French onion soup is one of the all time great recipes. It uses such simple ingredients; onions, garlic, stock, wine, bread, and a little greyer, but what gives it that beautiful warm, comforting, deep flavour is all down to how you cook them. This recipes goes back to the original French version (doing away with the sugar, herbs, and spirits) and whilst it does take a while to cook (onions intensify their flavour when cooked slower), the results are exceptional. You won’t have tried a soup like this before.

French Onion Soup Recipe

Prep Time: 30 Mins

Cook Time: 4hrs+

Difficulty: Easy

Serves: 2

Ingredients

  • White Onions - 10

  • (Optional) Leeks - 1

  • Garlic - 1 bulb

  • Beef Stock - 1 litre

  • Butter - 70g

  • White Wine - 250ml

  • Baguette - 1

  • Gruyère - 150g

Method

French Onion Soup Step One - The Day Before

This is the secret to the recipe. The chemical process onions undergo when they’re cooked (pyrolysis) creates a much sweeter, more intense flavour if the reaction speed’s slowed down i.e. you cook them slowly.

This recipe takes that principle, cooking the onions slowly to get the best flavour out of them, to a whole new level. We'll make an onion stock, and cook it for as long a time as we can, to give the soup the best possible flavour.

To do this, add to a pan (that has a tight fitting lid); 4 onions (chopped), the leek (chopped), 20g of the butter, the garlic bulb (the skin can still be on), the beef stock, and some seasoning.

Place in the oven with the lid on at 120°C (140°C for non-fan ovens) for at least 3 hours, but up to 8 hours.

 

French Onion Soup Step Two - Onion Stock

Once you’re finished cooking the stock, pour the contents in a sieve and allow to naturally strain, for around 15-20 mins.

You can cool and transfer to the fridge in a sealed container at this stage if you’re making the stock part the day before.

 

French Onion Soup STEP Three - Flour to the People

An hour or two before you’re ready to serve the soup, place the remaining 6 onions (sliced), in a pan with the remaining 50g of butter and some seasoning.

cook on the hob on the lowest heat possible (it should take an hour or so to cook them), turning very occasionally, until the onions have full caramelised.

 

French Onion Soup STEP Four - Sizzling White Wine

Once the onions are fully caramelised, turn the heat up to full for a couple of minutes, stirring the onions regularly to stop them burning.

Once the pan’s searing hot, pout the white wine in. You should get this amazing sizzling sound and incredible smell and the alcohol in the wine evaporates.

Turn the heat down to medium, and simmer until the wine has reduced by half. Add the beef-onion stock and turn the heat to low to very gently simmer until ready to serve.

 

French Onion Soup STEP Five - Cheesy Bread

Slice the baguettes into 1 to 1.5 inch slices, place in a tray and cover with grated gruyère.

Place in the oven at 180°C (200°C for non-fan ovens) for 15-20 minutes until golden on top.

 

French Onion Soup STEP SIX - French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup

Place the piping hot soup in a large serving bowl and top with the gruyère baguette slices.

Serve with a big glass of red wine.

And that’s it, hope you enjoy!