Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

Recipe & Picture courtesy of Smashed Peas & Carrots

I love French Onion soup, my favorite part is breaking through the thick, gooey layer of cheese to reach the yummy goodness that is the soup.  I found this slow cooker recipe via Pinterest (love that site) and decided it must be made this past weekend.  It seemed simple enough and the beauty about slow cookers, they do all the work for you while you relax, and enjoy the yummy smells!

• 3 onions, sliced
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 32-oz cartons of beef broth
• French bread, sliced on the bias
• swiss or gruyere cheese

1. With your crockpot on high, add the butter and let melt.  Once butter is melted, add in sliced onions and cover.  Cook onions on high for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until onions are carmelized.  Mix together flour, worcestershire sauce, sugar and pepper in another bowl.  Slowly add flour mixture and broth to onion stirring well.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4.  
2. To make the crusty bread, slice french bread on the bias and place slices of swiss or gruyere cheese on top.  Toast in oven at 250 degrees for 20 minutes.  Pour soup into bowls and top with cheesy bread slices.

Changes I will make next time:

Her site shows amazing caramelized onions that I'm assuming happened in the allotted time she posted in her recipe.  After an hour mine weren't even close to looking like that.  I decided to go ahead with the recipe anyway because I wanted my soup!  Hint - caramelize them on the stove top to save time and get them looking & tasting amazing.  The onions were still sort of crunchy and I wasn't a huge fan of that, so you MUST caramelize!

Add a few beef bullion cubes to this broth mix as well, I felt there was a little bit of "umph" missing in this soup and added the bullion cubes after the first round.  I thought this beefed up (pardon the pun) the flavor just perfectly.

Of course my husband thought beer would make a great addition as well so he added some to his leftovers and claimed it was fantastic.  I'm not a huge beer fan so I guess it's something to try if you think you might enjoy the added flavor.

Overall, a very easy & simple recipe with a few tweaks for next time!  I will be attempting this again.  Also, be prepared for leftovers!  This makes a huge batch!