Homemade French Onion Soup is rich and flavorful and I could eat it every day. It's amazing how little time is required for this delicious soup.
I was a picky eater as a child. Just the looks of a recipe made me say 'No, thanks'.
I didn't even have pizza until I was 15 and was shocked after my first bite. How could I have been passing up pizza all those years! Ah, the mind of a child.
The same went with onion soup. I mean, who would like that? Onion soup?!?
I was older than 15 but something made me order it one day. My guess is I liked a guy and he was ordering it. Enough about me 🙂 It was fantastic.
So a little less of this, a little more of that, a tweak here and there and Voila!
One of the best and simplest homemade onion soups you can make. That is - Homemade French Onion Soup!
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The caramelized onion's flavor mellows out just right to make a lovely soup. Just imagine cutting your spoon into a crusty chunk of bread that has soaked up a deep rich flavor of comfort food.
Save yourself at least an hour by making this recipe. Of course, rumor is that King Louis XV added champagne to his but I don't have any champagne and the restaurants figured out that it was an extravagant whim anyway.
I guarantee you that if you try this recipe you will never go back. It's plant-based too!
Homemade French Onion Soup
Ingredients
- 3 pounds onion - large yellow onions
- 3 tablespoons dairy free butter
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 bay leaf
- French bread, for garnish
- dairy-free mozzarella cheese, sliced for garnish
Instructions
- Thinly slice the onions; you will have 5 to 6 cups.
- In a large soup pot, over medium-low heat, melt the butter.
- Add the onions and cook, stirring often, until limp and soft, about 20 minutes.
- This makes the onions nice and sweet.
- Turn up the heat to medium-high and cook the onions until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Do not burn.
- Lower the heat to medium. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the vegetable stock, water, salt, wine, mustard, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
- Adjust the heat to a high simmer and cook (with the lid off) for 30 more minutes.
- Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed.
- At this point you may refrigerate or freeze the soup; otherwise, ladle the soup into individual broiler-proof bowls.
- Bean bowls with handles are great.
- Lightly lay a slice of French bread on the top of the soup. Do not push the bread down into the soup.
- (Alternatively, you can cut up more than one slice of bread and fit it into the bowl to cover the soup.)
- Lay the sliced non dairy mozzarella cheese over the bread completely, to keep the bread from burning.
- Put the bowl or bowls on a cookie sheet (two at a time for safety).
- Turn on the broiler and slide your cookie sheet under the oven broiler, on the top shelf.
- Watch carefully— do not walk away.
- Take out the pan when the cheese has lightly turned to a dark golden shade here and there.
Notes
Nutrition
Can You Freeze Homemade French Onion Soup?
Yes you Can! Not with the topping but the soup - yes!
Storing in the refrigerator:
Will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Freezing:
Let cool to room temperature. Freeze without the bread and cheese on top—just the basic soup.
Freeze in hard-sided freezer containers for up to 3 months.
To prepare after freezing, defrost in the refrigerator overnight because it is a pretty solid mass and will take longer to thaw.
Reheating:
Follow the directions above for heating through and adding the non dairy cheese.
Ginny McMeans
Not really LaDonna. They add to the perfect flavor in the end.
Mel
I made this recipe last week, and let me tell you -- excellent! And that's even when omitting the "cheese". I'll definitely be making it again!