VegBatch
← All recipes

Creamy French Onion and Mushroom Soup

A rich onion soup deepened with mushrooms, white wine and herbs, finished with cream and broiled under bread and melted Gruyère. It eats like classic French onion soup with more body.

60 min · soup · French · vegetarian

Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoon salted butter
  • 4 yellow onion, thinly sliced
  • 1¼ cup dry white wine
  • 3 clove garlic, minced or grated
  • 2 cup cremini mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
  • 2 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 6–8 cup low sodium vegetable broth
  • 2 teaspoon soy sauce (or a vegetarian/anchovy-free Worcestershire sauce), plus 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar for tang, optional
  • 2 bay leaf
  • kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 6 slice french bread
  • 2 cup Gruyère cheese, shredded

Method

  1. Melt together the butter, onions, and honey in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook, [text cut off at right edge] 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 m[inutes] 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, soy sauce (plus the balsamic, if using), 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, stir in the cream and cook another 5-10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Season to taste with salt and pepper — soy sauce is saltier than Worcestershire, so taste before adding more salt.
  3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange the bread on a baking sheet and toast [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, [2-3] minutes. Top with fresh thyme. Eat!

Notes

Soy sauce stands in for the anchovy-based Worcestershire; it's saltier, so hold back on salt until you taste at the end, and use vegetable broth and a rennet-free Gruyère-style cheese if you're being strict.