French Onion Soup, Neat and Easy

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

A long slow simmer and plenty of carmelization. That’s the key to the best French onion soup. They really are the two most important aspects to take into account when making this fine French creation.

Yet who has the time (or desire) to stand and stir by the stove for hours on end? Any time that I have made French Onion Soup in the past, I have not stood around long enough to get enough of that brown, sweet carmelization that makes this soup so fabulous. Seems like I haven’t had the time, the inclination, or the patience to stand and stir, stir, stir until the onions hit that magical moment of deep, rich, brown sweetness.

Yet that’s a perfect partnership for the slow cooker. For what could be better than a long, slow simmer in olive oil? The crockpot makes it so wonderfully easy.

There are three easy things I love best about this recipe:

1. The ease of preparation
2. The ease of making the cheesy bruschetta (read: cheese toast)
3. The easy eat-ability of this combo

(Possibly even four: the utterly fabulous smell that fills the house for the day—think French bistro.)

For those of you who have ever ordered (and attempted to eat) the real deal French Onion Soup with toast and broiled cheese topping, you know what I’m talking about: those cheesy strings that seem to stretch a mile before you attempt to twist and break them into submission while simultaneously scrupulously attempting to saw off a bite-size piece of the bread.

One time I had such a non-cooperative topping of cheese that I ended up eating most of the soup plain, just pushing back the cheese to the side (take that, you!)—but I really would have liked to take some nice little nibbles to accent that salty, rich, onion-y soup. Nonetheless I was not able to stretch or cut that particular cheese blob into submission, so I had to chalk it up to yet another rather disappointing French onion soup saga. It’s certainly not the dish to order if it’s imperative to stay neat and non-messy or you’re on an important business luncheon. Sad but true.

I can’t help but wonder if this hasn’t happened to you? (Come on, I bet I’m not the only one that has secretly wished for a little pair of nipper-scissors on the end of my spoon or fork?)

Yeah, that’s a handy table tool that would be perfect in this instance. To be able to snip off that cheese and deposit it into one’s mouth with a spoonful of rich, dark onion broth would be perfect. That’s what makes the easy cheesy bruschetta with this recipe so wonderful. It enables you to totally delve into the soup and still retain your dignity by biting into the crusty cheese toast and not requiring a bib, table scissors or a chin dabber. Since we’re a family of dunkers, it worked out A-OK to have this cheesy toast (or bruschetta, if you prefer) served on the side of this soup. Everyone got to take exactly the amount they prefer and could munch as desired.

So if you’re in the mood for perfect slow cooker soup, run—don’t walk—to get this cookbook: Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. It’s filled with vegetarian slow cooker specialties that won’t disappoint. With four pounds of onions, ¼ cup of olive oil and some broth, you’ll be able to make Robin Robertson’s French Onion Soup in only 10 minutes (and 8 hours)!

You can also find several recipes for crock pot French onion soup right here on CDKitchen.