Classic French onion soup – new recipe (vegan, gluten free)

Just a few ingredients to make this classic French onion soup, which is wholesome, hearty and accidentally (for us, as we don’t follow either diet) both vegan and gluten free.

French onion soup with cheese toasties

Classic #French onion soup - delicious and substantial, plus #vegan and #glutenfree Click To Tweet

French onion soup is barely a recipe really – just onions sautéed in a little oil for a long time, stirred frequently, and then topped up with water and seasoned. But as I was making it a few weeks ago (bitching to myself about how long it takes to caramelise onions), I thought it could be useful for you to see each stage of the onion caramelisation process.

Onions on the chopping board

So here is my recipe for classic French onion soup, which is one of Ioan’s favourites, and Andrew’s too … as long as it is served with a hot and gooey cheese toasty!

Classic French onion soup – makes 2 generous bowls (plus extra for the baby!)

  • 1tsp vegetable oil, 7 sliced medium white onions, 1tsp lazy garlic, 1 litre boiling water, stock cube (optional, check for gluten), salt and pepper

Put the vegetable oil in a pan and add the sliced onions, then put over a medium heat and stir every few minutes.

Chopped onions in a pan

After 10 minutes:

Onions after 10 minutes

After 20 minutes:

Onions after 20 minutes

After 30 minutes:

Onions after 30 minutes

After 40 minutes:

Onions after 40 minutes

I then added some garlic and cooked this through for another 5 minutes:

Onions after garlic added

Add boiling water (and stock if you wish):

Onions with stock added

Cook for another minute or two and add salt and pepper to taste.

A spoonful of onion soup

I like to blitz this in my Froothie Optimum g2.3 Platinum Series induction blender* for Ioan as he doesn’t really like the texture of sliced onions, and actually I discovered it improves the texture of the soup for adults too if you process half of the soup and then mix it with the unprocessed half, as it makes it deliciously thick.

Ioan eating onion soup

Serve with cheese toasties, or just enjoy on it’s own.

Close up of onion soup with cheese toasties

*This is an affiliate link, which means if you click on the link and buy the product, I receive commission

I asked my blogger pals for some more classic soup recipes to tempt you, and here are their suggestions:

2 Replies to “Classic French onion soup – new recipe (vegan, gluten free)”

  1. Delicious and it’s really good that baby Ioan enjoys it!

  2. I do love French Onion soup and great that this one is suitable for vegans! Your son certainly seems to be enjoying his bowl full:-) Thanks for linking to my recipe:-)

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