American French Onion Soup Recipe - How to Make Onion Soup

[milesbeler]

As a cook who's had to julienne 17lbs of onions in a frenzy for a French onion soup, the way you cut those hurt but I still love you. John.

[califdad]

I had killer "French Onion Soup" years ago while in a resturant in downtown Lahina Hi, it was owned a German Lady and the onions were Maiu Onions and it was so good, my wife and I went back the next night to see if we could just get Soup.  They laughed and said yes, but we would have to sit on the patio, which we did happily....good memory really good soup I still remember

[Pocketfarmer]

When I Was a Boy, my Uncle took my mother and me to the original Les Halle vegetable market in Paris . That was were this soup was invented. It was early in the morning but fit with our jet lag from New York. The onion soup was nightshift market workers food . They said that it was made with old bread, old cheese and chicken bones because beef bones were worth too much. And it was wonderful.

[ethandagamer]

I bet he has a whole garage full of cayenne

[jamesdooling]

Regardless of your personal French Onion Soup recipe at home, carmelizing your onions this way always wins.

[angielxf]

2am and I'm watching this.

I'm hungry af

[elizabethstock]

I have been making French Onion Soup using a recipe from Vincent Price for close to 45 years but am willing to give this a try. Hope it turns out just as well. Thank you Chef John. Love your videos and don't even mind the loss of sleep as I watch them at 2 am. I also have been known to get such an appetite while watching that I get out of bed and actually make some of the dishes. Thanks again.

[danielleanderson]

For anyone who doesn't have sherry or sherry vinegar, I substituted with a tablespoon of rice vinegar and a tablespoon of, surprisingly, apple butter, and it turned out fabulous. You might be wary of sweetness, though. French onion is already a particularly sweet soup, and apple butter is a bit of a sugar bomb. Still, I think the complex flavors it brings does a lot to make up for the lack of sherry, if for example you're like me and don't drink. It also plays really nicely with all the other flavors. Speaking of which, you could probably also use apple cider vinegar instead of the rice vinegar, but I only had rice and distilled white on hand.

[BeccaTheBoring]

Had the pleasure of showing my friend this video because she saw me caramelizing the onions for Thanksgiving dinner soup in the oven. This works so well as a replacement for brown gravy, and I never end up with a tub of leftover French onion soup in the fridge weeks after like I did with gravy!

[kbee]

The best onion soup ever!!!! I had a splash of red wine instead of your recommendation Chef John. And I use swimming goggles for eye protection while peeling and slicing the onion with no tears!! Thanks for all your delicious recipies!! ❤❤🇨🇦

[Makeupjunki]

Why one would ever thumbs down your vids is beyond me. You're the best.

[paulcantshutup]

Doing the math in my head, and it looks like an inexpensive meal with large yield. I'm sold.

[blueeyedtara]

I remember as a child hating onions ... as an adult this is making my mouth water! Such a nice easy recipe for a chilly rainy day. Thanks Chef John! :)

[nursultantulyakbaycats]

chef john is probably the biggest consumer of cayenne pepper on the world, lol

[lukkyluciano]

eating, sampling, and cooking french onion soup is one of my passions. I make it often and tweak the recipe a lot to try and find the very best recipe. By far, my favorite soup and I never get sick of it 3. things I've learned making it, #1. my best FO soups in my opinion have come with leftover beef juice/stock from something I made the day or two before so recreating it is like impossible. #2 paying extra and waiting for Roscoff onions(the kind "Onion Johnnies" use to sell tied up hanging from their necks/bikes) to arrive from Brittany is totally worth it when making FO soup, they have the perfect amount of sweetness. #3 the cheese and croutons are very important, gruyere, comte, good Emmental(do not think cheap swiss will work, it doesnt), or asiago are good choices, I prefer gruyere for it's superior melt. Use a couple slices of a french baguette as croutons, cover with croutons and gruyere and put crock under broiler.

other things I noticed: demi-glace will basically guaruntee a good rich soup but you can make it without it. If you use onions from the USA, try not to cut them anymore than you have to, sounds crazy but the way you cut them affects the taste(sweetness and natural saltiness), . Be very careful adding salt, I suggest not adding any until the very end if you still feel it needs more. As the onions cook, more flavors come out

Buying it from restaurants: the best version from a well-known chain is Panera Bread's imo. But I have had way better at sit-down restaurants in West PA and Eastern Ohio. I've had it in France, Britain, and other parts of Europe too when I was in army years ago. You would be surprised how hard it is to find the soup if you are not in an area frequented by many tourists in France. The best FO soup I ever had was actually in Bremen Germany in the 1980s and started my love affair with FO soup. I ate there often between 1983-90 because it was close to the base. The cook was a Belgian/Dutch guy.

[XxMrLimeyxX]

The difference in humour with the onions was hilarious! 

[edkeaton]

"Onion soup sustains. The process of making it is somewhat like the process of learning to love. It requires commitment, extraordinary effort, time, and will make you cry." -- Ronni Lundy. 🍞🍜🍷🇫🇷🇺🇸

[kberken]

Chef John, you are the best. Just ignore those others who don't get it. I'd make everything you demonstrate. You're the best teacher of food prep ever. Always waiting to see what's next. Thank you.

[bexyevans]

*That pretty much does look amazing, I agree!* 😀😋

[A.nasierkhan]

FINALLY, I have found the "keeper" recipe. HOWEVER, and as some folks indicated, there are process issues with the recipe instructions, but after research and looking at reviews, I got it. 4 Onions is about 2 pound of onions, fyi. Most people just have ground thyme and not spriggs, but 2 spriggs is 1/4t. It says salt and pepper to taste, but let's deinfe it at 1/2t salt and 1/4t black pepper. Forget the wine and it should be 8oz of SHERRY. A lot of people complain about carmelization and time and taking 45 minutes or an hour. IT DEPENDS HOW HIGH THE FLAME IS. With a medium flame and constant stirring to ensure not burning, you can do it in 25 minutes. In any event, the instructions should be...carmelize onions in butter (NOthing else, it should come later), add Sherry and cook down, add flour and cook roux. The last 3 min or so is when you add the garlic, ground thyme, salt and pepper and stirring throughout all of this. Then add the broth, bayleaf and remaining ingredients