French Onion Pasta Casserole is a caramelized combination of French onion soup and pasta. If you're in the mood for comfort food, this delicious one-pot recipe will be! We love a hot bowl of classic French onion soup, and the genius who added cheese and bread on top is one of our favorite people in history. How can you possibly do it any better? Hold on to our baguettes, because we're making progress by mixing this soup with pasta into a hearty casserole that your whole family will love. Don't worry, we definitely didn't skip the cheese and bread on top!
Dine with French classics for dessert like ours Easy Creme Brulee or 5 Ingredient Chocolate Mousse.
Why our recipe?
- All the goodness of French onion soup in one pot pasta casserole.
- Real caramelized onions for real French onion flavor, no tricks.
- Top with croutons and melted cheese for the perfect finish!
Our French Onion Pasta Casserole starts with browning and caramelizing the onions, and if you don't feel like a chef after that step, wait. You're making homemade French onion soup, and if it doesn't make you feel like a skilled chef, the yummy noises your family makes while eating it certainly will!
Material notes
- Yellow Onion: thinly sliced Don't substitute with a white onion, you won't get the same sweetness once it's caramelized.
- Beef Broth: You can use a low sodium alternative to better control the taste.
- Dry Sherry: A traditional ingredient that deepens the flavor of the broth. Alcohol does all the cooking, but we understand that you may still want to leave it out and that's totally fine!
- Pasta: We recommend a tube shaped pasta for this. Penne and ziti also work, and you can get away with elbows as well.
- Garlic Croutons: Bags of croutons can be found in the salad dressing aisle of grocery stores.
- Cheese: Provolone or Gruyère both work well, but Gruyère is our choice for anything to do with French onions.
Provolone vs. Gruyère
Gruyère is often used with French onion soups because it has a bolder flavor, and even though it's a hard cheese, it melts nice and creamy.
Provolone is a little easier to find in the grocery store and melts really well, but is more subtle in flavor. If you can't find Gruyère, this is a good substitute.
Oven-safe container
This is a great one-pot dish, but that pot needs to be oven-safe. Enameled Dutch oven pots are our favorite oven-safe pots to use because they easily transfer from oven to oven.
To check if your pot is oven-safe, Look on the underside or handles for any labels or markings that indicate it can withstand oven temperatures. Many stainless steel or cast iron pots are oven-safe, while pots with plastic handles or non-stick coatings probably won't be.
If you don't have an oven-safe container Don't worry! You can still make this dish by preparing the pasta as directed and then transferring it to a 9×13 pan. Top with croutons and cheese and then bake as directed.
Storage and reheating instructions
Keep in fridge Leftovers in an airtight container up to 4 days.
Reheat Microwave portions in a covered microwave-safe dish in 30-second increments, stirring occasionally for even heating, checking until heated through.
