Onion Soup

My family loves onion soup.  My children are quite the onion soup connoisseurs; they have eaten onion soup in many places and even in Paris and they say mine “isn’t bad.” 

One child tops it with mozzarella cheese while the other likes Swiss or parmesan. I like it just plain. This soup has a very beefy flavor and I feel it is as good as we had when we were in Paris. The trick is to not burn the onions while trying to caramelize them, but also leave them in the skillet long enough to get very brown. Start this early in the day because it takes a while for the onions to caramelize.

You can do other things while cooking these onions since the less you watch them the better. You can also make this soup in advance, let it simmer in a crock pot for hours, or reheat in the microwave very easily. It is also easy to stop making and “run around town” and then finish.

6 large onions – use various kinds and slice and quarter

6 tablespoons of butter

64 ounces of beef broth plus one 14 ½ oz can – use the low sodium, no fat

2 beef bouillon

5 tablespoons of flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Peel and slice the onions.  To slice the onions, first cut off the top and bottom and then place the onion on its “flat” top or bottom. Slice in half from top to bottom and then slice these onion halves into quarters and then slice into thin slices.

Put skillet on High heat and add onions to the skillet.  I use a nonstick skillet to caramelize the onions. You may have to do this in two batches and yes it is a little time consuming; it will take about 35 minutes if you fill a 13 inch skillet to the top or more to caramelize the onions so you need to be patient.

Put the skillet on high and stir often so the onions do not stick or burn. The onions need to brown. Once the onions start to brown a little all over, turn down the heat to medium and add 3 tablespoons of butter – assuming you are doing this in two batches.  Six tablespoons total in this soup.  

Do not allow the onions to burn. The trick here is to brown the onions, but not burn them while leaving them alone long enough for them to brown. You need to stir every once in a while, but not so much that the onions do not brown, so don’t “over stir”.  Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

If they start to burn, turn the heat down even more. Brown the onions until they look like the picture I included or they are brown all over and soft and are a caramel color. Don’t get carried away stirring them or they won’t brown. These onions can sit on a shut off stove in a skillet for a little while if you need to run out, or you can put them in the refrigerator until you are ready to finish.

Add the 64 oz. of beef broth to a large stock pot and then add the caramelized onions to the pot. Bring to a boil. Mix the 5 tablespoons of flour with half of the can of beef broth and stir until very smooth.

Once the soup starts to boil, add this mixture. Stir until it starts to thicken, which will be fast if your soup was boiling.  Add the 2 beef bouillon and turn down to a simmer for 30 minutes. Bowls of this soup can easily be reheated in the microwave on full power for 2-3 minutes depending on the size of your bowl.