French onion soup has to be one of my favourite winter comfort soups and with St Patrick’s Day coming I thought I would try making it with an Irish twist. When I make french onion soup I like to use wine along with broth to form the liquid base of the soup and why not replace the wine with an Irish stout like Guinness? Since I was using Guinness in the broth I had to bring along some Worcestershire sauce and grainy mustard since they are all such great companions. French onion soup is often served topped with toast and melted cheese and with the Guinness, Worcestershire sauce and grainy mustard combo in the mix that cheese had to be a nice aged cheddar and preferably an Irish one. I have to admit that french onion soup does take a bit of time to make, it takes time to properly caramelize the onions, but this Guinness french onion soup is so worth the effort; a perfect treat to warm one up on a cold St Patrick’s Day!
Just look at all of that irresistible melted cheddar!
Now this is comfort food at it’s finest!
Guinness French Onion Soup
A St Patrick’s Day take on French onion soup using a Guinness based broth with plenty of caramelized onions topped with melted cheddar cheese.
ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 pounds onions, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 cups Guinness or other Irish Stout
- 3 cups beef or vegetable broth
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon grainy mustard
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 1/2 inch thick slices of day old bread, toasted
- 1 cup white cheddar, shredded
directions
- Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat, add the onions and cook until completely caramelized and golden brown, about 1 hour, mixing every 10-15 minutes and adding water or Guinness to deglaze the pan as needed to prevent burning.
- Add the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the butter, let it melt, mix in the flour and let it cook for 2-4 minutes.
- Add the stout and deglaze the pan.
- Add the broth, Worcestershire sauce, grainy mustard, bay leaves, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Ladle the soup into oven-proof bowls on a baking sheet, top with the sliced bread and cheese and broil until cheese melts, about 1-3 minutes.
French Onion Soup
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Looks so delicious!
My favorite type of soup, I will definitely give this one a try!! anne
Oh LAWWWWD, hand me a shovel.
I am planning on making this type of soup myself. I was just going to sub an equal amount of Guinness for red wine in my French onion soup recipe. But I see you used 3C of Guinness while you use 1C of red wine in your traditional recipe.
Do you recommend using more beer than you would wine when making this soup?
Very cool idea! This looks awesome!
You're THE soup King 🙂 Another winner! Love those retro onion soup ramekins too.
Jason: I just wanted more larger portion sizes for this one and more of the Guinness flavour.
who knew thee were so many things you could use Guinness for :). I used to just use it in stews and cake but I must try these recipes :).
Rachael xx.
http://theteacozykitchen.blogspot.co.uk/
comfort food at it's finest indeed! can't wait to try it…
Did you find Guinness on sale or something? I did not like the Apple French Onion soup recipe but since I love French Onion soup and my husband loves Guinness I may have to try this one as well.
You've used a lot of Guinness this past week or so. Do you by any chance have a Guinness Punch recipe as seen on the British TV show, CHEF? I saw it several years ago (perhaps 10) and it looked like something I'd love to try.
my hubby would be falling over for this soup..onions & guinness!
I am totally drooling over this Kevin!! All that melted cheese on top…
Karioca: No, I have not seen a Guinness Punch recipe but it sounds interesting!
I remember a more ignorant time when I used to consider soup as "not hearty enough" ie – "it's liquid, how can that fill me up?" Oh, how wrong I was.
This actually looks incredibly good! I've really been getting into cheese lately, it's good for so many situations. Like this one! I'll try the recipe out, thanks.
So yummy Kevin! 🙂
This is a fabulous recipe and it's totally worth the time it takes to caramelize the onions. I'll use better cheddar next time (I wanted to try it before buying expensive Irish aged cheddar) but this was great with regular extra sharp.
Just so you know, Worcester Sauce isn't vegetarian, so this can't really be filed as such. Regardless, it looks like a great recipe that I'll make if I can find a veggie alternative!
Just so you know, Worcester Sauce isn't vegetarian, so this can't really be filed as such. Regardless, it looks like a great recipe that I'll make if I can find a veggie alternative!
Perfect!
I made this and it was bitter….what did I do wrong?
Anonymous: Guinness does have a bitterness to it but it should not be overwhelming in the soup. If you found it too bitter, you can add a touch of sugar to balance and smooth it out.
I made this tonight and also found it way too bitter for my taste. My husband loves Guinness but did not like this either. Sugar didn't help. Still enjoy your other recipes though!
This is a beautiful photo of your french onion soup. It looks so delicious!
I like stout flavored soups but not if they're too boozy. How strong is this one? Could it be toned down?
Q: This isn't too strong but you can always add a bit at a time until you get it to the level that you want.
I had some Guinness broth left over from another recipe we found to make Guinness roast beef sliders. I took what was left of our similar broth to yours and mixed it in with a traditional french onion soup. Tastes magickal.