French onion soup with cheesy toasts
Onions cooked slowly in butter until jammy and deep brown, simmered into a rich broth and topped with bubbling cheese toast, a bistro classic from the humblest vegetable.
- 80 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.92 a serving
- 460 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 5 yellow onions, large, about 3 lb
- 4 tbsp butter
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 4 slices french bread, thick
- 1½ cups cheddar cheese, grated, sharp white if you can
From your pantry
- 1½ tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leave
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 460 calories, 16 g protein, 41 g carbs and 27 g fat, and costs about $2.92 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No vegetable broth? Chicken broth works.
- No french bread? Sourdough bread works.
- No cheddar cheese? Shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese or mexican blend cheese works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onions from top to root, them, and them into thin half-moons.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Dolly’s tip: It looks like a mountain of onions. They cook down to about a quarter of this.the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and 1 teaspoon salt, stir to coat, then cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring once, until they collapse.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Medium heatTimer: 10 min
Uncover, stir in the sugar, and cook 30 to 40 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until the onions are soft, jammy and deep .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 35 min
Dolly’s tip: If brown bits stick, add a tablespoon of water and scrape; that’s flavor. If they start to scorch, turn the heat down a notch.Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir for 1 minute. Add the balsamic vinegar and from the bottom of the pot.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Medium heat
Add the broth, soy sauce, thyme, bay leaf, pepper and the rest of the salt. , then and 15 minutes.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Meanwhile, turn on the . Lay the bread on a and toast it under the broiler 1 to 2 minutes, until .
Broil. Broiling means cooking under the oven’s top heating element, with strong heat from above. It browns and crisps the top in minutes, and it can burn fast, so stay close.
How you’ll know: The top bubbles and spots golden brown; check every minute and pull it before it blackens.
Sheet pan. A sheet pan is a flat metal baking tray with a low rim all the way around. The rim catches juices, and the wide surface lets food spread out and brown.
How you’ll know: Everything fits in one layer with a little space between the pieces.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 1 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Broilers work fast. Stay at the oven door and pull the tray the moment it’s golden.Flip the bread, pile the cheddar on top, and 1 to 2 minutes more, until bubbling and in spots.
Broil. Broiling means cooking under the oven’s top heating element, with strong heat from above. It browns and crisps the top in minutes, and it can burn fast, so stay close.
How you’ll know: The top bubbles and spots golden brown; check every minute and pull it before it blackens.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Timer: 1 min 30 sec
Fish out the bay leaf, taste the soup for salt, and ladle it into bowls. Float a cheesy toast on each.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
