One pot French onion pasta is rich, creamy, filling pasta dish reminiscent of French onion soup. If you love French onion soup, you will love this slightly creamy, delicious onion pasta. Sweet and robust flavors of caramelized onion with garlic and mushrooms, fresh thyme, and Parmesan cheese makes it delicious!
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French onion pasta recipe
This pasta is unlike any pasta recipe you have tried. It’s a combination of two favorite comforting food – pasta and French onion soup.
Start with caramelizing onion, it’s a time-consuming process but worth it. At the beginning, it might look like a lot of onion, but as cooks, it breaks down quite a bit. The rich flavors of French onion soup are mimicked in this pasta recipe. With sweet, savory rich, slightly creamy flavors it’s a comforting bowl of goodness.
Everything cooks in one pot making clean up easy. You’ll need simple ingredients that are easy to find. This recipe can be easily customized.
Ingredients needed
Here’s what you need-
- Olive oil
- Butter
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Mushroom
- Plain flour
- Dry white wine
- Worcestershire sauce
- Chicken stock
- Fresh thyme
- Salt & pepper
- Pasta
- Half and half
- Sherry vinegar
- Parmesan cheese
- Olive oil and unsalted butter – use a mix of both to avoid the onion from burning.
- Yellow onion – I used 3 large yellow onions. Feel free to use more onion, it might look like a lot of onion, but as cooks it breaks down quite a bit.
- Garlic – adds more flavor.
- Mushrooms – best use cremini mushrooms. Alternatively, use button mushrooms or portabella mushrooms.
- Dry white wine – dry white wine such as sauvignon blanc or pinot Grigio. It’s used to deglaze the pan plus adds much-needed acidity.
- Worcestershire sauce – adds umami flavor.
- Sherry vinegar – the flavor of sherry vinegar is wonderful in French onion pasta. Alternatively, use white vinegar.
- Stock – beef stock adds beefiness to the dish. You can use chicken stock or vegetable stock too. Use low-sodium stock.
- Fresh thyme – I used plenty of it. Tie the sprigs in a bunch and add them to the stock, discard it once the pasta is cooked completely. Highly recommend you add plenty of fresh thyme to balance the sweet, savory richness of caramelized onion.
- Pasta – uncooked pasta. Any short pasta works, I used rigatoni.
- Half and half – make the dish creamy.
- Parmesan cheese – grate it fresh from a block. Use it for rich, saltiness.
How to make it
Melt olive oil and butter in a large pan or Dutch oven. Start by caramelizing the yellow onion. Add thinly sliced yellow onion. Stir and cook on medium heat.
Continue to cook stirring frequently until the onion is caramelized. Depending on the thickness of the sliced onion and the pan used time taken to caramelize onion can vary. It took me 20 minutes for the onions to caramelize.
Once onion is caramelized add minced garlic and sliced mushrooms. Stir and cook for a minute.
Deglaze pan with dry white wine and Worcestershire sauce.
Add plain flour, stirring constantly, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the flour is fragrant.
Pour the stock into the pan. Add thyme leaves, salt, and pepper to taste.
Once stock begins to boil add pasta.
Cover and cook pasta, stir it often. Cook until al-dente. Add half and half and sherry vinegar. Stir until blended.
Remove thyme leaves and discard.
Remove pan from heat.
Sprinkle little fresh thyme and fresh grated Parmesan cheese.
Serve immediately!
Tips for success
Perfect caramelized onion. Cut yellow onion into thin slices. Use a large pan or Dutch oven to cook it. While cooking onion stir frequently, else onion will burn at the bottom. The time it takes to caramelize the onion will depend on many factors like how thinly the onion is sliced, the type of pan used, and the cooking temperature.
Cook pasta to al-dente. Be sure to cook pasta very al-dente. Pasta will continue to cook even after it’s removed from heat.
Shred cheese. Pre-grated cheese has addictive that can prevent it from melting properly. Freshly grate cheese from a block.
Common questions
Yellow onion is best. If you can’t get yellow onion, use white onion. I wouldn’t recommend red onion for this recipe.
Yes, braised beef works best for this recipe.
This pasta is reminiscent of French onion soup. You get all the savory umami flavors of your favorite French onion soup with the addition of pasta in it. It’s sweet, savory, slightly creamy flavors it’s a comforting bowl of goodness.
Yes, you can use melty Gruyere cheese instead of Parmesan.
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📋One Pot French Onion Pasta
Ingredients
- â…“ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 yellow onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 8 oz mushroom
- 2 tablespoons plain flour
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 4 cups chicken or beef stock
- 5-6 sprigs of thyme
- ½ teaspoon salt adjust to taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper adjust to taste
- 12 oz pasta
- ½ cup half and half
- 1-2 tablespoon sherry vinegar
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Melt olive oil and butter in a large pan or Dutch oven. Start by caramelizing the yellow onion. Add thinly sliced yellow onion. Stir and cook on medium heat. Continue to cook stirring frequently until the onion is caramelized. Depending on the thickness of the sliced onion and the pan used time taken to caramelize the onion can vary. It took me 20 minutes for the onions to caramelize.
- Once onion is caramelized add minced garlic and sliced mushrooms. Stir and cook for a minute.
- Deglaze pan with dry white wine and Worcestershire sauce.
- Add plain flour, stirring constantly, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the flour is fragrant.
- Pour the stock into the pan. Add thyme leaves, salt, and pepper to taste.
- Once stock begins to boil add pasta.
- Cover and cook pasta, stir it often. Cook until al-dente.
- Remove thyme leaves and discard.
- Add half and half and sherry vinegar. Stir until blended.
- Remove pan from heat.
- Sprinkle little fresh thyme and fresh grated Parmesan cheese.
- Serve immediately!
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Notes
Perfect caramelized onion. Cut yellow onion into thin slices. Use a large pan or Dutch oven to cook it. While cooking onion stir frequently, else onion will burn at the bottom. The time it takes to caramelize the onion will depend on many factors like how thinly the onion is sliced, the type of pan used, and the cooking temperature.
Cook pasta to al-dente. Be sure to cook pasta very al-dente. Pasta will continue to cook even after it’s removed from heat.
Shred cheese. Pre-grated cheese has addictive that can prevent it from melting properly. Freshly grate cheese from a block.
Created by Jyothi Rajesh
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I’m Jyothi Rajesh (Jo for short) and i’m the founder of the food blog, Curry Trail where I share my culinary Adventures. I live in Bangalore, India. I’m a mom of two beautiful kids. My passion is creating and sharing delicious and easy recipes for the home cook. I have been blogging since 2007 and many of my recipes have appeared in both online and print publications over the years. Learn more about Jyothi Rajesh.
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