Vegetarian French Onion Soup

This vegetarian French onion soup is the ultimate comfort food! It has the rich flavor of the classic, topped with a golden cheese crust.

There’s just something about silky caramelized onions with golden, crispy cheese that takes your breath away every time. This is classic French cuisine at its finest. It’s not just the taste. It’s a promise that even when the outside world is cold and brutal, every spoonful of French Onion Soup is pure. Luck. The vegetarian onion soup is our take on the classic: it’s so full of rich, nuanced flavor you won’t miss the traditional beef broth. It’s a small project, but worth it all time of preparation. Promise!

How to Make French Onion Soup: An Overview

The modern version of French onion soup was invented in Paris in the 17th century. It was introduced to the United States in a New York restaurant in the 1860s and has been hugely popular ever since! Of course, once you bite into it, you know why it’s still a classic today.

To prepare this vegetarian onion soup you need about 1h25. But it’s 100% worth it, and you can craft some components in advance to save time. Make it on a leisurely day when you have time to prepare, or do the advanced prep if you’re serving for a dinner party.

Caramelize onions	1 hour
Prepare the vegetarian broth	30 minutes (simultaneously with cooking the onions)
make the soup	15 minutes

The key to vegetarian onion soup: homemade broth

Here’s an important thing to note. Broths and vegetable broths vary greatly in taste and quality. Try it in French Onion Soup and most The store-bought vegetable broth is sweet: not tasty as one might expect! Trust us, we tested several times and it didn’t taste good.

Here’s what you need to do: Make your own vegetable broth! It might sound like an exaggeration, but it gives just the right flavor. When Alex and I tried this homemade broth, we were blown away by the taste. Don’t skip this step!

Of course, if you want a classic French onion soup: just use beef broth! You can make the same recipe without this step and of course it tastes great too.

Caramelize onions: some tips

The most time-consuming step in vegetarian French onion soup is caramelizing the onions! Of course, you can sauté onions in about 10 minutes. But to get them fully dark brown and caramelized takes about 1 hour. Here are the basic steps and a chart showing the color of the onions at each stage!

• Finely chop the onions.
• Sauté the onions in the butter over medium heat for 10 minutes.
• Reduce heat to medium-low, add salt and sauté 40-45 minutes until dark brown and very tender.

Dry sherry brings great flavor (or use white wine)

This vegetarian French onion soup uses dry sherry to add complexity and intrigue to the flavor. What is it and what is a substitute?

• sherry is a fortified wine made in Spain by adding grape liqueur to white wine. The taste is fresh, with a cider scent and a very dry finish. Worth finding this recipe if you don’t already have it.
• How long does sherry keep? An opened bottle of sherry will keep in the fridge for 2 to 3 months.
• What can I substitute for sherry? you don’t have it ? You can use one dry white wine instead (make sure it’s not a sweet wine).

The croutons filling: grill or bake!

The final element of a great vegetarian French onion soup is the croutons! That means it’s filled bread and cheese, toasted to golden-brown perfection. There are a few techniques to achieve this, but I love the one Alex has devised using both Swiss cheese and grated Parmesan. Here’s what to do:

• Pour the soup into small bowls or ovenproof dishes. This is the key! Make sure you have a few small serving bowls: this soup isn’t typically served in large containers.
• Add ½-inch bread slices, then Swiss cheese or Gruyere and grated parmesan. Both types of cheese really do make the perfect fondant. Remember: grated Parma looks like snow (don’t use shavings).
• Grill for 2 minutes or bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Here the grill method is much easier and faster: we prefer it! But if you don’t have a grill, go the oven route.

Prepare vegetarian onion soup tips

One last tip before you get down to that (very tasty) recipe: here’s how to speed it up! You can prepare the two main components in advance:

• Caramelize the onions first. This makes the preparation time almost zero! Caramelize the onions and refrigerate until ready to serve. Heat before using in the soup recipe.
• Prepare the homemade broth in advance. Same idea! You can refrigerate until ready to serve, then reheat and use directly in the recipe.

What to serve with French Onion Soup

Here’s one last important thing to note about French Onion Soup: It’s not meant to be a complete meal. It is usually served as an aperitif with an elegant meal or with lunch. How do you turn this into a light meal? Add the following:

This vegetarian French onion soup is…

Vegetarian. For gluten-free bread, use gluten-free bread.