My husband's favorite soup on this earth is a nice, classic French onion soup. He orders it nearly every time he sees it on a menu at a restaurant. For some reason, though, I'd never tried to make it at home until now.
While making your own homemade French onion soup is quite simple, it does require some time and a little babysitting to give it the patience it needs to let all of those flavors develop. But it's worth it. Oh, so worth it. It's one of those soups that tastes even better the next day once everything has had a chance to sit and the flavors get even more pronounced.
This French onion soup was an excellent way to start the New Year, especially since the weather has been really wet and miserable here the last several days.
This is an excellent recipe for a popular soup that I know you'll love. Enjoy!
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Classic French Onion Soup
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 mins
- Yield: 9 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3-4 large sweet onions (you need about 3 pounds), sliced thin
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- ½ cup port wine or sweet red wine
- 2 32-ounce cartons low sodium beef broth
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Cheese Toasts
- 9 slices French baguette, more if desired
- 2 tsp butter, more if desired
- ½ cup (generous) shredded Swiss cheese, plus more if desired (can also use Gruyere)
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, heat the olive oil and melt the butter. Add the onions and toss them around until starting to get soft - about 15 minutes.
- Lower the heat and allow to caramelize, stirring occasionally, until the onions are a deep golden brown. Don't rush this step, as it can take as long as 45 minutes or even longer to reach this stage. This is where your flavor will be developed!
- Add the wine and use a flat wooden spatula or spoon to de-glaze the flavorful bits off of the bottom of the pan. Bring to a low boil and cook until the wine is reduced by half.
- Add the broth and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to a simmer and allow to cook for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally, to allow the flavors to fully develop. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
- Preheat oven to Broil. Arrange slices of baguette on a baking sheet and spread with a small amount of butter and 1 TBS of cheese each (you can use more if you want). Broil until toasty and cheese is melted.
- Ladle soup into small bowls or ramekin and place a toast in each one.
Notes
If you are only making this soup for yourself or a couple of people, I like to only toast the amount of bread I'll be using for that particular day. Then, when you reheat your leftovers the next day, make new toast so it's fresh and crunchy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup soup, 1 slice toast with ¼ tsp butter and 1 TBS cheese
- Calories: 210
- Sugar: 3.1g
- Sodium: 554mg
- Fat: 8g
- Saturated Fat: 3.3g
- Carbohydrates: 23.7g
- Fiber: 1.9g
- Protein: 6g
- Cholesterol: 12mg
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