French Onion Soup Recipe

Sometimes you crave hearty rich soup to warm your body. Maybe you seek comfort through the seemingly endless days spent inside.

Or maybe you just want a warm bowl of soup, that's easy to make.

For me, French onion soup satisfies like no other. This savoury, elegant soup packs a punch and leaves you fully satisfied.

With a few healthy tweaks you can get all the nourishing goodness of French onion soup without the guilt.

Comfort food doesn’t have to be heavy and bad for you. There are albeit surprising healing properties to French onion soup, if you make it correctly. 

Garlic and onions belong to the Allium family. They not only have the best flavours, but they have powerful antioxidant properties. 

Allicin is the active component that gives garlic its strong smell and taste. Allicin is responsible for the natural antiviral, immune boosting and antibiotic properties of garlic and onions.

Onions also have sulfur and quercetin, which nourish your cells and protect your body against harmful free radicals.

Thyme is filled with Vitamin C and Vitamin A. These are two important components in fighting colds and building healthy skin. 

Thyme is also used to control blood pressure, treat skin conditions and to boost immunity (1, 2).

Lastly, the base of our French onion soup recipe is nourishing beef bone broth. It seriously gives this soup the richest and most satisfying taste you can imagine!

Each cup is full of amino acids, nutrients and vitamins to keep you hydrated and feeling energized. 

You can substitute in a vegetable based broth like mushroom if you want this recipe to be vegan.

Regardless of how you make it, I'm confident you'll love it. I’d file this under ‘low maintenance recipes’ -- meaning you can set things up then do things around the house while your soup is simmering. 

The onions need time to caramelize on the stove, then the soup simmers. Your home will smell amazing!

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp avocado oil (or olive oil)
• 3 large yellow onions, sliced 
• 3-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 large fresh thyme sprigs (about 1 tbsp), leaves stripped (or ½ tsp dried)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 6 cups  organic beef bone broth (or substitute vegetable/mushroom broth) 
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire (or soy sauce) 
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 tsp salt, divided
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Optional:

• Grated cheese (havarti or swiss) or nutritional yeast

Instructions

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat in a large pot.
2. Add the onions, garlic, thyme, 1 tsp salt some pepper, saute for 3-5 minutes.
3. Drizzle 1 tbsp oil over the onions, then lower heat to low .
4. Cook covered, stirring occasionally, until onions caramelize and turn light golden brown, about 45 minutes.
5. Add the balsamic and simmer for 15 minutes. Onions should be golden brown.  
6. Add bone broth, Worcestershire, bay leaf, remaining salt and pepper. 
7. Bring to a brief boil.
8. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
9. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

I’ll usually eat like this with a baguette on the side to dip in. For a more classic French onion soup you can melt cheese on top in the oven for 10 mins at 350 F until cheese is melted. 

This soup will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days and freezes well.

A few of my other comfort food favourites are superfood chili and butternut squash soup. 

 

Photo by sheri silver