The rich broth and caramelized onions topped with bread and gooey cheese is a simple but immensely satisfying dish.
Today, some of the best French onion soup can be found at your favorite restaurant chains.
I recently sampled this soup at four popular chains in search of the best-tasting version around.
Photo: Shutterstock. Design: Eat This, Not That!
Here’s how each ranked in descending order from my least favorite to the overall winner.
This was a basic bowl of soup.
The taste:Sweet, but not in the oniony way.
Jennifer Cannon/Eat This Not That
The broth is savory-ish, but more in the vein of a vegetable soup.
My first thought was this reminds me of minestrone minus the noodles and extra veggies.
I definitely missed the cheese and depth of flavor that more of it would’ve added with this broth.
Jennifer Cannon/Eat This Not That
The advertised black pepper and sea salt were hardly noticeable on the croutons.
I would call this minimalist French onion soup or, in a word, meh.
A crock at my local Outback Steakhouse in Deptford, N.J., cost me $7.99.
Jennifer Cannon/Eat This Not That
The look:Nicely presented and very similar to the menu photo.
The broth was deep brown and the right amount of thick with onions.
If I were judging on looks alone, this one would be the easy winner.
Jennifer Cannon/Eat This Not That
The taste:Delicious, but salty.
I needed a steak knife to cut into it first, which made it a bit messy.
I found the cheese to be a bit chewy, however.
At just $3.99 for a decent-sized crock, it’s possible for you to’t beat the value.
Okay, maybe that sounds a bit dramatic, but it truly was a happy-looking crock of soup.
The crusted top reminded me a bit of the way you might crack into a creme brulee.
The broth was light in color with the bread floating just under the top.
The broth is well complemented by the cheese.
It tasted a bit buttery, but also like Swiss.
It was a different and unexpectedly delicious combination.
I wanted to, politely, slurp up more of this one!
As much as I enjoyed it, there was one soup I liked better.
A large crock ofFrench onion soupcost me a very reasonable $6.39.
The look:Cheese, and lots of it, is the star of this show.
The amount of cheese was generous to say the least.
Longhorn Steakhouse uses sirloin beef stock in its broth, which elevates and notably enhances the flavors.
The generous topping of Swiss-provolone combination is a velvety, creamy indulgenceand not the slightest bit chewy.
This delicious, gastronomic journey may not physically transport you to a small Parisian cafe.
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