French Onion Soup
French Onion Soup sits in our soup collection for cool nights, sick days, and freezer stock-ups. We keep the voice practical — what to buy, what heat to use, and how to tell when it is done. Plan on 1 hour 15 mins from starting prep to plating for 4. Prep is about 15 mins; the active cook or oven time is closer to 1 hour. Read the whole method once before you turn on the heat. The character of the dish comes from butter, onions and sugar. Check quantities in grams where listed — volume is fine for many liquids, but baking and batter ratios behave better on scales. Good for cool nights, sick days, and freezer stock-ups. Soups freeze well — cool fully before portioning into containers. Keep Australian cup measures (250 ml) so the ratios match what we tested on the page. Everything on this page is metric-first for Australia. If you are converting from cups on an old card, weigh flour, sugar, and butter whenever the ingredient line shows grams.
Ingredients
Method
- Melt butter in a heavy pot. Cook onions with sugar over medium-low heat 35–40 minutes until deep golden.
- Stir in flour 1 minute. Add wine and scrape the pot. Add stock and bay leaf; simmer 20 minutes.
- Season. Ladle into bowls, top with baguette and cheese. Grill until melted and bubbling.
Tip: Patience with the onions is everything — do not rush the caramelising.
Notes
- Putting it together for French Onion Soup: work clean, taste as you go, and do not rush browning or reduction steps if they appear in the method. If you are cooking for mixed diets, plate sauces and toppings separately where practical. Keep this page bookmarked if it becomes a household regular — we update wording when cooks report a confusing step. Metric consistency across Scoops & Dishes means once you trust the cups and scales here, breakfast through dessert behaves the same way.
- Method rhythm: step one is “Melt butter in a heavy pot. Cook onions with sugar over medium-low heat 35–40 minutes until deep golden.”. Do not skip resting, cooling, or draining steps if they appear later — they are usually there for texture. The finish is “Season. Ladle into bowls, top with baguette and cheese. Grill until melted and bubbling.”. Taste before you plate; salt at the end often needs a final pinch.
- Make-ahead and leftovers: soups freeze well — cool fully before portioning into containers. Cool French Onion Soup quickly, refrigerate 2–3 days, or freeze without dairy when you can and finish with cream when reheating. Label freezer bags with the dish name and date. Allergens sit in the ingredient list — always double-check if cooking for guests.
- Shopping and mise en place: read the full ingredient list once before you start. For French Onion Soup, butter and onions are the items that decide whether the dish tastes flat or properly seasoned. Weigh where grams are given — volume cups are fine for liquids and some dry goods, but baking ratios are tighter if you use scales. Australian cups are 250 ml; a tablespoon is 20 ml and a teaspoon is 5 ml.