Classic French Onion Soup
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
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?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
One of the best french onion soups I have ever eaten including a lot of french restaurants. Nothing overpowers anything else.Rich yet a subtle taste you just can’t get enough of.
So happy to hear this turned out so great for you! And thank you for sharing with us! 🙂
Thank you for the recipe. I first began with a beef soup bone and added celery and carrots in my pressure cooker for 2 hours–added the vinegar 2 tsp. there. Strained the broth, gave the bones to my dog. Continued the recipe from there. I substituted the bagette for tomato basil crusty bread, and the cheese chouces were parm, asiago, and cheddar. Melted well, easy to chew–not stringy like at the restaurant. Delicious broth!
Thank you so much for your feedback, Patricia! I bet the homemade broth made it even better!
Haven’t made it yet but it looks great.
We don’t eat beef so am wondering if it would be better to substitute chicken broth or veg broth?
Either option should work just fine, Nicole. 🙂
Any advice on how to get the cheese not to bundle in a ball when eating and stick to spoon? I find it doesnt melt nicely…weird
Try better quality cheeses. European cheeses string more than clump. Monterey jack is a great substitute if you are only able to get American domestic cheese.
I usually use gruyere but will give it a whirl, thanks:)
This was my first time making French onion soup – and it is an easy recipe to execute and tastes great.
Next time I make this, I will use a combination of onions, as a less sweet option. One commentator offered that suggestion. I read your notes when deciding to try a new recipe – I get so much value from everyone’s feedback on this site.
I remain awestruck that Chunga has me successfully cooking recipes from such a great variety of cuisines.
That’s so awesome! We love it!
We are having minus 20 weather. Your 37 sounds like paradise.
This looks so good, going to give it a try.
That is freezing! Stay warm!
I love the Recipe!!!! Family is a lover of soup. I really like the soup containers you used. Would you mind sharing the color
and where I could find them?
Staub Cast-Iron Mini Round Cocotte Set, 1/4-Qt., Graphite is available here. 🙂
I made this as close to the recipe as I could but there were a few things I didn’t have, and didn’t want to go to the store, so I improvised a little. Used sour dough bread instead of french baguette and a 50/50 mixture of shredded mozzarella and shredded parmesan instead of Swiss/Gruyère. It was excellent. Great cold weather soup!
Charlie
Awesome!
I want to make this, but wondered if i should use a mixture of sweet and yellow onions as all sweet might be a little to much. Your thoughts?
It’s completely up to you! 🙂
Haven’t made as of today. My husband loves French Onion Soup but there are only 2 of us so making 6 servings doesn’t work if putting on the cheese & Baguettes. Is the Beef Broth low sodium also which brand would you suggest I live 60 miles south of Tucson so selection of broth is limited to the ones you can buy in all 50 states. What size crock bowls do you use? There are 10 oz & 12 oz. I’m giving 5 stars because of the ingredients etc.
You can certainly substitute low sodium beef broth here. I don’t have a particular brand of beef broth that I use regularly – I typically grab whichever one I can find at my local grocery store.
The mini cocottes pictured above is 0.25qt (8 ounces) but you can use either 10 or 12 ounce ramekins if you prefer. You would just have less servings with the larger ramekins.
Do you remove the leaves from the Thyme sprigs or throw the whole sprig in the pot?
Recipe says throw in whole sprig then remove before placing Sandy in bowls.
Please remove the word Sandy from my previous comment. Don’t know how I put that in there.
Carmalizing the onions is what I think separates this from a great soup from a mediocre soup. Tons of flavor! I skipped the cheese because I’m reducing fats. It was awesome! I didnt have white wine vinegar so used red wine vinegar instead. Seemed to work. I also substituted garlic salt for kosher salt.
You have nailed a real French onion soup, congratulations! So many recipes have “things” in them no real Frenchman would use. My husband lived in France for 14 years and this is what he learned to make from his cook. Thanks for sharing
Near perfect French Onion Soup! My Father is a proffesional chef, and the only difference from his recipe and yours, is he adds Sherry Cooking Wine and Worcestershire sauce. Both make a big difference. Otherwise, this recipe is wonderful.
Keri: Does your father use the Sherry Cooking Wine in place of the dry white wine on this recipe or in place of the white wine vinegar? Also, how much Worcestershire sauce does he add? Both the Sherry and the Worcestershire sauce sound like excellent additions.