Simple Onion Soup

If you are looking for a quick and simple onion soup recipe, this is the recipe for you! This 6 ingredient bacon onion soup is done cooking in no time, and tastes great! Plus, the crispy bites of bacon on top of the onion soaked cheesy bread REALLY elevate this dish to a delicious and comforting soup that you will want to make every time you have too many onions!

What Makes This Easy French Onion Soup So Good?

I think the obvious answer here is ‘BACON’! Bacon seriously makes EVERYTHING better. Gahh, I can hear the cackle of the bacon strips sizzling in their own grease now…heaven. But apart from the fact that the onion slices are cooked in bacon grease, the bread you use plays a huge roll in how well this dish comes out. Recipes using stale bread are frequently desserts like bread pudding. But leftover French bread also makes a GREAT soaking bread for soups! The bread I used was on the counter for 3 days and was so stale…yet as soon as I placed it in the smokey onion soup, it immediately came back to life. It was able to absorb the liquid without falling apart, which is key in this onion recipe.

And if you are wondering how to use up onions, this recipe uses 6-8!

This is a no bake French onion soup recipe, but if you are interested in baking the soup in the oven to melt the cheese over the top, here are some great and affordable LE TAUCI French Onion Soup Bowls With Handles

How To Make Simple Onion Soup:

This soup recipe only uses 6 ingredients, making it much less complicated than a lot of other French onion soup recipes out there. And the addition of bacon contributes a soft, smokey flavor to the soup.

First, in a large Dutch Oven or pot, cook the bacon until crispy. While the bacon is cooking, peel and slice the onions. When the bacon is done cooking, remove it from the pot, but leave the bacon grease in the pot. Add the sliced onions and stir to coat with bacon grease. Cook until beginning to soften, about 5-6 minutes.

Pour in the brandy, then add the beef stock. Stir well, and simmer for about 10 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, slice the French bread and top each piece with a slice of gruyere or Swiss cheese. Place the bread slices on a baking sheet and put them under your ovens broiler for about 2 minutes, until the cheese has melted.

Ladle the soup into bowls, and place cheesy bread slices in each bowl. Top them with a crispy bacon slice and enjoy!

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Frequently Asked Questions:

Do I HAVE to use bacon?	No, you definitely don’t HAVE to use bacon. If you don’t have any, just use regular olive oil. It will still be tasty, but it will lack that smooth, smokey flavor that the bacon ads.
Why is this a no bake onion soup recipe?	So, onion soup is traditionally served in a lionhead bowl, which is safe to place in the oven. But not everyone has individual, oven safe bowls to cook onion soup in! So instead of finishing the soup in the oven to let the cheese melt over the top, we do this step before by placing the cheese on the bread and melting it under the broiler. But if you DO have individual, oven safe bowls, by all means, use them!
What kind of cheese should I use?	The hippie in me wants to tell you to use whatever cheese your little heart desires! However, the professional home cook in me feels like I MUST inform you that using either Gruyere, Jarlsberg or Swiss cheese really does make a difference in how the soup tastes. There is something about the nutty, sweet flavor of these cheese that pairs beautifully with onion soup. But if you only have mozzarella sitting in your refrigerator, use it.

Did you like my simple onion soup recipe?! If so, you should go check out my ‘Vegan Lemon Rice Soup‘ recipe!