The Easiest French Onion Soup
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French onion soup is a classic and the ultimate in real comfort food. This is a super easy recipe for this deliciously rich and tasty French soup.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- This is a really easy version of classic French onion soup, nothing difficult to tackle.
- There aren’t many ingredients, onion soup is very much a store cupboard recipe.
- French onion soup is very economical to make, afterall, onions are the star of the show and they are one of the cheapest veggies around.
I love, love, love a good French onion soup. I go to France a lot and always make sure I have a bowl of this classic soup every visit. It is one of those dishes that for some reason I always imagined would be difficult to make, but honestly this French onion soup recipe couldn’t be easier.
Once you’ve made this classic French soup you’ll be making it again and again.
Ingredients for French onion soup
As I’ve said there aren’t many ingredients in this onion soup, you’ll probably have them all lurking in the kitchen already.
Onions – obviously in an onion soup these are the stars of the show. Use basic brown onions here.
Seasonings – I use dried thyme as you get more depth of flavour than by using fresh.
Butter – You are slow cooking the onions in butter, I use unsalted butter then add my own salt to taste.
Red wine – don’t you just love a recipe that involves wine, afterall the cook gets to polish it off so thats always a result in my book.
Stock – I use a mix of both chicken stock and beef stock in my French onion soup. You can go all out beef stock but personally I like the mix.
Finishing touches – Classic French onion soup is always served with toasted baguette on top of the soup just dripping with bubbly melted Gruyère cheese. This is deliciously gorgeous and makes this simple soup a meal in itself.
How to make onion soup
This soup couldn’t be easier to make, it’s all down to time really. You are just going to heat the butter in a soup pan and cook the onions low and slow for about an hour just stirring occasionally so they don’t stick to the pan. Add a little water to the pan if you do find them sticking before they are done.
They will turn all jammy and sweet when they are done. Now add the thyme and red wine and reduce by half over a high heat then add the stock a bit at a time and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Check your seasoning.
Finally, toast the slices of baguette and ladle your onion soup into bowls and top with the toasted bread and cover generously with grated Gruyère cheese and pop it under the grill till all bubbly and gorgeous.
How much does this make?
My French onion soup recipe serves 6 people.
Storage
You can keep your onion soup in a sealed box in the fridge for about 3 days and you can freeze it for up to 6 months.
Looking for more tasty soup recipes to try? Then check these out before you go;
Classic broccoli and stilton soup
Traditional cock-a-leekie soup
The Easiest French Onion Soup
Ingredients
- 25 g butter
- 6 medium onions finely sliced
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 250 ml red wine
- 500 ml chicken stock
- 500 ml beef stock
- 6 slices French bread
- 150 g Gruyere cheese grated
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a soup pan and once melted add the onions and cook stirring occasionally for about an hour till they are all jammy and sweet. Add a little water if they are sticking to the pan.
- Add the red wine and thyme and bring to boil to reduce by half, now lower the heat and add the stock a bit at a time stirring well. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Toast the slices of baguette and add each slice to a heatproof bowl of your onion soup and cover with the grated Gruyère cheese and pop under the grill for a few minutes till all bubbly and melted.