Description
Everything you love about French Onion Soup, in meatball form! These French Onion Meatballs are a delicious way to add some protein to this classic soup. Serve with thick rustic bread to mop up the sauce, or over mashed potatoes for a hearty meal!
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 6–8oz shredded Gruyere cheese, divided
- 2–3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp oil
For the French Onion Sauce
- 2 tbsp butter or oil
- 2 large white onions, halved and sliced from root to tip
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, plus more for garnish
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 2–3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup white cooking wine
- 1 1/2 tbsp flour
- 2 cups + 2 tbsp beef stock
Instructions
- Form the meatballs: In a medium mixing bowl, combine ground beef, breadcrumbs, egg, parsley, thyme, 1/4 cup shredded gruyere, garlic, salt, and pepper in a medium mixing bowl. Mix with your hands until just combined. Roll into balls, about 1.5 ounces each.
- Cook the meatballs: Heat a skillet over medium-high heat, then add oil. Cook the meatballs about 3-4 minutes per side until cooked through, then set aside. (See notes below for alternate cooking instructions to speed up the entire recipe process).
- Caramelize the onions: Using the same skillet, reduce heat to medium. Add butter or oil to the skillet, then add sliced onion. If there is a lot of frond in the pan, deglaze with about 1-2 tbsp white cooking wine or beef stock. Cook onions for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. If onions start to brown too quickly, reduce heat to medium-low. About halfway through caramelizing, add chopped thyme and season with salt and pepper. Once caramelized, add garlic and cook for another minute.
- Make the sauce: Add white cooking wine and cook until alcohol burns off. Add flour to the onions and toss to coat. Keep cooking until there are no more dry flour spots in the onion. Add beef stock and bring to a simmer.
- Add meatballs to the sauce: Return the meatballs to the sauce and continue simmering until meatballs are warmed and cooked through. Preheat your oven’s broiler. Sprinkle the tops of the meatballs with 1 cup of shredded gruyere cheese. Transfer the skillet to the oven and broil on high until cheese is melted, bubbly, and browned in some spots (about 5-7 minutes depending on the distance of your oven’s top rack to the broiler). Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh thyme leaves.
- Serve: These meatballs are absolutely delicious served with some thick, crusty rustic bread to mop up the sauce. Or you can serve over a bed of creamy mashed potatoes.
Notes
This recipe is meant to be a one-pot meal, but due to caramelizing the onions in the same pan in which the meatballs are cooked, the total cook time is quite high. So, if you’d like to cut down the cook time slightly, you can bake the meatballs in the oven while you caramelize the onions on the stovetop. Bake the meatballs spread out slightly in a baking dish at 375ºF for 20-22 minutes until browned and cooked through. Then, transfer them to the French Onion sauce when it’s simmering.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 meatballs
- Calories: 593
- Sugar: 4.5 g
- Sodium: 1328.1 mg
- Fat: 36.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 21.4 g
- Protein: 41.4 g
- Cholesterol: 182.1 mg