My husband loves French Onion Soup. I have personally witnessed him eat French Onion Soup in greasy spoon diners in rural parts of this country and in swanky hotel lounges overlooking city centres while sipping $20 cocktails. He is somewhat of a connoisseur so the first time I made it for him and it didn’t quite turn out the way I hoped, I never made it again. Until now!
While I typically shy away from slow cooker recipes that involves any kind of pre-cooking before tossing things into the pot, this one is worth it. In ten minutes you can have your entire prep done, toss the stuff into the slow cooker and come home a few hours later to one of the best French Onion Soups my husband has ever had (or so he tells me).
Simply melt the butter.
Add onions and garlic.
Add brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, salt, and thyme.
Add flour.
Toss into the slow cooker.
Add beer, stock, pepper and cook.
Top with bread and cheese, broil and enjoy.
Ingredients:
2 medium onions, thinly sliced (I used regular cooking onions but sweet white ones would be good too).
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp coarse salt
1 ½ tbsp. flour
½ bottle of beer
1 box beef stock (approx. 900mL)
Pepper to taste
Topping:
Slices of French Bread
Slices of swiss or gruyere cheese
Melt butter in sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until soft (approx 6-7 minutes).
Add brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, salt and thyme and cook 2-3 minutes.
Add flour and coat well.
Put onion mixture into slow cooker sprayed with non-stick spray.
Add beef stock, beer and pepper to taste then cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Just before serving, toast one slice of bread per serving, ladle soup into oven proof bowls, top with toasted bread and one slice of cheese. Broil in oven for 2-3 minutes until cheese is bubbly.
CAREFUL: Serving bowls will be very hot after broiling.
NOTE: This recipe can easily be doubled for a large group and is a perfect make-ahead dinner party appetizer.
BONUS: Looking for other soup recipes? Try my Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup, Crockpot Turkey Stock or my Dad’s Two Potato Soup.
Spray crockpot with non-stick spray. Add carrots, celery, onion, ginger and rosemary. Arrange chicken on top of vegetables. Add broth, wine (if using), salt and pepper. Cook on low for 8 hours. Remove chicken, shred with two forks and put back into pot. Add noodles and cook on high for 20-30 minutes.
Directions:
Spray muffin tins with non-stick spray or grease with butter (because these muffins are flourless paper muffin cups just stick to the muffin).
Place all ingredients in blender and blend on high setting until smooth. NOTE: if you have a basic/non-commercial blender (like me) it may be helpful to blend your oatmeal first then add the remaining ingredients. You may need to stop the blender and give the batter a stir once or twice to make sure all ingredients are blended.
Pour batter into muffin tins dividing equally among 10 muffins.
Bake in pre-heated 400F oven for 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted into centre of muffin comes out clean.
Carefully remove muffins from tin and allow to cool completely on baking rack.
Yield: 10 muffins.
TIP: If your kids are like mine and they need a little chocolate to entice them, simply add a cup of chocolate chips after blending all of the other ingredients, and stir until combined.
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11 Of Our Favourite Slow Cooker Recipes