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Quick French Onion Soup
Quick French Onion Soup
12 Reviews
From: EatingWell Magazine, May/June 2008
French onion soup is a favorite but it usually isn't substantial enough to make a complete meal. We've solved this problem by adding fiber-rich chickpeas to a broth flavored with sherry and three kinds of onions. Of course, we didn't forget the gooey topping, we've just made it a little lighter and a lot easier to prepare at home—simply top toasted whole-wheat bread with cheese and pour the soup on to melt it.
- By: EatingWell Test Kitchen
Ingredients 6 servings
for serving adjustment
Serving size has been adjusted!
Original recipe yields 6 servings
Nutrition per serving may change if servings are adjusted.
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 large sweet onions, sliced
- 2 cups chopped spring onions, or leeks, whites and light green parts only
- 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, or ¼ teaspoon dried
- ¼ cup dry sherry, (see Ingredient Note)
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 3 14-ounce cans reduced-sodium beef broth
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
- ¼ cup minced fresh chives, or scallions
- 6 slices whole-wheat country bread
- 1 cup shredded Gruyère, or fontina cheese
Preparation
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Active
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Ready In
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sweet onions and stir to coat. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until softened and starting to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add spring onions (or leeks), garlic and thyme and cook, uncovered, stirring often, until starting to soften, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Stir in sherry and pepper; increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring often, until most of the liquid has evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in broth and chickpeas and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in chives (or scallions).
- Meanwhile, toast bread and divide it among 6 bowls; top with cheese. Ladle the soup over the bread and cheese and serve immediately.
- Ingredient note: Sherry is a type of fortified wine originally from southern Spain. Don't use the “cooking sherry” sold in many supermarkets—it can be surprisingly high in sodium. Instead, purchase dry sherry that's sold with other fortified wines in your wine or liquor store.
- Serving size: 1½ cups
- Per serving: 352 calories; 9 g fat(4 g sat); 6 g fiber; 48 g carbohydrates; 16 g protein; 98 mcg folate; 25 mg cholesterol; 7 g sugars; 0 g added sugars; 616 IU vitamin A; 16 mg vitamin C; 260 mg calcium; 2 mg iron; 921 mg sodium; 517 mg potassium
- Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin C (27% daily value), Calcium (26% dv), Folate (24% dv)
- Carbohydrate Servings: 3
- Exchanges: 2 starch, 2 vegetable, 1 medium-fat meat, ½ fat
Reviews 12
January 05, 2014
By: chefteacher
Not traditional but very good.
This is not traditional as it has chick peas in it but this is an eating well site, so that makes sense, right? It was quite good - I just felt it needed more flavour so I added bay leaves and a little red wine. I also used swiss cheese as well as mozza.
Pros: Nice idea to add the chick peas for extra nutrition.
Cons: Needed a little more flavour - added bay leaves and some red wine.
September 22, 2012
By: Sorsha80
This recipe was great...except for those darn chick peas.They were really out of place. I also used swiss cheese as I'm not a big fan of gruyere. I would have loved it had I omitted the garbanzos. My husband did not like the soggy bread.
March 16, 2012
By: mmcmillan11
Good soup for the time spent preparing it. Used cannelli beans which were good and filling. Made it into a meal. Toasted bread, melted cheese, and put on top of soup to keep it from getting soggy. Used red wine and whatever cheese I had in fridge.
Pros: Good recipe for a quick soup
May 16, 2011
By: sarg033
Surprisingly good considering how quickly this is prepared
Considering that most french onion soups take hours to prepare, this is really good! I added a little extra kick with some Worcester sauce. For the bread, I used a nice crusty sourdough, toasted it, and then placed it on top of the soup and finally covered with cheese. I absolutely love french onion soup, but generally don't feel like it can me a main dish. But, the addition of the chick peas here changes that. I was a little worried it would be weird, but it really wasn't. (I have to think a dish is phenomenal to give it a 5 star rating.)
Pros: Quick to prepare, added protien from beans
December 18, 2010
By: SisterSue
Oh my GAWD!
This recipe is delicious! This is going in the "keeper" file, for sure! The things I changed: I used red wine instead of sherry because I had it. I caramelized the onions just a bit to concentrate the flavor a little more. I added shallots to the onions. I love shallots. And, to be honest, I couldn't figure out the point of having the wheat bread. It didn't add anything to the soup and in fact was just soggy. Next time I will omit the toast and simply put the lump of cheese at the bottom of the bowl, and then put it under the broiler for no more than a minute, just to melt the cheese just a little. The result is you dip your spoon into the soup and find a surprise of yummy, pungent cheese!
Pros: full flavor, cheesy, delicious
Cons: Toast is useless
October 08, 2010
By: sjeter77
I liked this recipe but felt it was not as flavorful as I expected. But, I promptly fixed that! I added a little extra salt and shots of hot sauce. The results were ultra yummy. For the bread, wheat bread was too bland so I used fresh wheat sour dough bread. Fantastic. Good recipe but needed spicing up. Thanks!
January 19, 2010
By: EatingWell User
I love french onion soup and have always wanted to make it on my own. My mom and I tried this recipe and it was AMAZING! We didn't have leeks or chives so we did omit those ingredients. We also substituted broken up pieces of bagel chips instead of bread and parmesan and mozzarella cheese instead of the ones on the ingredient list because we wanted to use what we had in the fridge. We also substituted dry red wine for the sherry.
I loved this recipe, it is so easy and cheap! I will make it again!
October 20, 2009
By: EatingWell User
I made this vegetarian by using a not-beef bouillon, which resulted in a stock that was not rich enough for my husband and me. We still enjoyed the soup, but it wasn't quite a substitute for the French onion soup of our pre-vegetarian days. I would definitely caramelize the onions more next time and leave the bread out of the soup--it just got mushy and fell apart. I think putting it under the broiler is the way to go.
September 28, 2009
By: EatingWell User
I wasn't sure about the chickpeas, but it works!
Anonymous
