Gordon Ramsay’s White Onion Soup Recipe

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Gordon Ramsay’s White Onion Soup is a sophisticated cousin to the rustic French onion soup. Instead of caramelizing the onions to a dark brown, this recipe involves slowly sweating white onions in butter until meltingly soft but still pale. The result is a silky, ivory-colored velouté with a delicate sweetness and a creamy finish. It is a Michelin-star caliber starter that relies on technique rather than expensive ingredients to impress.

Try More Recipes:

Why You Will Love This White Onion Soup Recipe:

Refined Flavor: Unlike the intense, beefy flavor of traditional onion soup, this version is light, sweet, and aromatic, making it perfect for an elegant lunch or dinner party starter.
Velvety Texture: The soup is blended and passed through a sieve, resulting in a luxurious, cloud-like consistency that feels incredibly smooth on the palate.
Budget Friendly: The main ingredient is the humble onion. With just some butter, stock, and cream, you can create a high-end dish for pennies.
Simple Technique: The hardest part of this recipe is slicing the onions. The rest is patience—letting them cook slowly without browning.
Perfect for Garnish: The smooth, pale surface is the perfect canvas for toppings like truffle oil, chives, or Gordon’s signature Welsh Rarebit toasts.

Gordon Ramsay’s White Onion Soup Ingredients

1 kg white onions (about 4-5 large onions), peeled and thinly sliced
50g unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 liter chicken stock (or vegetable stock for a vegetarian version)
200ml double cream (heavy cream)
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
Truffle oil (optional, for drizzling)
Chives, finely chopped (optional garnish)

How To Make Gordon Ramsay’s White Onion Soup

Prep the Onions: Peel the onions and slice them as thinly as possible. The thinner the slice, the faster they will break down into a puree.
Sweat Gently: Heat the butter and olive oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onions, crushed garlic, and thyme sprigs. Stir well to coat in the fat.
The Long Cook: Cover the pan with a lid and cook gently for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Crucial: You want the onions to become translucent and completely soft, but they must not brown. If they start to color, lower the heat immediately.
Simmer: Remove the lid. Pour in the 1 liter of chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes to concentrate the flavors.
Add Cream: Pour in the 200ml of double cream. Simmer for another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs.
Blend: Remove the pan from the heat. Transfer the soup to a blender (in batches if necessary) or use a stick blender. Blitz on high speed until completely smooth.
Pass: For the signature Ramsay finish, pour the blended soup through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot. Use a ladle to push the liquid through, discarding the fibrous onion pulp left behind.
Finish: Gently reheat the soup. Season carefully with salt and white pepper.
Serve: Ladle into warm bowls and garnish with chopped chives or a drizzle of truffle oil.

Recipe Tips

White vs. Yellow Onions: Use white onions if you can find them. They have a sharper, crisper flavor that sweetens beautifully when cooked and keeps the soup paler than yellow onions.
No Color: The aesthetic of this soup is its creamy white color. Keep the heat low during step 3. If you burn the onions, you have made brown onion soup—still delicious, but not this recipe.
White Pepper: Always use white pepper for light-colored soups. Black pepper specks can look like dirt in a pristine white velouté.
The Sieve: Do not skip passing the soup through a sieve. This is what separates a homemade vegetable soup from a restaurant-quality velouté.

What To Serve With White Onion Soup?

The classic White Onion Soup pairing for Welsh Rarebit on Toast—a savory cheese sauce grilled on bread, served on the side for dipping. It also pairs elegantly with simple Parmesan Croutons or a slice of warm Focaccia. For a lighter touch, a simple garnish of crispy fried shallots adds a nice texture contrast.

How To Store Leftovers White Onion Soup?

Refrigerate: Let the soup cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. It may thicken slightly as it chills.
Freeze: This soup freezes surprisingly well despite the cream. Freeze in airtight containers for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.

How To Reheat Leftovers White Onion Soup?

Important Tip: Because of the high cream content, do not boil the soup aggressively when reheating, or the texture may become grainy.

Stovetop: Place the soup in a saucepan over low-medium heat. Stir constantly until it is steaming hot. If it feels too thick, whisk in a tablespoon of water or stock to loosen it.
Microwave: Heat in short 1-minute intervals, stirring in between to ensure even heating.

FAQs

Can I use half-and-half instead of double cream for White Onion Soup?

Yes, but the soup will be less rich and slightly thinner you may want to reduce the stock by 100ml to compensate for the thinner dairy in your White Onion Soup.

Is this White Onion Soup vegetarian?

It is if you use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. The flavor will be slightly lighter but still delicious.

Why does my White Onion Soup taste bitter?

This usually happens if the onions or garlic were burnt during the sweating stage. Unfortunately, you cannot remove the bitter burnt taste once it is there, so watch the heat carefully in step 3.

More Recipes:

White Onion Soup Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 bowl (serves 4)

Calories: 380 kcal
Total Fat: 32g
Saturated Fat: 20g
Cholesterol: 95mg
Sodium: 550mg
Total Carbohydrate: 18g
Dietary Fiber: 3g
Sugars: 10g
Protein: 5g