Vegan French Onion Soup
Making Vegan French Onion Soup is super easy and delicious! Nothing beats the beefy, oniony, cheesy comfort classic!
I used to eat French Onion Soup as often as I could. When I lived in Echo Park years ago, I would often get it at Taix and always enjoyed it thoroughly!
Well I’m happy to report that making Vegan French Onion Soup is really not too difficult! We simply need to replace the broth and cheese. And if like me, you always found yourself eating the cheesy bread first and then missing it throughout the rest of of the soup, well I have a few tips to avoid that, so keep on reading!
ingredients for French Onion Soup
- Onions – I prefer using Yellow / Brown Onions.
- Vegan Butter & Oil – I like to do a mixture of Vegan Butter and Olive
- Vegan Beef Broth – This is optional, but I like to finish off with a little Vegan Beef Broth to infuse some more flavor.
- Dry White Wine – This is optional but recommended. I used a Pinot Grigio. If you don’t drink you can try just adding some White Wine Vinegar or White Vinegar.
- Cognac or Brandy – Again, totally optional, but does add a nice little boost of flavor.
- Vegan Worcestershire – You can use my homemade recipe or any store bought that you like!
- Miso Paste – For some added umami, no it won’t taste like Miso Soup!
- Nutritional Yeast – Again, more depth of flavor!
- Dried Thyme – You can also use fresh if you like!
- Vegan Cheese – I like using some Vegan Parmesan and Provolone or Gouda. Follow Your Heart is my go to, but use any brand that you like.
- French Bread or Baguette – Use whatever you like, but I prefer a toasted French Bread over a baguette.
How to make Vegan French Onion Soup
Although the onions take some time, they are very easy to make and very necessary to this dish! You can always make my Freezer Friendly Caramelized Onions in bulk if you want to save time too.
First, slice your onions in half, and then julienne them, between 1/8 – 1/4 inch. Make sure you slice them pole to pole.
If you are unfamiliar with this, if the onion was the Earth, slice it as if you were slicing from the North Pole to South Pole. Don’t slice them along the equator. This will help the onions from becoming mushy.
Use a sharp knife or Mandolin Slicer.
Melt some vegan butter and heat up some oil in a dutch oven or large heavy bottomed pot.
Add the onions, stir to coat them in the butter and oil. Add a few pinches of salt, stir again. And now, we wait.
At first, you can crank the heat to medium high, this will speed up the process. Just stir the onions every minute or so.
After about 15 – 20 minutes, you should see some browning, and some fond sticking to the pan. This is a good time to lower the heat to medium or medium low.
Then simply cook them until they are golden brown, keeping an eye on the heat and adjusting as needed.
Once onions are a nice golden brown, add in the White Wine and Cognac. Stir and then add in the Worcestershire, Nutritional yeast, Miso Paste and Dried Thyme. Cook down the liquid for about 3 minutes.
Then we’ll stir in the flour, cook that for about 2 minutes to get rid of the raw flour. Then pour in the Vegan Beef Broth, and simmer for 20 minutes. Soup is done!
What’s the best bread & cheese for French Onion Soup?
Okay, while testing this, I tried out a few variants. The traditional way to do this is to get a baguette or french bread, slice it thick, drizzle with some olive oil, bake it to get crispy.
Then add that to the top of your soup, along with some cheese and then broil that.
This is totally good of course, but I also tried out using a bigger bowl, and a bigger piece of bread. Then I just broiled the bread by itself and added it to the bowl.
This way, you get a lot more cheesy bread than in the smaller crock bowl.
But my favorite way by far was making a French Onion Grilled Cheese! Much like a Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup!
I simply spread some Vegan Butter and Parmesan on some sourdough. Then added some Vegan Gouda and Provolone, along with some Caramelized Onions and made a simple grilled cheese.
Then I sliced it into triangles and dipped it in the soup! Souper good! Please give this a try!
Storage
Store leftover soup in an airtight container, in the fridge for 3 – 5 days. In fact, it’s even better the day after you make it!
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French Onion Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- French Bread
- Vegan Cheese
French Onion Soup
- 3 lbs. Yellow or Brown Onions
- 2 Tbsp Vegan Butter
- 1 Tbsp Cooking Oil (Olive, Canola, Vegetable etc)
- 1/2 cup Dry White Wine (or 1 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar)
- 2 Tbsp Cognac or Brandy (optional)
- 3 Tbsp Vegan Worcestershire
- 1 tsp Miso Paste
- 1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- 1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
- 3 Tbsp Flour
- 6 cups Vegan Beef Broth (or Veggie Broth)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- First, slice the top root of your onions off. Then slice the onion in half pole to pole. If you are unfamiliar with this, if the onion was the Earth, slice it as if you were slicing from the North Pole to South Pole. Don't slice them along the equator. This will help the onions from becoming mushy.Peel the onions, cut off the bottom root and then julienne / slice them (again pole to pole) so they are about 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick.
- Melt the vegan butter and oil in a large dutch oven or large heavy bottomed pot. Add the onions, stir to coat them in the butter and oil. Add a few pinches of salt, stir again. And now, we wait. At first, you can crank the heat to medium high, this will speed up the process. Just stir the onions every minute or so.
- After about 15 – 20 minutes, you should see some browning, and some fond sticking to the pan. This is a good time to lower the heat to medium or medium low.Then simply cook them until they are golden brown, keeping an eye on the heat and adjusting as needed. The total time for cooking these can take anywhere from 40 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- Once onions are a golden brown, raise heat to medium, add and stir in the White Wine (or Vinegar) and optional Cognac or Brandy, Vegan Worcestershire, Nutritional Yeast, Miso Paste, and Dried Thyme. Cook for about 3 minutes to cook down the liquid.
- Next add in the flour, stir to combine and cook for 1 – 2 minutes to get rid of the raw flour. Then add in the Vegan Beef or Veggie Broth. Bring to a boil, and then lower heat to simmer for 20 minutes.
- While the soup simmers, preheat oven to 400 F. Slice some French Bread or Baguettes into 1/2 – 1" slices. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 10 minutes.
- Add soup to small crock pots (must be oven safe if broiling cheese) top with 1 – 2 slices of the toasted bread, and as much Vegan Cheese (Parmesan, Provolone, Gouda etc) as you like.
- Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly. Enjoy!
Other Cheesy Bread Options
- 1. Toast a larger piece of bread, then cover with cheese and broil on a sheet tray. Once cheese is melted, add it to a larger bowl of soup! More cheesy bread! No oven safe bowl needed for this option.2. Make a French Onion Grilled Cheese! Add vegan butter and parmesan to two slices of bread. Then sandwich some vegan cheese and caramelized onions in between and cook like you would a normal grilled cheese! More details in the blog post above.
You are a kitchen magician! I can’t wait to try this and your french onion burger!
Thank you!!