French Onion Soup (Soupe à l'oignon gratinée)
Photo: sheri silver / Unsplash
Onions cooked slowly until deep golden and sweet, simmered in beef stock with a splash of white wine, then topped with toasted baguette and melted Gruyère.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Soften the onions
Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large, heavy pot (4-5 litres) over medium heat. Add the onions and salt, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring now and then.
- 40 g butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 kg onions
- 1 tsp salt
✅ Done when: onions are soft, translucent, and reduced in volume
Brown the onions slowly
Remove the lid, stir in the sugar, and turn the heat to medium-low. Cook for about 40 minutes, stirring every few minutes and scraping the bottom, adding a splash of water only if the onions start to stick or burn.
- 1 tsp sugar
- a splash, if needed water
✅ Done when: onions are deep golden brown, almost caramel colored
Add the flour and wine
Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute over the same medium-low heat. Pour in the wine, scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen the browned bits, and let it bubble for about 2 minutes.
- 1 tbsp flour
- 150 ml white wine
✅ Done when: wine has reduced slightly and the bottom is clean of stuck bits
Simmer the soup
Add the beef stock, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently, uncovered, for 20 minutes; remove the thyme and bay leaf and season with pepper and a little more salt if needed.
- 1.5 litres beef stock
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- to taste black pepper
- a pinch, if needed salt
✅ Done when: soup is fragrant and lightly reduced
Toast the bread
Turn the oven broiler to high. Put the baguette slices on a tray and toast for 1-2 minutes per side, until dry and lightly golden.
- 8 slices baguette
✅ Done when: bread is dry and lightly golden at the edges
Add the cheese and grill
Fill 4 ovenproof bowls with the hot soup from step 4, float 2 toasted baguette slices from step 5 on each, and cover thickly with the cheese. Grill for 3-5 minutes until the cheese bubbles and turns golden; the bowls will be very hot.
- all of it the hot soup from step 4
- all 8 slices the toasted baguette from step 5
- 150 g cheese
✅ Done when: cheese is bubbling and golden brown on top
Soften the onions
Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large, heavy pot (4-5 litres) over medium heat. Add the onions and salt, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring now and then.
- 40 g butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 kg onions
- 1 tsp salt
✅ Done when: onions are soft, translucent, and reduced in volume
Brown the onions slowly
Remove the lid, stir in the sugar, and turn the heat to medium-low. Cook for about 40 minutes, stirring every few minutes and scraping the bottom, adding a splash of water only if the onions start to stick or burn.
- 1 tsp sugar
- a splash, if needed water
✅ Done when: onions are deep golden brown, almost caramel colored
Add the flour and wine
Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute over the same medium-low heat. Pour in the wine, scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen the browned bits, and let it bubble for about 2 minutes.
- 1 tbsp flour
- 150 ml white wine
✅ Done when: wine has reduced slightly and the bottom is clean of stuck bits
Simmer the soup
Add the beef stock, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently, uncovered, for 20 minutes; remove the thyme and bay leaf and season with pepper and a little more salt if needed.
- 1.5 litres beef stock
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- to taste black pepper
- a pinch, if needed salt
✅ Done when: soup is fragrant and lightly reduced
Toast the bread
Turn the oven broiler to high. Put the baguette slices on a tray and toast for 1-2 minutes per side, until dry and lightly golden.
- 8 slices baguette
✅ Done when: bread is dry and lightly golden at the edges
Add the cheese and grill
Fill 4 ovenproof bowls with the hot soup from step 4, float 2 toasted baguette slices from step 5 on each, and cover thickly with the cheese. Grill for 3-5 minutes until the cheese bubbles and turns golden; the bowls will be very hot.
- all of it the hot soup from step 4
- all 8 slices the toasted baguette from step 5
- 150 g cheese
✅ Done when: cheese is bubbling and golden brown on top
The Story Behind the Dish
Onion soups are among the oldest dishes in France: onions were cheap, kept all winter and fed the poor for centuries. The version topped with bread and melted cheese became famous in Paris.
At Les Halles, the city's huge central food market, porters, butchers and late-night partygoers shared bowls of steaming gratinée before dawn. The market moved out of Paris in 1971, but the habit of an early-morning onion soup lives on in the bistros nearby.
⭐ Why It's Famous
Very few ingredients become something rich and deeply savoury, just by giving the onions time to caramelise.
💡 Fun Fact
A popular legend says King Louis XV invented the soup at his hunting lodge one night, when he found nothing in the kitchen but onions, butter and champagne.
Paris
48.86°N, 2.35°E
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