21 Day Fix French Onion Soup

Published: Jan 16, 2018 · Modified: Mar 21, 2019 by Stephanie · 8 Comments · This post may contain affiliate links

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This 21 Day Fix French Onion soup is rich, silky and basically the best thing onions have ever turned into. Ever.

Hey peeps! So I know I've been posting lots of quick, tasty recipes for the Instant Pot lately... like this one and this one and oh man, this one- but this isn't going to be one of those. Because there are some things in life that just can't be rushed. Special things. Like wine. Wine will not be rushed. Also, I cannot be rushed whilst drinking said wine. But more importantly, a perfectly caramelized, perfectly rich and silky French Onion soup cannot and should not be rushed. It's the things that takes a little extra time that are the most worth it in the end.

Or at least that's what I say to my husband when he's been waiting on me to get ready. #Ididnotwakeuplikethis

I digress. I've had this one on my to-do list for quite a while now and I'm so glad I finally got it up on the blog! It is the sexiest soup* after all. One of the things I love most about it is how it turns something as mundane as a bowl full of onions into something so luxuriously magical. One of cooking's greatest feats if you ask me. Oh! And just so you know, while this 21 Day Fix French Onion Soup may be a little lighter on the fat and calories, it is not light on luxury or flavor. It is honest-to-goodness, lick-the-bowl clean delicious and I know you're going to love it.

A couple of quick notes:

On the cheese - I used sliced swiss cheese from Sargento, but if you prefer a stronger cheese, go ahead and use 2 ½ tablespoons of grated gruyere, no big deal!
Something that always annoys me when I order French Onion Soup in restaurants is that most places use 1 whole piece of toast on top that is basically impossible to get through without making yourself crazy, so because I like myself (and you!) I made croutons for my version and it's so much better! Why isn't everyone doing this?!

Btw, since I'm the only person in my house with the French Onion soup fever, I can also attest that it freezes beautifully! I've been making it, then leaving out enough for me to have for lunches throughout the week and then freezing the rest. It's perfect and frankly who wants to share anyway? Enjoy!

*I made this up, but I'm preeeetty sure it's true.

**Special shout-out to our friends, the Darbys who so graciously lent me their grandma's soup crocks for these photos! Thank you!

***Looking for soup crocks like these? These ones look great! <- affiliate link!

If you make this 21 Day Fix French Onion Soup be sure to snap a pic and tag me@thefoodieandthefixon Instagramso I can check it out! It makes me ridiculously happy to see what you guys are making 🙂

📖 Recipe

Yield: 6 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Soup:

2 Tbs butter
4 lbs sweet onions (about 5 large or 8 cups sliced)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ - ½ teaspoon black pepper (I did about 24 cranks of my peppermill)
1 cup dry sherry (not cooking sherry!)
8 cups of low-sodium beef broth (I love Imagine organic because the sodium is particularly low)
10 sprigs of thyme (I really just grab a small bundle)
1 or 2 large sprigs of rosemary
2 bay leaves (if you've got 'em, if not don't buy them just for this)
cooking twine

Croutons:

3 slices of whole grain or whole wheat bread (about 50 calories per slice), each slice chopped into 12 cubes
Cooking Spray
garlic powder
dried thyme

For Serving:

Homemade Croutons
6 slices of all natural Swiss Cheese (I love Sargento)
6 individual soup crocks or oven safe bowls

Instructions

Heat a large, heavy-bottomed pot to medium heat and melt the butter. Add in the sliced onions and cook, stirring every now and then until softened, about 15 minutes or so. Add the salt and pepper and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until caramelized, 45 - an hour.
Raise the heat to high on your burner and add in the sherry, deglazing the pan and getting up all of the browned bits on the bottom. Cook on high for about 10 minutes or so, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Keep an eye on this to make sure it doesn't burn towards the end when there is little liquid left.
Add in the broth and the herbs (tying them together with some cooking twine so you can remove them easily). Continue cooking on high until it comes to a bubble, then turn down the heat a bit until it's at a good simmer (this was about medium-high on my stove, but it's electric, so it would probably be lower on a gas stove), then simmer uncovered for another half an hour or so until the broth has thickened and it tastes so freaking good you want to drink it.

Croutons:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Lay out the bread cubes on a baking sheet, lightly spray them with cooking spray and sprinkle lightly with a bit of thyme and garlic powder, toss. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, flipping them over halfway through or until they're dried out and toasted. (Once these are completely cool, you can put them in a baggie and they'll keep for several days!)

To Serve:

Put 1 ⅓ cup of hot soup in each soup crock, top each with 6 croutons, then cover each with a slice of cheese. Pop them under the broiler on low until cheese melts. (I usually don't bother preheating the broiler, but feel free!) Be sure to watch it carefully so the cheese doesn't burn. This took about 2 minutes under my broiler, but each is different. You could also use a kitchen torch to melt the cheese if you've got one (I'm always looking for an excuse to use my kitchen torch!). Enjoy!

Notes

21 Day Fix Container Equivalents per Serving: 1 ⅓ Green, ½ Yellow, ½ Blue, 1 teaspoon

Weight Watchers Freestyle Points: 7

More Entrée Recipes

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Salmon and Vegetables
Easy Pineapple Sausage Curry
Chili Cheese Burrito Spaghetti Squash Bowls (Instant Pot)
Healthy Instant Pot Pasta with Meatballs

Reader Interactions

Comments

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Edward says
January 09, 2019 at 4:57 am
I love this recipe and your pictures did it good justice Stephanie 🙂
I started the new year with a deep need for soups.. such a cold winter here in London! That's one of the few good things about winter if you ask me.. soups! Your cheesy broccoli one also looks great 🙂
By the way, I know French use it everywhere, but I tried this recipe both with and without butter and they were both good (in their own way). Good tip for your dairy-free readers I guess 😛
Reply
- Stephanie says
  January 09, 2019 at 9:26 am
  I totally agree, soups are one of my favorite parts of winter! Thanks for the butter tip, Edward!
  Reply
Jessica says
October 02, 2018 at 4:20 pm
Two questions in the French onion soup .... Can you use something instead of Dry Sherry? Can you use dried seasonings? And also can this be made in a crock pot
Reply
- Stephanie says
  October 03, 2018 at 4:59 am
  Hi Jessica, sherry is one of the main flavor components to french onion soup, personally I wouldn't substitute it, but if you had to, you could use any wine that you had on hand. If you were avoiding wine, you could substitute with broth. You can use dried seasonings if you like. It can't really be made in the crock pot, only because the onions have to caramelize, and they'll only steam / boil in the crock pot. You need a dry heat source for them to caramelize. Hope this helps!
  Reply
Becky says
February 23, 2018 at 12:29 pm
Hi Steph! I'm the only one in my house that loves onion soup. Never thought it could be fixed with all the salt, bread and cheese but super excited to try it! Unfortunately, I'm the only one. Do you think this will freeze ok?
Reply
- Stephanie says
  February 24, 2018 at 5:57 pm
  Hey Becky! It should freeze nicely!
  Reply
Albert says
January 18, 2018 at 6:22 am
I love this French onion soup, and the fact that it does not have as much butter is right up my alley, love the addition of sherry, and swiss is a great choice of cheese! fantastic recipe
Reply
- Stephanie says
  January 18, 2018 at 7:23 am
  Thanks, Albert!
  Reply

21 Day Fix French Onion Soup - The Foodie and The Fix (2024)

📖 Recipe