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–+ servings
Ebonie Garnica

French Onion Soup Without Bread For Full GAPS

Full GAPS French onion soup with soft golden onions, ghee, garlic, thyme and homemade beef meat stock, served without bread or cheese. This recipe serves four. The 36 minutes covers about 25 minutes for onions, 1 minute deglazing and at least 10 minutes simmering; allow additional chopping and stock-warming time.
Print Recipe
Cook Time 36 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Course: Full GAPS, Soup
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 cup homemade ghee Already introduced and tolerated; ghee is dairy-derived.
  • 4 onions Sliced. At 1×, use 2 onions instead of 4 if you want fewer onions; at 2×, use 4 instead of the main recipe’s 8.
  • 2 garlic cloves Chopped or crushed.
  • 2 bay leaves Remove before serving.
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme For cooking; remove woody stems before serving.
  • 1 teaspoon natural sea salt Plus more to taste after checking the finished soup.
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar Plain, without added sugar or additives.
  • 2 quarts prepared homemade beef meat stock Finished separately. Roasted beef stock or the same amount of prepared pressure-cooker beef stock.
  • 2 sprigs extra fresh thyme Optional garnish. At 1×, these 2 sprigs are for the whole batch, not each bowl.

Equipment

  • Roomy heavy-bottomed stainless-steel or enameled saucepan or stockpot Room for the scaled stock, softened onions and simmering headroom.
  • Wooden spoon and ladle Stir the onions, loosen browned juices, then share onions and stock between the bowls.
  • Knife, chopping board, liquid measure, measuring spoons and serving bowls No broiler-safe bowls or oven are needed for the selected soup without bread or cheese.

Method
 

  1. Peel and slice the onions. Chop or crush the garlic. Melt the ghee over medium heat in a roomy, heavy-bottomed saucepan or small stockpot.
  2. Add the sliced onions, garlic, bay leaves, cooking thyme sprigs, salt and pepper. Stir with a wooden spoon every few minutes as the onions soften and begin to turn golden, about 25 minutes. Lower the heat if they start catching or darkening too quickly.
  3. Add the apple cider vinegar. Scrape the bottom of the pot with the wooden spoon to loosen the browned cooking juices, about 1 minute. Keep the browned flavor in the soup and discard any blackened, burnt pieces.
  4. Pour in the finished beef meat stock. Bring to a gentle simmer, then keep it on low for at least 10 minutes. If you simmer it much longer than 30 minutes, cover the pot.
  5. Taste a cooled spoonful before adding more salt or pepper. Remove the bay leaves and cooked thyme sprigs. Ladle into bowls and add a little of the optional fresh thyme if desired.

Notes

This recipe serves four and uses four onions. The optional smaller-onion version uses 2 onions at 1× or 4 at 2×, keeping all other amounts and the yield unchanged.
Use already introduced homemade ghee and finished roasted beef meat stock. The same stock amount can come from the pressure-cooker beef stock. These ingredients are prepared separately. Ghee is clarified butter and is still dairy-derived.
The 36-minute card time is the minimum sum of about 25 minutes for the onions, 1 minute for deglazing and at least 10 minutes simmering. Allow additional time to peel and slice, warm cold stock and reach the soft golden onion endpoint. The stock and ghee need to be ready before you start. Cover if simmering much beyond 30 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves and cooked thyme stems before serving. The extra thyme is optional garnish for the whole batch. Serve this soup without a bread-and-cheese topping.
Cool leftovers promptly in shallow containers, cover and refrigerate. Use within two days or freeze portions for longer storage. Older stock does not get a new storage period from being made into soup. Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat until hot throughout.

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