Traditional French onion soup is a simple and genuine recipe, which is now served in fine restaurants but was originally a poor dish, consisting of few inexpensive ingredients: onions, bread, broth and cheese. The original French onion soup is a gratin soup: when the soup is cooked, after adding the bread and cheese, it must be placed under the oven grill, until a delicious crust forms on the surface of the onion soup and the cheese becomes melted. To prepare a delicate and creamy onion soup you have to pay particular attention when cooking the onions: you must in fact avoid that they darken or even worse they burn. They need to stew over low heat and remain clear. Serve the French onion soup in single-serving pans to add a rustic touch to your dinner!
Ingredients for traditional French onion soup (4 servings)
- 10golden onions (800 g / 28 oz)
- 4 tablespoonsbutter (melted; 60 g / 2 oz)
- 1 tablespoonsugar (20 g / 0,7oz)
- 1 tablespoonflour (15 g/0,5 oz)
- 4 cupsbeef broth (about 1 liter)
- 1 pinchsalt
- 1 pinchpepper
- 8 slicesbaguette (or other bread)
- 1 cupgruyere (grated; (120 g / 4 oz))
Tools
- 1 Chopping Board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Strainer
- 1 Pan , non-stick with lid
How to make french onion soup (soupe à l’oignon):
Step 1. Peel the onions, cut them into fairly thick slices. In a non-stick pan melt the butter over very low heat. Then add the onions, a pinch of salt and a little pepper and let them soften for a few minutes, stirring often and being careful not to brown them.
Add the sugar and continue to cook over low heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring often. Add the flour by dropping it from a strainer. Mix well and pour in about three cups of broth.
Step 2. Cover with a lid and cook over medium heat for 30-40 minutes, adding more hot broth if the soup gets too dry. After 30-40 minutes, the onions will have largely melted.
Step 3. Remove the french onion soup from the heat and pour it into 4 single-portion ovenproof dishes. Put a slice of previously toasted bread in each dish. Garnish with grated Gruyere cheese so that it covers the bread.
Place the French onion soup in the oven with the grill on maximum power. It will take 5-6 minutes, but check that the cheese is well melted before taking the dishes out of the oven.
Serve the french onion soup immediately after taking it out of the oven.
Notes
Puoi trovare la versione italiana di questa ricetta qui!
Tips and variations
You can prepare the french onion soup in advance up to step 2 and, once cold, store it in the refrigerator for 1 day. Just before serving, heat it on the stove and proceed with step 3.
Instead of Gruyere cheese you can use Swiss cheese.
If you want to make onion soup a vegetarian dish, just replace the meat broth with vegetable broth.