The Best French Onion Soup with Beer and Port
- Preparation 10 min
- Refrigeration 4 to 5 days
- Cooking 1 h
- Servings 6
- Freezing Absolutely
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🧅 One of my first recipes, and it never left
I developed it years ago for a beer company. A contract, and a pot of onions that spent an entire afternoon on the stove. The contract ended a long time ago. The soup stayed.
And now everyone who makes it comes back with the same line: best French onion soup they have ever had. Not the best of the winter. Of their life. It has been happening for years, so I stopped pretending to be humble about it.
This is my winter signature.
🍷 Three kinds of alcohol in one pot
Beer, port, red wine. That is what makes this one different, and I have never seen anyone else do all three.
The strong blond beer deglazes and lifts every bit of caramelized onion stuck to the bottom. The port brings sweetness and an almost syrupy roundness. The red wine tightens the broth and gives it grip. Each one has a job. Pull one out and the soup is still fine. Keep all three and it turns into something else.
🧀 The broiled top, and what comes after it
A slice of bread, Swiss, Parmesan on top, under the broiler until it bubbles. The Swiss stretches, the Parmesan crusts over. Two cheeses, two jobs.
That said, be honest with yourself: this is not dinner. It is rich, it is indulgent, but nobody leaves the table full on a bowl of soup alone. At my place it goes out as a starter and the real meal follows.
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🧅 Half the onions never hit the hot pot
This is the part people miss when they remake the recipe. You caramelize half the onions, no more. The other half goes in raw later, with the broth and the alcohol.
Why? Because an onion caramelized for 20 minutes is sugar and colour. An onion simmered for 25 minutes in broth is something else: it keeps a bit of bite, a bit of chew, it still tastes like onion. Caramelize everything and you end up with a bowl of brown jam. Good, but flat. Both textures in the same spoonful, that is where this soup takes off.
Slice them thin, too. Thick slices never break down properly.
🔥 Oven-safe bowls, not whatever is in the cupboard
Stoneware onion soup crocks work. Fondue bowls work. A regular ceramic bowl does not: it cracks under the broiler and you get scalding soup all over the oven floor. Put the rack in the middle of the oven, never right up top, or the cheese blackens before it has finished melting.
🥖 Day-old bread
Fresh bread falls apart. Bread that spent the night on the counter soaks up the broth and holds its shape under the cheese.
🍷 Do not cut back on the three alcohols
Strong blond beer, port, red wine. It came out of testing and all three stayed for a reason. Without the port, the soup loses its roundness. Without the red wine, it goes too sweet. Without the beer, it stops being my recipe and becomes everyone else’s onion soup. If you want to see how far beer can go in a broth, take a look at my cheese and beer soup.
📅 Make it ahead
It works, and it works well. The whole broth, right through the simmer, can be built the day before or even two days ahead. It improves sitting in the fridge. The onions can be sliced ahead too, which takes care of the boring part. On the day you reheat and you broil. Five minutes.
❄️ Fridge and freezer
Four to five days in the fridge, easily. In the freezer, freeze the broth on its own, no bread and no cheese, and broil only when you serve it.
✅ What do I serve with this French onion soup?
It is not a full meal and there is no point pretending it is. At my place it opens the dinner. A white balsamic arugula salad comes right after to cut through the fat, and beef strip loins with Diane beer sauce close things out if you want to stay on theme. And if you want to push the idea all the way, the same broth logic shows up in my French onion beef stew.
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Ingredients
- 3 big onions, peeled and thinly sliced (1 red, 1 white, 1 Vidalia)
- 1 green onion, finely chopped
- 1 big garlic clove, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) olive oil
- 1 bottle (750 ml) of strong blond beer, tripel style
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) Port
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) red wine
- 4 cups (1 liter) beef broth
- 1 pinch of dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) celery seeds
- 1 big bay leaf (to remove before broiling)
- 6 slices of French bread, about 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick
- 2 cups (500 ml) grated Swiss cheese
- 1 cup (250 ml) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
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Preparation
- In a large pot over medium-low heat, add the olive oil and slowly caramelize half of the sliced onions (half of each colour), the garlic and the green onion, about 20 minutes. Stir often. Set the other half of the onions aside, they do not get caramelized.
- Deglaze with the beer, scraping the bottom of the pot well, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer to reduce by half, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Add the reserved raw onions, the port, the red wine, the beef broth, the thyme, the celery seeds and the bay leaf, then season with salt and pepper, to taste. This soup is better on the salty side! Bring back to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for another 25 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaf. Set the oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to broil.
- Divide the soup into 6 oven-safe bowls and top each one with a slice of bread.
- Cover each bowl with the cheese. Start with the Swiss and finish with the Parmesan. Broil until the cheese is golden and crisp!
Port. Half a cup of it goes in with the broth and it is the thing nobody expects. It brings a sweet, almost syrupy depth that beef broth alone cannot give you, and it is what keeps the soup from tasting like a bowl of caramelized onions in salty water.
Rushing the onions is the big one. Twenty minutes at medium-low, stirring often, no shortcuts. After that: caramelizing every single onion instead of half, which flattens the whole thing out. Then under-salting, using fresh bread that dissolves, and broiling in bowls that are not oven-safe.
A strong blond beer, tripel style. It has the body and the aromatics to stand up to caramelized onions and beef broth. A light lager disappears completely and you will never taste it.
Yes, and it matters more than people think. Stoneware crocks or fondue bowls handle the broiler. Everything else can crack. If you do not own any, broil the cheese on the bread slices on a sheet pan and float them on top of the soup at the last second.
Four to five days in the fridge, and it tastes better on day two. It freezes well as long as you freeze the broth alone. Add the bread and cheese when you reheat and broil.
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