Bistro French Onion Soup (Panera Copycat)

a bowl of panera bistro french onion soup with slices of french baguette on a plate

4.94 from 31 votes

Bistro French Onion Soup (Panera Copycat)

Make this gourmet Bistro French Onion Soup recipe like Panera Bread with caramelized onions, rich beefy broth, and crisp baguette covered in Gruyere cheese.

Prep Time15

Cook Time3 30

Total Time3 45

Course: Soups & Stews

Cuisine: French

Servings: servings

Calories: 730kcal

Author: Eden Westbrook

Ingredients

6 yellow onions sliced thinly into half moons
6 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
¼ cup brandy or dry white wine
2 cloves garlic minced
3 tablespoon all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
8 cups beef broth low sodium
3 cups French bread sliced or cubed into 2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil to drizzle onto bread
2 cups gruyere cheese shredded

Instructions

Melt the butter and oil together in a large dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add in the onions, then stir to coat the onions in the butter and oil. Cook for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure none of the onions burn.
After fifteen minutes, season the onions with the salt and a generous helping of fresh black pepper. Stir to cover the onions in all the seasoning. Let the onions cook for about 40-50 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so until the onions are a deep brown-amber color. If the onions are sticking to the pan, turn the heat down a bit and splash in a bit of the alcohol or broth and stir. The caramelization happens slowly, it will not happen quickly; if you turn up the heat, the onions will burn.
After onions are caramelized, add the minced garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, then toss in the all-purpose flour and stir well to coat the onions and garlic. Stir for one minute to cook out the raw flour taste.
Add thyme and bay leaves to the pot. Then splash in broth, a little at a time, stirring well to ensure there are no lumps of flour. After adding about two cups of broth, add the rest in one cup at a time and stir the broth to ensure no lumps. Bring to a boil.
Turn down heat to medium-low and partially cover your pot with a lid. Simmer for 3 hours, stir occasionally to make sure no onions are sitting at the bottom burning.
Taste soup and season with kosher salt and pepper to taste. Remove the bay leaves.

To serve:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
Drizzle the olive oil onto the baguette cubes and let crisp up in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
Divide the French onion soup into oven-safe soup bowls that are on top of a baking sheet. Top each bowl with cubes of toasted baguette and grate a generous amount of Gruyere cheese on top of the bread in a thick layer.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese is melted, then turn oven to broil and broil the soup for 1-2 minutes. The cheese should be bubbly and browned. Remove carefully from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
Serve hot.

Notes

Freezing French Onion Soup

If you want to freeze your French onion soup, first let it cool completely to room temperature. Then spoon the soup into freezer-safe containers, even better if you freeze them in individual-sized potions by putting them into freezer-safe zip-top bags and freezing them flat so they thaw quickly.

Seal the containers and freeze the soup for up to 3 months.

To thaw, leave the containers in the fridge overnight. When you're ready to eat, warm the soup up in a saucepan over medium-low heat, pour into oven-safe French onion soup bowls and top with crisp French bread and healthy gratings of cheese then put under the broiler for 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted, golden brown, and bubbly.

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