Gluten Free French Onion Soup
French onion soup is one of those deeply satisfying classics that can feel completely off-limits when you're avoiding gluten — between the traditional croutons and the sneaky wheat hiding in many store-bought broths and soy sauces, it's a minefield. This version solves every one of those problems without cutting any corners on flavor. The key swap is tamari in place of regular soy sauce, which delivers that same savory depth without any wheat, and gluten free bread slices are broiled in olive oil until golden and crisp before being floated on top. The real soul of the soup is the onions themselves: three pounds of yellow onions cooked low and slow for nearly an hour until they collapse into a deep, jammy, caramelized mass that makes the broth taste like it simmered all day. A combination of beef and chicken broth, dry white wine, fresh thyme, and a bay leaf rounds everything out into something genuinely restaurant-worthy. Each bowl gets a generous mound of coarsely grated Gruyère melted under the broiler until it's bubbling and spotted with brown. Serves 4, and honestly, it's the kind of meal that makes a cold night feel like an occasion.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the soup
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 lb yellow onions (about 5 medium), halved and thinly sliced
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp granulated sugar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup dry white wine or dry sherry
- 4 cups beef broth
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp tamari
- ¼ tsp black pepper
For the toasts
- 8 slices gluten free bread (about ½ inch thick), cut to fit bowls
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 6 oz gruyère cheese, coarsely grated (about 1 ½ cups)
Instructions
- 1
Melt the butter with 1 tbsp olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and salt, stirring to coat. Cook uncovered, stirring every 5 minutes, until the onions have softened and collapsed, about 20 minutes.
- 2
Sprinkle the sugar over the onions and reduce the heat to medium-low. Continue cooking, stirring every 5–8 minutes and scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot, until the onions are deep golden-brown and jammy throughout, 40–50 minutes total. If the pot looks dry or the fond is darkening too quickly, add a splash of water (1–2 tbsp) and scrape up the bits.
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