Classic French Onion Soup
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Made with perfectly caramelized onions, fresh thyme sprigs, crusty baguette slices and two types of melted cheese!
Guys. It is a cold winter in Los Angeles.
We’ve discussed this. Anything below 60 does not bode well with my LA peeps. Except every time I get in the car, it’s actually been 37 degrees F!
Nope. No bueno, guys.
So Butters and I have been holed up at home, making THE CLASSIC French onion soup.
And when I say classic, I mean classic. No fuss, no frills.
It’s just your classic, traditional French onion soup. With the most perfect caramelized onions in a cozy stock with fresh thyme sprigs, finished off with crusty French baguette slices and two cheeses – Swiss and Gruyere – conveniently melted on top.
See, I told you. It’s a classic.
Classic French Onion Soup
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 3 pounds medium sweet onions, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- 6 cups beef stock
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 12 French baguette slices
- 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
- 1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large stockpot or a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, and cook, stirring often, until deep golden brown and caramelized, about 30-40 minutes.*
- Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the stockpot.
- Stir in beef stock, thyme and bay leaves. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced, about 15-20 minutes. Remove and discard thyme sprigs and bay leaves.
- Stir in white wine vinegar; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Preheat oven to broil.
- Place baguette slices onto a baking sheet. Place into oven and broil until golden brown on both sides, about 1-2 minutes per side; set aside.
- Divide soup into ramekins or ovenproof bowls. Place onto a baking sheet. Top with baguette slices to cover the surface of the soup completely; sprinkle with cheeses. Place into oven and broil until golden brown and cheeses have melted; about 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Absolutely delicious! I made it for my kids (in their 20’s) as one said he loved French onion soup and they all went nuts so I’m making it again. So easy and it makes a great meal. Thank you!
Yes and added a teaspoon Cognac right before added cheese on Top!!! Thanks
This was a very good recipe. I added a touch of cream to mine and cubed the bread before toasting.
i only had moscato so i halfved it with beef broth and added sautéed portobello’s with a bit of worcestershire sauce. The BEST soup ive ever made
I loved your French onion soup so much I passed it on to friends and family.Everyone wants to pass on the recipe.
Can I double this tripe as is?
I made this recipe using two leeks and yellow onions. It was damn delicious. I used gruyere and Swiss cheeses. I believe it would have been even better with some Parmesan cheese instead of or in addition to the Swiss. French onion soup is my husband’s favorite soup, but he usually only gets it when we go out for dinner. Now he can have his favorite at home.
Best french onion soup i’ve EVER eaten!!!
Pretty good! The onions I used made it taste very sweet! Who has Gruyere and Swiss cheese on hand? (I live in Africa!) That makes for a very expensive dish out of an inexpensive soup. I used some local Gouda and berg processed cheese and it was twice as nice for half the price!
I think that is what makes a good recipe….adapt and use what you have on hand!
Absolutely delicious, we used Beef Burgundian stock and followed your recipe for the classic onion soup.
Excellent ingredients and recipe.
NOTE: Onions are much better if simply sliced from root to stem, not across the grain like normal. They stay tender and full shaped that way. If sliced horizontally between the stem down to the root, they lose all texture and will virtually disintegrate.
Thank you Russ, would never have known about this. I use onions in just about everything, so this is very useful.
I agree with Russ, I love cutting onions from top to bottom, wonderful when making stirfry and other things where you want the onion to show up not just for the taste. And it also depends on what I am cooking.
Perfectly delicious soup. Also dead easy even if it takes a bit of time. Didn’t have beef stock so used veggie stock. I also added in a few thinly sliced shallots and a scant teaspoon of English mustard powder. This will be a regular this coming winter.
This is the best French Onion Soup I’ve made. On this occasion I used M&S ready made beef stock. Very flavorsome! This will be my go to recipe for the future.
Super easy to make and my family absolutely loved it! Definitely saving this recipe for future use!
Amazing!! Will definitely make again!!
WOW!
I had a bunch of onions that NEEDED to be cooked and I decided on this recipe. So much flavor from a very straight forward recipe. One change because we are living in the time of Covid-19 and I subbed in soju for the white wine. Delish. Also, for those that are sodium restricted, this recipe worked fantastic. The onions have a great texture and the flavor is superb ( I used no sodium beef broth and very thinly sliced swiss cheese).
Thank you!!
The French onion soup sounds great. Can you use vegetable stock instead of beef stock and get the same taste? Some of my family are vegetarians.
You can make it with veggie stock but it absolutely will not have the same rich flavor. I would recommend you stick with something that’s supposed to be vegetarian rather than modifying something that relies on a meat product as a key ingredient.
We make a rich mushroom broth with a splash of tamari and love! Have made veggie based French onion soup forever and love. Can def develop rich flavour without beef broth. Don’t be discouraged
I’m going to drink pig blood in your honor this evening
I know this is late, but using mushroom stock and/or adding a bit of vegan Worcestershire sauce make for an excellent veggie-friendly French onion soup!
First time making French onion soup (my favorite) came out divine, delicious! I need to get more ramekins though I only had one.
I made this last month but had to tweak prep because I no longer could find my soup ramekins safe for the oven. So today my 12 12 oz ramekins arrive from HSN, doing my bi-weekly grocery trip for all ingredients, I’ve only used Gruyere once and it definitely makes a beautiful difference, as does PATIENCE carmelizing the onions! With Covid, we’ve been missing going out for this wonderful soup but now, this and a salad is a perfect meal I can enjoy at home! Thank you!!
Did you make your own beef broth?
First time making French onion soup. Easy to follow recipe and so delicious!
Made this recipe and it was delicious! I followed the directions exactly, but did make my own beef stock by using a few marrow bones and a chunk of London broil in the instant pot while I was prepping the onions. Never had a better tasting onion soup!