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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Corned Beef Poutine with Guinness Gravy
Corned Beef Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Guinness Caramelized Onions
French Onion Soup Dip
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Steak and Guinness Stew with Irish White Cheddar Cauliflower Mash
Lisa says
March 14, 2013 at 12:44 pmLooks so delicious!
anniebakes says
March 14, 2013 at 12:46 pmMy favorite type of soup, I will definitely give this one a try!! anne
Bev Weidner (Bev Cooks) says
March 14, 2013 at 1:07 pmOh LAWWWWD, hand me a shovel.
Jason says
March 14, 2013 at 1:54 pmI 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?
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
March 14, 2013 at 2:01 pmVery cool idea! This looks awesome!
Erica says
March 14, 2013 at 2:36 pmYou're THE soup King 🙂 Another winner! Love those retro onion soup ramekins too.
Kevin says
March 14, 2013 at 2:38 pmJason: I just wanted more larger portion sizes for this one and more of the Guinness flavour.
Rachael Cargin says
March 14, 2013 at 3:23 pmwho 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/
Rocky Mountain Woman says
March 14, 2013 at 4:44 pmcomfort food at it's finest indeed! can't wait to try it…
Stupid Girl and the Train Wreck says
March 14, 2013 at 10:18 pmDid 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.
Karioca says
March 14, 2013 at 11:21 pmYou'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.
Angela AnotherBitePlease says
March 14, 2013 at 11:23 pmmy hubby would be falling over for this soup..onions & guinness!
Joanne says
March 15, 2013 at 10:20 amI am totally drooling over this Kevin!! All that melted cheese on top…
Kevin says
March 15, 2013 at 1:24 pmKarioca: No, I have not seen a Guinness Punch recipe but it sounds interesting!
Dave @ Cheoy Lee says
March 15, 2013 at 5:29 pmI 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.
Calgary Corporate Catering says
March 15, 2013 at 10:08 pmThis 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.
Jodi @ Garlic Girl says
March 15, 2013 at 11:37 pmSo yummy Kevin! 🙂
FishyKris says
March 17, 2013 at 4:59 pmThis 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.
Rachel says
March 18, 2013 at 2:14 amJust 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!
Rachel says
March 18, 2013 at 2:17 amJust 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!
Abbe@This is How I Cook says
March 18, 2013 at 11:34 pmPerfect!
Anonymous says
March 20, 2013 at 2:53 amI made this and it was bitter….what did I do wrong?
Kevin says
March 20, 2013 at 10:26 amAnonymous: 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.
Anonymous says
April 1, 2013 at 12:08 amI 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!
Rachel Page says
February 12, 2015 at 7:31 amThis is a beautiful photo of your french onion soup. It looks so delicious!
"Q" says
July 14, 2015 at 6:53 pmI like stout flavored soups but not if they're too boozy. How strong is this one? Could it be toned down?
kevin says
July 24, 2015 at 12:43 amQ: 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.
Unknown says
April 6, 2017 at 11:04 pmI 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.