Vegetarian French Onion Soup

This Vegetarian French Onion Soup is made with shallots, yellows onions, red wine, broth and lots of cheese! 

Ahhh its time for the fall! Who is ready for a cozy bowl of French onion soup? This dish is made with caramelized onions, wine, broth and topped with bread and cheese. What is not to love about that?

This Instant Pot French Onion Soup will satisfy your fall cravings. You can serve this soup with a light beet and goat cheese salad. Use Vidalia onions or yellow onions as they both work perfectly. You do not need to add the bread and cheese, but what’s the fun in eating JUST onion soup?

Ingredients

• Salted butter
• Yellow onions
• Shallots
• Light brown sugar
• Fresh thyme
• Rosemary
• Bay leaves
• Flour
• Red Wine
• Vegetable Broth
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Gruyere Cheese
• Salt and Pepper
• French Bread

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

In the pressure cooker, add the butter, onion, shallots and sugar and stir. Pressure cook for 20 minutes. Release the pressure and open the pressure cooker.

Press the sauté functions and add the flour, thyme, rosemary and cook until thicker, around 3 minutes. Add the broth, wine, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Lock lid and pressure cook for another 6 minutes. Release the pressure and open. Remove the rosemary leaves, thyme leaves, and bay leaves. Salt and pepper to taste.  

Preheat the broiler and divide the soup into 4 oven safe bowls. Add a slice of bread into each bowl of soup and sprinkle the cheese into each bowl. Broil for 3 to 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.

Substitutions

Butter: I love using salted butter although you can use unsalted butter and adjust the salt yourself.

Onion: It is essential to use yellow or vidalia onions for this recipe.

Shallots: You can use only yellow or vidalia onions and skip the shallots, but I like a little variety.

Sugar: I love using light brown sugar, although you can use granulated, honey or maple syrup on 1 to 1 ratio.

Thyme: Thyme is always a great garnish with a dish has some sweet flavors to it.

Flour: I used all purpose flour for this recipe. If you prefer a keto version of this soup, skip the bread and use almond flour instead.

Red Wine: You can skip using the wine altogether and use just broth, but the red wine gives it such a good flavor.

Vegetable broth: Traditionally, french onion soup is made with beef broth but I wanted to make a vegetarian version so I made it with vegetable broth. It was so good!

Worcestershire: You can use this sauce or substitute with a little bit of soy sauce. Both will give it a nice savory flavor.

Cheese: French onion soup traditionally uses gruyere cheese, but you can use any cheese that melts easily and is neutral tasting, like mozzarella.

Variations

Cooking is a great way to get creative! Feel free to modify to your liking.

• Spicy - add chili pepper flakes while cooking to imbue heat into the dish.

Check out my MEXICAN THAI CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP and my TOMATO SOUP WITH SUNDRIED TOMATO PESTO (INSTANT POT).

Equipment

Equipment can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. Stone bakeware takes longer to heat up than metal pans, and also retain heat for longer, which could make the recipe more watery, or burnt on the outsides.

I love using my Caraway pots, pans and baking sheets for best quality. Get yourself a discount by clicking here!

Storage

This will be good in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

These ingredients don't stand up well to freezing.

Top tip

Feel free to modify this recipe to however YOU will like it. Check out the substitutions to see how you can achieve that.

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

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• Author: Maxine Dubois
• Total Time: 50 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x

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Description

This Vegetarian French Onion Soup is made with shallots, yellows onions, red wine, broth and lots of cheese.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 tablespoons salted butter
• 3 medium yellow onions, sliced
• 1 medium shallot, sliced
• 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup of dry red wine, like cabernet sauvignon
• 2 quarts of vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 packet of gruyere cheese or sharp cheddar cheese
• Salt and pepper as desired
• 4 slices of French bread

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Instructions

1. In the pressure cooker, add the butter, onion, shallots and sugar and stir. Pressure cook for 20 minutes. Release the pressure and open the pressure cooker.
2. Press the saute functions and add the flour, thyme, rosemary and cook until thickened, around 3 minutes. Add the broth, wine, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Lock lid and pressure cook for another 6 minutes. Release the pressure and open. Remove the rosemary leaves, thyme leaves, and bay leaves. Salt and pepper to taste.  
3. Preheat the broiler and divide the soup into 4 oven safe bowls. Add a slice of bread into each bowl of soup and sprinkle the cheese into each bowl. Broil for 3 to 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.

Notes

• If you do not have oven safe bowls, you can just broil the bread and the cheese and add into the soup. 

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Category: Soup
• Method: Pressure Cooking
• Cuisine: French

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1
• Calories: 321.3
• Sugar: 6.3 g
• Sodium: 1,221.6 mg
• Fat: 14.2 g
• Saturated Fat: 6.5 g
• Carbohydrates: 31.1 g
• Fiber: 3.0 g
• Protein: 12.6 g
• Cholesterol: 36.2 mg

Food safety

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
• Wash hands after touching raw meat
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.