French Onion Soup
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Caramelized onions, rich beef broth, and toasty bread topped with melted cheese, French onion soup is the ultimate comfort food.
Did you know that French onion soup, often a staple in restaurants, actually originated as a humble peasant soup made with just onions, stale bread, and water? Today’s versions might be a bit fancier, but this soup is still wonderfully simple to make at home. The key is patience. The onions need to be cooked low and slow so that they sweeten and turn a rich brown caramel color without burning. In addition to giving the onions the proper time and attention, I add a bit of sugar to enhance the sweetness of the onions, and I also stir in a bit of flour to add body to the broth—two tricks I picked up working in a French restaurant that made the best French onion soup ever. Finally, to add even more flavor, I top the croutons with two types of cheese.
If you don’t have ovenproof crocks for the soup, don’t worry—you can just top your soup with melty cheese toasts or serve them on the side. And if you want to get a head start, go ahead and make the broth and toasts several days ahead of time. When it’s time to eat, simply top the soup with the toasts and cheese and flash the crocks under the broiler. French onion soup pairs well with steak and/or a simple green salad.
Table of Contents
“I made this last night and it was amazing! I think it was even better than the French Onion Soup we had in Paris last summer.”
What You’ll Need To Make French Onion Soup
How To Make French Onion Soup
To begin, in a large Dutch oven or soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the oil, onions, salt, pepper, and sugar.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are deep golden brown and caramelized, 45 to 55 minutes.
In the beginning, you will only need to stir the onions occasionally. As they start to brown midway through cooking, you’ll need to stir them more frequently. Also, be sure to scrape the fond (or brown particles) from the bottom of the pan.
Add the wine and raise the heat to high.
Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape any fond from the bottom of the pan, until almost all of the liquid has evaporated and the onions are jammy, 8 to 10 minutes.
Add the flour.
Cook for about one minute to dissolve the flour.
Add the broth, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and bay leaves to the pot.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook, covered, for about 30 minutes. Add the sherry, then taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. If the soup needs a deeper flavor, try a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce. If it’s not quite sweet enough, add 1/4 teaspoon sugar.
While the soup simmers, preheat the oven to 400°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Bake until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
Adjust an oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on a baking sheet and divide the hot soup among the crocks. Be sure the soup is very hot as it won’t warm up much in the oven. Top each crock with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices).
Sprinkle evenly with Gruyère and then Parmigiano Reggiano.
Slide the crocks into the oven and broil until the cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. (Alternatively, if using regular soup bowls: Top each toast slice with some cheese and return to broiler to melt, about 2 minutes more. Divide the soup among bowls and top each serving with two cheese toasts.)
Let the French onion soup crocks cool for a few minutes before serving.
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Video Tutorial
French Onion Soup
Caramelized onions, rich beef broth, and toasty bread topped with melted cheese, French onion soup is the ultimate comfort food.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 pounds Vidalia (or sweet) onions (about 5 medium), halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 6 cups beef broth
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 small baguette, cut into ½-in slices
- 1 tablespoon dry sherry
- 8 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (about 2 heaping cups; look for one imported from Switzerland)
- ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the oil, onions, salt, pepper, and sugar. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until onions are deep golden brown and caramelized, 45 to 55 minutes. In the beginning, you will only need to stir the onions occasionally. As they start to brown midway through cooking, you will need to stir them frequently, scraping the fond (the brown particles) from the bottom of the pan. If the onions are browning too quickly, reduce the heat slightly or add a few tablespoons of water to deglaze the pan and continue cooking.
- Add the wine and raise the heat to high. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape any fond from the bottom of the pan, until almost all of the liquid has evaporated and the onions are jammy, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute.
- Add the broth, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and bay leaves to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook, covered, for about 30 minutes.
- While the soup simmers, preheat the oven to 400°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
- When the soup is finished, remove the bay leaves and add the sherry; taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. If the soup needs a deeper flavor, try a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce. If it's not quite sweet enough, add ¼ teaspoon sugar.
- Adjust an oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on a baking sheet and divide the hot soup among the crocks (be sure the soup is very hot as it won't warm up much in the oven). Top each crock with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère and then Parmigianno Reggiano. Slide the crocks into the oven and broil until the cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let the crocks cool for a few minutes before serving. (Alternatively, if using regular soup bowls: Top each toast slice with some cheese and return to broiler to melt, about 2 minutes more. Divide the soup among bowls and top each serving with two cheese toasts.)
- Make-Ahead Instructions: The soup can be made and refrigerated up to 3 days ahead (without toasts or cheese), or up to 3 months ahead and frozen. Toasts can be made (without the cheese) and kept sealed at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (5 servings)
- Calories: 642
- Fat: 31 g
- Saturated fat: 17 g
- Carbohydrates: 53 g
- Sugar: 19 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 31 g
- Sodium: 1,697 mg
- Cholesterol: 82 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Hi. I am hesitant to use my broiler because my baking sheet came with instructions that said not to use it at any temp above 450 degrees. Could I use a kitchen torch instead?
Sure, Shannon, I think that should work. Enjoy!
What is a “broiler”?
Hi Jon, a broiler is a heating element in your oven that provides very high heat. Cooking food close to the broiler is similar to grilling, but with the heat directly above versus below your food. The great majority of ovens should have a broiler setting. Hope that clarifies!
I saved about 3-4 cups of broth from a pot roast. It had all the herbs and spice needed. After refrigeration, I strained out the chunks of veggies, meat and fat. The pot roast already had some red wine in it from deglazing the sauté pan but, you can’t go wrong adding sherry. Scaled up to about 20 servings, it needed a couple more pints of beef broth in addition. The pot roast broth was already reduced and loaded with potato starch so it didn’t need much time reducing the broth. No sugar, no flour, no Worcestershire sauce. It went over really well.
Made this for first time. It was delicious! Did not add any sugar or the sherry.
Definitely a keeper.
Delicious. Easy!! I only had port, not sherry, but it was still delicious!!
I had the same first impression that many others here did, that the soup was way too sweet; so to mitigate the sweetness I added an extra tablespoon of sherry, 2 tablespoons more of white wine and about another half teaspoon of black pepper. Initially I wasn’t going to use sherry because I detest it, but it actually mixed well with the flavor of the broth. I went ahead and assembled a bowl of the soup with the bread and cheese for the broiler, and I must say it was quite tasty (though I’m not convinced the overall recipe was worth the time it took to make). The only thing I will do differently on the next bowl is omit the sharp Italian cheese and just use gruyere and/or one of the milder cheeses some others suggest.
I love French Onion Soup and your recipe is pretty close to the classic version. I love it!
I did change a couple of things, mainly because I didn’t have them on hand. First, instead of white sugar, I added a very small amount (about a 1/2 teaspoon) of molasses for sweetness and depth of flavor. Too much would have really changed the flavor, but just this small amount helped with the browning of the onions and gave it some complexity.
Second, I didn’t have any beef stock, so I used vegetable stock instead. No biggie.
Third, I didn’t have an worchestershire sauce either, so I added a splash of Thai fish sauce and a splash of Liquid Aminos, along with a dash of black pepper to make up for it. That worked fine.
Fourth, I didn’t have any sherry, which I usually keep in the pantry, so I had to omit it. I did add a splash of wine near the end instead and that made it quite nice.
My end result was not the classic onion soup, but it was close and delicious, none the less.
I made this soup and it came out beautifully. It was delicious and it made such a lovely presentation. I am going to make it again this week. Everyone loved it.
I thought the recipe was very good. I added an extra tbsp of flour, a clove of minced garlic and another pinch of sugar. Perhaps the people who didn’t like it did not caramelize the onions completely or let the soup cook down enough once complete. Before the final simmer I felt like the soup needed something and was a little bland but after I let it cook down it turned out great.
We made this last night and I agree with some other comments that the soup lacked flavor. I added Worchester sauce and balsamic vinegar like other comments suggested and that helped some. We love your recipes, but were not fond of this soup.
I made this two days ago and here is my take: it is an excellent recipe and letting it sit in the frig overnight really enhances the flavors.
However, for me, the next time I make it will will omit the bay leaves and add beef bullion to get a beefier taste with the onions.
I will make this again no doubt, but with a couple of personal adjustments.
Thank you for this delicious recipe!
I follow your recipes and love them but we didn’t care for this soup. This was my first time making onion soup and I usually read reviews and unfortunately I didn’t this time. It was way too sweet. Every other recipe uses yellow onions, not sweet.
Best French onion soup recipe so far, I tasted the soup before adding the sherry and it was perfect. I started off with provolone cheese to get a good crust around the edge of the crock, and piled the other cheeses on top. This will be my go to recipe for many years to come.
I just made this and I think it will be great after refrigerated overnight. I made the mistake of using a sherry that wasn’t dry, so it is slightly sweet to me. Since I have a whole bottle of it I will leave out the sugar next time.
This recipe just didn’t have much flavor for me. I caramelized onions in a crock pot overnight and followed the recipe but it lacked a lot of flavor so I ended up adding some balsamic, more worsteshire which then just made the flavors a little too weird. Luckily the bread and cheese helped balance that flavor. I may try caramelizing in a pan next time to see if that makes a difference.
I made this soup last night and it was really delicious! It was the best French onion soup recipe I’ve made. The broth was so and rich – outstanding! Perfect for a cold winter night in the northeast. Thank you Jenn!
Very good recipe! I made sourdough this weekend so I used that instead.
I added a couple of tablespoons of Better Than Bouillon Beef after adding the stock just be make it a little richer. But, other than that, this soup is the best French Onion Soup I’ve had. Delicious!!!
I made this last night. Enjoyed it but I personally will leave out the sherry for sure! Hate the taste it imparted. And slightly less thyme and only one bay leaf. Make sure u use the sugar and sweet onions. I will add Swiss and maybe mozzarella next time bec although the two cheeses were good, I prefer others.. be prepared to spend time on this. It takes it!
If we are making this for guests who don’t eat red meat, what would you suggest rather than the beef broth?
Hi Jen, you can use chicken or vegetable broth. Hope everyone enjoys!
Delicious recipe! I will absolutely be making this again.
Incredible recipe! Thank you so much for sharing!
I’ve tried many French onion soup recipes and I keep going back to this one. Thanks again Jenn for knocking it out of the park!
Absolutely delicious! I love it when a simple recipe turns out so good… and it was.
Made this exacta like the recipe said…came out AMAZING!! Whole family absolutely loved!
No offense to the legions of followers regarding this recipe….
This was the worst soup recipe I’ve ever encountered.
I threw it out immediately.
I understand how others love this recipe.
I’ve lived abroad and feel this isn’t. It just isn’t. Sorry. This is awful.
Would you mind including why it wasn’t good? I’m curious what about the recipe you didn’t like. This helps the reader either skip the recipe all together or make changes. Thanks!
I thought this soup was very good. I’m always trying new ones to compare to Ina’s and Julia’s.
However, it did need some doctoring.
So, after it was cooked, I added more salt, pepper, doubled the sherry, doubled the Worcestershire sauce, A pinch more thyme, and a tiny pinch more sugar( basically, I added more of all the spices)
I will make it again, and will probably add an extra onion, as they cooked down so much.
I used Gruyère cheese, which was perfect.
My husband, who loves French onion soup , had two bowls.
“worst soup recipe I’ve ever encountered”??? REALLY??? “Threw it out immediately”?? REALLY? You must have done something wrong. It’s such a basic recipe! Sure, everyone’s tastes are different, but in no way can you call it “awful.” I personally don’t like thyme, so I don’t use it. It would make the soup taste awful, IMO. However, because of that, I can’t call the recipe “awful.” Ah well. . .
I also thought it was awful and threw it out. It’s the sweet onions. Onion soup should be savory not overly sweet.
Instead of just trashing the recipe and Jenn’s hard work (and expertise), why don’t you get more specific? What didn’t work for you?
What would you do differently?
Made this for dinner tonight. It turned out fantastic. I used half sweet and half yellow onions. The flavor was as good as I hoped it would be. Thanks for this recipe.
This was absolutely delicious!
I did add fresh thyme rather than jarred.
I will be trying this recipe very soon. Can I use something else besides Sherry? I don’t want to buy a whole bottle for just 1 T since I never really cook with the stuff
Hi, Cognac would be a great substitute for the sherry. If you don’t have that on hand, you can just omit it. Hope you enjoy!
Restaurant quality! I didn’t have Gruyère cheese so I used mozzarella. Provolone & Swiss.
That kick of Sherry at the end?! Perfect.
I’m not a chef by any means but your descriptors of the food during the process was appreciated since I second guessed myself a few times of the appearance.
Now time for a nap 😊
Thanks, I’ve been making French onion soup for a while and this recipe is one of the best I have found yet. The Worcestershire Sauce was a great addition I had not used before.
Absolutely loved this the two times I have made it, it is the best version I have found 😊 With love from sunny South Africa
OMG pure heaven. I made homemade beef broth by roasting meaty bones the last night and then putting the roasted meaty bones into a crock pot with veges to cook for 15 hours, overnight. The mouth-feel of a homemade beef broth is heads-and-tails above store bought. I used it for this recipe today and WOW I don’t think I’ve ever had a better French onion soup. I topped it with one slice lacy baby Swiss and then shredded Gruyère for the final pizazz. Yeah, I’ll be making this again and again and again.
I have not yet made this French Onion Soup. I will be making it tomorrow and will let you know how it turns out.
Dang this is delicious! Did take me a lot longer than expected for the onions but it’s worth it. So good!
Thank you, Jenn! Delicious recipe and though time consuming, very easy to make. We had an extra bag of sweet onions and I craved French Onion soup. After scanning the comments, instead of 3/4, I added 1/2 tsp Splenda sugar substitute and a hefty red onion to avoid sweetness and to ensure a savory outcome. Used Edam cheese vs. Gruyere and dry Marsala vs. sherry only because I had those in stock. I followed recipe exactly otherwise. I do believe the Gruyere cheese would have been the penultimate choice but everyone devoured this soup and requested seconds.
Sounds delicious the way it is! I will be making it this weekend for the games! Thank you!😋👏
I’ve been to France several times and never had a French onion soup that tasted this good. I didn’t have sherry so I used balsamic vinegar. I also cut it in half as it’s just 2 of us, fantastic!
Wasn’t able to get that dark brown color on the onions & didn’t have thyme, and I still thought this recipe hit the mark. I’ll definitely make it again.
Can I triple recipe or do batch by batch
Hi Joleen, I think you could triple this, but keep in mind that you’ll need a very large pot for the onions — they shrink a ton as they cook, but initially you’ll have a large volume of them.
Amazingly flavourful and instructions are lovely and specific.
This soup is fantastic! I used to use a Tyler Florence recipe but this one is better! Definitely restaurant quality. I used yellow onion instead of sweet onions because I don’t like it sweet and it was perfect. Thanks for another great recipe!
Hello,
Is there a way to not use any alcohol for this recipe?
Hi Emi, It’s fine to leave the alcohol out. You may just want add a tablespoon of lemon juice for a touch of acidity. Hope you enjoy!
First let me say that I love Jen’s recipes and I have been making them for years. The French Onion Soup recipe I found to be way too sweet. After looking at other recipe ingredients for French Onion Soup I have to conclude that it is the sweet onions that made it far too sweet. Every other recipe I looked at called for yellow onions.
I had a dinner party with a few courses with wine pairing and of all the dishes, this was a huge hit. Mind you, some of the guests were complete wine snobs and food snobs as well and they thought this soup was high end restaurant quality! A few things:
This took longer than it indicated. Maybe it was my cast iron pot or the electric stove, but I was super patient in the caramelisation of the onions and it paid off. I made the broth first, set it aside and added the bay leaves and fresh thyme in the broth to let sit for a few hours while I caramelised the onions. I have no idea if that made any difference at all… I also, used 1 3/4 cup wine instead of one cup and we put it on low for at least 4 hours the night BEFORE serving it. I will definitely make this again!
I’m impressed!
It took me MUCH longer to caramelise me onions but I was determined not to bail out before they reached the desired colour.
I used bog standard onions and homemade chicken stock.
(I also decided to chuck in a whole roasted garlic that I’d found in the freezer).
I doubled the Worcestershire Sauce and Sherry, left the sugar out and added slightly more salt & pepper but I’d advise tasting as you go along.
In hindsight I think the 1tbsp of sherry would’ve sufficed because once the soup had simmered for 30 minutes it seemed to increase in sweetness.
Definitely restaurant quality and knocks the socks of anything you’d buy in a tin!
Excellent recipe. Added 1tbs of fish sauce to combine with the beef broth and bring out umame flavor.
This is such an excellent recipe with rich flavor. The only thing I did differently is to cut the bread into cubes after toasting in the oven. Then put the bread cubes on a cookie sheet, top with the cheeses and broil. Then slide onto the top the bowl of soup. I also had some left over short ribs that I added at the bottom of the bowl before topping with the soup. Not that it needed it, but it was just to utilize left overs. Another awesome recipe from Jen.
I actually just came back from Paris a few weeks ago and I had no plans this past rainy Saturday morning and I thought, “You know what, I am going to make some french onion soup!” Jennifer the soup was amazing, It was my first time making it and I am SOO PLEASED! It was everything I wanted to be. It was the closest thing possible to the soup I had at one of my favorite restaurants in Paris, so thank you for gifting us with this recipe and easy instructions!
Why sugar? I am certain the classic version does not have sugar.
Hi Frank, the little bit of sugar helps to balance out the other flavors (similar to adding salt to batter when baking).
I can’t remember if I’ve already reviewed this recipe, so apologies if I have, but I’m making this for a fourth time and just wanted to say how delicious it is. Best recipe ever! 😃
So yummy! Now, where do we find those oh so cute crocks? 😉
Glad you liked it! You can find the crocks at Sur la Table.
You can also find the crocks at many estate sales, I’ve amassed quite a few realllllly nice ones over the years.
Ms. Segal: I cannot thank you enough for being my go-to recipe database (for salads, mains and desserts). My all-time favourite meal is YOUR chicken marsala with YOUR Caesar salad (genius to use mayo instead of eggs), and YOUR chocolate cream pie for dessert.
As for this soup, I impulsively bought an entire bag of shallots at a wholesaler yesterday. Do you suppose I could substitute shallots for onions entirely?
Hi Kathryn, thanks for your nice words about the recipes – so glad you like them! Yes, I think you could get away with using shallots for the soup; I’d love to hear how it turns out if you make it!
How many servings can I have from your French onion soup?
This serves 4 to 6.