How was your Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend? Did you find any amazing deals? To be completely honest, I am not a huge fan of “in-store” shopping on Black Friday. But, Cyber Monday? I am ALL about that. In fact, I made a super exciting purchase for the blog that I can’t wait to tell you all about! (It should be here Wednesday!!).
Anyways, on to today’s post! Since we are all headed back to work today(and back to our normal schedules), I figured we could all use a super comforting meal to help get us through. And this soup is so good, you might just forget it’s four more days until the weekend! It’s by far the best French Onion soup Stephen or I have ever had and, to make dinner a breeze, it doesn’t require a stock base! Now, it does have a longer cooking time (four hours, to be exact) but you only need to be watching the soup for about 30 minutes of that time. Because of that, I feel good telling you it’s a totally doable weekday dinner. Especially because the hardest (Read: longest) part can be done a few days beforehand. Win-win, friends.
In fact, it has less than ten ingredients (including the topping), so it’s incredibly simple to put together, too! Just slice about 6-8 lbs of white onion (I know it seems like a lot, but they will cook down and give incredible flavor to the soup) and let cook for about 3 hours. Then add water, cooking sherry, and vinegar and you’re done!
And, because tradition requires it, I added a slice of day-old french bread topped with a healthy serving of freshly grated Gouda cheese. This soup is dang good, guys. My only advice, is to make twice as much as you think you need because it will be gone so SO fast! I am actually planning on making a huge batch this week and freezing it for nights I don’t have time to cook but need something warm and comforting.
- 6-8 lbs. yellow onion
- 1 tbs. butter (to make this vegan, simply use earth balance)
- 6 cups water
- ¼ cup cooking sherry
- 1 tbs. white wine vinegar
- To Serve
- 1 french baguette
- 1 cup freshly grated Gouda
- In a large stock pot, add the butter and sliced onions and place over a medium-high heat for about 30 minutes. (the onions should be translucent and begin releasing their water at this point)
- Then, reduce the temperature to medium-low and cook for about 3 hours or until caramelized, stirring occasionally.
- Add the water, sherry, and vinegar and let cook for another 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to Broil. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay out slices of french bread and top with the grated cheese. Cook for just about a minute, or until the cheese has melted and starts turning golden brown.
Try these soup recipes next: