Recipe French Onion Soup
Patience pays off with this rich and delicious plant-based take on a true classic
February 28, 2018
Power up your lunch or dinner and savour National Soup Month with this delectable vegan take on a bistro classic! Silky onions transform a simple broth into soothing richness perfect for cold winter days. Serve with toasted slices of our hearty Big Red’s Bread topped with bubbling vegan cheese for the ultimate in steamy deliciousness.
Ingredients
- 2 medium red onions , thinly sliced
- 1 medium white onion , thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari
- 1 Tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- to taste salt and pepper
- 4 slices Silver Hills Sprouted Bakery Big Red's Bread™ (or your favourite Silver Hills Bakery sprouted whole grain bread)
- 1 cup non-dairy mozzarella-style cheese , shredded
Featured Product Big Red’s Bread®– Heritage Grain
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, sauté onions in oil with a pinch of salt until they start releasing their juices. Reduce heat to medium low and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until onions are very soft and begin to caramelize.
- Add tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, and soy sauce and cook until mixture thickens. Add broth, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaf and cook 20 minutes. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf before adjusting seasonings to taste.
- Divide soup among 4 oven-safe bowls, top with toasted bread and ¼ cup of cheese. Broil until cheese is golden and bubbling, approximately 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
Try these handy tips!
- In the world of caramelized onions and french onion soup, time = flavour. Want a deeply rich and flavourful soup? Set aside 40 minutes to an hour, put on a podcast, and cook your onions low and slow until they're a dark nutty brown before adding the rest of the ingredients. The best french onion soups are a reward for the patience you can invest in them!
- Can you make french onion soup faster? While you can't rush the maillard reaction and the flavour transformation that comes from cooking onions low and slow, you can still make a perfectly tasty french onion soup on a shorter schedule. The best way? Bust out your biggest pot, shed some tears slicing a sack of onions, and cook down a large batch of caramelized onion-y goodness on a rainy weekend. Portion your prized onions into recipe-sized batches and freeze. Then pull them out of the freezer, defrost, and proceed from step two for french onion soup that's ready in less than 30 minutes. Didn't have time to plan ahead, but still crave french onion soup? Make a lighter-tasting version that trades some of the depth of flavour and richness for speed. Cook your onions for 20 to 30 minutes to get them nicely golden, swap veggie stock for veggie broth, and pour an extra splash of vegan Worcestershire sauce in your onions before you add your stock to the pot.
