Instant Pot French Onion Soup - So Easy! - The Foreign Fork (2024)

This new take on French Onion Soup will make the process quick and easy! This recipe is made in the Instant Pot and is topped with French Baguette and melty gruyere cheese.

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When you are craving a bowl of something comforting, there are few things more fitting than French Onion Soup.

With caramelized onions, fresh herbs, crusty bread, and melty cheese all swimming in a rich beef broth, it’s a natural recipe for deliciousness. But as incredible as French onion soup is, it is not always attainable for a casual weeknight meal or appetizer.

A classic French onion soup recipe is a labor of love. You start by slowly and carefully caramelizing onions in plenty of butter. This caramelization process is a slow process that can take up to 3 hours. Then create a beef broth, infused with plenty of herbs and rich flavor. The soup is then topped with baguette slices and lots of cheese.

While this process is definitely worth it, this easy French onion soup recipe makes it so much simpler! Using an Electric Pressure Cooker allows you to caramelize the onions in a fraction of the time and cook up all the ingredients for this classic soup in just one pot. The whole dish can be on the table in about 40 minutes!

If you’ve been dreaming of the classic taste of French onion soup, but dread the time-consuming process, you simply must give this homemade French onion soup recipe a try!

Recipe Origins

French Onion Soup is an incredible, umami-filled treat made with caramelized onions and beef broth, topped with French bread and bubbling gruyere cheese.

It has been and will continue to be an important soup in French restaurants, with its deliciousness enticing everyone that tries it. What’s more, in France, French Onion Soup is considered a hangover soup and is served after a long night of drinking–like at weddings.

Who Invented French Onion Soup?

Though this classic French soup is called “French” Onion, a version of it was made in Ancient Rome long before it became popular in France.

As for modern-day French onion soup, there are two theories for how French Onion soup was first discovered and made popular, and both involve King Louis XV and his family.

King Louis XV’s Invention

In the first story, King Louis XV returned from a day of hunting to have dinner with his aunt. Unfortunately, after returning to the lodge, they discovered that the only thing left in the cupboards were onions, butter, and champagne.

They boiled the ingredients together and were left with the popular soup we know today!

Nicolas Appert’s Invention

The second story focuses on Nicolas Appert, the father of food preservation and the inventor of canning. Appert was working in the kitchen of La Pomme d’Or in Châlons-en-Champagne, a hotel in France.

The Duke of Lorraine (father of Queen Marie, father-in-law of King Louis XV, and ex-king of Poland) was on his way to visit King Louis XV and Queen Marie at Versailles when he stopped in for dinner at the hotel.

After eating a few bites of Appert’s French Onion soup, he ran down to the kitchen and watched through tears (from the onions) as the chef prepared the soup. In his bathrobe in the kitchen, the Duke of Lorraine wrote down exactly how to make the soup with the intention of making it for his daughter and son-in-law upon his arrival.

Appert later published a cookbook and dedicated the soup to the Duke of Lorraine, and France quickly fell in love with the meal.

Why Make This Recipe

1. Melty Cheese: As a kid, I would order French Onion Soup before dinner every time it was on the menu. In typical kid fashion, I would eat all the cheesy toast off of the top of the bowl and leave the soup behind. These days, I still love the cheese, but get some bread and onion soup in the bites too, and you have soup heaven.
2. “Travel” to France: France is at the top of almost everyone’s bucket list, and for good reason! The food there is incredible, and this soup recipe is no different. You can taste the deliciousness of France from your own home by making this soup!
3. Easy in the Instant Pot: The best part about this recipe is that it’s INSTANT POT French Onion soup, meaning that this simple recipe just got even easier. The Instant Pot will cook your soup in half the time, leaving every bit infused with flavor.

What Do I Need to Make this Recipe

Ingredients

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.

Once the wine is gone from the pot, add 4 cups beef stock, 2 tsp worcestershire sauce, 1 ½ tsp chopped garlic, 2 bay leaves, 4 sprigs thyme, ¼ tsp salt (or more to taste), ¼ tsp pepper.

1. Onions: I use sweet yellow onions, which I peel, cut in half, and then cut into slices. Do not use red onions as they will create a different flavor experience.
2. Wine: Use a dry white wine for a great depth of flavor.
3. Gruyere Cheese: I buy an 8 oz block of gruyere cheese and grate it on the largest setting of a cheese grater. If you want to know which cheese is the best cheese for French onion soup and to find out possible substitutes, check out this article about the Best Cheese for French Onion Soup.
4. Liquids: Beef Stock, Worcestershire Sauce
5. Baguette: I buy my baguette at the grocery store a day before I’m making this recipe. Then I leave it in an open bag on the counter overnight. This ensures that the baguette is stale enough for the soup. If you have a fresh baguette, follow the instructions in the FAQ section to toast the baguette.
6. Herbs & Spices: Bay leaves, thyme, garlic, salt, black pepper
7. Kitchen Staples: Unsalted butter, granulated sugar

Tools

1. Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker: I use an 8-quart pressure cooker, but a 6-quart will work fine as well.
2. Wooden Spoon
3. Cheese Grater
4. Soup Crocks: I bought these ones in white

How to Make This Recipe

Step 1: Saute the Onions

Turn your Instant Pot to the SAUTE function. Add the butter to the pot and allow it to melt. Then, add the sliced onions.

Stir the sweet onions in the pot for about 10-15 minutes until they start to really whither and brown.

You can add extra butter if you think it’s necessary. Once the onions have started to brown, add 1 tbsp granulated sugar and stir for another 30-35 minutes until the onions caramelize.

Once the onions have caramelized, add ¼ cup of dry white wine and continue sauteeing until the wine cooks down and lifts the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

Step 2: Pressure Cook

Turn the pot to high pressure and pressure cook for 15 minutes. Allow for a 10-minute Natural Release, then perform a Quick Release to remove any remaining pressure.

Step 3: Assemble/Bake the Soup Crocks

Ladle soup into 5-6 oven-proof individual bowls. Place enough toasted bread slices to cover the top of the soup, then sprinkle gruyere cheese on top.

Place the soup crocks on a cookie sheet and turn the oven to a High Broil. Place in the oven under the broiler and broil until the melted cheese starts to bubble and toast.

Enjoy!

Can I Make this Recipe Vegetarian?

Yes! It is very easy to make this recipe vegetarian. Simply use vegetable broth instead of beef broth when making the soup. This will remove some of the umami, savory flavor from the soup, but will certainly make it meat free!

What Type of Cheese is Best for French Onion Soup?

In my opinion, gruyere cheese is the perfect cheese for French onion! However, in a pinch, you can also use provolone cheese, swiss cheese, or fontina cheese.

What Type of Bread is Best for French Onion Soup?

The best bread to use for French Onion Soup is very simple French bread. French baguettes are crusty, with a light buttery flavor, and you can cut thick slices that won’t get completely soggy but provide amazing texture to the dish.

Sandwich bread or anything that is too light will soak up too much soup, leaving you with a cup of soggy bread. If you want to use what you have on hand, you can put a small layer of cheese directly on the soup, then the bread, and then more cheese to separate your bread from the soup just until your spoon digs in.

What Type of Onion is Best for French Onion Soup?

You can use just about any type of onion for French Onion Soup but I prefer sweet onions so that the buttery, beefy flavor is not overpowered by too strong of an onion.

Many chefs like yellow onions best and some will use a combination of yellow onions, sweet onions, and red onions. Feel free to use whatever you have on hand and experiment to find your preference.

How to Caramelize Onions

The key to the very best French Onion Soup is perfectly caramelizing your onions. This step is the most time-consuming part of the recipe and it does take patience.

Caramelizing onions requires you to keep the heat low and allow the onions to sit in the heat for several minutes before stirring. You only need to stir your onions a few times to ensure even cooking. Don’t try to rush things or you will end up with onions that are burnt or undercooked.

With traditional French Onion Soup, this process can take up to an hour to get the onions the perfect shade of golden brown. This recipe makes the process a bit easier because the Instant Pot will continue to cook the onions during the pressure cooking.

Expert Tips

• It helps to put your oven-safe bowls on a baking sheet so that removing them from the oven without spilling is easier.
• Use way more onions than you think you will need. They shrink significantly when they are caramelized and you don’t want any bowl to miss out on a good amount of onions.

Recipe FAQs

Did you enjoy this recipe for Instant Pot French Onion Soup? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes that I picked out just for you:

• Creme Brulee Recipe from France
• Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon
• Escargot Recipe from France
• Easy Ratatouille Recipe from France