This One Pot French Onion Pasta is rich and creamy, with sweet caramelized onions, cremini mushrooms and orecchiette. Simple, delicious and easily adaptable for vegan and gluten free.
How to Make One Pot French Onion Soup
Inspired by classic French Onion Soup, this one pot pasta recipe begins with caramelized onions. While it may take a while to achieve that deep golden brown color, the amazing savory sweetness that it’s going to add to the pasta makes everything worth it.
To caramelize onions, simply heat some olive oil in a high sided skillet or pot until it shimmers. Add in what seems like way too many sliced yellow onions and a generous pinch of salt. Continue stirring the onions over a medium flame until they begin to cook down.
This will probably take about 30 minutes. If at any point the onions appear dry or begin to burn, just add a splash of water and continue cooking.
Once the onions have cooked down and become deeply caramelized, add in some garlic, thyme and sliced cremini mushrooms. Cook these for another few minutes until fragrant and the mushrooms begin to release their moisture.
Next, deglaze the pan with a little white wine and use a rubber spoon to pull up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Before pouring in the stock, a couple tablespoons of flour get stirred in as a thickener.
Beef stock is going to act as part of the cooking liquid for this one pot French onion pasta, however chicken broth or vegetable broth can also be substituted. Pour in you liquid of choice, plus some water and bring everything up to a boil.
Now just cook the pasta like you would normally. Salt the water and stir frequently until al dente. It’s important that there’s still a pretty good bite to the pasta when you turn off the heat because it will continue cooking as it sits in the pot.
My favorite part about this pasta dish is how the caramelized onions and starch from the pasta that releases while it cooks turns into this creamy, rich sauce. It may not seem like all the liquid has been absorbed by the time the pasta is cooked, but it will continue to thicken once you turn off the heat.
Finally, once the pasta is cooked through, turn off the flame and stir in a spoonful of sherry vinegar. This last hit of acid is going to help bring out all the delicious flavors of the other ingredients.
Serve warm, with some fresh thyme or chopped herbs, maybe toasted breadcrumbs if that’s your thing and enjoy!
Tips for Making One Pot French Onion Pasta
- When cooking the onions, it’s best to stir them every 3-4 minutes or so. If you don’t stir them enough, they will burn, but if you stir them too often, they will not have a chance to brown.
- To make this One Pot French Onion Pasta vegan, replace beef stock with vegetable stock. It will not have the same flavors as a traditional French onion soup, but it will still be delicious!
- For gluten free, use gluten free pasta and flour substitute. The flour can also be omitted entirely, the pasta dish just won’t be as creamy.
- Keep in mind that other types of pasta will have different cook times. I strongly recommend orecchiette because it holds the sauce really well, but other short cut pastas work as well. Make sure you read the package instructions for specific cook times and start tasting early for doneness.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave (I use “melt” mode which is lower power), or in a makeshift double boiler on the stovetop, which is an even better way to reheat.
- Cream sauces don’t always reheat quite back to their original consistency, but this one comes close!
One Pot French Onion Pasta
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 cups beef broth (or vegetable broth)
- 2 cups water
- 12 oz dried orecchiette or other short cut pasta
- 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Fresh herbs and toasted breadcrumbs for serving Optional
Instructions
- Heat oil over a large skillet over medium heat. When shimmering, add the onions and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently until deeply caramelized. About 25-30 minutes.
- Add the garlic, mushrooms and thyme. Sauté for 3-4 minutes or until the mushrooms begin to soften. Add the wine to deglaze the pan and add the flour. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, until thickened.
- Pour in the beef stock (or vegetable stock) and water. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a boil then add the pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. (Keep in mind that other pasta shapes will have different cook times).
- Turn off the heat and stir in the sherry vinegar. Serve warm.