Dinner
Vegetarian French Onion Soup for the Table
I’ve been LOVING soup this winter (like more than usual) and this Vegetarian French Onion Soup has truly been hitting
- 4 servings
- Prep 15 minutes
- Cook 1 hour
- Total 1 hour
And if you’re looking for other flavor-packed vegan soups, this Chickpea Noodle Soup is one of my FAVS as well as these: Vegan Butternut Squash Soup, Alphabet Vegetable Soup, Moroccan Chickpea Soup.
A few months ago I found myself HARD CORE craving French Onion Soup. Naturally, I ended up creating my own Vegetarian version of this old-school soup and figured that I would share it on my blog! While it takes a bit of time to caramelize the onions, it’s simple to make and RELIABLE for cold winter dinners!
Truthfully- this was a recipe that took little effort to make vegetarian. It’s truly only a matter of replacing the beef broth and finding small ways to truly substitute that flavor and old-school color.
I never used to make french onion soup at home until the past few years and it’s only SO COMFORTING! Like chicken noodle soup as a kid level of comfort and I am HERE FOR IT.
As written, this soup serves 4 but those are larger portions. If desired, you could easily make this into a 6 servings soup and serving it as an appetizer or side dish with a meal.
Ingredients we’re working with
- Onions – probably what you would expect to see in an ONION soup:D The caramelized onions in this soup are truly what give it such a depth of flavor.
- Veggie broth – instead of using beef stock, I swapped in to for veggie and then added in a few other ingredients to give it that meaty flavor including…
- Red wine – A REGULAR HERE the extra flavor that this adds to the soup and it gives it a darker color similar to what you would get if you used beef broth. If you don’t want to use this, you can swap it for an equal amount of additional veggie broth and then add in a small splash of soy sauce.
- French bread – a good baguette is an absolute MUST for that old-school onion soup deliciousness!
- Fresh herbs– You *could* use dried herbs here but I high recommend fresh if you can swing it.
- Gruyere cheese– this is entirely optional and can be omitted if you’re wanting to make a vegan version of this soup! You could also swap it for vegan cheese (Violife makes a savory vegan parmesan) which I HIGHLY recommend! Swiss cheese, fontina, or another melty cheese also works well in this dish.
- Vegan worcestershire sauce– some worcestershire sauce has fish sauce in it so if that matters to you, be sure to find a vegan version.
- Fresh thyme leaves– to enhance the flavor!
For the bread topping
For old-school French Onion Soup, you cook everything, ladle it into oven proof bowls and then top it with toast French bread and sprinkle on the cheese before broiling it in the oven to get the cheese melted.
HOWEVER: if you’re wanting to skip that step for whatever reason, you can melt the cheese on the toast before placing it on top of your bowl of soup. And then completely skip the broiling process. I genuinely like the old-school method but this is certainly a little easier.
How to cook this soup
This dish is incredibly unfussy to make but simply takes a little bit of time to get the onions properly carmaelized.
We’ll start out by adding olive oil to a large pot over medium heat and once hot, add in the onions. Cook for about 20 minutes before adding in some butter and cooking an additional 25 minutes. This takes a bit of time, I know, but properly caramelizing onions is worth the wait, I promise!
From there, we’ll deglaze the pot with a little wine before adding the the remaining soup ingredients to simmer for 30 minutes.
The soup is then ladeled into ramekins and topped with toasted bread + a good melty cheese. Pop them into the oven until the cheese is gooey and satisfying!
AND that’s it! This is overall SOUPer unfussy to throw together and legit one of my regular soups on the blog!
As usual, if you end up making this method PLEASE please please tag me in a pic on Instagram @!
More vegetarian soups to try:
The recipe
Vegetarian French Onion Soup on the Stove
An straightforward and flavor-packed VEGETARIAN French Onion Soup that’s vegan friendly and SO worth the pot on cold winter nights!
- 4 servings
- Prep 15 minutes
- Cook 1 hour
- Total 1 hour
Ingredients
- 3 pounds yellow onions (about 5 large, peeled and sliced (I cut mine in half and then slice them into half moons))
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter (use vegan where applicable)
- 1 teaspoon sugar (you can use coconut sugar here if you’d prefer)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 8 cups vegetable broth*
- ½ cup red wine**
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce***
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (can use dried if desired)
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 slices French bread (or something similar, cut into thick slices)
- 1 cup Gruyere cheese (freshly grated (optional or sub for vegan cheese))
Method
- 1
In a large pot, heat the olive over medium high heat. Once hot, add in the sliced onions and begin to caramelize. Cook, stirring often, until the onions start to soften, about 20 minutes.
- 2
Add in the butter and continue to cook the onions until they begin to brown, about 15-20 additional minutes. Genuinely watch it and adjust the heat if the onions are starting to burn at all. You want them to slowly cook so that they brown slowly.
- 3
Stir in the sugar and salt and continue cooking for 15 more minutes until the onions become well browned. During the last couple of minutes, add in the garlic and continue to stir.
- 4
Deglaze the pot by stirring in the red wine and use a wooden spoon to scrap any bits and flavor from the sides and bottom of the pot. Stir in the veggie broth, worchestire sauce, bay leaves, thyme, and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Stir every few minutes.
- 5
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Brush or spray the slices of bread with oil or cooking spray and place on a baking sheet. Toast for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. You want the bread to be lightly toasted. Once done, set aside.
- 6
Season soup to taste with additional salt and pepper as needed. Ladle the soup into oven proof bowls, top with the toasted bread, and even sprinkle the cheese across the 4 bowls. Place the bowls on a large baking tray and broil in the oven until the cheese is melted and bubbling around the sides.**
- 7
Serve immediately and ENJOY!
Cook notes
*More so than other broths, I’ve noticed that veggie broths have a great range of sodium levels. If yours is low sodium then you may need a smidge more salt to the soup ** I like something like merlot or pinot noir here *** Check to make sure it’s vegetarian as some have anchovies in them **if you don’t have oven proof bowls or don’t want to fiddle with it, you can melt the cheese on the toast before placing it on top of the soup and then not worry with that final step of broiling the soup.
Per serving
- Calories683 kcal
- Carbohydrates75 g
- Protein21 g
- Fat32 g
- Saturated Fat12 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat3 g
- Monounsaturated Fat15 g
- Trans Fat0.2 g
- Cholesterol51 mg
- Sodium3489 mg
- Potassium695 mg
- Fiber8 g
- Sugar23 g
- Vitamin A1586 IU
- Vitamin C29 mg
- Calcium467 mg
- Iron4 mg
