French Onion Soup with Gruyere proves that a few humble ingredients can create something truly show-stopping. Rich beef broth, deeply caramelized onions, and a splash of white wine form the base of this cozy classic, finished with a bubbling layer of melted cheese. It’s the kind of soup that feels fancy but is secretly easy—and tastes even better than it looks.
Original recipe: February 2020 | Updated: July 2025
Why This Delicious Recipe Works
✅ Shockingly simple – Just a few basic ingredients and no-fuss steps.
🍷 Big flavor, minimal effort – Caramelized onions, beef broth, and white wine = instant depth.
👗 Dressed up or down – Perfect for a cozy night in or a fancy dinner party.
🧅 Onion glow-up – Once hated, now essential. Onions bring pure kitchen magic.
🥄 Versatile & crave-worthy – Works as a rainy day comfort food or elegant dinner starter.
🔁 Add to your rotation – So easy and delicious, you’ll want to make it again and again.
Cheesy French Onion Soup Ingredients
Butter – Salted or unsalted butter will work.
Olive oil – Or oil of your choice.
Onion – Use large yellow onions or white onions. Avoid using red.
Seasonings – Salt and black pepper.
Sugar – Just a little bit helps downplay any acid in the recipe.
Thyme – Fresh thyme is preferred for the recipe, but 1 teaspoon dried thyme can be used.
All-purpose flour – Replace flour with corn starch or GF flour for a gluten-free recipe.
Beef stock or broth – Read ingredient list closely if seeking a GF recipe.
White wine – Wine can easily be substituted with water or extra broth.
French bread – Cut 1/2-inch thick slices.
Cheeses – Swiss, Gruyere, Mozzarella and Parmesan are the perfect combination of cheeses for this recipe, but feel free to omit one or more in order to cut back on recipe costs.
How To Make French Onion Soup with Gruyère Cheese
Step 1
Melt butter and heat oil over medium heat at the same time in a large Dutch oven.
Add the onions, salt, pepper, sugar and thyme and cook over medium for 20 minutes or until onions are dark brown in color.
Step 2
Sprinkle flour over the caramelized onion mixture and stir until evenly coated.
Gradually add the broth and wine while stirring consistently to avoid lumps.
Step 3
Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce to medium-low heat. Simmer covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 4
Place baguette slices on a baking sheet.
Broil for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the cheeses.
Step 5
Ladle soup into ovenproof bowls.
Top each bowl with a piece of crusty bread and add cheese mixture on top of the soup.
Place the bowls on a sheet pan or cookie sheet and broil for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden brown.
How To Cut Onions for French Onion Soup
Thin slices work best. To achieve the best slices, follow these simple directions for how to slice an onion.
- Use a sharp knife to slice your onions in half lengthwise from tip to root.
- Slice off the root ends of the onions – leave the pointy ends – and peel off the papery skin. Make sure you get the thin, slippery skin sometimes left behind.
- Place the flat side of the onion down on the cutting board.
- Curl the tips of your fingers back so your fingernails can grab the flesh a little and your knuckles can serve as a guide for the knife when slicing the onions.
- Thinly slice the onion in an even forward motion as you slowly and carefully move your curled fingers back toward the pointy end.
Recipe Notes & Tips
- Gradually add the broth and wine while stirring consistently to avoid lumps. Scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the browned bits.
- Onions should be thinly sliced for best texture and flavor.
- Avoid using red onions for this recipe.
- White wine can easily be substituted with water or extra broth.
- If you skip the wine, give the soup a light squeeze of fresh lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce to mimic the wine’s acidity.
- Oven-proof bowls or soup crocks are required for this recipe.
- Replace flour with corn starch for a gluten free recipe. Also be sure to look closely at the ingredients in the beef broth.
- Feel free to switch up the kind of cheese or omit one or more of the cheese types in order to cut back on recipe costs.
- Fresh thyme is preferred for the recipe, but dried thyme is fine to use, too.
- Add a bay leaf or two while the soup is cooking for a little extra flavor.
Best Wine for French Onion Soup
There are a wide variety of wines you can use in French Onion Soup, and really the choice is completely up to you depending on the flavor profile you’re looking for.
I like a subtle dry white wine, but you can also use a red wine like a Pinot Noir or Beaujolais or even a Marsala for a deep, complex flavor. You can also use a splash of sherry or just skip the wine altogether and add more broth.
The best advice I can give for the wine to use in the soup is A) it should not completely overpower the flavor of the caramelized onions and B) it should be one you enjoy the flavor of drinking.
How To Eat French Onion Soup
There are various schools of thought on how to go about eating French Onion Soup. They all require the full set of utensils, fork, knife, and spoon, to cut through the bread and cheese.
The Sinker
Where the person oh-so-gently pushes the bread and cheese to the bottom of the bowl, making sure the soup doesn’t come over the top. They’ll take a few spoonfuls before transferring to the knife and fork to blindly slice at the bottom and pull their reward up though the soup.
The Slicer
This is when you just go in with the fork and knife first and slice everything up before going at the whole mixture with the spoon pulling up heapful of stringy cheese and bread in every delicious bite.
The Twirler
My personal favorite way to eat this amazing soup. Pull the melty cheese up with the fork and then twirl it around the fork with the knife before popping it in your mouth. It’s an art to watch when it’s done correctly.
The “What’s Up There?”
When people start by pulling the stretchy cheese up with the fork above their head until the cheese string breaks, then they slowly lower the cheese into their mouths while staring at the ceiling. Note: not the recommended method when dining in fancy restaurants.
What to Serve with French Onion Soup
I’ve included a few suggestions for what I love to eat with my French Onion Soup. If you plan on serving this impressive soup as a main course, read on here for even ideas about What To Serve With French Onion Soup!
- Leafy green salad such as an arugula salad or a Caesar salad
- Sandwiches such as a panini, grilled cheese, roast beef sandwich or sliders
- Sauteed, grilled, or stuffed mushrooms
- Cabbage steaks
- Dinner rolls or baguettes
- Garlic bread or Italian bread
- Salmon or scallops
- Light lunch wraps
- Raw or roasted vegetables
- Antipasto skewers
- Vegetable or rice salad
How Long Does French Onion Soup Last in the Fridge
Leftover soup will be good for 3-4 days when stored properly. Allow any extra soup to cool completely before placing the cooled soup in an airtight container and refrigerating. Add the grated cheese and croutons when ready for reheating.
Croutons should be stored separately in an airtight container at room temperature.
How to Reheat French Onion Soup
Reheat the soup in a pot, then ladle it into a bowl, top with crostini and cheese and broil according to recipe directions.
Recipe FAQs
French onion soup is broth based, but still contains plenty of fat and calories due to the bread and cheese in the dish. The beef or chicken broth also contains a good deal of sodium, not classifying it as a healthy meal.
To make French onion soup gluten free, replace the piece of bread with a gluten-free variety or omit it altogether.
French onion soup can be frozen, minus the bread or croutons and cheese. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for up to 6 months. After thawing, add the cheese and bread as directed in the recipe.
Two easy ways to thicken French onion soup: 1. Allow it to simmer on the stove top until it has thickened up through evaporation. 2. Add a slurry made of flour or cornstarch to the mixture.
More Delicious Soup Recipes
- Instant Pot Ham Bone Soup – Use your leftover ham bone to make this comforting, hearty Ham Bone Soup in your Instant Pot! Pressure cooking this meal allows you to get dinner on the table in less than an hour and it tastes like it has been simmering in a slow cooker all day long.
- Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup is packed with flavor, it is super easy to make and it tastes like it’s been cooked low and slow all day long.
- Butternut Squash Soup is the perfect, most delicious way to use up butternut squash in the fall! It is creamy, packed with comforting flavor and super easy to prepare.
- Instant Pot White Turkey Chili becomes even more delicious when made in an Instant Pot. Packed with turkey meat, white beans and veggies, this will quickly become a dinner favorite!
- Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup is one of the tastiest recipes you will ever taste. Let your Instant Pot create a veggie-packed, cheesy, hearty and comforting dinner that everyone at the table will love.
- Crockpot Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup is super easy and comforting and it can be tossed right into your slow cooker!
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French Onion Soup With Gruyere
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup butter cubed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 yellow onions thinly sliced
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme chopped
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 64 oz beef broth
- 1 cup white wine
- 8 slices French bread cut 1/2-inch thick
- 1 cup gruyere cheese shredded
- 1 cup swiss cheese shredded
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- 2 tbsp parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven, melt butter and heat oil at the same time. Add the onions, salt, pepper, sugar and thyme and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes or until onions are deep brown in color.
- Sprinkle the flour over the onion mixture and stir until coated. Gradually add the broth and wine.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Place bread slices on a baking sheet and broil for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the cheeses. Ladle soup into ovenproof bowls. Top each with a slice of toasted bread and sprinkle with the cheese mixture. Place the bowls on a baking sheet and broil for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Notes
- Gradually add the broth and wine while stirring consistently to avoid lumps. Scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the browned bits.
- Onions should be thinly sliced for best texture and flavor.
- Avoid using red onions for this recipe.
- White wine can easily be substituted with water or extra broth.
- If you skip the wine, give the soup a light squeeze of fresh lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce to mimic the wine’s acidity.
- Oven-proof bowls or soup crocks are required for this recipe.
- Replace flour with corn starch for a gluten free recipe. Also be sure to look closely at the ingredients in the beef broth.
- Feel free to switch up the kind of cheese or omit one or more of the cheese types in order to cut back on recipe costs.
- Fresh thyme is preferred for the recipe, but dried thyme is fine to use, too.
- Add a bay leaf or two while the soup is cooking for a little extra flavor
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