Thick onion soup with grains and gooey melted cheese

A delicious meal-in-a-bowl, this wonderful creamy onion soup is thickened with tasty grains and topped with melted cheese for an indulgent and warming meal on a cold evening.

Regular readers will know that DH is not a big soup eater. In fact, he considers soup to be a waste of time and vegetables. I disagree, vehemently, but for the sake of domestic harmony I tend not to make too much in the way of soup. So when he’s away for a week, as happens from time to time, soup-making is GO!

Student days

This creamy onion soup was inspired by something I used to make when I was a student. I was living in a freezing basement flat, and having a pan of delicious soup burbling away on the stove for hours was one way to heat the place up a bit! Of course it also had the benefit of a delicious dinner at the end.

Slow cooked onion soup

My student soup was essentially slow-cooked onions and barley in stock, occasionally with mushrooms added. The longer it cooked, the more delicious it got, as the flavour deepened and intensified with every additional hour on the stove.

It was also perfect student food as the main ingredients – onions and pearl barley – are cheap to buy and create a warm and filling meal. Win win!

Updated and improved

Now that I’m a grown up and have a little more money to spend, I decided to update the onion soup with a 5-grain mix, instead of plain barley. Ooooh!

The extra grains added more texture and a lovely depth of flavour, too. The mix I used contained barley, wheat, spelt, rice and oats. But I’m sure you could use other mixes, or just use pearl barley if that’s what you have to hand.

Creamy onion soup – ingredients

There really aren’t many ingredients in this tasty onion soup. Your stove does the hard work, and the long slow cooking brings out the rich flavour and creamy texture.

To make the soup, you will need:

• Onions – of course!
• Mixed grains or pearl barley – use whichever you have to hand!
• Olive oil – for frying the onions.
• Vegetable stock – use fresh stock, make from a cube/powder, or simply dissolve a little miso paste in hot water.
• A bay leaf and seasoning to taste
• Grated cheese – to melt on the top. Optional, but really too good to miss!

Cheesy options

The finished onion soup is thick and satisfying and extremely yummy. To transform it into a meal, I added a handful of grated cheese to the top of each bowl. I then zapped it with a blowtorch to create a gooey, melty, crusty cheesy topping that was amazing once you stirred it into the rest of the soup.

This gorgeous onion soup didn’t even need bread with it – it was thick, filling, and incredibly tasty. With carbs from the grains, healthy fats from the olive oil, protein from the cheese, and plenty of vegetable material from the onions, this delicious thick soup is a meal in itself!

Torch or grill?

Of course you could just flash the bowls of cheese-topped onion soup under a hot grill. However I quite enjoyed the theatricality of the blow-torch, and my daughter Kipper was pretty excited about it too – usually we only use our kitchen blowtorch to light the barbecue! 

The cheese is optional, of course. If you’re vegan, or otherwise dairy-avoiding, you can certainly do without it, or substitute a non-dairy alternative. A sprinkling of toasted seeds and a little nutritional yeast adds crunch, fibre and protein, as well as a savoury ‘cheesy’ flavour.

Onion soup – A meal in a bowl

Kipper and I ate this thick onion soup for dinner, and I had a huge bowlful for lunch the next day to finish it off. I’d say this made 4 starter-size servings, 2-3 main-course size servings.

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📖 Recipe

Creamy onion soup with grains and melty cheese topping

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A delicious meal-in-a-bowl, this wonderful creamy onion soup is thickened with tasty grains and topped with melted cheese for an indulgent winter treat.

5 from 6 votes

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 50 minutes mins

Course Lunch, Soup

Cuisine Vegetarian

Servings 4

Calories 418 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 700-750 g onions (approx. 4-5 medium/large onions)
• 4-5 tablespoon olive oil
• 125 g mixed grains or pearl barley
• 1 litre vegetable stock (or use homemade soup powder & water)
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and pepper, to taste

To serve

• 1-2 handfuls grated cheese

Instructions

 

• 700-750 g (24 -25 oz) onions, 4-5 tablespoon olive oil
  Peel the onions and slice finely. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat, and cook the onions, covered, for around 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
• 125 g (⅝ cup) mixed grains or pearl barley, 1 litre (4 ¼ cups) vegetable stock, 1 bay leaf
  When the onions are very soft and starting to caramelise, add the pearl barley or mixed grains and stir well to coat in the oil. Pour in the stock, and add the bay leaf. Simmer, covered, for at least 1 hour, and ideally longer, on a very low heat.
• Salt and pepper, to taste
  Once the grains are thoroughly cooked and everything is very soft, remove from the heat. Remove the bay leaf and discard. Transfer half the soup to a large bowl and liquidise using a stick blender, then return to the pan and combine with the unblended soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Heat through, and serve piping hot. If the soup is too thick, add a little hot water or stock to reach the desired consistency.

To serve

• 1-2 handfuls (½-1 cups) grated cheese
  Pour the soup into serving bowls and add a generous layer of grated cheese on the top. Melt and scorch with a blowtorch, or flash under a hot grill until melted, brown and bubbling. Serve at once.

Notes

You can leave this soup simmering on a very low heat for several hours if you like. The flavour will only improve, and as the grains disintegrate they thicken the soup beautifully.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Creamy onion soup with grains and melty cheese topping

Amount per Serving

Calories

418

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

24

g

37

%

Saturated Fat

 

8

g

50

%

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

2

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

13

g

Cholesterol

 

30

mg

10

%

Sodium

 

187

mg

8

%

Potassium

 

371

mg

11

%

Carbohydrates

 

41

g

14

%

Fiber

 

8

g

33

%

Sugar

 

8

g

9

%

Protein

 

12

g

24

%

Vitamin A

 

296

IU

6

%

Vitamin C

 

13

mg

16

%

Calcium

 

253

mg

25

%

Iron

 

1

mg

6

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keyword barley, cheese, onions

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

More delicious soup recipes

Other delicious filling soups to try include: 

• chunky mushroom soup with freekeh
• creamy vegan parsnip and pea soup with fennel seeds
• comforting sweet and sour cabbage and tomato soup with rice
• delicious roasted butternut squash soup with lentils

You can also find my list of the best meal-in-a-bowl soups here.

Since this soup can happily cook away for hours I’m entering it into the Slow Cooked Challenge, hosted by Farmersgirl Kitchen.