Kitchen notes · a little help before you start
Slow Cooker French Onion Soup
French onion soup is especially inviting under a blanket of melted cheese, with sweet browned onions in the savory broth below. The crunchy bread is welcome alongside the bowl. Break into the cheese and enjoy a spoonful of onion and broth while everything is warm.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 240 min
- Total
- 270 min
- Original yield
- Serves 4
- Ingredients
- 7 listed
Make it part of your week
Recipe categories & planning details
- Meal type
- Main course
- Cuisine
- American
- Cooking method
- Baking · Baked & roasted · Slow cooker
- Preparation & total time
- Prep: 16–30 minutes · Total: over 60 minutes
- Dish type
- Soups · Soups & stews
A few quick notes
1. Brown the onions before slow cooking
Saute the onion rings until they begin browning, then cover briefly to let them caramelize further.
2. Toast both bread sides
Bake the slices in one layer, turn them over and continue until they're dry and crunchy.
3. Use oven-safe bowls
Set oven-safe bowls on the baking sheet before filling with soup and adding the cheese for baking.
Get to know the ingredients
Thin onion rings
Remove the yellow onions' skins and slice them thinly into rings before cooking them in butter.
Crusty French bread
Keep the bread slices for their separate toasting stage near serving, rather than adding them during slow cooking.
Gruyere or Swiss
Either cheese is listed. Lay overlapping slices over each soup bowl with edges hanging over the sides.
Let’s make it
Choose your servings, then check things off as you go.
Original recipe: Serves 4. Original quantities shown.
Check ingredients as you prepare them. These checks stay on this page.
How to make it
0 of 4 steps completeMake room for Slow Cooker French Onion Soup
Review ingredients in your pantry before anything is added. Meal plans use your household size; grocery-only additions use the servings selected above.
The last little job
Melt the cheese over each bowl
Bake the filled bowls until cheese melts, then serve with crusty bread and optional parsley.
A little more help as you go
Hold bread until the end
Wait until the last minute to add the bread so it doesn't become too soggy.
Garlic joins in the cooker
Transfer browned onions before adding minced garlic, beef broth and bay leaf for the covered slow cook.
A few questions you might have
Does the bread go under the cheese here?
The bowl-finishing directions place cheese over the soup and serve the toasted crusty bread alongside.
Can I use the low setting?
Yes, the soup has both high and low cooking options after the onions have been browned and transferred.
Are the onions browned entirely in the cooker?
Give them their sauteing and covered caramelizing stages in the skillet first, then transfer to the cooker.
When should I start toasting the bread?
The directions begin bread preparation about twenty to thirty minutes before serving, ahead of the cheese-topped bowls.
Why put the bowls on a baking sheet?
The finishing step has you arrange the oven-safe bowls together on the sheet before filling and baking them.
Any more cooking tips?
Wait to add the bread until the last minute so it doesn’t get too soggy!
Storage & reheating safety
For cooked, perishable leftovers, refrigerate within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F), using shallow containers for prompt cooling. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days, and reheat hot leftovers to 165°F, checked with a food thermometer. Follow any shorter package limit.
These are general safety limits, not a tested storage or freezing recommendation for this particular dish. USDA leftovers guidance · Safe cooking temperatures
Recipe source: lecremedelacrumb.com. Ingredient names and quantities may be adapted for the pantry.
Preparation notes follow the recipe shown here.
