It’s amazing how much this French Onion Pasta tastes like its namesake soup, but it has added comfort-foodiness. The croutons give a really nice textural contrast.
French Onion Pasta with Cheesy Croutons in an Instant Pot
Course: Dinner8
moderate servingsDon’t forget to turn the oven off once you cheese the croutons!
Ingredients
- For the Croutons:
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs olive oil
1 large clove garlic, crushed
4 to 5 cups torn, stale, peasant bread
½ cup grated Gruyère
¼ cup grated Parmesan
1 tsp dried thyme
- For the Pasta:
1/3 cup olive oil
4 med-large yellow onions, thinly sliced
Salt, to taste
5 garlic cloves, minced
10½ oz. gourmet mushrooms blend, sliced
1 generous tsp dried thyme
2/3 cup dry white wine
2 generous tsp beef stock reduction
4¼ cups water, divided
16 oz. dried orecchiette or other short cut pasta
1 Tbs +2 tsp sherry or white wine vinegar
2 Tbs +2 tsp all purpose flour
3 oz. Gruyère, shredded, (plus more for serving)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Fresh herbs for serving (optional)
Directions
- Make the croutons.
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Set the Instant Pot to SAUTÉ, more, 30 minutes. Without waiting for the “hot” indication, add the butter, oil, and garlic to the pot. As soon as the butter has melted, CANCEL the sauté. Add the bread; stir and toss thoroughly. Pour the bread onto a baking sheet and use a flexible spatula to scrape any remaing oil in the pot onto the bread. Spread the bread into an even layer. Toast until golden, 10-15 minutes, turning on occasion. Add cheeses and thyme, turn the oven off, and place the baking sheet back in oven to melt cheese.
- Make the pasta.
- Did you turn the oven off?
- Set the Instant Pot to SAUTÉ, accepting its defaults, and wait for the “hot” indication. Add oil and wait until it shimmers, a few seconds. Add onions and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently until caramelized – which should have happened by the time the pot auto-cancels the sauté.
- Re-set the pot to SAUTÉ, accepting its defaults. Add the garlic, mushrooms, and thyme. Sauté until the mushrooms begin to soften, 3-4 minutes. Add the wine and thoroughly deglaze the pan. Stir in the stock reduction. CANCEL the sauté. Taste for seasoning.
- Pour in 4 cups of water. Taste again for seasoning. Pour the pasta on top of the pot’s contents, and push it down in an attempt to submerge it more or less, but don’t stir. Set the pot to PRESSURE COOK, high, normal (3 minutes). Quick release.
- Stir remaining 1/4-cup water into the flour to make a slurry. Set the pot to SAUTÉ, accepting its defaults. Stir the slurry into the pot and cook until thickened, which will happen almost instantly. CANCEL the sauté. Stir in vinegar, cheese, and pepper. Taste for seasoning. Serve warm with (herbs, cheese, and) croutons.
Notes
- I developed this recipe for a six-quart Instant Pot. If using a different size or type of pot, you may need to make modifications.
This recipe for French Onion Pasta with Cheesy Croutons is perfect for the Instant Pot. The flavor is quite like French onion soup, but in a pasta form, it has an unbeatable comfort-food quality. The mushrooms help amp up the umami, and the croutons give it a welcome textural balance. Although it’s perfect fresh, it also reheats well. It’s lighter on cheese that French onion soup would be, but if you miss that, you can garnish servings with plenty of cheese, and run it quicky under a broiler.
Social Learning
As they’re cooking, at first you can stir the onions occasionally. But as they begin to caramelize, you need to stir them about every three minutes. You’ll notice that a fond will begin to develop, and you need to stir it back into the onion. As you do this, you should be able to completely deglaze the pan via assiduous stirring. Each time you complete this cycle, the fond will be greater than it was before. If the pan develops a fond that you fear you won’t be able to stir away, decrease the intervals between stirs to two minutes.
If you don’t have any stale bread, or don’t feel like waiting for the bread to go stale, you can make due with fresh.
For my gourmet mushroom blend, I used cremini, shittake, oyster, and button.
French Onion Pasta with Cheesy Croutons, in an Instant Pot
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de quoi se régaler avec ce superbe plat de pates, qui à l’air délicieux!!
je vous souhaite une très bonne et heureuse année 2023
Thank you, Josette. And happy new year to you, too!
I know it’s only 9:00 in the morning, but I could really use a bowl of this right now! It looks phenomenal.
Oh, I’d have it for breakfast, but I’m a bit odd that way.
“French Onion” seems to be a popular recipe as I recently made French Onion Chicken (not posted yet), Gruyere, caramelized onions and thyme are key ingredients – your croutons are a great plus. No instapot but it’s easy to make on the stove or in the oven 🙂
Mom, that sounds like a great combo.
This looks great. As for onions: I’m probably wrong, but in general they seem bigger to me than they were 20 and more years ago. I bought a white sweet onion yesterday, and it’s huge.
Oh, no kidding! They definitely are!
It sounds and looks like a great comfort meal!
angiesrecipes recently posted…Keto Cucumber Sandwiches with Goat Cheese and Black Olive
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Wonderful. I’m trying to cut carbs at this point in time, but this is a really lovely recipe! I love the idea of pasta with croutons!
Cutting carbs is my Achilles heel!
Me gusta la sopa francesa de cebolla y si el sabor de esta pasta es parecido, sin duda tiene que estar muy buena. Encuentro tu receta muy original y sabrosa.
Un saludo.
Isabel
Thank you!
I adore French onion soup so this would land very high on my list. If you don’t have stale bread, try frying the chunks of bread in a generous (about 1/4” deep) olive oil, you won’t regret it.
Nicely done, love these one pot recipes.
Éva Taylor recently posted…Individual Dutch Baby Bennies for Brunch (logistics and all)
Thanks, Eva! I hadn’t thought of frying the bread – great tip!
That would not last long in my house!
Diane recently posted…Did You Know – Caviar
It didn’t last long in mine!
How comforting this would be on a cold winter’s night. I’ll have to store the recipe away until then. It’s 35 degrees here today, so cooking at all isn’t very appealing. Thanks Jeff, a great idea. as always.
Pauline recently posted…Italian Chicken and Sausage Tray Bake
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Fascinating recipe. I think I’d be nervous about cooking pasta under pressure, for fear I’d overcook it. But come to think about it I make risotto in the pressure cooker all the time, so why not pasta?
Anyway, I love the pairing. Reminds me a bit of a Neapolitan dish called pasta alla genovese, which I love. And I also love French onion soup. So I bet I’d enjoy this, too!
Frank | Memorie di Angelina recently posted…Gulasch triestino
You do have to be careful, because it is easy to overcook the pasta. Thanks, Frank!
Those cheesy croutons sold me!! Maybe it’s time to dust off the Instant Pot!!
Thanks, Liz! Dust that thing off!
Such a nice twist on a all time favorite ! Who wouldn’t love this tasty pasta.
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This sounds absolutely delicious and perfect for the rainy weather I’m experiencing. What a cozy meal and I love the added crunch of the croutons on top.
Thank you, Caitlin.
The French onion flavouring of pasta makes so much sense. This sounds wonderful.
Gary recently posted…Garlic bread with bacon and cheese
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Molto appetitosa, mi piacciono molto le cipolle!!!
Thanks! Me too.
No such thing as too big a crouton! 😉 This sounds amazing and cozy. ~Valentina
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This looks delicious. We’ve been eating a lot more mushrooms lately and this sounds perfect.
Thanks, Lori!
I keep seeing French Onion flavors used in things other than soup, but I hadn’t seen a pasta. This looks delicious! Happy New Year!
Thank you, Lisa!
Great pasta
Thanks.
I love that you made this in the Instant Pot! It certainly looks like comfort-food perfection to me!
Thank you, Marcelle!
Bonsoir .
des très bonne pâte française bien appétissante .
Je te souhaite une bonne soirée et une bonne semaine .
Thank you, Jacques.
Thanks for introducing this dish. It looks delicious and comforting. Is it ok if I skip the alcohol?
I’m sure it would be. You would have to use something else to deglaze the pan, like maybe stock. If you don’t deglaze the pan, it’s likely that the Instant Pot will give you a “burn” notice when it pressurizes.
Great recipe 🙂 Your dish looks very appetizing 🙂 Great kitchen inspiration!
Greetings from Poland!
Klaudia Zuberska recently posted…Hello 2023! Hello january!
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Oh, now this is one I for sure will be trying. Pinning to make as soon as we get back home from Florida in a few weeks. I love the soup so I am super excited to try this pasta!
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Thank you!
un plat que j’ai déjà manger et que j’aime beaucoup !
How wonderful! Thank you!