purchased in grocery stores.
Thanks Laurel! If you can find a bottle of regular sherry it is probably better to use it. The general is not to use any wine you wouldn’t drink yourself.
the alcohal
OOOps
Hi again
Sorry, I was also going to ask about freezing this soup.
Suggestions or warnings?
I freeze the leftovers whenever I make this soup. Just use quart freezer bags (stronger is better for soup!) and fill about 2/3 to 3/4 full. When I’m ready to have French onion soup again, I take out a bag in the morning and put it in the fridge. By that evening I can that evening reheat gently on the stove.
Hi
I was wondering, could I roast the onions in a crock pot instead of an oven?
Hi, I was wondering whether the sherry can be substituted with something non-alcoholic. Soup looks amazing. :)
Thanks.
This is a great recipe, buts wrong with the alcohol it is cooked off and there is know alcohol left in the end in case it is a kosher thing. You can buy cooking sherry (the real stuff tastes better) at the grocery store that is probably low or no alcohol.
you could always use sherry vinegar, it’s got a great flavor and packs a real punch. You would only need to use about 10-25% as much sherry vinegar -> sherry wine
I was also looking for a non-alcoholic substitution for the sherry. Orange-pineapple juice worked great for me!
I actually get Cook’s Illustrated Magazine, and I made this when it first came out. I can’t find the issue, so thank you very much for making ti available online! (my 11 year old son was quite happy tonight!)
this was a FABULOUS soup! instead of the Sherry, i used port and white wine mixed and added 1/3 cup brandy towards the end (I have a friend who is a French chef) and he suggests that the brandy is traditional. it is such a deep flavour. Fantastic! Thank you for this recipe! :o)
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This is an excellent if not the best recipe known to date, for the French Onion Soup. I read the same or similar recipe in the Gourmet magazine a couple of months ago… and it always comes out amazing. I now make several variation on it, depending of what I have at home. Instead of the shery I’ve used white wine (cardonney or pinot whatever I had) or instead of using beef and chicken broth I use chicken bouillon in watter… and it still tasted as great!
An alternative way to make the crutons is by rubbing garlic cloves on the semi-toasted bread, topping it with a bit of olive oil and then put them in the oven again to slightly gold the bread, instead of using cheese (wich I love!).
Delicious!
i’m cooking this recipe right now….and the onion’s…burnt..basically it’s just black.
So is it still edible? Because mum is refusing to eat it..
:(
Throw it away, Julia, it ain’t no good. You can’t eat that French Onion Soup!
I love this dish! A bit of beef broth, an onion or three, left over cheese an wow yummy food. An online spice company called Juliet Mae, has a similar philosophy.
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For the vegetarian: I’m also a vegetarian. For beef broth I use Marmite–dissolve in water, about a tablespoon to one cup water. You can usually find Marmite at heatlth food stores ore Fresh Market.
Great recipe!!
That sounds like a great suggestion! I have never tried using marmite in a broth. I have tried using soy sauce, which adds a bit of depth.
I’m not a great cook, but I love French Onion Soup. I gave this recipe a try and my husband said it was EXCELLENT. I thought the recipe was easy to do and very tasty. I also loved the aroma! Excellent.
We also opted out of the cheese & bread, to reduce the calories. Still very tasty.
It’s the best plus it’s snowing outside so it’s even better!
I just made this. WOW it was incredible. At the end of preparation, I started to read these reviews so I made a very small bowl and added a small amount of the nutmeg, as suggested. Personally I prefer it without, but I do appreciate the flavor it added. I also used my own home-made beef broth. The real secret to a good french onion soup is to have a great broth as well as the yellow onions and making sure not to burn them!
I recently purchased a tenderloin to make a Chateaubriand roast, and with the leftover scraps I made this rich beef bouillon. (you can use any type of meat though for this)
If you can afford the time, here is my recipe for broth:
2lbs of beef bones (cracked up small). Most butchers can take the bones they sell and cut them up smaller if you ask.
1 1/2oz butter or beef drippings
1 large onion
2 medium carrots
1 stalk celery
1 pound (approx) of beef, cut into small pieces
4 pints water
Salt and 8 black peppercorns
Trim and peel the vegetables and cut into medium sized pieces.
Saute the vegetables over medium heat in a 1 TBS of olive oil or butter until lightly browned, set aside.
Melt the butter or drippings in a large soup pot, dutch oven or braising pan over medium high heat, and brown the bones on all sides.
Add 2TBS Salt, vegetables, the lightly crushed peppercorns, meat, and cold water.
Bring slowly to a boiling point until it begins to simmer, and then reduce heat to medium low, stirring occasionally. Skim off any froth that rises, adding a half cup of cold water or an ice cube until the surface is clear. Then reduce the heat, cover and simmer slowly for 2-4 hours.
Uncover pan and reduce the stock by rapid simmering for a further 20 minutes. Adjust the stock to taste by adding salt or any other spices you wish. If it’s not beefy enough tasting, then let it reduce more.
Remove from heat, and allow to cool. Once cooled down, cover and put in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
After cooled, most of the fat will have formed on top of the pot like a big frisbee. Remove the fat (use it for something else if you wish). Reheat the broth, as it will most likely have turned into a gelatin. Once reheated, strain broth, and the use it for your French Onion soup!
Enjoy!
thank you!!!
Well, not the best I’ve ever made but it has potential, I made this recipe 3 times,2 of which I had changed for better taste, of course many are going to like it, it’s sort of obvious with the comments here, but my suggestion is to play around with it, add this instead of that or this with that, experimentation is the best way to find the ‘Best’ recipe of it’s sort. I suppose it was ok though.
Of course “you” can do it better…but without any suggestions your comments are sort of condescending and sarcastic. But then again…you seem to be in the minority with your opinion. Maybe you are wrong. Think about it.
Wow, you really thing you are something huh?
With no input or suggestions, I think you don’t know what you don’t know. In other words, just a someone who is a self absorbed jerk without a clue.
I used to go to a Creperie in Montreal years ago. They had the most incredible onion soup: they were famous for it. Secret ingredient? Freshly grated nutmeg. I don’t know how much of it they used in their cauldrons to feed the lined-up masses, but that deep, lemony, rich flavor of freshly grated nutmeg just makes an onion soup that much richer.
I’m posting this recipe on our purezing.com website, but I have added the freshly grated nutmeg as I know that would make this recipe TOTALLY superlative! Great, great bones to this recipe… the finishing touch is the nutmeg.
Very good idea Page,I just might try that.
so worth it!
Dear Sirs,
I haven’t made the soup yet,but I did notice thatthis web page doesn’t have a print option. I printed 7 pages to get 3 pages of useful info. Chancesare good my lack of web savey is the reason,but it would be helpful to be able to cut out the coment section.
Hi Don, That is a good suggestion. I will see if I can put something together.
How about just transferring the recipe to Microsoft Word and cutting out everything else?
Don,
Right click & highlight the receipe then file print but
first choose selection on print options
I just printed it in one page.
Bon Appitite!
Just highlight what you need and copy the selected items. Problem solved!!
Have someone show you how to copy and paste to a word document. Copy only what you want and then print the word document.
Don,
when you go to print it should bring up a print page first and you just say print pages 1-3
Whenever there is not a print option, Highlight the test you want to print and hit print in your browser. When your print options come up, select “Selection” and it will print only the highlighted text.
Don, the simplest way to print just what you need is to do a print preview first and see what page ends the text of the recipe and begins the comments, then just tell it instead of print all pages, to print a range from 1-3 for example if page 3 is the last of the recipe page. That will help in each case to avoid printing more than what you want of any web page.
Can you use a regular white wine instead of sherry?
I did. This was a fabulous recipe!!!
I just made this soup and burned the crap out of my mouth because it smelled sooo good I couldn’t wait for it to cool down. This recipe is the best!!! It is the most luscious soup I ever had.
I saw this on Ameirca’s Test Kitchen. I subscribe to the magazine, and they still wanted $34 to access the web site. Thanks for the service, I am making the soup right now.
Oh, I couldn’t agree with you more!!!! ….You beat me to it!lol!
Matt, I love ATK and I was a bit peeved about having to pay separately for the website too. I do love the art on the cover and back of their magazine (In fact have a few up on the wall in the kitchen :) ) The website is a better deal though. Current issue plus all the information from back issues available at any time.
Now don’t get me started about Cooks Country…
This looks tantilizingly scrumptious! I can’t wait to try it tonight! Thank you for the recipe.
Hi, I am dying for a great onion soup recipe, and this looks like it could be it. One question though, is there anything that can be substituted for the cooking spray as I have people that have an allergy to it. I would just lightly greas with more butter but worry it may be too greasy.
That looks wonderful. You can not substitute for the flavor of properly carmelizing the onions.
I’m a vegetarian – is there a good substitute for beef broth? I am hoping vegetabale broth may work okay?
EXCELLENT beef broth substitute, especially for onion soup. Equal parts DRY SHERRY and regular mainstream SOY SAUCE, added to water. Sorry I dont remember the exact proportions, but its to taste anyway. Just take the amount of water you are going to use and start dumping in sherry and soy sauce. Maybe a cup of each added to 2 quarts of water. I was a chef for 15 years and pleased many many vegans AND carnivores with this vegan onion soup.
I meant to say that this soy sauce, dry sherry and water idea is much better than vegetable broth for onion soup. the vegetable broth is good also, but has too many competing flavors if you are trying to simulate traditional beef-broth onion soup. good luck! let me know how it works.
Great tip Rob, Thanks!
As a vegetarian substitute for any kind of broth, I suggest stock made in a fashion consistent with the general recipe here (note: main post is, but side ads and sidebar stuff might not be entirely, safe for work). I can’t vouch for its similarity to any particular kind of broth, but I’ve used it in this and other recipes and the results have been phenomenal.
Never have so many onions served so few so well. It was great. Very fond of fond.
We just finished a crock of this soup.. we totally agree it is the BEST ever!
The onions were so tender! I carmelize onions often but always stovetop or a a grill, baking them gave them a whole new twist!
Thanks for the great recipe. I look forward to trying more from this site. Also, thanks for the pictures, it really helps understanding what you are trying to achieve
Hi, this recipe looks definitely great. I was wondering if there is any substitute for the sherry.
Thanks
I have seen a number of great suggestions in the different comments from people. Cognac could work, or red wine, or vermouth. Good luck!
You can use port or marsala as a substitute for sherry.
I finished making this recipe with some variation. I used about 6 1/2 cups of home-made chicken broth and skipped the sherry, and overall, this is probably the best tasting soup I’ve ever had. I also left the 2 cups of water out, as the water used for the deglazing process seemed to be enough.
The Gruyère cheese complements very well with the soup, and there’s no strong after taste, the flavor is just right!