| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 45 min |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 5 sweet onions (like Vidalias) or a combination of sweet and red onions (about 4 pounds)
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups white wine
- 10 ounces canned beef consomme
- 10 ounces chicken broth
- 10 ounces apple cider (unfiltered is best)
- Bouquet garni; thyme sprigs, bay leaf and parsley tied together with kitchen string
- 1 loaf country style bread
- Kosher salt
- Ground black pepper
- Splash of Cognac (optional)
- 1 cup Fontina or Gruyere cheese, grated
Instructions
- Trim the ends off each onion then halve lengthwise. Remove peel and finely slice into half-moon shapes. Set electric skillet to 300 degrees and add butter. Once butter has melted add a layer of onions and sprinkle with a little salt. Repeat layering onions and salt until all onions are in the skillet. Do not try stirring until onions have sweated down for 15 to 20 minutes. After that, stir occasionally until onions are dark mahogany and reduced to approximately 2 cups. This should take 45 minutes to 1 hour. Do not worry about burning.
- Add enough wine to cover the onions and turn heat to high, reducing the wine to a syrup consistency. Add consomme, chicken broth, apple cider and bouquet garni. Reduce heat and simmer 15 to 20 minutes.
- Place oven rack in top 1/3 of oven and heat broiler.
- Cut country bread in rounds large enough to fit mouth of oven safe soup crocks. Place the slices on a baking sheet and place under broiler for 1 minute.
- Season soup mixture with salt, pepper and cognac. Remove bouquet garni and ladle soup into crocks leaving one inch to the lip. Place bread round, toasted side down, on top of soup and top with grated cheese. Broil until cheese is bubbly and golden, 1 to 2 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 402 |
| Total Fat | 12 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 50 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Sugar | 18 g |
| Protein | 14 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Sodium | 1045 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 402 |
| Total Fat | 12 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 50 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Sugar | 18 g |
| Protein | 14 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Sodium | 1045 mg |
Reviews
The best French onion I have ever had! Thanks AB
I agree with other reviewers — too sweet. Other flavors and techniques are very good, but next time I won’t just reduce the apple cider — I’ll leave it out entirely.
So we carefully read the comments and made absolutely sure to get apple cider, not apple cider vinegar. We tasted as we were making the dish to get a sense of what the sweetness levels were, and based on that we opted to add 3oz of apple cider instead of 10oz, and we still found it to be sweet for our preferences. We think it’s related to the fact that the base of the soup is sweet onions. I will add that we didn’t do a great job of following the recipe in that we didn’t have cognac and we used beef stock instead of beef consommé because the latter was not available at our grocery and we didn’t have time to make it from scratch. The safe bet with this recipe is to taste your food as you cook to make sure you add the ingredients to your liking.
+1, The apple cider ruined this recipe. The white wine adds some sweetness. The apple cider pushes it into ugh too sweet territory. I have eaten french onion soup in many different places and none of them put apple cider into it. And I usually love Alton’s recipes. I will have to try this again without the cider.
This recipe has been posted for how long, and people are STILL not reading the recipe and using apple cider vinegar? I personally find this recipe over complicated, and I can read the difference between apple cider and apple cider vinegar.
I used apple cider vinegar for this and it was DELICIOUS. I’m not sure what everyone is complaining about.
This was really awful. I followed it to the letter. There was nowhere near enough soup it was much too thick once you got the bread on top, and it was acidic and sweet at the same time. I did not care for it one bit
I followed the recipe to the letter and we did not care for this soup at all. Sorry Alton but it went right in the trash
Made this last Christmas and have everything (including the unfiltered apple cider) to fix for Christmas 2022
My family loves this recipe. Its wonderful on a cold snowy day.