This version of French onion soup features beef short ribs and is a little heartier than the traditional version. The set of four microwave, oven, and dishwasher safe crocks costs about $30 and are well worth it because they can be used for a variety of purposes.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 3 hrs 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 40 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons salt, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 8 meaty beef short ribs
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup butter
- 8 sweet onions (such as Vidalia®), sliced and separated into rings
- 2 quarts beef broth
- ½ cup sherry
- 12 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread, thinly sliced
- 2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese
Instructions
- Mix together flour, 2 tablespoons salt, 1 tablespoon black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder in a bowl. Dredge beef short ribs in seasoned flour mixture. Reserve 3 tablespoons leftover seasoned flour.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook beef ribs in hot oil until browned, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Remove ribs and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium and melt butter in the pot. Cook and stir sweet onions in butter until soft and slightly browned, about 15 minutes; reduce heat if onions begin to burn.
- Stir 3 tablespoons reserved seasoned flour into onions. Cook and stir for 10 minutes. Pour in beef broth and sherry; bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until soup is slightly thickened. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Strip leaves from thyme sprigs and add leaves to soup. Return short ribs to the pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer until ribs are tender, about 2 1/2 hours. Stir soup every hour or so.
- Preheat the oven broiler.
- Ladle soup into oven-safe soup crocks. Carefully place a short rib into each crock. Top each soup with 2 slices French bread and sprinkle about 1/4 cup Gruyère cheese over each crock.
- Place crocks under the preheated broiler until cheese is browned and bubbling, 2 to 3 minutes.
- You can make the soup without short ribs or substitute beef cubes (like the ones you get for stew) for the short ribs if they are expensive or hard to find.
- You can make the soup in a slow cooker by browning the short ribs and making the onion broth as above, then chilling separately in the refrigerator overnight. Add the broth and short ribs to the slow cooker in the morning. Cook on Low for 8 hours, then ladle, top, and broil when you get home.
- The nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of the breading ingredients. The actual amount of the breading consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 1162 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 63 g |
| Cholesterol | 177 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 48 g |
| Saturated Fat | 36 g |
| Sodium | 3222 mg |
| Sugars | 9 g |
| Fat | 79 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Great combo of beef short rib and French onion. Soup! I left out the bread to reduce the carbs. Used both Swiss and Gruyere cheese on the soup. Paired with roasted garlic Parmesan carrots and roasted Yukon Gold Wedges with Romano. Cheese.
turned out great, next time will mix regular onions along with the sweet onions.
This was fabulous! Great taste all around. We took the ribs out and ate them on the side. I also cut the onions up more to make it easier to eat. Will make again!
This is absolutely the best French onion soup I have ever tasted including my own recipes that I’ve tried many many times for many different sites including all the restaurants I’ve ever been to this is actually wonderful!!!
This is a great soup! I cut it in half as I only had 3 short ribs. Very flavorful. Will definitely make this again.
A chef once told me to use only a few veggies while cooking. He was correct. Finely strain the vegetables from the liquid after cooking. Throw these veggies away keeping the liquid. The veggies have lost their unique favors after being cooked for several hours. From the strained liquid you can make a wonderful au jus with a couple tbls more wine. Our old friend Justin Wilson said never use a wine you would not drink. “An’, you don’t get dat at da grocery store, no.” I use a good Marsala. Cook fresh veggies separately to serve with your meal.
With the exception of only using 4 meaty short ribs (because that is all that I had), we made this recipe exactly as it reads and we really enjoyed it. It would have been even better with the 4 extra ribs that it calls for. The flavor is delicious and our children who are under 4 devoured it…probably because of the french bread with cheese on the top:). We do not have crocks, so I just broiled the bread topped with cheese and placed it on top of the soup bowls before serving.