One-Pot French Onion Soup With Garlic-Gruyère Croutons Recipe (2024)

Call me crazy but I'm not sure how adding 8 cups of water to oxtail and vegetables, simmering for 3 hours, and then straining leaves 10 cups of liquid. i would suggest adding 11 cups or so and letting it reduce / enhance the flavour instead of watering it down afterwards.

I appreciate this recipe and will try it. I once served French onion soup at a dinner that required me to use the client's fine china Not daring to place the 100 year old, gold rimmed, Noritake in an oven, I made crunchy garlic bread slices and melted the gruyere over them just before serving. I stood one slice in each bowl of soup. This allowed for dipping the bread and getting onions, broth and cheese in every bite, and none of the guests had to struggle with the cheese.

One way to caramelize the onions is in the slow cooker for 8 hours or more on low with only occasional stirring. Add up to a half cup of oil and or butter and sprigs of thyme or rosemary to three pounds of sliced onions. Epicurious has the recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/caramelized-onions-100845

I knew someone who used to use Julia Child's recipe, with lots of gruyere bubbling on top. She bought a dozen cheap surgical scissors and placed them to the right of the knife at each place. Everyone knew instinctively that they were for cutting the cheese strands from the spoon on the way to the mouth.

I caramelize many onions and freeze in family-sized portions, toast many bread slices and similarly freeze. For an easy weeknight dinner I throw the frozen onions in a casserole dish in a cold oven with high quality store bought beef broth and set it to preheat, then when the oven is hot take out the casserole dish, add a splash of brandy, stir, and top with frozen toast and freshly sliced cheese. While that broils, I make a green salad. Kid-friendly dinner in under 30 minutes!

This has one of the best stocks for the soup, plus you get the added bonus of all that leftover oxtail meat! I, too, added more water than what the recipe calls for, about 1 extra quart, and simmered it for 4 hours. The result was an incredibly rich stock. Adding port instead of the usual wine also worked well. Many compliments. Ended up making southwest sloppy joe sliders on homemade onion rolls with the beef to accompany the soup. Fantastic!

About $30 and I'm not sure how many hours later, I'm closing in on this. The broth is divine and my dog will feast on beef for a couple of weeks. I'm thinking this will be delicious and that I will let professional chefs provide me with my French onion soup from here on out. Soup can not possibly be worth this effort and expense.

I have used store-bought, packaged beef stock (good quality) with excellent results.

I use cheap CA Madeira, rather than port and it tastes amazing. Also, I use left over roast beef and bones rather than starting from fresh beef shoulder. This Christmas our Prime Rib roast, morphed into Beef Stroganoff the next night, and the remaining bones, meat and gravy became the stock for this French Onion Soup. And I'm not too proud to admit that I have made this recipe with Campbell's Beef Broth. Works fine! The secret is caramelizing the onions. Lots of them, long and slow.

As delicious as it is, the large crouton with cheese has always been a stumbling block for me. It always seemed to be an impediment to enjoying this soup. Recently, instead of slicing the bread I tore it up into salad crouton sized chunks and toasted them. I then sprinkled the top with a layer of the bit-size croutons and cheese. It was much easier to get through with only a spoon and tasted no different.

Sad, sad, sad beyond belief. First, as far as ingredients are concerned this recipe is missing the wine and the cognac. The wine goes in when you are preparing the onions and the cognac goes in when you put the soup in the bowls. Easy-peasy, in this order: cognac, onion soup, sourdough bread (holds up better than the old baguette) and gruyere cheese. I have a dozen Emil Henry bowls and they are worth every penny. Besides the base holds just the right amount of cognac!

When I made onion soup, often with Julie Child's recipe, I Ike to use a mix of yellow, red, white, and mild Vidallia onions. It gives depth and color to soup.

Great! A few tips:-To caramelize onions, use Julia Child's technique from her episode on French onion soup. (Find it on YouTube) Basically: first put the onions on a low flame in a pan with the lid on for 30 min, then take the lid off, turn up the heat a bit and stir regularly to make the onions caramelize in another 30 min.- Works fine with vegetable broth. I added a few tomatoes for extra meaty flavor.- Broth reduces so much that this dish only served 3,5 people! But very flavorful.

Used beef ribs for browning/broth. Be sure to o chill/remove layer of fat. 1 thing to UP your soup, is to be sure to carmalize the onion 45-60 min. It took two batches, so <> 2 hrs, but worth it. Also, once my family had a taste of the garlic croutons, I was quickly talked into a second batch of croutons-which were also eaten. And so easy to Put together. A wonderful 'go-to' onion soup recipe you will want make again & again. My cheese was combo of mozz & Swiss! Perfect!

I have just prepped the broth which is now over the stove for 2.5 hours. I’m planning to follow Julia Childs recipe for caramelizing onions, based on the comments I’m reading. I am making both the broth and caramelized onions today, and will assemble and serve tomorrow for Christmas Eve lunch. Any tips for making ahead?For the oxtail, should I interpret the instruction “don’t turn” as we’re only browning one side of the meat? I browned both, but wanted to confirm for next time.

Very good especially if you like a strong beef stock flavor. The port was a little strong, next time I will cut by at least 1/2. With ox tail the stock is very fatty, be prepared to skim off a lot of fat. I skimmed off at least a cup of fat. Also ox tail is not cheap, it becomes a pricey meal, but very good .

i haven't made this but i am scared 3/4 star

Jessie lives her life as a work of art. At 6pm, July 20th, when she was 12, she decided to make French Onion Soup. Her Dad bought 10 lbs. of onions, 1/2 lb. of gruyere, possibly some Cognac. Coming home I smelled it 1/4 mile away. Inside amongst dirtied pots, discarded skins, J stood in tears, watching onions not carmelize. "Keep cooking them." She woke me at 10p, with a near perfect bowl of soup, in July. There are no shortcuts with onion soup, though the results sublime. Jess lives life well.

Made French onion soup last night. Caramelize sliced Vidalia onions in the crockpot with olive oil, s/p, dollop of dark brown sugar and splash of balsamic vinegar. OMG. Add chicken (or beef) stock (1.5 c per person) and simmer. In the toaster oven, I toasted rounds of French Bread topped with gruyere till bubbly brown. No muss, fuss, or garlic required. Plan one Vidalia per person. Get a mortgage for the gruyere if you have to, but it is the only cheese that tastes just perfect.

This was the first time I have made French onion soup. We didn’t have port so we used half cognac, half red wine. We also had chicken stock on hand so we added steak grilled and cubbed to the onions once they were mostly done. It was very good. My step daughter and husband are incredibly good in the kitchen and they gave this 5 stars.

I love this onion soup recipe, making the broth with food&wine “beef marrow bone soup base” and letting it simmer for 8 hours. Well worth added time/effort. Included the bit of sugar and sherry vinegar proposed by others while carmelizing onions a la Julia Child for an hour.

Simply delicious made with beef shank

I have made this several times and it’s a bit heavy for me but a HUGE hit with my kid. I usually use videlias for extra flavor. It is a super easy weeknight meal when heated up & popped under the broiler, and it freezes very well. I wish I knew what to do with the beef, I have frozen it into baggies for pet food but there must be a better idea!

I made this exactly as described except I did add about 11 cups of water initially to be sure to have 10 cups of broth. Absolutely delicious. Could have used more onions but that may have just been a size of the onion issue. Do be sure to use sweet onions -- it makes a difference. My guests raved and demanded seconds. Perfect for a cold night.

I didn't strain because I like a textured, chunky soup. Delicious!

Love making the beef stock, but it doesn’t nearly yield the 8 cups. Since it was only two of us, it didn’t matter, but definitely start with more water, and cover!

how many pounds is 8 onions? Onions are so many sizes I wish they would put cups or pounds so you know how many to use. Any thoughts from those that have made this? I have a bumper crop of onions from my garden:)

Depending on how much water your onions hold, the caramelization step may take up to 1 hour 15 mins. Ignore the “one pot” directive in the title of the recipe and start the onions in another pot while your stock is simmering. Then pour stock into the pot with the onions. You’ll save tons of time.

Made this, but use beef broth and only had a few bones. Also used cream sherry and not as much as called for. Excellent!