Better late than never, right? 

So a while back I promised a good, hard, recreatable look at the French Onion Soup I made for dinner, and here it is! BTW, this stuff reheats really well too, so you can pack up the leftovers for a quick yummy lunch or take to work on a cold day. 

So let’s start with the obvioius: ONIONS! You’re gonna need a few. I wanna say I used 5 medium yellow onions. Cut in half and then sliced ¼ - ½ inch or so in thickness. They don’t have to be perfectly uniform. 

First I melted a stick of butter in the pan (because EVERYTHIG is better with Butter!), then dropped in the onions and brought the heat up to med-high. Add a little salt, stir frequently, and cover to let the onions “sweat” a bit. Cook until they start to become translucent. 

Now you’re ready to add the stock. I used the Organic Beef Broth from Walmart, but if you have a favorite beef stock, absolutely go with that one! Pour the stock over the onions, then cover and bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat and keep it at a simmer. 

Now if you love French Onion Soup, you know that there are 3 important parts, and we’re gonna talk about the 2nd right now: The Crouton! 

Can you just toss a piece of bread in there in a pinch .. well … yes … and it’ll work … but it won’t be epic. You gotta at least toast it first. But this time, I went all out and got a straight up fancy bread to make my own croutons – and they were amazing! 

And not too expensive either! Something like this costs $1-$1.50 at Walmart or your local grocery store: 

Slice it up and put it on a baking pan. Preheat the oven to 450. Then brush both sides with the oil of your choice (I used Sunflower Oil), and sprinkle on some onion granuels, salt, and maybe a little garlic. Then pop them in the oven. Once they start to look toasted, flip them and put them back. You’ll know their done when they look lightly toasted on both sides. 

We’re almost done! 

Check on your soup. The onions should be all separated and just about transparent by now. Pretty much all that’s left is to put everything together, so here’s how we do it: 

Put a few croutons in a bowl (depending on the size, you may only need one). 

Pour the soup over the croutons. 

Remember when I said French Onion Soup has 3 main parts – well that last one is soup-er important (see what I did there?) and it’s CHEESE! 

You gotta have that melted goodness over the top because … well … you just do! I prefer Swiss Cheese, but you can use Provalone (or even Mozzerella if you prefer your cheeses to be a bit more mild). Place a few slices over the soup and pop the bowl in the microwave for 30 second intervals, until your cheese reaches the desired melty-ness. 

(Now, for HARD CORE French Onion Soup lovers, you can buy special little crocks for your soup and then broil it to melt the cheese – also super good – but I’m poor and simple and ain’t got no fancy soup crocks lol. Maybe some day … but for now, my microwave works just fine.) 

And then, dig in and enjoy!