Amazing homemade French Onion Soup recipe in Instant Pot vs Dutch Oven inspired by Julia Child. We will see which one has more flavor? Simplified recipe for beginner cooks.
Hi Everyone,
By request of my subscribers today I am making another famous french dish called - French Onion Soup which is also inspired by a Julia Child’s recipe.
I will also slightly modify an original recipe to simplify it a bit without sacrificing the taste.
You can find a list of ingredients in the description of this video.
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Ingredients: ( 5-6 servings )
Yellow and red onions ( mix ) - 5 cups
Butter unsalted ( separated ) - ½ stick ( 4 tablespoons ). You can use homemade butter, recipe on my channel: [ Ссылка ]
Salt and Pepper - to taste
Brown sugar - ½ teaspoon
Flour ( all purpose ) - 2 tablespoons
Beef stock - 5 cups
Wine ( red or white ) - ¼ cup ( use the wine you are actually like )
Cognac - 3 tablespoons ( optional )
Bay leaf - 2pcs
Thyme - ½ teaspoon
French bread - ½ loaf ( alternatively use croutons or parmesan crisps )
Avocado or olive oil ( to brush french bread ) - 2 tablespoons
Swiss Gruyere cheese ( grated ) - 1 cup
Parmesan cheese ( grated ) - 2 cups
For serving: green scallions.
Step#1 Caramelizing onions
Start by cutting your onions. I have quite a few onions to cut, so let’s make sure we are using the right strategy to minimize onion tears
Cut onions outside - if such option is available
Chill your onions in the fridge or under cold water before cutting
Make sure you have a very sharp knife
Wear goggles
I am slicing onions parallel to the root.
Instant Pot:
Now, start your Instant Pot on Sautee mode. Melt ¼ stick of butter and then add sliced onions.
Turn off the Saute function, set Instant Pot to high manual pressure for 2 minutes. After the 2 minutes cycle is over, keep it for another 2 minutes and do manual release. Now, turn Instant Pot to Saute mode. Add ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of brown sugar, cook for 10 minutes or until onions get golden brown color, remember to stir in the process.
Dutch Oven:
Hit up ¼ stick of unsalted butter, add sliced onions and cook on low-medium for 25 minutes. Onions should reduce in size. Now raise the heat to medium high, add ½ teaspoon of salt, ¼ teaspoon of brown sugar and cook for another 30 minutes or until onions are golden brown color.
Caramelizing onions in Instant Pot is a super convenient feature which allows us to save a significant amount of time.
Instant Pot: 6 min to come to pressure + 4 min ( 2+2 ) under pressure + 10 min to get golden brown = 20min
Dutch Oven: 25 min on low medium + 30 min on medium-high = 55min
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Step#2
Instant Pot:
Leave the instant pot on Saute mode and stir in 2 tablespoons of flour and ¼ stick of butter, cook it for 3 minutes, stir it well in the process. It will give soup a nice texture. Then add beef stock, red wine, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Seal the lid, set Instant Pot for 8 minutes at manual high pressure and do a quick release at the end. When the dish is ready add 3 tablespoons of cognac to bring more flavor. This step is optional.
Dutch Oven:
Process is pretty much the same.
Follow the same process of adding flour and butter and cook for 3 minutes. Then add beef stock, red wine, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper to taste, bring it to simmer on medium high. Then simmer under the lid for another 30 minutes on a low heat. When the dish is ready add 3 tablespoons of cognac.
Soup cooking time is also quite a bit faster in Instant Pot.
Instant Pot: 10 min to come to pressure + 8 min cook time under pressure = 18min
Dutch Oven: 30 min
Step #3 Serving
Normally you serve onion soup with french bread. Slice bread, put on the baking sheet, brush with some oil and bake at 350°F for 10 min on each side. Unfortunately I forgot to buy one, so I am using store bought parmesan crisp as a nice substitute, alternatively you can also use croutons.
So for serving, add some grated Swiss Gruyere cheese in the serving bowl, put a few parmesan crisps and cover it up with grated parmesan cheese. Make sure your serving bowls are oven safe. Bake it in the oven on the metal tray on a broil setting 450°F for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese melts and turns slightly brown.
You can serve it with chopped green scallions on top.
After very demanding testing :) the conclusion was that soup is amazing, but results of both cooking methods taste the same. Well, you heard it.
So for this recipe, my preference goes to Instant Pot, because it saves me about 30-35 minutes in cooking time.
