Holy carrot (it’s Meatless Monday, after all)! It’s December already! This time of year is incredibly busy and frantic…in all the bustle, don’t forget to take the time to fuel your body with hearty food that will fill you up and sustain you through long hours shopping, decorating and resisting holiday indulgences. We like this quick and easy onion soup for lunch. We’ve paired it with garlic toasts here, but we’ll often make grilled cheese sandwiches.
The secret to delicious onion soup is to caramelize the onions for at least twenty minutes, preferably longer if you have time. Another key is to use a rich, delicious broth; like this vegetable broth made ahead of time in a slow cooker. If you don’t have homemade broth, don’t sweat it. Use whatever broth you have in the pantry.
We like to season our onion soup simply in order to allow the sweetness from the onions and the richness of the vegetable broth to shine. The addition of bay leaves during cooking adds an additional layer of flavor and fragrance.
Ingredients
- 3 medium onions cut into thick slices or large dice
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 - 3 bay leaves depending on size
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil
Instructions
- Heat a few tablespoons in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat.
- Add the onions and saute until they begin to change color and soften.
- Toss in the bay leaves and season with salt and pepper.
- Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook for 20 minutes or longer, until they turn dark and sweet. Give them an occasional stir.
- Pour in the broth and heat through. Adjust the heat to a slow simmer.
- The soup is ready to serve when hot, but the flavor intensifies with time.
Caramelized onions come in handy for many Winter recipes. Other than cutting them up, they don’t take much effort to cook. They just need a place on the stove and a stir every now and then. You may want to consider preparing a large amount on the weekend. They’re easy to freeze in recipe sized portions. When you have the broth and the onions ready to go this soup will come together almost as fast as opening a can.
I made this soup last weekend and it is amazing! I cooked the onions for about 35 min instead of 20 and then let it simmer with the broth for about an hour. This might be the best soup I have ever had! Thanks for the great recipe!
I’m glad you liked it Shonna! We like to let the onions go longer when we have time, too. 🙂
Caramelized onions really rock, don’t they? One of my favorite ingredients, and so perfect in a vegetarian soup — they add huge depth of flavor. Good stuff — thanks.