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This Creamy French Onion and Mushroom Soup is the best bowl of cozy french onion soup. It has everything you love about a warming, cheesy bowl of French onion soup…only better. There’s a touch of cream to make every spoonful rich and creamy. Slowly caramelized onions in wine with fresh herbs deliver the most delicious flavor. Then add that classic cheesy bread topping, and you’ll have the perfect bowl of soup. Great for both fall and winter days!
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You guys, this creamy French onion and mushroom soup!
This isn’t your average bowl of French onion soup. Not that French onion soup could ever be average, it’s always delicious, but this bowl is a step up. It took me a while to get this one figured out, but once I did, I knew it was special. It’s funny, my process for developing recipes can be all over the place. Sometimes I have a solid idea in my head. One that already really excites me and I don’t think twice about creating the recipe.
Other times I have an idea that I like, but don’t love. Often times it’s these recipes that take me a little longer to get just right. That was kind of the case with this French onion soup. I wanted to make a French onion soup with mushrooms and lots of herbs. Of course, that would have been delicious, but I needed something to really make me excited.
After many texts back and forth with my sister-in-law, who has really become one of my best sources to help me think even more outside the box, we landed on this soup. A creamy french onion and mushroom with double the amount of herbs. With a few simple tweaks to the recipe, I was finally excited…so excited. It’s hard to make a classic recipe like french onion soup any better, but this recipe might just do it.
OK, the simple(ish) details.
If you’ve ever made french onion soup, you know two things. One, it’s really pretty straight forward and there’s nothing too complicated. Two, the onions take a second (or two) to really caramelize down. It can take a little more time than the usual thirty-minute start to finish dinner, but it’s worth the wait.
And I don’t know, something about caramelizing onions on the stove is very relaxing and cozy. However, I am weird…I’m probably the only one that feels that way.
Anyway, I’ve made a lot of French onion soup over the years. Sometimes I’ve taken shortcuts with the onions, but with this soup, I wanted to deeply caramelize them to ensure they make for the most flavorful French onion soup.
So, start with sweet yellow onions, butter, a touch of honey, and dry white wine.
The butter is used for obvious reasons…fat, flavor, and deliciousness. The honey helps to cook and caramelize the onions faster. I always find these ingredients to be key when trying to achieve perfectly caramelized onions. Now, the wine…use a dry white wine, which is pretty traditional in most French onion soups. You’ll cook about half of the wine into the onions. Not only does this help the onions to caramelize quickly and evenly, it also infuses the onions with incredibly rich flavor.
It’s delish.
If you prefer not to cook with wine, I recommend using about half a cup of apple cider or apple juice to caramelize the onions. For the remaining amount of wine (another half cup), use chicken or vegetable broth.
Once the onions have been caramelized, toss in the herbs and those mushrooms. The mushrooms add such a rich flavor, they help to highlight the caramelized onions and herbs.
Now add the broth. You can use vegetable broth to make this vegetarian, or use chicken broth…either one works really well. Simmer the soup for ten or so minutes, then add the cream. The cream is the key to this soup. It’s not heavy, but it adds a rich creaminess that really makes this soup just a touch better, a touch more indulgent, and truly just delightful.
Finish it up.
Once the soup has simmered for a bit, transfer it to small oven-safe ramekins. These are the mini Staub cocottes I sometimes like to use. But I adore these mini pumpkin cocottes as well, so cute. Top with crusty french bread, and a layer of cheese. Then place under the broiler to melt. Watch closely, the broiler works fast.
If you don’t have any oven-safe bowls, simply melt the cheese onto the bread, then add the cheesy bread to the soup.
Then simply pull these out of the oven and experience the bubbling cheese and the deliciousness of a truly good bowl of French onion soup. And guys, that’s it. This soup is truly one of those roll your eyes back, crave-worthy, fall/winter comfort foods.
It’s going to make the best Sunday night dinner, but will be equally great for the upcoming holidays and for low-key entertaining. I already have plans to make this on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s a soup that everyone loves!
Looking for other warming fall/winter soups? Here are my favorites:
Healthier Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Vegetable Soup
Creamy Wild Rice Chicken Soup with Roasted Mushrooms
Cream of Mushroom Soup with Garlic Herb Breadcrumbs
Lastly, if you make this Creamy French Onion and Mushroom Soup, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Creamy French Onion and Mushroom Soup.
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
- 4 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 1 1/4 cups dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc
- 3 cloves garlic minced or grated
- 2 cups cremini or wild mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 6-8 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, (or soy sauce)
- 2 bay leaves
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 6 slices french bread
- 2 cups shredded Gruyère cheese
Instructions
- 1. Melt together the butter, onions, and honey in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 10 minutes. At this point, you want to slowly add 3/4 cup of the wine, 1/4 cup at a time, until the wine cooks into the onions. Continue to cook another 10-15 minutes until you've used the 3/4 cup of wine and the onions are deeply caramelized.2. Add the garlic, mushrooms, thyme, and sage. Season with salt and pepper, cook another 3-4 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup wine, the broth, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high and return the soup to a simmer, simmer 10 minutes, then stir in the cream and cook another 5-10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Season to taste with salt and pepper.3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange the bread on a baking sheet and toast for 10-15 minutes, until very dry. Switch the oven to broil. 4. Ladle the soup into oven safe bowls. Add a slice of bread to each, and top evenly with cheese. Place each soup bowl on a baking sheet and transfer to the oven, broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Top with fresh thyme. Eat!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
We loved this soup!! Will absolutely make it again soon. Great winter dinner.
Hi Hillary,
Thank you so much for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear it was enjoyed! Merry Christmas!?? xT
Hi! I am looking to make this soup this evening, if I choose not to use mushrooms should I sub for anything else? Thanks!
Hi Luisa,
You can just skip them:) I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Any suggestions on what I can substitute for heavy cream? I have 2% milk and sour cream on hand. Will either work?
Hi Nicole,
The 2% milk will be just fine to use. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Really incredible flavors, but the time stated to complete is way off. Prep took about half an hour, and caramelizing the onions was a minimum of 30 minutes. From start to finish, prep and cook time took almost 2 hours. Now that I know what to realistically expect, I can plan accordingly. Will be making this again! So delicious. Didn’t need to change the amounts of ingredients, or add anything at all.
Hey Genevieve,
Awesome! It’s so great to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for giving it a try! Sorry to hear this took longer than expected. xTieghan
Will the soup be okay if I make it a day ahead? I was thinking I could warm it and then do the bread & cheese?
Hi Linda,
Totally, that will definitely work well for you! I hope you love the recipe:) xTieghan
Dreamy! I realized too late that I wasn’t patient enough for the onions to caramel. They’d been cooking about 30min but were more blonde than rich brown, but the flavors still delivered. I’m excited to try this again “right” because I expect to swept off my feet!
Hey! Thank you so much for trying out this recipe, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Happy Monday ? xTieghan
I have never eaten or made french onion soup, I figured it was time to Adult, OMG this was heaven!!!!!! I have made it twice in two weeks, I am planning on keeping the soup in the fridge and then combining fresh when we want it.
Hey! Thank you so much for trying out this recipe, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Happy Monday ? xTieghan
Next time, I would brown the mushrooms before putting them in, but this soup was lovely!
Thanks so much for the feedback Andrea! xxTieghan
The only change I made was provolone and mozza cheese instead of gruyere….This is fantastic. Hubs and dd loved it, well so did I lol
Hi there! Thank you so much for trying out this recipe, I hope you loved it! xTieghan
Made this last night! Absolutely delicious. Will definitely make it again! Loved it! I agree with previous comments it takes at least 1/2 hour to caramalize the onions depending
on your pot! I will also chop the mushrooms smaller .
Hi there, thank you so much for trying out this recipe, I hope you loved it! xTieghan
I made this tonight with 2 substitutions. My cream was sour so used milk and also do not like mushrooms so just omitted. I probably added a bit more wine also! It was so good! I appreciate that is was easy to prepare and the onions carmelized to perfection. Thank you!
Thanks so much for the feedback and for trying out this recipe! xTieghan
Hi! I’m looking forward to making this recipe! Can you tell me where you got the crocks that your soup is served in with the handles? Thank you!
Hi there! Here is the link for that! 🙂 xTieghan
https://food52.com/shop/products/3718-food52-x-dansk-kobenstyle-saucepan?sku=16496&gclid=CjwKCAjw0On8BRAgEiwAincsHBe3a8SuK74DVnhhA2PAv19u6Swe9MBN9o-zsXgTkAEYTMR-AiwApBoC9x0QAvD_BwE
Can this be made ahead of time?
Hi there! Yes, you should be able to make this ahead of time no problem 🙂 xTieghan
This is very tasty! We are not mushroom eaters and didn’t feel it was missing something. Based on other comments, doubled the Worcestershire because we had 4 onions and 8 cups of broth.
Just wanted to comment that it takes WAY WAY WAY longer to caramelize those onions! I was using a Le Creuset dutch oven so I didn’t want to have the heat too high, but still – it was probably an. hour to get them browned. Prep time is always longer than it says, too – there’s no way I can gather everything, slice 4 onions, and strip 2 TBSP worth of thyme leaves in 15 minutes :).
Hey Kate,
I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I truly appreciate you giving it a try!!? xTieghan
Best French onion soup I’ve had. Love the addition of the cream
Hey Candice,
Thanks a bunch for trying out this recipe, I am delighted to hear that it was enjoyed! Have the best day:) xTieghan
Haven’t even finished making it yet but I’m never disappointed with your recipes. This is gonna be a good one I can’t wait ?
Hey Jannaka,
Awesome! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for making it! Have a great weekend:) xTieghan
Unfortunately, this was one of my least favorite recipes that I’ve tried:(