French Onion Soup Bites
There are two things social media loves: a good mash-up and French onion soup (just make it into something other than soup). You’ve surely heard of the viral French onion pasta (worth the hype), but have you tried French onion soup toasts? If so, TikTok thanks you for giving them all your data, but if you haven’t, @saucedupfoods has your new favorite way of eating caramelized alliums.
Besides being an impressive, delicious appetizer, this recipe also costs under twelve dollars to make, and that’s if you didn’t find your little hunk of Gruyère on sale. It takes all of those sweet, silky flavors from slowly simmered onions and thrusts them upon beautifully crunchy bread. It could very well be the future of French onion anything-but-soup.
MAKES 12 TOASTS; SERVES 4
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp. salted butter, plus 2 tbsp. softened
- 1 large white onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tsp. sugar
- Leaves of 3 sprigs thyme, chopped, plus more for garnish
- 3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- ¼ c. low-sodium beef stock, plus more as needed
- 1 baguette
- ¾ c. grated Gruyère
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Instructions:
- Melt the 2 tbsp. unsoftened butter in a medium skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion until fragrant, 5–7 minutes. Stir in the sugar and chopped thyme.
- When the onion begins to brown, about 10 additional minutes, add the balsamic vinegar and stock. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized and most of the liquid has evaporated, 15–20 minutes. If the liquid cooks off completely before the onions are caramelized, add beef broth 1 tbsp. at a time to keep the onions from sticking to the pan.
- Preheat the oven to 500°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the baguette into twelve ¾-in.-thick pieces. Slather both sides of each piece with the softened butter. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and toast the bread slices, 1–2 minutes per side.
- Put the toasted bread on the prepared baking sheet. Top each with some of the caramelized onions and cheese. Bake until the cheese is golden brown and melted, about 6 minutes. Top each with thyme leaves and devour!
