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Guinness French Onion Soup

[heart_this] · Mar 14, 2013 · 28 Comments

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.

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!

Guinness French Onion Soup
Just look at all of that irresistible melted cheddar!

Guinness French Onion Soup
Now this is comfort food at it’s finest!

Guinness French Onion Soup

Guinness French Onion Soup

Guinness French Onion Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour 45 minutes Total Time: 2 hours Servings: 4

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
  1. 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.
  2. Add the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
  3. Add the butter, let it melt, mix in the flour and let it cook for 2-4 minutes.
  4. Add the stout and deglaze the pan.
  5. Add the broth, Worcestershire sauce, grainy mustard, bay leaves, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
  6. 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.
Similar Recipes:
French Onion Soup
Apple French Onion Soup
Guinness Braised Onion and Aged White Cheddar Quiche
Corned Beef Poutine with Guinness Gravy
Corned Beef Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Guinness Caramelized Onions
French Onion Soup Dip
French Onion Chicken
Steak and Guinness Stew with Irish White Cheddar Cauliflower Mash
Slow Cooker French Onion Soup
French Onion Baked Chicken

Looking for more soup recipes?

Food, Recipe, Soup, St Patricks Day, Vegetable, Vegetarian

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lisa says

    March 14, 2013 at 12:44 pm

    Looks so delicious!

    Reply
  2. anniebakes says

    March 14, 2013 at 12:46 pm

    My favorite type of soup, I will definitely give this one a try!! anne

    Reply
  3. Bev Weidner (Bev Cooks) says

    March 14, 2013 at 1:07 pm

    Oh LAWWWWD, hand me a shovel.

    Reply
  4. Jason says

    March 14, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    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?

    Reply
  5. Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says

    March 14, 2013 at 2:01 pm

    Very cool idea! This looks awesome!

    Reply
  6. Erica says

    March 14, 2013 at 2:36 pm

    You're THE soup King 🙂 Another winner! Love those retro onion soup ramekins too.

    Reply
  7. Kevin says

    March 14, 2013 at 2:38 pm

    Jason: I just wanted more larger portion sizes for this one and more of the Guinness flavour.

    Reply
  8. Rachael Cargin says

    March 14, 2013 at 3:23 pm

    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/

    Reply
  9. Rocky Mountain Woman says

    March 14, 2013 at 4:44 pm

    comfort food at it's finest indeed! can't wait to try it…

    Reply
  10. Stupid Girl and the Train Wreck says

    March 14, 2013 at 10:18 pm

    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.

    Reply
  11. Karioca says

    March 14, 2013 at 11:21 pm

    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.

    Reply
  12. Angela AnotherBitePlease says

    March 14, 2013 at 11:23 pm

    my hubby would be falling over for this soup..onions & guinness!

    Reply
  13. Joanne says

    March 15, 2013 at 10:20 am

    I am totally drooling over this Kevin!! All that melted cheese on top…

    Reply
  14. Kevin says

    March 15, 2013 at 1:24 pm

    Karioca: No, I have not seen a Guinness Punch recipe but it sounds interesting!

    Reply
  15. Dave @ Cheoy Lee says

    March 15, 2013 at 5:29 pm

    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.

    Reply
  16. Calgary Corporate Catering says

    March 15, 2013 at 10:08 pm

    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.

    Reply
  17. Jodi @ Garlic Girl says

    March 15, 2013 at 11:37 pm

    So yummy Kevin! 🙂

    Reply
  18. FishyKris says

    March 17, 2013 at 4:59 pm

    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.

    Reply
  19. Rachel says

    March 18, 2013 at 2:14 am

    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!

    Reply
  20. Rachel says

    March 18, 2013 at 2:17 am

    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!

    Reply
  21. [email protected] is How I Cook says

    March 18, 2013 at 11:34 pm

    Perfect!

    Reply
  22. Anonymous says

    March 20, 2013 at 2:53 am

    I made this and it was bitter….what did I do wrong?

    Reply
  23. Kevin says

    March 20, 2013 at 10:26 am

    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.

    Reply
  24. Anonymous says

    April 1, 2013 at 12:08 am

    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!

    Reply
  25. Rachel Page says

    February 12, 2015 at 7:31 am

    This is a beautiful photo of your french onion soup. It looks so delicious!

    Reply
  26. "Q" says

    July 14, 2015 at 6:53 pm

    I like stout flavored soups but not if they're too boozy. How strong is this one? Could it be toned down?

    Reply
  27. kevin says

    July 24, 2015 at 12:43 am

    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.

    Reply
  28. Unknown says

    April 6, 2017 at 11:04 pm

    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.

    Reply

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