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Easy French Onion Soup

Name: Easy French Onion Soup
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 64 min
Total time: 69 min
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 3 tablespoons butter; 3 onions (vidalia, or 4 cups of sliced onions); 2 teaspoons garlic paste (or 2 cloves of garlic, crushed); 32 ounces beef broth (or vegetable if you want to keep it vegetarian); 1/4 cup dry sherry; 1/4 cup dry white wine; 1 teaspoon thyme; 1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional); 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon soy sauce; 4 slices crusty bread (small French bread loaf); 2 slices provolone cheese; 1 slice muenster cheese

Last updated on October 6, 2020. Originally posted on April 2, 2018 By Elaine 34 Comments

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This easy French onion soup recipe is so scrumptious you will be joyful as you eat it. This recipe also proves that you don’t need to caramelize the onions for a delicious soup!

A cheesy spoonful of onion soup held over the crock with salad and bread in the background

Before, when Christopher wasn’t thrilled about eating soup, this soup is the only soup he wanted or would eat at a restaurant. He has since branched out but I do love making this soup for him.

Well, not only for him because I eat it too.

My favorite thing about this soup is the cheesy crispy bread topping the oniony goodness.

One of the things I don’t like about typical French onion soups I find in restaurants is they are too sweet! I know, I know, most people love that about French onion soup. But not little Lainey. I’m funny that way. I LOVE sweets but I don’t like sweetened foods for dinner. Know what I mean?

I want my sweets to be sweet and my food to be, well, food!

SO, while other recipes tout caramelizing the onions, I don’t find the need to caramelize Vidalia onions. They are sweet enough, I say. That means they save you time. And you won’t notice the difference!

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Helpful tips

Use vidalia onions as they are the sweetest and have such a lovely flavor.
If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, I really recommend their organic broths as they are affordable, tasty and robust.
I use different cheeses each time I make this soup. My favorites are muenster, provolone and Swiss. But you can use whatever you like.

How to make easy French onion soup

Pre-step

Get a Dutch oven or stockpot.

Step one

Gather the onions.

Onions on a board and a knife on the red cutting board

Step two

Cut onions in half and then in thinnish slices. (A)

Step three

Sliced onions filling my 8 cup bowl. (B)

The sliced onions on a red board and then placed in a glass bowl

Step four

Heat the Dutch oven on medium heat. Add oil and butter and once that heats up, add onions and sauté for 15 minutes. (C) Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.

Step five

Add broth, sherry wine, thyme, maple syrup and soy sauce. (D)

Onions sautéed and then broth added to the pan for the soup

Step six

Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer and cook for 50 minutes. (E)

Step seven

Slice bread and get out the cheese.

Ladle the soup into bowls. (F)

On the left - the soup in a Dutch oven and on the right - the soup is in two crocks

Step eight

Place your oven rack in the second highest position and turn the broiler on high.

Step nine

Toast bread in a toaster or toaster oven and place a few pieces of toast in each crock. (G)

Step ten

Either cut or tear your cheese in half (in this case, muenster) and place a half in each bowl. Then place a piece of provolone in each crock. (H)

Bread added to the crock and cheese on top of that

Step eleven

Put the crocks on a jelly roll pan and place it in the oven for two minutes. Stand there and make sure the cheese doesn’t burn.

Cheese melted on the crocks of soup with a salad in the background and bread on a cutting board

I had to stick little trivets under the bowls since they were piping hot.

Let’s stick my teaspoon in the soup, shall we?

A spoon is in the crock of cheesy onion soup with a salad and sliced bread in the background

Yum!!

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I hope you enjoyed this easy French onion soup recipe as much as Christopher and I love eating it!

Please leave me a comment. What is your favorite soup?

And as always, may all your dishes be delish!

If you’ve tried this easy or any other recipe on the blog, I’d love the hear what you thought about it in the comments below. I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more of my delicious food and delightful cocktails!