Easy French Onion Soup

Name: Easy French Onion Soup
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 64 min
Total time: 69 min
Yield: 6 cups
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 January 24, 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!

Before, when Christopher wasn’t thrilled about eating soup, this easy French onion 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!

YAY!

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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.

Step two

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

Step three

Sliced onions filling my 8 cup bowl. (B)

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)

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)

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)

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.

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

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

Let’s not stop there, though! Let’s bring that spoon up out of the crock of easy French onion soup so I can take a photo and get on with eating it!

Yum!!

Other popular soup recipes

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!

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