How to Make the Best French Onion Soup
You know you want it: melty, cheesy, steamy, crunchy French Onion Soup. With our Yummly Original recipe, you can make this delicious soup at home in your own cuisine. That’s French for kitchen.
Bistro French Onion Soup; photograph by Olga Ivanova
French onion soup, or, as they call it in France, onion soup, is one of the most comforting and delicious soups out there. I fondly remember going out to my favorite bistro (The Creperie on N. Clark St.) on a blisteringly cold Chicago night and tucking in to a steamy ramekin of deep mahogany onion broth, the crunch of the toast gently giving way as it absorbed the soup, the molten swiss cheese serving Instagram-ready cheese-pulls as I brought the spoon to my lips. The cold winter air faded away into memory as I settled into that warm blanket of a bowl of soup.
It doesn’t have to be so cold that you can’t tell if you’re wearing pants to enjoy a piping hot bowl of cheesy, onion-y French Onion Soup. You don’t even need to hit the Creperie or your own local bistro — you can make this comfort food yourself at home. Ivy Manning has created a fail-safe Yummly original recipe for French Onion Soup that’ll warm you through and through. With a couple of clever hacks to save time, her easy Bistro French Onion Soup recipe is sure to become a regular entry on your soup rotation. You have a soup rotation, don’t you!? Start one! Every season is soup season!
Jump ahead to:
French Onion Soup: The basics >>
French Onion Soup ingredients: All about onions >>
French Onion Soup ingredients: The stock >>
French Onion Soup ingredients: The bread >>
French Onion Soup ingredients: Say cheese! >>
Leftover French onion soup considerations >>
Step-by-step: A quick guide to our Bistro French Onion Soup recipe >>
Get the recipe: Bistro French Onion Soup >>
French onion soup: The basics!
Before we start cooking homemade French Onion Soup, let’s go over some foundational French Onion knowledge.
What is it exactly?
A classic French Onion Soup is a layered bowl of potent onion broth made from caramelized onions and beef stock onto the surface of which a toasted crouton floats. On top of the crouton, a layer of grated cheese is added and the whole shebang, bowl and all, is baked in a hot oven until the cheese has melted and little crispy cheese shreds adhere to the lip of the bowl.
Is it really French?
Sure is! Onion soup is universal, and soup makers in France have been simmering onions in broth for centuries, but it was the 19th century bistros around the Les Halles market in Paris who popularized the cheesy version of soupe à l'oignon gratinée that is beloved around the world today. At the time, it was sold as a breakfast tonic for hung-over party animaux on their way to work at the market, and you know what, it still works great in that capacity. We can all stand to eat more breakfast soup, in my humble opinion.
Can it be made ahead of time?
Sure! The onion / stock mixture can be made ahead and kept in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for a few months. The only things that really need to be assembled a la minute are the garlic toasts and the layered bowls which should really be made right before you serve the soup.
What kind of bowls should it be served in?
Anything oven-safe will do! You’ll be baking the soup, bowls and all, before serving, so make sure you use a bowl that can take the heat.
Am I supposed to broil it or what?
Some recipes call for using the broiler; our Yummly original recipe suggests blitzing the bowls in a 475°F oven until the cheese is melty and starting to brown. If you broil, you may be more likely to burn the toasts before all the cheese gets melty, which would be a carbonized pity.
French onion soup ingredients: All about onions
With only a few ingredients, it’s important that each component shines in a good French Onion Soup. There’s no ingredient more important than the onion for this culinary classic.
What kind of onions should I use?
Regular old yellow onions work beautifully. But use the onions you’ve got! Even a bunch of shallots will do the trick or a mix of different onion varieties.
How do I cut the onions?
Our recipe instructs you to cut the onions crossways into half-rings around the onions’ equators. Onion cells are oblong and oriented along an axis from the root to the stem; so, slicing onions cross-ways means you’ll rupture more onion cells than if you slice length-wise, producing a sweeter, deeper onion flavor and speeding softening and caramelization. That said, your onion slices will disintegrate more than if sliced lengthwise. If that is a concern for you, then by all means, slice the other way, just keep in mind you may wind up with a less oniony soup.
Ugh, this caramelization is taking forever.
It can feel that way, for sure. Traditional recipes insist you saute onions at a snail’s pace over very low heat, letting them develop flavor over hours of cook time. One of the time-saving hacks in our recipe is to divide the onions between two pans when you caramelize them to help hurry along the process. More pan means more surface area and more heat on each onion slice. Our recipe also calls for medium heat for more rapid browning with water added at intervals to help lift the onion fond from the bottom of the pan and accelerate the journey to flavor-town.
French onion soup ingredients: The stock
Without the stock, all you’ve got is French-fried onions. It’s this elixir that marries our French Onion Soup together, so let’s take a moment to take stock of stock.
What is stock anyway?
Stock is broth made from water, bones and aromatics. For French Onion Soup, the classic choice is beef broth, made from roasted shank bones, oxtail and whatever other beef bones you’ve got lying around the house, simmered with water and carrots and onions and herbs until it’s a rich and murky concoction, flavorful and deep.
Should I make my own or use store-bought?
If you haven’t got beef bones burning a hole in your pocket, a store-bought pre-made beef broth can be good too, especially if it’s amped up with some bouillon or fortified with a quick simmer with some onions and carrots. Taste the store-bought stock before committing to it though — with so few ingredients to the recipe, it’s hard to hide a substandard stock in a French Onion Soup.
What if I use chicken stock?
Because my usual dinner menus produce more chicken bones than beef, I tend to have a supply of chicken stock squirreled away in quart containers in the freezer more often than I have beef stock. If you’re like me, feel free to sub in chicken stock for beef. Once you’ve added the onions and sherry and Worcestershire sauce, you’ll find that your bowl of French Onion Soup is almost as delicious as with beef broth.
Is there a vegetarian option?
The simplest vegetarian substitution for beef broth in this recipe would be to just use water. The onions and other aromatics provide a lot of flavor. While it won’t be quite as rich, it’ll still be a piping hot bowl of cheesy onion soup and that, my friend, ain’t bad.
French onion soup ingredients: The bread
The garlicky crouton floating on top of your bowl of onion soup is a key player in the whole French Onion ensemble, providing structure and texture not to mention a platform for the melted cheese.
Wait, crouton like at the Pizza Hut salad bar?
In French, a crouton is any piece of bread that’s been toasted to a crispy texture, whether it’s a tiny cube like you’d use in stuffing or a full slice of bread that covers the top of your whole bowl of French Onion Soup. So, yes, like the Pizza Hut Salad Bar, but made at home and toasted to order.
What kind of bread should I use?
Find a nice crusty baguette that has enough crunch to stay together while soaking up onion soup and keeping your cheese afloat. French bread for French soup!
Can I use store-bought croutons?
Most croutons that are found in stores are too dry for this purpose and usually not the right shape to serve in a French Onion Soup. So, stick with freshly toasted baguette slices or another artisan loaf.
French onion soup ingredients: Say cheese!
Without the cheese, it’s just onion soup with a crouton. A layer of bubbly gooey caramelized melted Gruyere cheese is the crown for this prince of soups.
Alternatives to Gruyere
Can’t find Gruyere? Don’t panic! While Gruyere is melty and nutty and delicious, you can substitute just about any melty cheese you like, which it’s an Emmenthaler swiss cheese with holes or a French Comté, so long as melts and browns, it’ll be great on French Onion Soup. Even mozzarella with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese can work, in a pinch.
I’m lactose-intolerant!
Cashew and almond milk based cheese substitutes have come a long way. Sub your favorite melty non-dairy cheese-style substance and melt it on top!
Leftover French onion soup considerations
Here’s a hodgepodge of other French Onion Soup topics that you may be concerned about.
How long can I keep leftover French Onion Soup?
The soup part can be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for a few days or in the freezer for a few months. If you freeze it, let it thaw in the refrigerator before you reheat it again for your meal. The bread part, once toasted and soaked and baked, won’t ever be as good as it was the first night, so make fresh garlic toast when you’re ready to eat your leftover French Onion Soup.
What are some good dishes to serve with French Onion Soup?
French Onion Soup is a hearty dish. So, you don’t need to overboard when fitting it into a complete meal. A salad and a glass of red wine are perfect companions; maybe a few more slices of baguette and butter or a slice of quiche?
I don’t have any sherry!
That’s OK — you can sub in dry vermouth or dry white wine or leave it out entirely!
I don’t wanna drink wine!
Sure! If you’re avoiding alcohol, you can skip adding sherry to the caramelized onions and move right along to the beef broth.
Step by step: A quick guide to our easy French onion soup recipe
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Step 1: Prep your ingredients!
Slice those onions! Grate that cheese! Pick and rinse your fresh thyme and get all the rest of your prep squared away.
Step 2: Time to caramelize!
Divide your sliced onions between two pans (along with the thyme and salt) and fry them in olive oil over medium heat until they start to brown.
Step 3: Deglaze and keep going!
Add a little water to each pan and scrape up all the brown bits that are sticking to each pan. Keep on cooking until the onions are a deep golden brown. Be patient — this is the key step in developing that beautiful French Onion flavor.
Step 4: Add sherry, then broth and simmer.
Deglaze one more time with sherry. Then, get all the onions in the same soup pot and add broth, bay leaf, black pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Let them cook!
Step 5: Make garlic toasts
Rub garlic cloves on the crust of your baguette and then slice and toast in the oven until crunchy.
Step 6: Assemble each bowl
Ladle soup into each oven-proof soup bowl, add slices of toasted bread and grated cheese and line them up on a baking sheet.
Step 7: Make it melty!
Place the bowls on a baking sheet and into the oven and bake until the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.
Step 8: You know what to do.
Serve the soup. Eat the soup. Love the soup. You’re done.
Get the recipe: Bistro French Onion Soup
Enough conversation! It’s time for French Onion Soup action! Click the link to see the full recipe and kick off your journey to the best French Onion Soup.
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