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French Onion Soup
5 from 24 votes

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup here is made with a rich ham stock base and slowly caramelized white and yellow onions cooked with garlic and butter. Topped with toasted slices of bread and shredded gruyere cheese, it offers a deeply savory broth with sweet onion notes. The combination of ham stock and caramelized onions creates a layered flavor, while cheese gratinée adds a bubbling, golden crust.

Prep Time
4 hrs
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
5 hrs
Course: Soup

Ingredients

Make Ham Stock
  • 1 quarts ham bone
  • ham grease from cooked ham
  • celery to add flavor, fresh
  • onion
  • carrot
  • garlic
  • 5 large onion sliced thin, white
  • 3 small onion sliced thin, yellow
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 tablespoons butter salted
  • bread cut to fit soup crocks, fresh Como, sliced
  • 1-2 gruyere cheese shredded
  • 1/2 - 1 tablespoon salt pending how salt rich your stock is
  • black pepper fresh ground, to taste

Instructions

Make Ham Stock
    Cup of Yum
  1. To make homemade ham stock, add ham bone and ham grease from cooked ham (optional), with 4 -5 quarts of water and whatever veggie scraps you have. Heat on medium high until boiling and then turn down to simmer for 2-4 hrs or until you have a lovely rich stock.
  2. You can prepare this in advance and store the stock in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 6 months.
Caramelize Onions
  1. In a Dutch oven or large stock pot, sauté sliced onions with garlic and butter slowly on medium stirring often, and cooking for about 10 minutes. Then let the onions caramelize and only story every few minutes for at least another 50 mins or up to 3 hours until caramelized. Be sure that the onions do not burn, but a little sticking to the pan is what will help develop the brown color. If they’re sticking too much, add a tablespoon of water. To quicken the caramelization, you can add a teaspoon of sugar.
  2. Add ham stock to onions and heat (if stock was previously made) until stock is fully heated. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Assemble Soup
  1. Turn oven to broil and set tray to 2nd level.
  2. Fill soup crocks with onions and broth, add fresh sliced bread, and top with cheese. Put crocks on baking sheet (to catch any dripped cheese) and broil for 1-2 minutes until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.
  3. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Notes

  • This recipe yields about 4 quarts of soup, suitable for multiple servings.
  • Gruyere cheese can be substituted with fresh mozzarella if preferred.
  • You can make the ham stock and caramelized onions ahead and freeze them separately for up to three months for convenient preparation.