Best Soups Series: A Look at 23 Variations on Paleo French Onion Soup: AIP, Bone Broth, Slow Cooker, Vegan and Vegetarian recipes


sauteed onions - the base for many of the paleo french onion soups listed in this article
We look at 27 health paleo french onion soup recipes to help you pick out the perfect one for you, whether you are doing AIP, peleo vegan, primal or want a slow cooker, bone broth or other paleo soup recipePhoto credit: anantal CC BY

Looking for a paleo french onion soup recipe that fits your tastes and preferences? We compare 27 of the best paleo french onion soup recipes to help you get inspired and pick the perfect one for your dietary restrictions and preferences.

As we covered in our post about cheap paleo ingredients, onions (especially organic onions) are a best buy in terms of the nutrition you get for your dollar, and this is particularly true in these french onion soups, a dish where onion is the star ingredient.

Although we have been recently publishing an article series on the best paleo meal delivery in specific cities like NY, DC, Boston, SF and Seattle, we like to also highlight Paleo bloggers creating inspirational Paleo recipes across the web.

Categories:

We have grouped the recipes in the following categories for your convenience:

Bone Broth Paleo French Onion Soup

The following soups utilize bone broth as a soup base, making for a healthy and hearty version of french onion soup. 

Hearty Paleo French Onion Soup from thePaleoFix

This hearty bone broth version of paleo french onion soup recommends blending two bone broths, made from chicken bones and beef bones. In addition, there are a number of creative and luxurious ingredients suggestions made, such as using a blend of red, white and green onions or including both red wine and brandy in the soup stock. This recipe has one of the longer ingredient lists of the french onion soups covered but the extra effort is likely worth it.

image of thepalofix Hearty Paleo French Onion Soup - used with permission
thepalofix.com

Tangy French Onion Soup from ultimatepaleoguide

The tangy in this bone broth paleo french onion soup version comes via the addition of lemon juice and tomato paste. In addition, they recommend the addition of an italian seasoning blend as the herbs, which is a bit of a break from the more standard thyme only herb selection.

screenshot of ultimatepaleoguide.com paleo french onion soup
ultimatepaleoguide.com

Paleo French Onion Soup from syndipaleogirl

This recipe gives suggestions for a strict version of Paleo french onion soup which recommends using coconut oil. Some unique features of this soup include lemon juice as well as a technique of “deglasing” the pan with broth. The author recommends beef broth but also lists vegetable broth as an option, making the soup vegetarian. 

screenshot syndipaleogirl.blogspot.com paleo french onion soup
syndipaleogirl

Paleo French Onion Soup from thepaleopact

 This simple, strict paleo french onion soup recipe is described as a “set it and forgot it” option – always appealing. Although beef stock is suggested, the recipe would become strict paleo vegan or vegetarian by replacing the beef stock with vegetable stock.

screenshot of thepaleopact.com french onion soup
thepaleopact.com

If you are looking for frozen bone broth as a starting point in the meals, you might want to check out the offerings from Paleo On the Go and True Fare in our pre made paleo meals article

Slow Cooker Paleo French Onion Soup

The below soups take advantage of the slow cooker (even the slow cooker setting on your Instapot) to allow set it and forget it versions of healthy french onion soup. 

Slow cooked French Onion Soup from jessyandmelissa

This slow cooker version of french onion paleo soup calls for bacon fat and rosemary as two non-typical ingredients. They recommend combining both paleo chicken broth and paleo beef broth for the base.

screenshot
www.jessyandmelissa.com

Slow cooker French Onion Soup from crunchymama

This slow cooker version of the classic french onion soup gives a good overview of caramelizing onions in the slow cooker for that rich sweet taste. It includes some interesting variations such as mixing chicken and beef stock and adding sherry and even cognac to the soup.

screenshot
crunchymama.net

Paleo French Onion Soup from whatthefit

This crockpot version of paleo french onion soup includes additions such as shredded carrots, arrowroot starch and sage as the main ingredients, giving this recipe a unique flavor and texture profile. 

screenshot whatthefit.blogspot.com french onion soup
whatthefit.blogspot.com

Paleo Crockpot French Onion Soup from paleogonesassy

This strict and uncomplicated paleo slow cooker french onion soup recipe recommends both chicken and beef broth as a stock as well as ghee or coconut oil and dried thyme. 

www.paleogonesassy.com screenshot french onion soup
www.paleogonesassy.com

Vegan Paleo French Onion Soup

These variations on french onion soup are both Vegan and Paleo, achieving the rich flavors through caramalized and roasted vegetables. 

Roasted Cauliflower French Onion Soup from dashofsavory

This twist on the classic french onion soup uses roasted cauliflower to add creaminess and consistency, an interesting concept. They do list creme fresh as an optional ingredient, but if omitted this qualifies as a vegan paleo french onion soup.

screenshot dashofsavory.com french onion soup
dashofsavory.com

Paleo French Onion Soup from paleoeffect

There are a number of additions to this version of paleo french onion soup, which is vegan if vegetable broth is used, such as using arrowroot powder to coat the onions and adding carrots and celery to the soup. One unique pairing suggestion mentioned here is to serve the soup topped with home made paleo onion rings, to replace the crunch of the typical bread. This recipe recommends adding pork fat in combination with olive oil, beef and chicken stock and some less common ingredients such as sage and sherry wine. 

Paleo French Onion Soup from paleoeffect - with paleo onion rings, image used with permission
Paleo French Onion Soup from paleoeffect

Soupe à l’Oignon from ethivegan

This vegan version of french onion soup takes one of the looser interpretations of the paleo guidelines, including potatoes as one of the ingredients (sweet potatoes could be substituted or the item skipped) and listing bread as a topping – without these two items the recipe follows the more standard approach to paleo. Some unique additions are tomatoes, parsnips and balsamic vinegar.  

screenshot www.ethivegan.com paleo french onion soup
www.ethivegan.com

AIP Paleo French Onion Soup

For those following the Autoimmune Paleo dietary guidelines, you can still enjoy french onion soup with the below AIP friendly french onion soup recipes. 

Chunky Paleo French Onion Soup from meatified

This AIP friendly version of paleo french onion soup recommends including lime juice to give some tartness to the recipe. The focus is on small, chunky pieces of caramelized onions. Omit the optional tomato paste for those following AIP.  

Paleo French Onion Soup from meatified.com
meatified.com

Primal French Onion Soup Recipes

Many of the soups here suggest cheese as a condiment, putting them into the Primal category for strict Paleo adherents.  

Paleo French Onion Soup Grantinee from chriskresser 

This is a simple and classical version of Paleo French Onion soup from Chris Kresser, with thyme and beef broth – he recommends Gruyere cheese (always a favorite) which pushes this one into the Primal category, but as a final condiment it is easy to leave it out for strict Paleo adherents. 

screenshot chriskresser.com french onion soup
chriskresser.com

Primal French Onion Soup with Paleo Bread

This version focuses on using paleo friendly bread croutons (in this case purchased, but could use your favorite paleo bread recipe) to round out the soup. They also suggest using a Paleo friendly spice mix, lime juice and Paleo friendly ketchup as a few non typical elements for Paleo French Onion Soup.

screenshot www.paleobread.com french onion soup
www.paleobread.com

 French Onion Egg Drop Soup from paleotrail

 This recipe goes in a different direction, using egg to thicken the soup (along with more traditional paleo arrowroot powder). Some other unique additions include oregano, green onion and optionally adding a parmesian rind to the stock.

screenshot www.paleotrail.com french onion soup
www.paleotrail.com

Traditional Paleo French Onion Soup

For those who like classics, the below Paleo versions of french onion soup might be exactly what you are looking for. 

Texas Sweet Onion Soup from threedietsonedinner

This recipe recommends using 1015 texas onions for their extremely sweet flavor (or using very sweet onions). A base of bacon fat is suggested, along with minced garlic and beef stock.

screenshot www.threedietsonedinner.com french onion soup
www.threedietsonedinner.com

French Onion Soup from paleosonoma

It doesn’t get simpler than this traditional paleo french onion soup recipe with only 4 ingredients. The recipe is pulled out of a french cookbook and tailored for Paleo. 

screenshot www.paleosonoma.com french onion soup
www.paleosonoma.com

Partially Paleo Recipes

I decided to include a handful of recipes that are for those less strict on the diet. They might provide some inspiration for everyone and may be ideal for those going Primal but not necessarily strict paleo.

Paleo French Onion Soup from thebutchersniche

Although this recipe is only paleo-ish as described by Bix, the author (the recipe includes sugar and beer), there are some interesting variations here, such as adding almond meal for consistency and garlic cloves. 

screenshot butchersniche.com french onion soup
butchersniche.com

Creamy French Onion Soup Quinoa Risotto from paleoonadime

This dish, more inspired and flavored by french onion soup that being soup itself, uses ingredients such as cashew/nutritional yeast “parmesian” for flavor and quinoa to make it into a rice like hearty dish. If you are on a less strict version of Paleo and are looking for a hearty, different dish that tastes like french onion soup, this might be worth a try.

paleonadime
paleonadime

 French Onion Soup from paleoincomparison

This soup from paleoincomparison, which recommends the addition of cabernet savingnon and arrowhead root as additions, gives instructions for those doing a 21 day sugar detox diet to make a version of Paleo French Onion Soup. 

screenshot paleoincomparison.blogspot.com french onion soup
paleoincomparison

 Paleo “French Onion” Soup from arealfoodjourney

 This traditional Paleo french onion soup gives instructions for caramelizing the onions in a slow cooker as a first step to save time. This recipe recommends chicken bone broth made spicy, but allows you to choose the broth that works for you

image from www.arealfoodjourney.com french onion soup recipe used with their permission
arealfoodjourney.com

 Paleo French Onion Soup from integrativenutritionaltherapies

This soup contains a number of suggestions that break from norm. For onions, the author suggests using a combination of leeks, spanish, white and sweet onions, as well as a sweet pepper to round out the flavors. In addition, bacon grease, butter and a pork broth are suggested for the soup base. 

screenshot of www.integrativenutritionaltherapies.com french onion soup
www.integrativenutritionaltherapies.com

French Onion Soup from momcookingpaleogluetenfree

This version of a classic french onion soup suggests adding both dry red and dry white wine and butter and olive oil and crushed garlic as a compliment to the beef broth based soup.  

screenshot www.momcookingpaleoglutenfree.com french onion soup
www.momcookingpaleoglutenfree.com

Enjoy one of these recipes? Have a Paleo Friendly French Onion Soup recipe to suggest to be added? Please leave a comment and I will get back to you!

This post is a part of our multi part Paleo Soup Recipes article series:

zach

My goal with this website is to help get the message out about grain free diets such as the Paleo and Primal diets, SCD diet and GAPS diet, so that more people might benefit from them. My other main goal is to help everyone transitioning to these diets, which can be challenging when first starting down this path. It definitely was for me.

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