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:
Sorry Mate, Gave ’em up years ago. Try chewing some gum.
This sounds like a fantastic recipe…looking forward to trying. I often make my own chicken broth easily…we just have roast chicken one night, save the bones, put the bones in a kettle, add water and a bit of salt and simmer for a couple of hours, then pour broth through strainer into container and use or freeze. Thinking of maybe even making baked beans at the same time as long as the oven is on for so long…good homemade baked beans take at least 4-6 hours in the oven also.
I am a 23 year old American Male, just trying to eat some good food, and if using canned goods is cheaper and quicker for me, count me in as i’ll mimic a great soup, if i want the real deal ill go out to eat, but for someone barely making it on their own guess what, thank you for this recipe, and oh yeh the best onion soup i ever had was made with Guinness, not even french at all
Wow, I was going to make this soup, but I guess if I’m not a stout little maman from the French countryside (not Paris, mind you) I shouldn’t even bother. Thank goodness you all disabused me of any delusions that I could make a nice soup for my family.
The best soup, I used a cab instead of sherry, and deglazed it like 3 times with wine, also use beef broth to deglazed and put tiny bits of tenderloin in it as it simmered..great
The “old fashioned” way does give you enough food to feed the Russian army for a week. Make chicken stock by boiling a chicken (at least 2 nights of food.) Follow up by boiling a brisket. Boiled beef is fabulous in itself. So that’s at least 2 more nights of food. NOW, FINALLY, make the onion soup using the two broths you’ve just created. Make sure you really darken the onions, don’t be afraid. White wine, not sherry and real gruyere. Soup for three more nights.
I understand why traditionalists have got all upset about the use of bulk produced stock. However, I disagree with your arguments. This soup was originally made by people who had a lot more time dedicated to cooking food wonderful food. Unfortunately, in my life, I can’t spend hours making a good stock regularly. Occasionally, yes, but not regularly. So why can’t I cut some corners to eat well regularly and not just occasionally?
I’m happy to make this soup and serve it as “Modern Onion Soup” if it pleases you, but please stop going ooooooooon and oooooooooon about how much better than me you are. If we didn’t modernise and globalise I never would have heard of French Onion Soup, and certainly wouldn’t have been able to enjoy this particular recipe!
Marty
Marty, donâ??t take it personally! But, this was advertised as â??The Best French Onion Soup Everâ?. My complaint springs from that. If this is going to be discussed on another level, then call it â??Good Onion Soup With a Few Short Cutsâ?. Thatâ??s not a question of nomenclature, but of accuracy. Iâ??m not sure what made you feel as though any one thinks theyâ??re better than you. This isnâ??t a competition, but an opportunity for everyone to appreciate something fine. You deserve that, donâ??t you?
Thereâ??s probably some accumulated annoyance about the habit of Cookâ??s Illustrated to publish this type of corner cutting, incomplete recipe and call it â??The Bestâ?.
People are often surprised how easy it is to make beef stock, and also that good â??house madeâ?? versions can be purchased at food shops, which are far superior to the factory stuff recommended in this recipe. If you read carefully below, youâ??ll find that â??creativityâ?? can help you cook the onions with almost no effort in an electric slow cooker. No deglazing, no stirring, no scraping. You’ll get a much finer result if you take this ‘short cut’ on the onions and not the broth. The time saved there can be put to producing a better stock. Or you can make twice the onions while a friend makes twice the stock, and then trade half of each. You can make two gallons at at a time and, being liquid, it freezes perfectly. Itâ??s just a matter of wanting to.
Of course, if you choose to open cans youâ??re still a first class person, but you might be missing out on a first class soup.
As for globalization, recipes for this soup in America go back to before the revolution. Soups, broths, and stocks are as American as Thomas Jefferson. Globalization is more often threatening the quality of our food than enhancing it.
Great info on doing the onions in the oven. I’ve always done the old tried and true stove top method, but was totally impressed by the way they turned out in the oven. For this time, I used homemade stock (ox tail and beef bones) that I had frozen, but wouldn’t think twice about using a good commercial beef stock. I did not, however, use any chicken stock, as I prefer the richness of the straight beef stock. I also used a nice dry cabernet instead of sherry, because I just like cabernet better (and had it on hand). I also reduced the amount of water used. All in all, a GREAT soup. Thanks for all your tips.
The beauty of this recipe is how they handle caramelizing the onions. The oven technique frees you from the stove top. By all means, make beef broth from roasted bones (with marrow, please) if you really want the best ever onion soup. But, even if you use the canned stuff, this recipe is a keeper.
Some recommendations from Thomas Keller (in his bistro cookbook, Bouchon): Use Comte instead of Gruyere for a milder cheese flavor. Cover the croutons with slices of cheese, thick slices, say a quarter inch, and fill the holes with grated cheese. The cheese should make a crust over the top of the bread; it should not sink into the soup. Broil until the cheese is bubbly browned. Finally, he doesn’t use any wine, just a few drops of sherry vinegar at the end to balance the sweetness of the onions. Although, if I had an open bottle, I think the suggestion here (from Larry Bourret) to use tawny port sounds like a winner.
Oui! I am French. The soup you state is what we did with left overs. We use a stock of beef bones and beef ends , the onions are added in the stock. cooking down to dark gold, the other onion is carameled in the big pot, adding a splash of dark house wine right before going in the oven. Left over , stale crusty bread is added at the last and what cheese we have for the day- the cheese is temperate before adding.
this is a real French onion soup. Dont be too culinary my friend. Add what you like, this is the base, it is your creation- that is the art of creation and the pleasure of cooking- when you say ahhh! No?
Oui, Genelle,
I admire your real French soup with real stock and real taste. I’m sure that yours was good with real meats and bones. But this Cook’s Magazine thing is not creation, it’s opening cans. Creativity is wonderful, but it must be carried out by those with talent for it, no?
What is too culinary? If I sing you a song would you advise me not to be too musical? In Europe our Grandmothers would have known how to make this soup properly. There may be a thousand ways, but none of them involve a can opener, at least not when you have the choice. We can accept anything if we are forced too, but why must we encourage this faux cooking? Naturally, if I were invited to eat this soup, I would not decline, and it might be an enjoyable meal. But this is advertised as the ‘Best’ Come on…Laziness is not culinary either.
As for the variations proposed by readers, Careme, Escoffier or Bocuse would never put Garlic in this soup, so that is its history, its DNA. Why do we revere them, and then mock them? If you can taste you will know by intuition that garlic does not belong. You don’t even have to think about it, it comes with feeling.
Remember, there is such a thing as good. That’s why the old cultures are revered. It is the hardest thing for many people, but we must accept that just because you like it doesn’t make it good. Look at the lines at Burger King.
The nature of the ingredients must be respected, and that’s not snobbery. As Curnonsky said, Real cooking is when things taste of what they are.
Good cooking is so simple, why let some chemist from Swanson be your sous-chef? Look around and see where half a century of short cuts, time savers, and “creativity” have gotten us…
Le Whopper! Merde Alors!
Shortcuts or not, canned broth or home steeped, I am all over this. A good meal at home with friends and family prepared with a few “off the shelf” ingredients beats the sticks out of a meal that takes three days to make or requires a trip to a restaurant.
I appreciate the ideas and suggestions… of course for the true “purists” I assume you have the time to raise the cattle for the freshest and purest of beef stock, milk the cows and churn the butter and of course plant and tend the gardens for the freshed herbs and produce.
I’ll take life simple pleasures when and where I can get them.
Luke,
You’re right. But for many people, real cooking, and I appreciate your brief satire about raising the cattle, but real cooking, making stocks, etc. isn’t work, it is in itself one of life’s deepest, and most rewarding simple pleasures.
And in that spirit, may I offer to one and all the only comment I’ve ever heard that really makes sense:
‘As for dining, it’s not what’s on the table that matters most, but what’s on the chairs.”
Downy,
I love your quote. I assure you that will wind up on a palcard, serving dish or other prominently displayed item in our kithcen or dining room.
Thank you for sharing your comments… onions are cooking down as we chat.
Thank you!
Merci, Genelle. A recipe is just a guideline, an interpretation of one’s idea of a specific food. It is not the end all, be all. I cannot believe how people have bickered back and forth about it. I appreciate your true love of food.
A word here from a French cook…If you’re going to make Onion soup, then by all means put whatever you want in it. Root Beer. Tabasco sauce, Drano. Knock yourself out! But if you want to make French Onion Soup please learn from French cooks, not the Cooks Illustrated, who know nothing about authentic French cooking. I know Julia Child used sugar, but then she did a lot of silly things.
A French Onion Soup must be made with real beef stock and nothing from a can. Sorry, I know that’s more work, but then why bother if you’re going to do a Readers Digest version?
Never garlic, and you rarely need any herbs. Keep it simple, keep it real, and for goodness sake keep the candy out of it.
Dry White wine, real Gruyere, (never anything from Wisconsin!).
Why ruin a classic with imitation ingredients? If the real cave aged Gruyere is not available it can be ordered.
By the way, it’s almost impossible to find even a decent French Onion Soup in Paris. Tourists took care of that long ago. One chef friend laments, “They order my soup, and then drink Coca-Cola with it. Why bother?”
Interestingly, I liked the food in France better the further away from Paris I traveled. Like Rodez! I will never, ever, forget France for it’s warm people and fabulous cuisine. it is a standard to be sought after and emulated.
Cheers,
Mark Kobayashi
It is interesting, and very true. Paris has never been known as the home of great food, rather the showcase for it, but only at the three star level, and then only because of the concentration of wealth in large cities. The same is true for Italy and other older cultures, because true culture begins always with the common people. Beethoven would have been lost without the solid base of folk music, lullabies, etc. he grew up with.
That’s the root of America’s problem with food. These recipes are not an organic part of American culture and taste has long ago been massacred by factory food; when you can no longer taste anything you try to make it all sweet. Sherry, sweet onions, etc. Canned stocks…read the labels, they all have sugar in them, and very little flavor.
Root Beer in Onion soup?! Those weren’t the roots I had in mind…
I just made this, yes with real homemade beef stock, and if I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life this would be it. Absolutely fabulous!
get over thy self.
I want to make “French Onion Soup”, if I’m going to do this, I want to do it right, got a recipe for me? Thanks, LIsa
The above recipe would be fine, and the photos are excellent, but the use of factory broth brings it down to a very low level. The philosophy of cooking, what deep culture brings, is an awareness of many of the peripheral values of foods. We all know now that seasonal foods are best, for nutritional reasons and for flavor. But there’s far more to it. What do you get for the hour and a half you need to spend preparing a true beef broth? You get a home full of wonderful smells, you get exercise in the form of cutting, roasting, (not negligible). You also get familiarity with the ingredients and experience, which translates into a deeper form of appetite. If you make this soup in its season, meaning the colder months when the root vegetables are prime, you get a bubbling pot to help warm your house for the many hours of simmering which are required, but demand no effort.
Excellent results can be achieved by placing all of the onions, with oil and butter, in a Slow Cooker for 12 hours. No stirring, no deglazing, almost no time spent. Go to sleep and deep brown caramelized onions greet you when you awake.
As for the sugar and sweet wine, that’s just a capitulation to the thresholds set by the corn syrup lobby, and should be ignored by anyone who wants to make a “Real French Onion Soup” Only if you drink candy with your meals will you want to add candy to the food.
The recipe is that simple. Broth and the deep browned onions, bread and cheese as indicated. There a many good recipes for beef broth available, no need to repeat one here. Thomas Keller’s is of course excellent. (Note that he uses a tiny amount of sherry vinegar for the soup, not a large amount of sherry wine.)
One last thing. The unnecessary complexity of so many recipes makes them less useful. No one on earth, not even Thomas Keller, can taste the difference in this soup between salted butter and unsalted. In baking, yes, but in this case, if you have only salted butter by all means use it and adjust the salt to your taste.
Gusticide!!! You are so correct in EVERYTHING you said!!! Back in October I tried to stress the importance of using homemade BEEF stock. Anything else truly does lower the quality of the soup substantially.
PS… I don’t quite get the people using the red onions to prepare this either!
Bon Appetit!!!
I like making this recipe with beef and veggie broth – about 3 to 1. I think the veggie broth adds a little sweet, which before reading the posts I thought was a good thing. Chicken broth seems wrong but I’ll try it next time.
I used the beef and vegie broth as well. AWESOME. If you are like me, I dont like soggy bread croutons. To keep them crisp, toast them as suggested, then melt the cheese you decide to use on the “down-side” in a broiler. Place the melted cheese side down on your soup and cover the top with the rest of the cheese. Did I mention that I LOVE cheese? Alternative types of cheese would be Provalone with Parmasean. Texture is everything to me. I also reserve some of the onions that are at the “clear” stage to put in the soup. I like the flavor of the browned onions, but I like the texture and flavor of the less cooked onion as well. I also add a little bit of garlic. YUMO!
Cold wet day here in Raleigh, NC so I decided to make this recipe but using Wolfgang Puck chicken and beef broth since that’s what I already had. Carmelized onions in pot in oven just as instructed .I have to say this was time consuming but like a previous comment suggests you are not a slave to the stove and it is soooo worth it. My family loved the soup. We can’t wait to have it again tommorow. I would absolutely recommend this recipe and will make again.
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I have been trying to find a good onion soup recipe for YEARS and this is finally it!!! It takes patience, especially since the minute I start smelling the onions I want to eat but it is excessively easy!!! This tastes fresher and better than anything I’ve ordered at any restaurant and I consider myself to be an onion soup connoisseur. Instead of deglazing w/water, I deglaze with more Sherry for a richer taste. THANKS FOR FINALLY SHARING A RECIPE THAT IS WORTH THE HYPE!!
Awesome recipe! It does take an evening of preparation, but it is well worth it. I made it the night before and then placed it in the fridge (minus the toasted bread). It had a wonderful, rich flavor. I would change the cheese to Swiss. The Gruyère cheese was very tasty; however, it was a little too salty. The soup was already salty enough and the cheese added a slightly different flavor and a lot more salt. I think Swiss would be a better option.
This is a wonderful soup for a cold winter day!
Just to let you know that Gruyere is a town in Switzerland, so Gruyere is Swis cheese! I live in Italy so don’t understand this distinction you wish to make.
To Jeanne-In the USA Swiss cheese is a cheese similar to Gruyere but with larger holes and (to my taste buds) a more pronounced taste, which I do not care for. Personally I prefer Gruyere. A good Fontina would be nice as well.
I tried this recipe just now and it is simmering along as I write this. It still needs time for the seasoning to mellow, but so far what I taste most is burnt onion. This happened in the oven and not on the stove. Should I have stirred it more often in the oven to prevent this?
I tried this one prepared as listed above using College Inn Chicken Broth [ low sodium ] and Wolfgang Puck beef stock….
WOW…… smokin good soup…… from a soup rookie.
This was the first time I ever made soup of any kind in my life. [ other than warming up a can.. ]
To the busy business owner above.. I am a busy business owner also. Hangar 11, Inc. [ http://www.hangar11.com ]
This soup was worth it…. My only regret, I made soup for 4 as there were 4 of us…. I needed soup for 8 as everyone wanted seconds….
This was my Sunday afternoon project during the football games. [ A TV in the kitchen come in handy on soup day ]
Total time start to ready to eat was in the 5 hour range. The onion prep and cook time takes up up most of the time. Me holding the pictures over the pot to compare what I had vs what it was supposed to look like didn’t speed things up any.
Bobby B
I just spent this whole afternoon making the French Onion soup…It doesn’t taste that great…yet. Oh dear, I am worried. I am thinking maybe all that in all that deglazing, maybe I scorched the onions? I used my cast iron dutch oven…followed the receipe…maybe it will taste better tomorrow? The onions seem awfully dark. This was a lot of money for me to spend on a soup that doesn’t taste that good at this point in time. I will try some tomorrow night, maybe a miracle could happen. Maybe those who have succeded in this receipe might know what I might do better? Thank you for any suggestions.
Hi, I just found this recipe while checking to make sure I had all the steps performed in my recipe…
I make carmelized onions about 5# at a time. I do it overnight in the crockpot! My recipe is http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/canning/caramelized-crock-pot-onions/
I use these in sooo many things!
Recipe sounds great.
I prefer to do beef stock from scratch using decent soup bones with bone marrow rather than store bought kind. Find those way too salty.
Roasting onions in the oven first make sense. I hate standing over the onions for ever in order to get the right color. Definitely prefer gruyere cheese and sliced French bread (baguette) on top.
Also prefer french onion soup bowls with lids….
New Years Eve……here we come.
I’ve been doing variants of this for some time. Today I used 15lbs of yellow onions, 5lbs sweet madagascar’s 8L of chicken stock I made last week and 8L of beef stock I made yesterday and a bottle of sherry. It freezes well as I put into 600ml bags and give out to family at Christmas. It takes so long to make, it doesn’t make sense to only make a little.
Made this delicious recipe the night before and have just experienced a wonderful dinner. I think I would prefer to use Swiss cheese though, and placing it in a sourdough roll as a bowl would probably make this even more wonderful. I think I’ll try that for night two. Thanks for sharing!
Just started to make this because I am vegetarian and haven’t had french onion soup in over 6 years!! Finally decided to make it myself, but I am pretty sure that I left the lid too ajar because the onions are way way way cooked now…I’m starting to deglaze and am hoping for the best…considering I haven’t had it in so long, I should like it anyway! Wish that I hadn’t screwed it up so early on, though.
Did this work out eventually?
I just finished making and eating that Onion soup and boy it was awesome. I did everything the way the recipe said accept I didnt have any bay leaves, I did use powdered tyme, next time I will get what the recipe calls for but that was awesome. Looked and tasted like it came right out of Stanley and Seaforts here in Tacoma Washington. I put it in a shallow pasta type dish so the bread and cheese and soup all mixed together just perfect. Thanks you all, that was great!
This is very similar to what I made tonight, on a cold and rainy night; however, I use Merlot for the demi-glaze on the onions, and I also add bone marrow to the pot, two big ones, they are cheap at the butcher or grocer, but add a lot of flavor. I also mix equal parts of the chicken stock and beef stock. The bone marrow I cook in a pot in the oven before-hand, with some beef stock, as, I have show dogs, and they love the cooled down bones. This type of bone is very safe for the dogs to gnaw on, and they get good nutrients from it. This was the best that I have made to date… Renay
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For those who were concerned about making extra for later or if you love the soup and intend to do it often or just love caramelized onion:
A while ago, we started cooking big batches of onions; yellow, white, red, Vidalia, whatever you can find and mixing them gives a depth of flavour, all sliced thinly with a mandolin in the crock pot. They cook for hours (for me usually 8+ hours or until they look right ie/ dark brown) but are really low maintenance, so its not big deal. (I tend to stir a couple of times total but it isn’t necessary as I’ve also done it overnight or while away and it was fine.)
Once done, to whatever darkness you are looking for, I strain them. It makes it easier to wrap in small bundles using clingfilm. Then I freeze the little bundles and take them out used whenever they are needed. It really helps to enhance flavour in anything you make that calls for unions and you’ll find yourself using it more and more often.
Pour the left over onion juices (from straining) into a container & freeze. Use it to enhance a batch of French onion soup or as a great addition to the soup for extra oniony goodness.
When you’re ready to make French onion soup you have the flavour of amazing onions cooked slowly in a few minutes. Trust me – yum!
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I have made this twice and agree all the steps are necessary to caramelize the onions correctly and they to let the sherry absorb. It IS the best onion soup ever!!
What other type of cheese can you use
It doesen’t matter what type of cheese you use. Don’t worry about what the recipe says, trust your taste. If it tastes good to you, then use it.
It doesn’t matter what type of cheese you use. Don’t worry about what the recipe says, trust your taste. If it tastes good to you, then use it.
I THINK THIS IS ALOT OF STEPS FOR FRENCH ONION SOUP HOW EVER I CAN SEE HOW IT WOULD TASTE GREAT.. IT JUST SEEMS THAT YOU COULD RELLY MESS YOUR SOUP UP BY BURNING OR CRUSTING THE PAN OR POT.. IM LAZY I JUST USE BUTTER ONIONS AND SIMMER UNTIL ONIONS ARE LIMP THEN I DRAIN SOME OF THE EXTRA BUTTER I USED TO TO SOFTEN UP MY ONIONS…. IF YOUR SUPER LAZY LIKE ME I GO WITH FROZEN GARLIC BREAD INSTED OG BAGGTTE!!!!
I cannot print this recipe from the website. I had to highlight what I wanted and print from my toolbar menu.
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Please explain why it’s necessary to use white onions. I always use red onions when cooking as I feel the flavor is more robust. Before I try this recipe, please tell me whether substituting red onions will ruin it.
I think it should be fine to use red onions. They are a bit sweeter so the soup maybe a bit sweeter. Vidalia or other sweet onions would make the soup too sweet.
Actually from what I have read, it is actually the opposite; yellow onions contain more sugars than red onions, but red onions have less sulphur compounds and thus taste sweeter raw. But it still should turn out fine.
use the cheap yellow onions..makes no difference
i always order french onion and am usually disappointed at restaurants! this was FABULOUS! i even made my own homemade beef broth and like a previous reviewer suggested… i also deglazed using beef broth to layer the flavors… i also used a combo of butter and good olive oil at the start of the cooking process!
got fresh sourdough bread from whole foods.. chopped it in big bite size pieces, toasted and sprinkled ontop of the soup, the put a lot of Gruyère cheese on top!
AMAZING RECIPE… next time i might add a little wine in with the sherry to see if it makes it better!
I made this soup for a group of ladies and yummy…it is awesome. I separated some to make a bit of it vegitarian using vegetable broth and added a couple dashes of maggie seasoning as well as a few mushrooms. It is every bit as good as the portion I made with the beef and chicken broth. Worth the effort. Also served in bread bowls with cheese on top.
I made mine vegetarian too..and with mushrooms! It was so good! I’m not a vegetarian myself, but I find myself making more and more veggie dishes for family and friends who are! And I love it! I have not found many recipes that I could not convert to vegetarian, or even vegan. Pretty challenging though…I DID go to culinary school, but I don’t profess to be a Chef. I just love to cook.
I meant this reply for Jenn…Sorry…:-)
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I tried this and it was phenomenal. I would recommend this to anyone who likes classic french cuisine. I would pair it with a filet mignon with bernaise sauce, chicory and bacon salad, and tarte tatin.
NOW THAT IS A LITTLE TOO AMBITIOUS.
good. i like sherry and booze
I skipped the step for the oven and I used a heavy cooking pot on the stove for all of the cooking. I made it vegetarian style by using three cans of vegetable broth only along with the water in the recipe to deglaze. I added some worchestershire sauce and onion salt to taste because I was concerned that it wouldn’t taste right without beef broth but it was wonderful anyway. I cheated and used croutons since I forgot the bread at the store and had them on hand. My husband, a meat lover said there was no need to make it with beef broth next time because he thought the taste was fine. I am thinking about experimenting with portabello mushrooms next time.
Thanks, I will be making more soon.
That sounds very close to what I just did! I wanted onion soup, so i improvised and made it veggie, with portabella mushrooms to flavor the veggie broth more. It was great. No, it’s not “French Onion Soup” the traditional kind…but it’s an alternative that was really awesome! I am just sad that I didn’t get much of it…My boyfriend and his kids ate it all! :-) (They are vegetarian, so that’s why I try to make some things that they can eat that are great dishes, but all veggie/vegan) I love the challenge and when guests eat something vegan that I’ve made, they are like, “You are kidding me…No animal products?) But I DID put real chesse on this and it was great. The vegan cheeses are ok though. (non-dairy) But not for this dish…no way..lol.
I’m making this right now. I, too, saw it on America’s Test Kitchen. Should have read this website before I started. After cooking in the oven, I didn’t cook the onions enough on the stovetop to get a crust on the bottom of the pan. I hope it won’t ruin the taste. I can see that that would develop the flavor even more. Maybe I’ll just cook the liquid down more, only need 5 servings for tonight.
Can I double this recipe then freeze portions for quick meals another time?
To answer a previous questions:
While the process itself takes several hours, it is an easy one (you can accomplish a number of other tasks while the onions are roasting) and can be done in stages, for instance: I slice my onions and put them in a food storage bag the night before. The roasting of the onions takes about 2 1/2 hours, but that step too can be done a day in advance of preparing and serving the soup. If you want to take it into another day: prepare the soup completely and put the pot in the refrigerator. Reheat the soup, transfer it to the oven-safe crocks, top with the croutons and cheese, broil and serve.
As for serving this to children: I think you will be surprised. My 3 year old grandson loves it… just make sure their crock is sufficiently cooled before they start digging in. They are gonna LOVE you and the experience of eating this… they love the crocks, the bread and the gooey cheese!!!
I too make this MUCH IMPROVED version of French Onion Soup. I watched it being made on the PBS show America’s Test Kitchen… aka Cook’s Illustrated magazine. Being a professional recipe developer, there are only two comments I can make that improve upon this recipe:
~ Skip the canned broths and skip the chicken broth entirely. Classic French Onion Soup is made using beef stock. Use homemade beef stock that has been well-seasoned with bay leaves, thyme, freshly ground sea salt and a peppercorn blend. I make a big batch of beef stock and freeze it in 2-quart containers, expressly for when I want to make The Best French Onion Soup recipe.
~ Skip the 1/2 cups of water used for the 3 deglazings of the pot. I use 1/2 cups of the homemade beef stock, which, in true French cuisine, adds a rich layering of flavor.
Even if you do not follow my suggestions for improving upon the posted recipe, this is INDEED the recipe you want to choose to make if you are searching for one!
Would this be suitable for children between 8 and 12 yrs. I like the idea but need some thing for the childs too???
I don’t get your point . . . why in the world would this soup NOT be suitable for children?
What would be a good vegetarian replacement for the beef and chicken broth?
I don’t want it to mess with the flavor too much….
They do make vegetable broth.
Not sure the flavor will be good
I have made this a few times, and substituted vegetable broth for the chicken and beef broths. The flavor is fantastic.
Use mushroom broth! (You can get it at places like Whole Foods, maybe the organic aisle of your grocery store.)
Make your own vegetable stock using leeks, onions, celery, carrots, parsley, thyme, peppercorns, and I like to add rosemary for extra flavor. Make alot then reduce it to get a better flavor for this, only reduce to the point where you like the taste. Note-If you want to get “beefy” look without actually putting beef into it. Cook some black beans and saute them in the bottom of the pan you will be cooking the onions in. Take them out, put the onions in carmalize them and then return the beans and mash slightly, it will add a darker color for when you add the stock. Also, please make sure you let the sherry reduce nicely or it will turn out very unnaturally brown looking. Hope this helps.
Those that have made this, how long did the whole process take? I would love to make this but I am a busy business owner and barely have time even on my Sundays! Thanks!
The whole process takes 3-4 hours, but there are lots of breaks in between to take care of the laundry, feed the dogs, dust the living room…
I’ve made this several times now, and it’s one of the best recipes I’ve ever used. The last time I made it, I served it in sourdough bread bowls instead of crocks and it was a big hit!
I had what I thought was the best French Onion Soup yesterday at a new restaurant, The Artisanal, in Bellevue, WA…can’t stop thinking about it…and this recipe reads like the soup I tasted – so I’m going to give it a try tonight – THANKS! Love you site!
When I make onion soup I use an electric skillet. It cooks evenly and slow enough that I don’t worry about scorching. I guess a slow cooker would also work.
Excellent, thank you. I used a good tawny Port.