Before finding out about my barley allergy, if a restaurant had french onion soup I just had to try it. While I slurped on the cheesy, bread soaked broth I would wonder how they got such a rich savory flavor out of onions. Since I’m extremely curious and can’t have french onion soup at restaurants anymore I decided to create my own recipe for the crock-pot. Now I know some of my crock-pot meals have not been synonymous with “easy” but I’m hoping this one will seem a little more assemble and leave-able.

Crock-pot French Onion Soup

Ingredients

6-8 tablespoons butter (or I can’t believe it’s not butter)

4-6 large yellow onions, sliced and seperated into rings

(or more depending how much broth vs. onions you want)

1 tablespoon ( I usually eye it) white sugar

1 tablespoon (or more) minced garlic

1/2 cup cooking sherry

2 32 oz containers beef broth

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

3 bay leafs

8 slices of French bread

(I use pumpernickel it is sour and hearty and soaks up the soup well)

sliced provalone cheese

sliced swiss cheese

1. Place 6-8 tablespoons butter in large saucepan, heat on high until melted then stir in onions until they become semi-translucent, about 6-8 minutes.

2. Sprinkle onions with sugar; reduce heat to medium. Continue to cook, stirring them often, until onions are soft and yellow-light brown (caramelized) around 20 minutes.

3. Stir 1/2 cup cooking sherry into the onion mixture and scrape up any butter/sugar that has stuck to the pan, add 1 tablespoon garlic then leave all in pan to cook on medium heat for another 3-5 minutes.

If you want to do prep ahead (even the night before) this would be a good time to cool the pan and stick the cooked onions in the fridge until you are ready to dump all ingredients into the crock-pot.

4. While the onions are browning (or when you are ready to stick everything in the crock pot) add the beef broth, bay-leafs, thyme, garlic, and salt, to the crock-pot and turn on low.

5. Transfer onion mixture into the crock-pot.

6. Cover crock-pot, and set on High for 3-4 hours or Low for 5-6 hours or longer.

7.When you are ready to eat, pour a bowl 3/4 full and place a slice of bread on top of the soup. Top this off with a piece or two of swiss and/or provolone and stick the bowl in the broiler for 2-3 minutes until the cheese on top is brown and bubbling.

9. Pull the bowl out of the broiler carefully and put it on either a pot holder or trivet because the bowl will be hot!!!

Then enjoy!!