No beef broth is needed for this recipe for a soup packed full of flavor. This plant-based French Onion soup will warm you up on a cold day!
Flavors of French Onion Soup
French onion soup is one of my favorites because it’s a light broth soup, but it has such rich and deep flavors. It goes great with some crusty old bread to dip in. This plant-based French onion soup version is so flavorful even without the beef broth. Obviously, the main flavor of this soup is onion, but it’s the specific way they are cooked that gives the soup its unique taste. The onions have to be caramelized to a deep brown color. Caramelizing is browning the natural sugars in the onions, and it brings out their sweet taste. We’ll talk about the specifics later.
Another flavor important to French onion soup is red wine. Cooking with red wine adds to the richness of dishes and wine is a common ingredient in French dishes. Don’t worry though, the alcohol cooks off since ethanol has a lower boiling point and will evaporate. However, if you do not consume any alcohol at all, you can swap in balsamic vinegar which is a decent flavor substitute. You do not need to buy fancy wine for cooking especially because you’re cooking off the good stuff. I buy cheep Trader Joe’s wine and keep it on hand for cooking since I don’t drink red wine.
Typically, the soup is served with some crusty bread floating on the soup, and there may be some cheese broiled on top. If you are looking for a good GF baguette, I highly recommend Schar’s. I find mine at Sprouts, and the packaging keeps it fresh for weeks.
Vegetarian Umami Sources
Typically beef broth is used for the soup base, but for this plant-based French onion soup, I used vegetable broth. You can use any old vegetable broth, but I’d recommend making your own with mushrooms for the best result. You can learn more about making your own vegetable broth from my previous blog post. Mushrooms are a great vegetarian source of umami, so making a broth from mushroom stems will give you a umami-rich broth, that is a good substitute for beef broth.
Another ingredient that is an umami bomb is tomato paste. Tomatoes are also full of umami flavor, and tomato paste is highly concentrated tomato product. Adding tomato paste adds umami as well as adds to the deep color of the soup.
Finally soy sauce is added to this soup for some saltiness and umami. Salty and umami are very similar flavors and often confused when not tasted side by side. The fermentation process makes soy sauce a great source of umami and the salt content makes it a great way to flavor dishes.
Caramelizing Onions
I’m not going to lie to you, caramelizing onions takes a long time. Like this soup is a labor of love, and if someone makes it for you, they really care about you! But don’t worry, it’s not difficult, just long. The trick is to cook these onions on low heat for about 60-90 minutes until they are a deep brown color because that’s the main flavor for our soup. Unlike sautéing where we crisp up the outsides, this process is caramelizing the sugars in the onions just like when you make caramel. We want to brown the sugar molecules to get that sweet toasty flavor in our onions. Check out the next couple of pictures to see how this process works.
You want to keep the flame low enough so that your onions don’t burn. You want to stir them occasionally so they don’t stick and cook evenly. And, if they get too dry or do start to stick you can add a splash of water. This is a great dish to make if you are doing other things in the kitchen because you just need to check on it periodically.
Stages of Caramelization
Stage 1: These onions are sweating out their water. They are shiny and lightly translucent. They are no longer raw.
Stage 2: First signs of browning. These onions are beginning to caramelize. The browning is not from charring the outside, but it’s from the sugars caramelizing.
Stage 3: Half-Way. These onions are about half-way done, and this is the point where you want to say good enough. Keep going! You want a lot more of your onions to be brown before you stop for more flavor
Stage 4: Caramelized Onions. This is the beginning of the onions being caramelized. Now you can be done if you want. But, you could also keep going even longer to get some of those lighter pieces to brown as well. When you are finished, the next step is to add the red wine to deglaze the pan. You just spend an hour trying to build delicious flavor and you don’t want to waste anything that may have stuck to the bottom. By adding the wine to the onions before the other ingredients, you can get up all that extra flavor. Use a spoon to scrape up any extra bits that may have stuck to the bottom. It’s a simple cooking technique that makes sure you get the most flavor into your dish.
Plant-Based French Onion Soup
Ingredients
- 3 large onions about 1.5 lbs.
- ½ tbsp neutral oil
- 1 tbsp red wine
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- ½ tbsp tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cut the onions into julienne strips and add to a large pot with about 1/2 tbsp neutral oil over low-medium heat.
- To caramelize the onions, cook the onions over low to medium heat until the the become translucent. do not let them sauté or burn. Continue to cook low and slow for about 60-90 minutes. If they get to dry and begin to stick, add a splash of water.
- When the onions are are a dark brown and sweet they are caramelized. Add the red wine to deglaze the pan and use a spoon to scarp anything off that is stuck on the pan.
- Add the soy sauce, vegetable broth, tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 15-20 minutes to let the flavors blend together.
- Serve with a slice of crusty baguette and/or melted cheese. Makes about 5 servings.
Notes
