French Onion Soup is without a doubt one of the most comforting and delicious soups out there. A rich broth layered with tons of caramelized onions and topped with crusty bread and cheese–What could be better?

If you’ve ever wanted to make restaurant-quality French Onion Soup from scratch, this is your recipe. This post will cover everything on how to make your own beef stock, caramelize onions, and more.

You’ll be cooking like a French chef in no time!

The Best Epic French Onion Soup Recipe

For day 3 of So Much Food Soup Week, we’re tackling an absolute classic: the most epic French onion soup recipe. If you truly want to impress in the kitchen, this recipe has all the tips and tricks to make soup just like you’d get in a fancy French restaurant.

While there are a million French onion soup recipes out there, most of them are not great. This is not a soup that you want to take short cuts for! Why go through the effort if the end result is just going to be mediocre?

French onion soup is deceptively simple to make, but the time involved and the method matter. The quality of ingredients that you use matter. I’ve got plenty of quick and easy soup recipes that come together in no time, but this isn’t one of them.

Don’t mistake this for me saying that this soup is hard to make, because it isn’t. You’ve just got to be willing to take a little time and that’s what I’m here for! To help guide you in making a truly special and incredible soup.

Keys to Perfect French Onion Soup

With such a simple soup, you really want to make sure the elements of the soup all shine. In French onion soup, there are 3 simple keys to great soup: the broth, the onions, and the toppings.

If you have all 3 of those keys down, you’ve got yourself a winning recipe.

The broth. The broth is arguably the star here, but most people aren’t aware of how much of a role it plays. Can you use store bought boxed stock? Sure, but why would you want to? Making your own rich and beautiful beef stock is simple and easy to freeze and this recipe will show you how.

The onions. There are no shortcuts or quick ways to caramelize onions, but that’s okay! Good things take time and this is somewhere where you really want to take your time. Properly caramelizing the onions adds body to the soup and creates the perfect balance of sweet and savory flavors.

The toppings. One of the best parts of dunking your spoon into the soup is passing a layer of crusty bread and melty cheese first! Make sure to use a quality french baguette and some gooey and melty gruyere for best results.

How to Make French Onion Soup

As with all my soup recipes, I highly recommend investing in a dutch oven. You don’t have to buy the most expensive, but they hold heat well and are great for cooking so many things.

French onion soup isn’t difficult to make, but the secret ingredient truly is time. This is a recipe meant to be made in the background while relaxing on a Sunday. So take your time and enjoy the hell out of this incredible soup!

Tools Needed

• 5 or 6 qt Dutch Oven
• Mandoline
• Cutting Board
• Sharp Knife
• Stock Pot
• Oven-Safe Soup Bowls

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Beef finger ribs. Beef ribs are my favorite for making homemade beef stock! They’re affordable, easy to find, and they have a great balance between bones/marrow and meat. You could swap in another inexpensive bone-in beef cut.
• Veggies. I go real classic for my beef stock here: just carrots, onion, and celery.
• Bay leaves. I love fresh bay leaves over dried if you can find them. They’re great in the stock and in the soup as it simmers.
• Onions. This is an important one! I like a mix of white and yellow onions, but you can be flexible here. Important note: do not use sweet or vidalia onions as they are MUCH too sweet for the soup.
• Butter. Butter is best for caramelizing onions!
• Thyme. Fresh thyme is so good in the soup.
• Dry vermouth. I love the flavor dry vermouth adds, but you could also swap in a dry white wine.
• Worcestershire. The secret ingredient! Worcestershire adds a nice savoriness to the soup.
• Dijon. I love adding a bit of dijon mustard to the onions after they’re caramelized for an extra bite of flavor.
• Bread. To make the little bread toasts served on top of French onion soup, I like using a good French baguette.
• Cheese. Gruyere is the classic cheese to use here!

The Process

1. Roast the bones. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the ribs side by side. Place them under the broiler for 10-15 minutes, flipping halfway through until browned.
2. Make the stock. Add the roasted beef bones and any juices to a stock pot (8 qt+). Add the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves, smashed garlic, and 20 cups of water. Bring to a simmer and skim any foam off that rises to the top. Simmer until reduced by just over half. You should end up with 8-10 cups of broth. Strain the broth through a mesh strainer into a mason jars or deli cups and discard the veggies and bones.
3. Slice the onions. Use a mandoline to ensure evenly sliced onions. Peel the onions then slice into 2mm thick slices. Set aside.
4. Caramelize the onions. Add the butter to a large dutch oven over medium heat. Once the butter is melted and foamy, add the onions and toss well to coat in the butter. Cover the pot and cook for 5 minutes. Uncover and reduce the heat to medium-low and season lightly with salt and pepper. Add the sliced garlic and bay leaves and toss well. Cook, stirring every 5-10 minutes, until the onions are deeply golden brown, about 45 min to 1 hour.
5. Season the onions. Once the onions are deeply browned, increase the heat to medium and add the dijon, Worcestershire, and thyme leaves to the pot. Once the onions are sizzling, add the vermouth and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Make the soup. Add the beef stock to the onions and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until slightly thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Toast the bread. Spread the baguette slices out on a baking sheet and spread with butter and season with salt and pepper. Toast for 10 minutes. Once the bread is out of the oven, rub the toasted bread with a clove of garlic.
8. Broil. Ladle the soup into oven-safe bowls and top with the toasted baguette. Top with shredded gruyere and place the bowls on a baking sheet. Transfer to the oven for 10 minutes, finishing by broiling if needed.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Using the wrong beef stock. While I have no issues using some store bought boxed stock for some recipes, this isn’t one of them. Using quality beef stock is what gives French onion soup its texture and keeps us from having to artificially thicken the soup with flour. If you’re not making your own, look for quality beef stock in the freezer section of your grocery store.

Using unevenly sliced onions. This is key to getting uniformly caramelized onions so I recommend using a mandoline. Even someone with excellent knife skills will struggle to perfectly slice onions evenly.

Using the wrong pot. For caramelizing onions, you need a dutch oven or pot that is wider than tall. You need enough surface area to apply heat to the onions and using a tall pot (like a stock pot) just will not accomplish that.

Under-caramelizing the onions. A large part of the flavor of this soup is built during the caramelization process. If you leave your onions under caramelized, you’re leaving flavor on the table! Take your time with them and do something else while you wait since the onions only need to be stirred on occasion.

Under or over-seasoning the soup. The biggest complaint I have heard about French onion soup is that it’s overly salty or completely under seasoned. The best way to manage this is to taste the soup and onions throughout the cooking process. Keep in mind that when salted soup reduces, it gets even saltier!

Trying to do it all at once. If you’re new to cooking or don’t want to be in the kitchen all day, break up the work! Make the broth the day before you plan to make and serve French onion soup.

Best Practices for Making Beef Stock

Quality beef stock is a huge pillar in making really good French onion soup. When you make beef stock (with bones) you pull out fat, collagen, and gelatin from the bones resulting in a richly textured broth and it keeps us from having to artificially thicken the soup with flour.

Choose the right cut. The best beef stock happens when bones and meat are involved, so the cuts you use for making stock matter. Beef finger ribs are my favorite! They’re the lower, less meaty part of the beef rib plate and have the perfect mix of meat and bone. You could also use bone-in beef chuck.

Roast the meat/bones. This is just another way to add lots of flavor very simply. Roasting the meat and bones keeps you from having to blanch them before boiling and adds a nice roasty flavor.

Add the right aromatics. Beef stock isn’t just about the beef, but about all the ingredients! I love to add onions, carrot, celery, garlic, and herbs for best flavors.

Simmer hard, don’t boil. Best practices for making beef stock are to let it be at a hard simmer or a low rolling boil, but not boiling out of control. This usually means managing the heat to be over medium or medium-low. This way, you’ll pull all the good stuff out of the bones and meat while the broth stays clear.

Reduce the broth enough. To really pull all the flavor and good stuff out, you really want to reduce the broth by at least half from the starting liquid volume.

How to Caramelize Onions (The Right Way)

Making perfectly caramelized onions for French onion soup is easy, but it does take time. Here are the step by step instructions on how to caramelize onions the right way.

1. Evenly slice the onions. Use a mandoline to make sure all the onions are sliced to an even thickness. Not only does it make the work of slicing so many onions quick and easy, but all the onions will cook at the same rate.
2. Saute the onions in butter. You’ll want to start with a wide bottomed pot, like a dutch oven, over medium heat. Melt the butter and then add the onions once the butter is melted and foamy. Toss well to coat and lightly season with salt and pepper before covering and cooking for 5 minutes. This helps jump start the cooking process.
3. Cook the onions down. Lower the heat slightly and let the onions cook, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until they’re deeply golden brown. Cook them down with the bay leaves and thyme. This process could take 45 minutes to an hour. Don’t rush the process, just plan to have other things to do while the onions cook in the background.

What to Serve with French Onion Soup

While French onion soup is a meal in itself, I find myself being a real soup and salad girl! I love the combination of something fresh and crunchy with a hearty and comforting counterpart.

Some of my favorite salads to serve alongside French onion soup are: Loaded Wedge Salad, Crunchy Italian Chopped Salad, or my beloved Kale Caesar Salad. All of these combos are winners!

If you want to create a soup and sandwich pair, try these steak sandwiches because they were inspired by a sandwich I ate in Paris and go so well with French onion soup.

Make-Ahead, Storage, & Reheating Instructions

The great thing about making French onion soup is that is stores and freezes beautifully. Since you’re putting the effort in, you may as well make a large batch and freeze the extras so you can always have French onion soup on hand.

To store extra beef stock: Strain the stock and let it cool to room temperature. Then, store in freezer-safe bags or in quart deli containers. Keep in the fridge for 1 week or freeze for up to 1 year.

To store extra soup: Let the soup cool to room temperature before storing in an airtight container or freezer-safe bag. Store leftover French onion soup in the fridge for 1 week, or freeze for up to 6 months.

To defrost soup or stock, defrost overnight in the fridge before re-warming on the stove.

Don’t store soup with any bread in it as the bread will absorb all the liquid.

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I have spent months and months crafting the most EPIC French Onion Soup recipe and I’m so excited to share it with you! This is the ultimate soup recipe to pull out for company or when you really need a bowl of comfort. If you do give it a try, be sure to let me know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter and never miss a new recipe! You can also snap a photo & tag @JENNYGOYCOCHEA on Instagram. I LOVE hearing about & seeing your SMF creations!

More Soup Recipes to Try

Lasagna Soup
Quick Chicken Pho
Chicken Wonton Soup
Creamy Chicken and Dumpling Soup
Creamy Chicken Orzo Soup

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