Who can resist French Onion Soup with its caramelized onions, savory broth and gooey melted cheese? It’s been a staple in France for the past couple of centuries or so. In America, bakery-cafe giant Panera Bread’s, best selling Bistro French Onion Soup, has been a longtime favorite on their menu. It’s no wonder home chefs are busy deconstructing this soup to make in their own kitchens!
According to Daily Meal: “Panera Bread is said to have the best French onion soup. Out of 622 readers, it would appear that nearly half, 45.50%, say that Panera Bread was the best option to go to when you’re in the mood for French onion soup.”
I am here to change the minds of those people who make up the 45.50%!! With great confidence, I believe my recipe (below) tastes better than Panera’s and it is better for you! Not only is it easy to make, but at the end, you will have the best Bistro French Onion Soup to enjoy at your convenience! It also cost about $3.50 for a 12 oz / 350ml serving. (scroll down to see how much I paid for a Panera Bread Bistro French Onion Soup. ⬇️)
Here’s another reason to make your own soup at home – Parisians swear by French onion soup for curing their hangovers!
Panera Bread French Onion Soup
While this recipe is not a Copycat recipe for Panera French Onion Soup, it is somewhat similar in that it uses onions, sherry wine vinegar, butter, stock (they use chicken), cheese (they use Fontina and mozzarella) and croutons (I used Wheaten Bread). Bistro French Onion Soup, Panera style, uses about 50 ingredients. Some of these ingredients include unsavory components, such as Natamycin (a mold Inhibitor). This Bistro French Onion Soup recipe has 7 ingredients, all of which are organic.
Carbs in this French Onion Soup recipe come in at around 47g for a 12oz serving. Reduce them to 35g by omitting the bread.
Did I mention my on-line order of Panera’s Bistro French Onion Soup did not include croutons, and that the cheese sunk to the bottom (I’ll blame that on the 15 minute drive home)? I can only imagine this soup would look just like the photo on their website, if I had chosen to ‘dine in.’ It cost me a total of $8.64 ($7.99 + sales tax) for a 12 oz / 350ml serving.
Cheese for French Onion Soup
Before we go any further, let’s talk about what kind of cheeses are used French Onion Soup. The cheese used in this recipe was a mature Irish Cheddar which completely complimented the flavors of the onions, broth and bread.
Nowadays, cheese for French Onion Soup is typically Gruyère, or Emmentaler which are both Swiss Alpine cheeses. Restaurants, typically make French Onion Soup with Gruyère.
In France, Comté cheese, which is a French alpine cheese is the cheese of choice. All three of these commonly used cheeses are Alpine, they melt easily, and have a mild nutty flavor with a creamy texture.
In summary then, what is the best cheese for French Onion Soup? – Quick answer is any of the above mentioned cheeses, its entirely subjective. Choose any one cheese, or a mixture of 2-3 cheeses and melt away!
Best Onion for French Onion Soup
French Onion Soup is created using most types of onions. Commonly sourced onions like yellow, white and red are good choices. Shallots are also a good choice. Sweet onions will make the soup a little sweeter, due to their higher sugar content. Use combinations of onions if desired. Add garlic, but don’t use it as the main onion source. Avoid scallions and chives. Save them for a green salad, to accompany the soup.
Ingredients
- Onions, yellow, preferably organic.
- Butter, I used Kerrygold’s garlic and herb butter
- Sherry wine vinegar.
- Beef bone broth.
- Beef stock.
- Wheaten bread, here’s my recipe.
- Cheese, Irish cheddar.
- Sea salt.
Instructions
Here’s the play by play how to make Bistro Onion Soup. If you prefer to watch the video (complete with narration!) click on it below. Scroll down to get the recipe and quantities used, calories and nutrition.
So, at less than half the price of the Panera Bread version, with all organic ingredients, what are you waiting for? Let’s get crackin’!
First step is to peel the onions.
Cut in half, keep the root in tact and slice.
Melt the butter in a pot.
Add the onions, stir around in the butter and cover with a lid. Allow the onions to sauté gently in the butter.
While the onions are sautéing, slice the Wheaten Bread.
Grate the cheese.
Butter the bread and place the pieces on an oven baking tray. Toast the bread gently under a low broiler (grill) and allow the butter to melt into it. Remove when the bread starts to turn brown and butter has melted.
After 30 minutes of sautéing the onions, remove the lid and add sherry vinegar to the pot.
Then add salt.
Pour in beef stock.
Lastly, add the bone broth.
Bring to a boil, uncovered.
Then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 5 minutes.
Ladle the soup into enamel French Onion Soup crocks.
Place the toasted buttered bread on top.
Then the grated cheese is added to the surface of the bread.
Place the soup bowls under a low / medium broiler (grill) for about 3-5 minutes.
Remove from the broiler when the cheese has melted.
Click to watch the video how to make Bistro French Onion Soup.
Flexibility
As with all of my recipes, this recipe is no exception when it comes to flexibility,
As mentioned above, there’s a lot of choice when it comes to the type of cheese and onions used.
Flexibility with the Addition of Vinegar
Other flexible ingredients include substituting the sherry wine vinegar. Use balsamic, red wine or even apple cider vinegar instead. The presence of acid in the soup highlights the flavors better. Feel free to omit the acid if you want to.
Flexibility with Liquid Used
As all soups need a liquid base, I chose a beef stock and beef bone broth combo. I used equal amounts of both. Traditionally French Onion Soup is made from chicken stock. I prefer the richness offered by the beef flavoring. I love the idea of using bone broth for its nutritional contribution, but I find the stock has more flavor, that’s why I compromised and used both.
Making a bone broth French Onion Soup (using only bone broth for your entire liquid base) will boost its nutritive value. You’ll feel good about this soup as a result.
Use broth, or stock from any meat or even vegetable (my homemade Vegetable Stock that I make from kitchen scraps will also work), or beer such as stout, porter or barley wine (which is a beer). Using wine for the entire liquid content will make your soup too acidic. However, there’s no harm in adding some wine to recipe. Make up the liquid base whatever way you wish.
Flexibility with Bread Used
With the bread part of this recipe, I took a giant leap away from tradition. Typically white crusty bread is used, untoasted and unbuttered. Being an Irish food blogger, I had to use Wheaten Bread, which is my favorite! I truly believe it adds to the overall appeal of this dish, especially slathered with Irish butter and gently toasted. Use your favorite bread, cut it if need be, to fit the opening of your ceramic soup crock. Store bought or homemade croutons also work.
Flexibility with Cooking Method
I prepared this entire recipe in an electric plug in pot. It can be made stovetop, Instant Pot or crockpot. If using a crockpot, I recommend sautéing the onions in a pan first and then scraping the onions, butter and juices into the slow cooker. I highly recommend not omitting this step. The result will be the best crockpot French Onion Soup you have ever tasted!
Equipment
These ceramic bowls are the best bowls for French Onion Soup. They are the traditional bowl used to serve the soup in, as they can withstand the direct heat from the broiler.
A Tip From Me
In a recipe using onions always follow the rules of onion chopping or slicing;
- Cut peeled onions in half and place the flat side down. Cut off the stem on each half.
- With a sharp knife, make slices about 3-4 mms apart, starting at one edge of the halved onion. These slices should run from the root (which is still in tact) to where the stem was.
- As you are making these slices, position the fingers on the hand not holding the knife, like a flat ‘wall’ for the knife to glide up and down. Tuck all fingers in.
- When the onion half has been sliced, turn it from a north / south orientation to an east / west orientation. Place the fingers of the available hand on top of the onion to hold it in place. Position the knife horizontally about 1cm from the bottom of the cutting board and carefully slice from stem toward the root. Stop cutting once you reach the root.
- Make one more horizontal slice by positioning the knife 1cm away from the first slice. Again stop cutting once you reach the root.
- If the onion is a jumbo size, make a third horizontal slice.
- Now position the knife vertically and make slices 3-4 mms apart, using the fingers of the available hand like a wall, to guide the knife. Stop once you reach the root.
- At the end of this task, you should be left with chopped onion pieces, uniform in size and shape and two half root pieces.
In conclusion, I find that chopping an onion this way (which is the professional way to do it) decreases the amount of tears and the likelihood of cut fingers!
Bistro French Onion Soup
Equipment
- 4 ceramic soup bowls with handles traditionally used to serve French Onion Soup
Ingredients
- 3 lbs onions
- 24 oz beef stock
- 24 oz bone broth
- 4 oz butter 3 oz for sautéing the onions, 1oz for the toast.
- 2 tbsp sherry wine vinegar
- 4 slices Wheaten Bread Use the recipe for it in this website
- 8 oz Irish cheddar
Instructions
- Peel the onions. Cut in half, keep the root in tact and slice.
- Melt the butter in a pot.
- Add the onions, stir around in the butter and cover with a lid. Allow the onions to sauté gently in the butter.
- While the onions are sautéing, slice the Wheaten Bread and grate the cheese.
- Butter the bread and place the pieces on an oven baking tray. Toast the bread gently under a low broiler (grill) and allow the butter to melt into it. Remove when the bread starts to turn brown and butter has melted.
- After 30 minutes of sautéing the onions, remove the lid and add sherry vinegar to the pot. Then add salt.
- Pour in beef stock and the bone broth.
- Bring to a boil, uncovered. Then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 5 minutes.
- Ladle the soup into enamel French Onion Soup crocks.
- Place the toasted buttered bread on top.
- Then the grated cheese is added to the surface of the bread.
- Place the soup bowls under a low / medium broiler (grill) for about 3-5 minutes.
- Remove from the broiler when the cheese has melted.
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