A sweet onion soup, with a fiber and protein boost.

Welcome to soup season. One of the few benefits of it being SO COLD during the wintertime.

Plus with soup you can:

Easily eat a wide variety of vegetables. 

Make a large amount of food in a single dish. Perfect for feeding a crowd, using in your meal prep or freezing leftovers. 

Minimize your waste by using up produce that’s seen better days & now needs to be cooked with.

What’s not always so easy? Developing the flavor in soups that are made from a single vegetable. Onions.

How to Caramelize Onions (without adding oil/butter)

What gives an onion soup it’s classic sweet flavor is the process of caramelizing the onions. This is usually done by cooking onions in a source of fat for a long period of time. Allowing their liquid to evaporate and the onion skin to soften and darken in color. 

Cooking a large batch of caramelized onions—like we need to do here—is not only time consuming but can also easily burn if not watched carefully. Everything might not cook evenly. Since this soup starts with a pot full of onions, it’s hard to stir the pot while the onions are still raw.

An easier way to begin the onion caramelization process is to add water + salt instead of butter/oil.

The liquid gives the onions a head start to begin breaking down. Boiling/steaming the onions, helps them soften faster with less chance of burning the bottom of your pot. Once the onions have had a chance to soften, they continue to cook to develop their color and sweet flavor.

Bean Soup Mix

So far, this soup is really just a pot of onions. To help add make it more filling, we’re adding in a sources of plant protein and fiber, with a bean soup mix. As you might guess, this is a prepackaged mixture of different beans. Some brands also add in grains too. 

The brand used in this recipe included pot barley, yellow & green split and whole peas, black turtle beans, Romano beans, Dutch brown beans, and red lentils.

Do you add bean mixes into your soup? Before this product I thought the only bean soup mixtures available were the ones that also came with a flavor packet inside. Found this just in time for this month’s Recipe Redux theme, of celebrating the new year with a new ingredient.

French Onion & Bean Soup

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours 35 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes

Take onion soup to the next level with this satisfying and nourishing bowl of French Onion & Bean Soup. Topped with homemade cheesy challah bread croutons.

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Ingredients

Onion Soup

• 4 pounds onions peeled and sliced
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (optional)
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 3 cups vegetable broth low sodium
• 1 cup soup mix beans soaked overnight* & drained
• yogurt/sour cream, parsley to garnish

Cheesy Challah Croutons

• challah bread any kind of leftover bread will work
• shredded cheese
• pepper, red chili flakes, garlic powder

Instructions

For the Onion Soup:

1. In a large pot (4 ½ quart) pot, add the sliced onions, salt and 1 cup of water. Cover and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking for about an hour. Mix regularly to ensure the onions do not burn.
2. Stir in the butter (if using), balsamic vinegar and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes.
3. Pour in the bean mixture, 3 cups vegetable broth and 5 cups water to the pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

To Make the Croutons:

1. Cut or tear bread into bite sized pieces. Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Add spices of choice. Sprinkle with cheese.
2. Bake in an oven set to broil (low) for 3-5 minutes, mixing every 30-60 seconds. Watch carefully to ensure they do not burn. 

Notes

If you forget to soak the bean mix overnight, increase the cooking time to allow the beans to become tender.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 215Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 423mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 5gSugar: 16gProtein: 8g

Did you make this recipe?

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