French onion soup, those little pots of slow-simmered onions and bubbling cheese, warms our bellies on cold autumn days. While I’ll always have a place on my table, in my belly and in my heart for other favorite cold weather soups like curried lentil soup, and slowcooker chicken soup.
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I make it frequently in winter – combining the mountains of onions we purchase in bulk each autumn from regional farms with homemade beef stock (though, if I’m lucky enough to have it, I prefer using pasture-raised veal stock). I float a thin slice of day-old no-knead sourdough bread in the fragrant soup, top it with a smattering of Gruyere cheese, bake it and serve it with another winter staple: homemade sauerkraut.
Classic French Onion Soup Recipe
Sweet with the flavor of long-simmered onions, this French onion soup also takes a savory note from reduced beef stock, bay, black peppercorns and thyme.
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Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon tallow
- 1 pound yellow onions (peeled and sliced thin)
- ¾ pound red onions (peeled and sliced thin)
- ¼ pound shallots (peeled and sliced thin)
- 1 teaspoon finely ground real salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon smoked black peppercorns
- 1 ½ quarts beef bone broth
- 1 cup white wine
- 4 slices sourdough bread
- 4 ounces Gruyere cheese (shredded)
Instructions
- Melt the tallow in a heavy-bottomed stock pot over medium-high heat, then stir in onions and shallots. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in salt. Cover and sweat the alliums, stirring frequently, until softened and translucent – about 10 minutes.
- While the alliums sweat, tie bay leaves, thyme and peppercorns together in a piece of cheesecloth or a small muslin bag, and add it to the pot. Stir in beef stock and wine, then simmer, uncovered, for 20 to 30 minutes or until the stock is reduced by ⅓.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Ladle into oven-proof soup bowls. Top with a piece of day-old sourdough bread and 1 ounce shredded Gruyere cheese. Cover and bake for 20 minutes, then serve.
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Edwina says
I add good beef to my soup. It is more hearty and filling.
Danika says
Cooking my very first bone broth today http://instagram.com/p/lsq9xonuNd
I pre-roasted the bones.
Wondering about the white wine substitution as well… or if I can just leave it out?
Thanks for all of the inspiration!
Deborah says
What can be used to substitute the dry white wine with? Thanks!
Laura says
I agree with you about a great broth! Thank you so much for all of the info. Can’t wait to put it to use 🙂
donnagail broussard says
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Jenny says
i appreciate your reaching, but, at this time, it’s not a good fit for me.
Donnagail Broussard says
I made my bone marrow broth after roasting my bones and marrow….but my stock came out white….how do I make my french onion soup brown like you see in restaurants?
Also, I am starting a magazine, and I would love your blog and would love to promote it. My magazine is called Ageless Woman, and you offer so many healthy tips for aging women. Would you write something and send me some 300 dpi pics of healthy winter soups and put one of your recipes? We could build traffic on your blogsite and in my magazine!
Donnagail
Publisher, Ageless Woman Magazine
Janice says
I don’t have an answer regarding your broth turning white, but my brother (who worked as a cook in several restaurants) told me this insider’s secret: while some restaurants do use beef broth as a base for Onion Soup, there are many who caramelize sugar to achieve the brown color in the broth. The sweeter flavor will be the giveaway to this less expensive and quicker method of making the soup.
Sandra L Mort says
Looks lovely and delicious!
The only possible point I would disagree with is whether it is truly French. I have a foodie friend in France who was appalled to learn that Americans name French onion soup with beef broth. She said that in France, the vegetarian broth in this dish is flavored by onions that have been cooked for a very long time until they disintegrate into a paste.
Annabeth says
Nutritious and healing, French onion soup is healthful and delicious!! Thanks for the excellent
recipe! Perfect for our first chilly evenings here in Central Texas. We will be enjoying it this
weekend!
Sarah Warren says
HI! My family is all on homeopathic remedies right now, & we cannot eat beef, as this will antidote all of our remedies! Where can I purchase organic grassfed veal broth/stock? I really want to make this french onion soup for our family Christmas get-together! Thank you!
Loretta | A Finn In The Kitchen says
I still have never made my own beef broth, but I always have my own chicken bone broth on hand. Beef is next once I get my hands on some bones! Thanks for the reminder.
Rachel says
Oh goodness, that looks like exactly what you want to eat on December first.
Emily @ HolisticSquid says
Yum, yum, yum! I love French Onion Soup. This looks delish. Thanks, Jenny!. 🙂
Kendall @ Dharma Feast says
Thank you so much for the information and resources on bone broths. I look forward to reading more about its healing properties. And what a great idea to serve this soup with sauerkraut. Sounds like a great match!
Agi says
Thank you for reminding me about the healthy benefits of beef bone broths. I have a lot of chicken stock on hand in the freezer but not a lot of beef broth. Must make a batch soon!
Bill Davis says
I bought a Breville $200 juicer and love it. I never knew about the movie with them in it or anything about them, but I started out with a cheap juicer from WalMart and it did not work on apples so I returned it. I was determined to make apple juice out of all the great “seconds” being sold at the Farmer’s Market — helps the farmers and me I figured. So I bought something like 50 lbs. of little, bruised and otherwise good apples and set to work. Next on my list was a better juicer so I looked … and looked … and read … and accidently saw one on sale at Bed Bath and Beyond and it just felt right. So I got it, after asking the clerk if I could return it — kinda wierd to return a machine you put gunk through. Answer was yes so I bought it. WOW. If a whole littler sized apple fits in the shoot it immediately turns it into juice, separates the seeds, stem and pulp — in like two seconds. No more skinning, coring, destemming or anything. Just cut the bigger apples into chunks and juice away. Since then I now drink organic, local concord grape juice, white grapes juice (all juiced seeds and all) — I just get rid of the stems they are attached to; and a load of pomegranate juice, undiluted, pure organic and really solid and strong, but delicious. BD
Bill Davis says
Do you roast your beef bones in the oven before simmering them to make stock? If so, at what temperature and for how long do you roast them? I am doing it at 350 for about 1/2 hour and then watching to try to make sure they stop and brown and don’t turn blackened. BD
Jenny says
Thanks got a great article. I have been making bone broths for my entire life. Your articles have been the catalysts to not buying any even in a pinch. I also had a second knee surgery earlier this year to remove my shredded meniscus that had been repaired 12 years ago. Now I’m flirting with knee replacement. I do not want.that so after reading how much glucosamine is in broth I’m gonna eat it daily. Thanks for that information. I really appreciate knowing anything that can stave off knee or any surgery.