Easy French Onion Soup Recipe (Seriously, The Only Recipe You Need!) (2024)

FAQs

Is French onion soup for the poor? ›

The story behind this famous soup

In ancient times, Romans saw it as a dish for the poor. This is due to the fact that onion cultivation was accessible to all, especially to peasants.

What is the Difference Between Onion Soup and French Onion Soup? French onion soup is always made with beef stock. Other onion soups can be made with chicken, vegetable, or beef stock. Additionally, French onion soup typically contains wine or sherry, which isn't typical or necessary in other onion soups.

Dry white wine: this helps to deglaze the pan and add a boost of flavor. Beef broth: I recommend a good quality beef broth or beef stock for the best flavor. You can also use a mix of beef and chicken stock.

The key to good French onion soup is to cook the onions so long that they threaten to melt into a viscous, dark brown paste, à la Marmite. As has already been extensively reported in Slate, there are no shortcuts when you're caramelizing onions; it always takes at least an hour, usually longer.

Onions are a great source of soluble fibre and therefore a good prebiotic; food for the good gut bacteria. Optimal gut health is crucial for weight loss and this delicious soup provides great nutrients to help boost weight loss as part of a weight management programme.

French onion soup is the ultimate comfort food. Onions get slowly cooked until sweet and caramelized, then simmered in rich broth until they're practically falling apart. To finish it off, toasted bread is added to give it that lovable crisp-gone-soggy texture and a generous amount of Gruyère cheese is melted on top.

First, French onion soup calls for a ton of onions. While onions aren't expensive, there's a lot of labor involved in halving, peeling, and slicing 10, 12, 50, or one billion onions (I don't know how much soup you make).

Made slightly thicker than most watered down soups because every mouthful NEEDS a slightly thickened texture to compliment the caramelized onions.

What is the best way to thicken French onion soup? The easiest way to thicken your French onion soup is with flour.

If you don't add enough salt, pepper, or other herbs and spices, the soup may taste bland.

What pairs well with French onion soup? ›

Why is my French onion soup bitter? Either the onions have been burned or a bad-quality broth has been used.

Get the oven to 400 degrees while you prepare the onions: Cut down through the poles of each onion, down through the root end into and through the stem end. Peel each half, keeping the flesh tethered at the root end. Slice 1/4-inch thick longways, pole-to-pole, using a mandolin if you have one.

While certain vegetables can work just fine added directly to simmering soups and stews (say, carrots and celery), other vegetables (onions, garlic, and the like) will almost always need at least a brief sweat in a fat-based liquid before adding the remaining ingredients.

You can use either oil or butter to caramelize onions — but ideally, you use a combination of both! I like to use olive oil, and this cooking fat tolerates heat particularly well. Meanwhile, butter adds a distinctly rich flavor to the caramelized onions.

Because onion soup has long been deemed a hangover cure, the French equivalent of a 2 AM slice of pizza or falafel wrap. It's a tradition that may have gotten its start at the ancestor of the world's largest food market in Paris. The market known as Les Halles was founded in 1135 by King Philippe-Auguste.

Grain and Pulse Soups:

Grain and pulse soups were also popular in medieval times. These soups were made with grains such as barley or oats, along with pulses like lentils or peas. This type of soup was often consumed by the poor as it was filling and inexpensive.

With such a soup, a knife is your friend, not your enemy. Using both the soup spoon and the knife, push the baked cheese against the rim of the cup or bowl and cut it gently with the knife. Once you've broken the cheese barrier, you can use the knife again to nudge bits of cheese onto the spoon.

The modern recipe, based on caramelized onions in a rich, beef broth, originates from 18th century France. In the 1960s, French Onion Soup underwent a resurgence in popularity, no doubt because of American interest in French cuisine inspired by the Kennedy White House and Julia Child.