The Best French Onion Soup (…ever!)
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.
I just want to be sure that in step 2 cooking time is 2.5 hours?
1 hour and 1.5 longer after returning the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar
Please advise.
Thank you.
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I just want to be sure that in step 2 cooking time is 2.5 hours?
1 hour and 1.5 longer after returning the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar
Please advise.
Thank you.
[...] variation using the oven to carmelize the [...]
I finally got to try this and I must say, I am very impressed! I got the cheese a state away during a snow storm, did the onions in an oven that has only one working burner element, and then only when set to 500 degrees, in a pan that isn’t exactly a dutch oven. The broiler doesn’t work in the oven for the last stage, but with that top burner working anyway, I was able to toast up the croutons and then re-toast them to melt the cheese. It actually took me 4 days to make it, what with the oven being set so high making it terribly hot in the house, but WOW is this some good soup!
I can hardly wait to try it again, with a new stove and oven!
Well, I haven’t made it yet but I will make in the next day or two. I have made brown chicken stock and a double beef stock (bones etc overnight then browned beef shanks etc with the liquid from the beef bone stock made the day before) The stocks look outstanding..I will use 2 parts brown beef stock and 1 part brown chicken stock and see what happens. Feel I must use brandy..I’ll post after I make it.
I make it American onion soup by using sourdough bread and peperjack cheese. The frogs invented liberalism after all!
What a mornic remark. You probably thought calling
French Toast and French Fries “Freedom Toast”
and “Freedom Fries” a good idea. We do $600 Billion
in biz a week with France. Enjoy your Chinese crap
Hey Kevin: That would be $31.2 TRILLION in trade with France per year; that’s a lot of frog’s legs baby! That said, Steve should probably keep his worn-out, unimaginative political analysis to himself.
A good one, tated great! I don’t use chicken only beef broth. As for onions, they taste like where they are grown, so use what you have and use lots! Yellows are OK, but a blend works and even some leeks can help the pot. Dry red wine to deglaze and I roast onions and garlic on my grill and use later in some recepies. Fun stuff and good eats!
OK, so my own French onion soup recipe is currently simmering on the stove, but while it cooks I thought I’d have a look to see what others were doing. This definately looks like a good recipe and I think I will try it next time (not sure about the chicken stock, though).
But with regards to the sherry or wine, I thought I’d give another idea which I discovered in an Irish pub and absolutely loved and now use in my own. Guiness. After carmelizing my onions I use a bottle of Guiness Draught to deglaze the pot. This provides a really great flavor to the soup and definately gives it a distinctive edge.
Soup Nazi’s!!!!
My Goodness Gracious! There is more than one way to skin a buffalo guys! I am Always thankful for posted tips and tricks. Especially substituted ingredients for when the ole pantry gets thin.
If you burned your onions its because your pot was too thin and your lid let out the moisture and/or your oven needs to be monitored with a manual temp indicator.
Dry red wine works real well if there is no sherry btw.
Thanks for the oven tip, makes all the difference. I do beg to differ with the earlier comment about just cooking on the stovetop, oven slow cooking is the secret to the reaction that is the most important step in this process. You can cook this so many different ways and most taste good. This process takes it from good to GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!
Could you please explain the science behind your opinions on oven heat vs. stove top vs. slow cooker?
Thanks!
[...] French Onion Soup – (From Cookography via Cook’s Illustrated) [...]
made this soup this am. came out fantastic. i used only beef broth, no chicken, added a little coriander and a few splashes of Worcestershire. very good. topped with thick piece of french bread and cheese. thanks for the recipe and pictures. It came out better than the last bowl I had at a restaurant.
Bonjour – This recipe is off the hook! I was making this soup all wrong until I found this NEW recipe. The time and effort is certainly worth it – and DO NOT DEVIATE. The onions in the oven slow cooked makes them sweet like candy! I thank you from the bottom of my tummy and heart for this recipe. This is my new “must impress” soup! Now – eating this with my own funny Valentine and enjoying a great bottle of Malbec. PS Must use unsalted butter and Dry Sherry to make this perfectly French! C’est le meilleur!
Hi,
Just curious…What’s better about unsalted butter?
Thanks,
Unsalted butter is helpful because you never are sure how much salt is in the butter. It varies between brands. Using unsalted butter lets you adjust the level of salt. Also, if you are using canned broth, you may not need to add any salt at all so using salted butter would make it too salty.
Yes, that’s what I assumed, but we’re discussing a variable of, at most, 3/8 teaspoon of salt in a recipe calling for four pounds of onions, and six cups of liquid, to which I would normally add several tablespoons of salt. In other words, a variable of about 2-3%. To my mind the risk of intimidating earnest but inexperienced cooks with with unnecessary complications and embellishments is counter productive. An extra 3/8 teaspoon in this recipe is of far less concern than the use of sweet wine, which is really what should come under scrutiny by anyone wishing to create a facsimile of a French soup.
Thanks for your help!
Best wishes…
That is a great point. It is definitely not worth worrying, and I would just use what is on hand.
FOS isn’t French onion soup bonehead
it is: FructoOligoSaccharides
Thanks for polluting the web with lazy acronyms
Good recipe though
Just made this today during our big snowstorm in Baltimore. Incredible. We are loving it.
Good to hear you survived the storm. We hunkered down here in DC and made lots of bread and pizza.
Wow, this is one of the ugliest comment boards I’ve ever been on–and that’s coming from someone who butts heads with the sports-forum mouthbreathers. I’m with Trudy. I won’t stoop the level of some of you and tell you to go eff yourselves. Whoops.
I made this today and it is Wonderful! I used a cast iron dutch oven which worked perfectly! I substituted merlot for sherry and used vegtitable broth instead of chicken….Thanks for sharing this. It is fantastic! and my house smells wonderful!
This is my first and last visit to this site. Most of the people who commented come off as nice enough. But there are a few real jerks here who don’t have to be tolerated at other sites. So au revoir!
you bought a pot just 4 the soup?
wow hey guys try making cheese cake for dessert it realy goes well with the flavour
also; try turning the oven down and cook the onions for longer
it real brings out the flavor!
and as a pro food judge i would say this is best for LARGER family’s its not a small family favourite
WOW! I do not regret one second of the labor that went in to this soup. Nor do I regret buying a good heavy bottomed stockpot specifically for this recipe. Now for my next project, creating caramelized onion scented candles…
[...] favorite cooking magazines & websites) has an excellent recipe for French Onion Soup. Blogger Luke adapted the recipe and did a great job stepping the reader through the process. After reading [...]
this onion soup is HE BEST if you cook it right, but one mistake by the COOKER and its ruined so follow the intructions carfully and it will be fine!
and if your onions look like they are a bout to burn then you know what to to do! cook them for less time!
this recipe is great for a large family if it has a good cook!
have 2 make FOS for 9 ppl ts so good
Do not use this recipe. Onions will burn. Bad idea guys!
I agree! I tried to make this and I dropped the pot on my foot. Ouch!
Bad recipe!
I just tried this recipie and it was great. A little time consuming, but well worth it. Mike Endo, don’t know why you’re onions burnt but I had to cook mine longer than specified. Windemere, don’t forget to use pot holders when you remove the pot of onions from the oven. OUCH!!!! I’ve always maintained that if you can read, you can be a good cook. I’m not so sure anymore!!!
This really is the best french onion soup. I enjoy making this recipe espcially on a cold winter day and it’s a great hit with my family. I think it is much better than some french onion soups I’ve had in restaurants.
I’ve followed this recipe many times and it has always turned out extremely well.Tash,did you use a good quality dutch oven or possibly your oven temperature gauge doesn’t accurately depict the true temperature.I would recommend trying it again and adjust the temp/time,it is definately worth it!As far as Nicks comments,switch to Sanka pal.
[...] Recipe comes from Cook’s Illustrated via Cookography.com . So long as you follow the directions, it is fabulous. For taste, I suggest using butter in place [...]
[...] didn’t get a picture of the onions once they were browned on the stovetop, but Cookography has a great one from the same recipe so I am including it here. This is pretty much exactly what [...]
In regards to this recipe. You sweat/saute the onions at a moderate temperature until they’re cooked accordingly, there is no need to waste your time with the oven. It’s not like you’re making a stew where you need meat to be broken down to become tender. Don’t spray the pan with cooking spray. Do you think the French used cooking spray when originally making this soup? No, they use butter. The ingredients in this recipe aren’t too far off, but the entire process is horrible.
To Frans Strasbourg: Any Chef worth his minerals would never make a soup out of simply water, salt and onions. Most likely they used a house made chicken stock with little to no salt. This particular recipe does use a bit too much butter, but it sure isn’t a coronary in a bowl. And having a lot of onions in the soup doesn’t make it one either. Also, having a distributor next door doesn’t make the onions fresh, getting them directly from a farm makes them fresh. I have a feeling there was far more to that soup of yours than you believe.
You sure do come off as a snob with this reply. Of course the Frensh did not have cooking spray, but it sure comes in handy. Of course stock is superior, but you can always use some water or boullion) in a soup recipe if you don’t have time to simmer stock, as long as you compensate for it with your seasonings. Obviously, sweating and caramelizing in a skillet would be much faster, but there’s not really THAT much more to the recipe than the author thought, as you said. It’s French Onion Soup, not rocket science! As long as you don’t burn it or over-season it I’m sure it’ll taste great! Also, what does your distributor/farm argument even mean? I get all my onions at Wal-Mart and they’re the same quality onions that produce companies deliver to restaurants! The only things I stay away from at supermarkets are the underripe peaches. You must be utterly dissatisfied with everything to batter this recipe as you did.
I thought you might need a confrere at this point, these merciless attacks must be wearing.
Now you’ve found out that trying to make a thing correctly and without compromise will get you labeled a snob around these parts. There’s such a passionate devotion to mediocrity that little can be gained from contradicting it. If you don’t use some kind of aerosol product to produce this soup, or if you can taste the difference between canned and real stock, you’re thought of as a zealot. Never mind that the world over, from simple pushcarts and noodle shops all over Asia, to millions of homes throughout Europe where taste itself is not an exotic accoutrement of “elitists”, soup stock is the most basic thing you can do in the kitchen.
Here, however, we learn that bullion cubes can be “compensated with seasonings”, and that the cure for your aversion to fake soup is a cup of fake coffee. That last one, at least, is consistent.
In this world, throwing a few bones and roots in a pot of water, (as peasants have done for centuries), makes you a ‘snob’, but using the preserved products of gleaming, sterile factories makes you the salt of the earth.
Don’t take it personally, it’s not about food, or taste, but about being a part of something. These aren’t the children of Ronald McDonald. They’re his grandchildren.
OH MY GOD.
I have never made F.O.Soup and was reading the recent comments to learn more. Here I am on a Sunday morning looking for a recipe to my favorite soup and stumble across bickering.
Please everyone, smile and be happy.
It’s a recipe! Be nice, people.
Thank you to all the people out there who made helpful comments. They are completely appreciated! AND thank you for the person who took the time to post the original recipe with pictures and all! Much appreciated.
K
This recipe did not work for me the onions burned, in the oven (and the was under the time they said). It messed up the soup, it was not in editable but you had to try to fish out the black spots and fix the soup.
Can this recipe be used in a crockpot and then broil the last minute for the cheese to melt?
Thank you.
NO! YOU CAN’T CRUNCH THE BOTTOMS AND SIDES WITH A CROCK POT. I AM EXHAUSTED JUST FROM READING THIS RECIPE.
The only criteria are heat and time. If the crock pot is sufficiently hot and the time is sufficiently long this can be a good solution. We have had great success with a cycle of twelve (entirely unattended) hours at a high setting, but this depends on the appliance. The onions emerged deep dark brown and flavorful, (far too sweet in fact to even think of using sherry). That’s why good recipes call for dry white wine.
Crunchyness is not involved.
Harold McGee is the best source for information on the science:
ABOUT SUGARS AND CARAMELIZATION
Caramelization or caramelisation (see spelling differences) is the oxidation of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. Caramelization is a type of non-enzymatic browning reaction. As the process occurs, volatile chemicals are released producing the characteristic caramel flavor. The reaction involves the removal of water (as steam) and the break down of the sugar. The caramelization reaction depends on the type of sugar. Sucrose and glucose caramelize around 160C (320F) and fructose caramelizes at 110C (230F).
Caramelization temperatures Sugar Temperature
Fructose 110° C, 230° F
Galactose 160° C, 320° F
Glucose 160° C, 320° F
Maltose 180° C, 356° F
Sucrose 160° C, 320° F
The highest rate of the color development is caused by fructose as caramelization of fructose starts at 110C. Baked goods made from honey or fructose syrup will therefore give a darker color. Source: http://www.scienceofcooking.com/caramelization.htm
My first taste of FOS was in 1968 in Les Halle in Paris where it originated, supposedly. And to tell you the truth it was nothing like the coronary in a bowl that is served in faux American restaurant all over the country. So here’s what it was: it was a clear broth, very lightly salted, with a few pieces of fresh like onion pieces floating about. I was great!
I think it was done by sauteing a few onions in oil or perhaps butter, a very faint touch of salt, then water. What might have made it so good was the fact that the onions came direct from some farm and the restaurant owner just walked out his door & pick them out of the distributor next doors bags of fresh onions. Go figure!
This is amazing. A recipe is posted and WWIII erupts over “factory broth” versus homemade. Undoubtedly, homemade broth will give it the “traditional” taste. Also undoubtedly, there are many folks that simply don’t have the time for stuff like that. Think of single parents with kids, jobs and going to school, stuff like that. I’m going to try this recipe today and I am pretty sure I will like the outcome with “factory” broth. I haven’t had French Onion Soup in over 10 years – had some at a small cafe outside of Chicago, it was absolutely fantastic stuff, I have to wonder if they didn’t use factory broth in their recipe as well. There are thousands of recipes online just for this soup, if you don’t like this recipe, why not go find another one to your liking?