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recipe medium American

3 Iconic Soups Every Home Cook Should Master (French Onion, Chicken Noodle, Broccoli Cheddar)

Brian Lagerstrom's well-tested recipes for three iconic soups: a deeply caramelized French onion soup with rich ground-beef pressure-cooked stock and broiled Gruyère toasts, a classic chicken noodle soup built from scratch, and a creamy broccoli cheddar soup with pureed potato for body. Each recipe is explained with technique detail and practical shortcuts.

30m Prep

90m Cook

2h Total

6 Servings

soup french onion chicken noodle broccoli cheddar comfort food american winter batch cooking caramelized onions cheese gruyere

Ingredients

Salt and black pepper
1 pinch MSG (optional) optional

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

400 g Broccoli (diced into small florets)
400 g Potato (peeled and diced)
20 g Garlic (minced)
200 ml Heavy cream
200 g Cheddar cheese (shredded)

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 piece Whole chicken (or chicken pieces)
200 g Carrots (diced)
150 g Celery (diced)
1 piece Onion (diced)
200 g Egg noodles (or pasta)

French Onion Soup

2500 g Yellow onions (sliced 1/8 inch across equator)
113 g Unsalted butter
2700 g Beef stock (homemade or store-bought)
900 g Ground beef 90/10 (for stock) optional
150 g Dry sherry
25 g Worcestershire sauce
10 g All-purpose flour
2 g Fresh thyme (chopped)
8 piece Sourdough bread slices
150 g Gruyère cheese (or Swiss) (grated)
100 g Provolone cheese (sliced)

Steps

1

FRENCH ONION — Make beef stock: pressure cook 2700g store-bought beef stock with 900g ground beef (90/10) on high for 25–30 minutes. Strain and reserve. Shortcut: whisk 3 boxes store-bought stock with 3 packets powdered gelatin and 30g Better Than Bouillon beef base.

Tip: Ground beef adds more meat flavor per dollar than bones — 90/10 keeps the stock from becoming greasy.

~35 min
2

Melt butter in a large heavy pot. Add 2500g sliced onions, 1/4 cup water, and a generous pinch of salt. Cover and steam 5 minutes, then cook uncovered over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, for 30 minutes. Add water every 3 minutes to deglaze as the pot gets sticky. Cook until onions are dark brown, almost purple — close to 1 hour total.

Tip: Do NOT shortcut the caramelization. Dark brown, almost purple onions develop layers of sweetness that lighter caramelization simply cannot match.

~60 min
3

Add thyme to the onions and stir 1 minute. Add black pepper and 10g flour, stir 30 seconds. Pour in 150g dry sherry and reduce until dry. Add 25g Worcestershire, then all the beef stock. Bring to a simmer for 15 minutes. Season with salt (and optional MSG) to taste.

Tip: Pour sherry in while watching carefully — even dry sherry is sweet and can burn onto the caramelized onions quickly.

~20 min
4

Fry sourdough slices in olive oil. Top with grated Gruyère and sliced provolone. Broil until cheese is bubbling with brown spots. Ladle hot onion broth into bowls and place 2 cheesy toasts inside each. Top with fresh cracked black pepper.

Tip: Sourdough with tight crumb (not too crusty) absorbs the broth beautifully without competing with the silky onions.

~10 min
5

CHICKEN NOODLE — Simmer a whole chicken with diced carrots, celery, and onion in a large pot with water or chicken stock to cover. Cook 60–90 minutes until the chicken is tender enough to shred. Remove chicken, shred the meat, discard bones and skin. Return shredded chicken to the broth. Add egg noodles and cook until tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Tip: Great chicken noodle soup starts with great stock — build it in the same pot as the soup for maximum flavor integration.

~90 min
6

BROCCOLI CHEDDAR — Sauté minced garlic in butter in a pot. Add diced potato and broccoli florets. Cook together 6–7 minutes. Add stock to cover and simmer until potatoes are just barely tender (they should smoosh but hold shape). Scoop out some potato, blend or mash until smooth. Stir blended potato back into the soup along with heavy cream. Add shredded cheddar and stir until fully melted. Season to taste.

Tip: Pureeing a portion of the potatoes (not all) creates a smooth creamy body while keeping textural pieces of broccoli and potato in the soup.

~30 min

Nutrition (per serving)

480

Calories

28g

Protein

42g

Carbs

22g

Fat

Fiber

Cultural Context

French onion soup dates to 18th century Paris and is considered a national French classic. Chicken noodle soup is a universal comfort food with roots across multiple cultures — its American form became iconic through canned versions and home cooking tradition. Broccoli cheddar soup is a distinctly American creation popularized by restaurant chains like Panera, loved for its rich, velvety texture. Brian Lagerstrom's versions focus on homemade stocks, proper technique for caramelized onions, and understanding why these beloved soups are rarely as good from takeout as from home.