Vegetarian French Onion Soup

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

This easy vegetarian French onion soup recipe is deliciously sweet and tasty and is a real comfort food, very suitable for warming you up on a cold winter evening.

Soupe à l’oignon obviously originated in France and was a cheap food as the ingredients were easy to get hold of.

The traditional version would normally use a beef or chicken stock or broth, but we have used a vegetable stock so that my recipe is a French onion soup for vegetarians.

This is an easy French onion soup to make. It has no special ingredients, just a mix of onions, wine, vegetable stock and some garlic.

The sound of ‘garlic and onion’ soup makes one imagine it would have the strong taste of onion, but actually it does not – through the caramelization process and the use of some red onions it is really quite sweet tasting.

The mix of the sweetness and the cheese and onion toasties really goes well together I think.

A real French version would probably use a Gruyère cheese or something similar, but I think the cheddar cheese also goes well, especially with the added garlic in the butter.

Meal Prep idea

I have found that this meal tastes even better if made before and kept in the fridge overnight, and warmed up in a pan the next day.

It also freezes very well, which makes it a great meal prep recipe. Make a large batch and keep it in single portions in your freezer in bags.

Easy to warm up during the week when you may not have much time to cook.

I think this must be the easiest of soup recipes that I know. And if you want to make a vegan French onion soup version, then just leave out the floating garlic cheese toasties and you are sorted!

How to make Vegetarian French Onion Soup

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

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This delicious sweet tasting Vegetarian French Onion Soup will warm you up on a cold winter's night. Prepare it the day before or freeze some portions in for later use.

Prep Time 2 minutes

Cook Time 38 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 300g brown onions
• 300g red onions
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 200ml dry white wine
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1,100ml vegetable stock
• Salt and Pepper
• 6 slices French bread (baguette)
• 20g butter
• 4 slices cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Finely slice the onions then fry them over medium heat in the olive oil for about 5 minutes until they are soft. I use my wok to do this, stirring constantly.
2. Then add 1 tsp of sugar and mix well into the onions. Cover the pan and cook slowly for another 10 minutes until the onions are nicely caramelised.
3. Then remove the lid and add 4 cloves of finely sliced garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Then add the flour and stir well to mix into the onions.
4. Add the wine and the stock, put the lid back on, reduce heat and simmer on a low heat for another 20 minutes.
5. 10 minutes before serving up, slice some French bread diagonally into 6 slices, and toast both sides in a pan with some olive oil. Then crush the last garlic clove and mix with the butter. Spread the garlic butter on the toasted bread and add a slice of cheese on the top. Then melt the cheese under the grill.
6. Finally, season the soup with salt and pepper to taste, and place the cheese toasties on top before serving up.
   

Notes

This will give you 3 portions.

This soup is quite sweet, due to the use of red onions and the caramelized onions, but the tastes are great. If you have made too much, it will keep in the fridge perfectly for a couple of days and tastes even better second time round.

If you want to make a vegan version, just leave out the cheese toasties.

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