French Onion Soup
on Jan 30, 2020, Updated Mar 04, 2024
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The most EPIC classic french onion soup recipe with a super deep homemade beef stock! Mixed with tons of caramelized onions, aromatics, wine and broiled with gruyere, swiss and sourdough baguette. One of my favorite soups. The homemade broth really takes it up a notch too. You NEED to make this!
If you’re looking for a vegetarian version, you can check out our vegetarian French Onion Soup, which has just as much depth of flavor, and is truly what dreams are made of!
What is french onion soup?
French onion soup is a classic French dish that is made of deep beef stock and caramelized onions. It is then topped with cheese and bread/croutons. The flavors have sweet notes from the onion and a deep soup flavor from the stock.
Ingredients you need for this classic french onion soup recipe
Beef bones for your stock: We are using beef bones and stew meat to make a deep, homemade stock. You can opt to use store-bought beef stock/broth, and that is totally okay!
Celery, carrots, onions and garlic: for the base of the stock with the bones
Onions: And lots of them! To caramelize and toss with our broth, it is quite heavenly!
Butter: This really helps with the lusciousness of the sauce, and super silky texture. As well as a lot of umami flavor.
Bay Leaf and fresh thyme sprigs: I love both of these aromatics together so much! We are also topping the soup off with some fresh thyme, for color and some flavor to top with as well.
Wine: We are using red wine, but a dry white wine would also work.
All purpose flour: This will act as a thickening agent, and will help get a creamy, luscious soup.
Cheese: Swiss and/or gruyère cheese, or parmesan cheese but traditionally it’s swiss cheese/gruyere! If you’re in a pinch, you can also use mozzarella.
Baguette slices: to top the soup off with and then baked to perfection with cheese. My mouth is literally watering just writing this!
How to make this homemade french onion soup recipe
Step 1: Roast your beef bones for your stock
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lay on your beef bones on a baking sheet and roast with a drizzle of olive oil for 30 minutes. Remove and keep your oven on.
Step 2: Finish your stock
Add in a pot with celery, carrots, onions, garlic, water and salt and pepper as well as water. Let the bones cook throughout and create a stock, stir to combine – about 45 minutes.
Step 3: Begin the base of the soup and caramelizing your onions
In the meantime, prep your soup ingredients by thinly slicing all your onions.
In a dutch oven, melt butter and sweat your onions out. Add garlic, thyme, bay leaf and let caramelize for about 45 minutes. Sometimes I will add some balsamic vinegar, soy sauce or worcestershire sauce, for added depth of flavor and color, but that’s totally up to you!
Step 4: Reduce your wine
Add your wine and reduce for 15-20 minutes. Next add flour and add your beef broth. Let the flour mixture melt and mix with the soup. Let the soup simmer on medium heat / medium low heat.
Step 5: Bake with cheese and bread
Next, ladle your soup into oven-safe bowls, add a slice of bread (you can either pre-toast your bread and then add to let broil with the cheese, or place un-toasted in the broiler with the cheese)
Then add a handful of shredded cheese – broil or bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until bubbly, melted and toasted bread. Remove and enjoy!
Tips, Tricks and Substitutions
Traditionally, you will use beef stock or broth in French onion soup. But, we have a Vegetarian French Onion Soup as well.
Taking the time to caramelize your onions will help immensely with the flavor of your soup. You can add ingredients like balsamic vinegar, fish sauce, or soy sauce to help deeper any umami flavor as well.
More soup recipes you’ll love
- Broccolini & Cheddar Soup with Crispy Prosciutto
- Roasted Tomato Soup with Crispy Gruyère Toasts
- Creamy Potato Leek Soup
Find all our Soup Recipes here as well!
If you do make this french onion soup recipe (first of all, thank you!!), be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram and through social media so I can be sure to see what you’re making! If you’d like to stay in touch and get the latest to your inbox, sign up for our Newsletter here as well!
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Watch How To Make This Recipe
Classic French Onion Soup
Ingredients
For The Stock
- 2 pounds beef marrow bones
- 1/2 pound stew meat, optional
- 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
- 4 carrots, roughly chopped
- 1 onions, roughly chopped and skin on
- ½ head garlic, cut in half, skin on
- 2 quarts water
- Kosher salt and black pepper
For The Soup
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 5 yellow onions, or mix of sweet and yellow
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 3/4 cup dry red wine
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 4 cups beef broth
- salt, sugar and pepper to taste
- french baguette & mixture of cheese to top each soup, you can use swiss, comte and/or gruyere
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lay on your beef bones and roast with a drizzle of olive oil for 30 minutes. Remove and keep your oven on.
- Add your beef bones in a pot with celery, carrots, onions, garlic, stew meat and salt and pepper as well as water. Bring everything to a boil, them a simmer, skimming off the fat. Let the bones and meat cook throughout and create a stock, about 45 minutes. Strain and discard your bones, beef and vegetables and keep your liquid for the soup.
- In the meantime, prep your soup ingredients by thinly slicing all your onions. In a bowl, add in your sliced onions and toss with flour. You can alternatively add your flour in before your stock, but I find this way it helps get everything nice and incorporated a bit better, and helps reduce down the flour flavor.
- In a dutch oven, melt butter, a drizzle of olive oil and add in your onions to sweat out. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Caramelize for 5-10 minutes. Then, add garlic, thyme, bay leaf and let caramelize for about 45 minutes until your onions have a deep, golden brown caramelized color. Sometimes I will add some balsamic vinegar, soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce, for added depth of flavor and color, but that's totally up to you!
- Add your wine and reduce for 15-20 minutes. Next, add your beef broth. Let the mixture of the flour, reduced wine and broth melt and mix with the soup.
- Next, scoop your soup into oven safe bowls, add a slice of bread (you can either pre-toast your bread and then add to let broil with the cheese, or place untoasted in the broiler with the cheese) then a handful of shredded cheese – broil or bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until bubbly, melted and toasted bread. Remove and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Lindsey! I am a graduate of both UCLA (class of ’71) and the Paris Le Cordon Bleu school and I’ve gotta say your French Onion Soup recipe looks great! I admire that you have made your beef stock from scratch!
Awesome! I went to UCLA as well. 🙂 Love this french onion soup!!
hi so um i was very intrigued and excited to try your recipe after seeing the vegetarian version on tiktok and so i made it tonight but to my disappointment it was quite bitter , not at all like the other french onion soups i have tried. The soup was sharp but not in a good way not sure if that was the pursuit of this recipe but it was quite off putting. It’s never usually bitter at my local french restaurant 🙁 i feel as though maybe the red wine was the reason for the taste
Hi Isabel! Thank you for trying out the recipe!
I’m sorry to hear you experienced bitterness. Did you reduce your wine all the way down to remove the bitterness in the recipe? Not allowing this and adding in your broth right away will give way towards that taste. Additionally, did you make the beef broth from scratch from this recipe (and if so, what kind of bones did you use?) or did you use a store-bought beef broth? This could also give way towards the bitterness depending on how this was executed.
You can also use a white wine next time if the bitterness and body of a red is too much.
I’d love to walk through how you made the recipe and see how we could remedy it if you wanted to make it next time!
Thank you!
Hi girl! Really wanting to make this but not so sure about the homemade broth! What do you suggest as a substitute measurement for beef stock or beef broth?♥️
You can use store bought beef broth or vegetable broth if you don’t want to make your own, that’s totally fine!
Hi! I’m sorry if this sounds dumb but do I cook the broth in the oven as well? Like, do I put in a stockpot or something for 45 minutes? Thank you so much for the recipe, I can’t wait to try it out!
You’ll make the broth on the stovetop! Not oven. However, when you make your soup base with the onions, you’ll transfer that to oven safe dishes to put the cheese + bread on top to melt.
Hope this helps! Any other questions, let me know.
Simply the best!! Broth is very rich!
Thank you so much for your review, Jane! My favorite soup forsure!
I have homemade and canned broth, how much broth do I need to add to this recipe?
4 cups should work great!
I’ve made this recipe with veggie broth several times, and it’s so delicious. Everyone I’ve shared it with loves it. I did try white wine once like the vegetarian version uses, but I definitely prefer red for this soup. The white wine still tasted too wine-y even after cooking down. Th red pairs perfectly with the onions though. I actually used just the onion base part of this recipe (including red wine) tonight to make caramelized onions for burgers, and that was great too! Thanks, Lindsey!
Hi Carson, thank you so much for your review! I’m so happy you’ve enjoyed it!!
This is so good. I added coconut aminos (instead of Worcestershire or soy sauce) and used a non-alcoholic “wine” and Against All Grain baguettes (and gluten free flour) to make it gluten free. I think I need to make this at least once per month in the winter. SO good.
Sounds amazing! So glad you enjoyed!